Travelrific® Travel Journal
Picture postcards in prose.™ Check out the blogroll on the front page for official merchandise and other resources!Archive for virginia
Freedom’s Fortress
By Linda Tancs
Positioned on a 565-acre peninsula known as Old Point Comfort, Fort Monroe National Monument in Hampton, Virginia, is known as “Freedom’s Fortress.” That’s because, due to a legal loophole, thousands of enslaved Africans escaped and found refuge there during the Civil War. Strategically located at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, it was a key defensive site. The site’s military history is chronicled at the Casemate Museum. Buildings of note include the oldest house (Building #1, Old Quarters), where Abraham Lincoln stayed while planning the attack on Norfolk in 1862, and Building #17, where Robert E. Lee and his family stayed while he was a young engineer helping to oversee the construction of the fort. The peninsula is also home to Old Point Comfort Lighthouse, the second-oldest light in the bay and the oldest still in use.
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America’s National Maritime Museum
By Linda Tancs
Designated by Congress as America’s National Maritime Museum, The Mariners’ Museum and Park in Newport News, Virginia, is one of the largest and most comprehensive maritime museums in the world. In fact, the museum’s library contains the largest maritime history collection in the Western Hemisphere. One of its most iconic features is the USS Monitor, representing the world’s largest marine archaeological metals conservation project. More than 210 tons of material were excavated from the ship’s wreck site in the depths of the Atlantic. Historically significant objects recovered include the revolving gun turret, two Dahlgren guns and the steam propulsion engine. You can get a bird’s-eye view of the conservation efforts from the observation platform at the Batten Conservation Complex. Leave some time to visit the 550-acre park which features the award-winning 5-mile Noland Trail that surrounds the 167-acre Mariners’ Lake.
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Colonial Williamsburg
By Linda Tancs
Located in Williamsburg, Virginia, Colonial Williamsburg is the world’s largest living-history museum. The historic 301-acre campus includes 89 original buildings and more than 500 meticulous re-creations of lost structures as well as two world-class art museums under one roof. The former colonial capital features the reconstructed Raleigh Tavern, where patriot members of Virginia’s House of Burgesses met and cast votes during the Revolutionary era in defiance of the colony’s royal governors, whose palace is open for tours. Across the vast site you’ll find costumed, informative staff as well as the interpreting of colonial crafts like cabinetmaking, blacksmithing, silversmithing, spinning and weaving, barbering and wigmaking, and candlemaking.
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A Gem on the Blue Ridge Parkway
By Linda Tancs
You’ll find a charming bit of history at milepost 176 on Virginia’s Blue Ridge Parkway. That’s the location of Mabry Mill, an industrial complex emphasizing the pioneer culture of the Blue Ridge Highlands. The gristmill and sawmill (dating from the 1900s) have been fully restored, and live demonstrations (including sorghum molasses making, apple butter making, and grinding corn and buckwheat) occur regularly. You’ll also find a woodworking and blacksmith shop. Viewable any time of year (so long as the parkway is passable), the mill is one of the most iconic and photographed structures on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The interior, including the restaurant and gift shop, is staffed between April and early November.
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Walton’s Mountain
By Linda Tancs
The Waltons was a popular, long-running drama television series about a close-knit family in rural, Depression-era Virginia, based on the experiences of series creator and narrator Earl Hamner Jr. If you’ve ever wondered where the mountain scenery depicted in the show is really located, then head on over to Schuyler, Virginia. The hamlet was home to Earl Hamner Jr., and the family home there is now a Virginia Historic Landmark. The quiet village is located 25 miles south of Charlottesville in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountain range.
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Camera Heritage Museum
By Linda Tancs
Touted as America’s largest camera museum, the Camera Heritage Museum in Staunton, Virginia, is devoted to the history, science and art of photography. The facility boasts a collection of over 7,000 cameras from the 19th century to modern times as well as accessories and photographs. Self-guided and audio tours are available. Call ahead for a personal curator tour.
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Billed as the Great North American Eclipse, a total solar eclipse will cross North America on April 8, 2024, passing over Mexico, the United States and Canada. The path of the eclipse begins in Mexico, entering the United States in Texas, and traveling through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. The eclipse will enter Canada in Southern Ontario, and continue through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. This will be the last time any solar eclipse will be visible within the United States until 2045.
Be prepared! So long as supplies last, you can purchase eclipse glasses and other accessories, like a phone app and photo filter, from American Paper Optics, a NASA-approved manufacturer. The link in the preceding sentence is an affiliate link, which means that if you click on the link and purchase merchandise from the page, then I may receive a small commission.
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Richmond’s Valentine
By Linda Tancs
Opened in 1898, the Valentine Museum was the first private museum in Richmond, Virginia. It’s named after Mann S. Valentine, Jr., the museum’s founder, who made his fortune with the creation and production of Valentine’s Meat Juice, a health tonic made from pure beef juice. Originally boasting a collection of the Valentine family’s art and artifacts, the museum now focuses on collecting, preserving and interpreting Richmond’s history. The museum complex includes the 1812 Wickham House, a National Historic Landmark and outstanding example of neoclassical architecture featuring rare wall paintings.
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Air Power in Virginia
By Linda Tancs
Located in the heart of the Mid-Atlantic region, Hampton, Virginia, is home to Air Power Park. An outdoor park displaying restored aircraft and spacecraft, it chronicles the air power that played a vital part in America’s early space exploration and aircraft testing. Many of the park’s jets, missiles and rockets have connections with nearby Langley AFB and NASA Langley Research Center. Enjoy the outdoor displays daily from sunrise to sunset. You can also tour inside displays during regular business hours. Admission is free.
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Honoring NATO
By Linda Tancs
One of the longest running festivals in Virginia’s Hampton Roads region, the Norfolk NATO Festival is the only one of its kind in the United States honoring the NATO Alliance and its member nations. The festivities include a parade of nations, an international village featuring cultural performances, international art and cuisine and a military tattoo sporting an international cast of over 900, including bagpipers, drummers, military bands, dancers, singers, drill teams and color guards. This year’s event runs from April 20 to April 22 in downtown Norfolk.
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The Wonders of Delmarva
By Linda Tancs
The Delmarva Peninsula is a large peninsula embracing the state of Delaware and the Eastern Shore counties of Maryland and Virginia. Its name derives from this tri-state reach (DelMarVa) of about 170 miles. It’s one of the earliest sites of European settlement and boasts a record of indigenous occupation since the last Ice Age. Among the many tourist destinations in the region, some highlights are Rehoboth Beach in Delaware, Ocean City in Maryland and Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge in Virginia.
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