Going south Day 2

Got up at the crack of dawn, seeing the sun rise over the mountains of Virginia. First stop was to be at Tom & Terry's lake house for a quick visit before finishing off the road trip to SC. The goal was to be at the hotel by 5:30...... that didn't happen, because goals are meant to be broken. LOL. It was more 7 pm when I did finally arrive. From Winchester Va. to The lake house there were several places I stopped at, the first being the Graffiti House. I thought now that will be a cool looking house with all the colors sprayed on it, nope.
 I got inspired by The forgotten South, she uses pictures to tell a story of the buildings that are neglected and run down. She's been going around the south preserving history even though its through photography and writing about them.







Today's history lesson.....
The Brandy Station Civil War battle was one of the history's greatest cavalry engagements. It consisted of over 20,000 troops (17,000 being cavalry). Now that's a lot of horses in a battle. The Union forces was repelled from advancing but this broke the confederate cavalry. The Graffiti house served as a field hospital for the South not just for this battle but for the others in the area during the war. Just driving through the area there were a lot of battles fought in this area. Not only was it used for the hospital but also for headquarters for the Federal forces.  Now for just this reason the next time I go by it and its open I would like to go in just to see all the walls that have soldiers drawings and names (and units) preserved. Now that's ancestry history that needs to be kept for future generations. There was a monument across the street in a "park" which was errected in memory of Major John Pelham.  He was just 22 yr old (born in Alabama) and already a veteran of 60 engagements before he was mortally woundedby fragments of artillery shell in the battle of Kelly's Ford. Interesting about Major Pelham is went into battle even though his artillery was not on the field. The monument sits on a block of stone that was taken from the Kelly's field battlefield. There is a flag of the state of Alabama flying behind the monument.

Past this building that at one point must have been a church of some kind. I wish there was more information on this building but was unable to find any. Also a diner that was completely made out of brick. I wish there had me a turn out so I could have taken a picture of the building. Next visit definitely am going to take a picture of the diner. Also a few interesting named wineries along the route, example: Rappahannock Cellars off 522 in Huntly, Va., 3 foxes Vineyards off 17 in Delaplane, Va., and my favorite name is Naked Mountain Winery off 608 in Markham, VA.

As I was sitting at a red light on route 15 in Virginia, I looked to my left and this is what I saw. I love when there is beauty of the wild flower and then the modern concrete world collides together.

After visiting Tom and Terri I stopped at the Battlefield Country Store in Fredericksburg, Va. The sandwiches looked so good but the line was just to long, next visit. But they had a lot of the same items that you would find at the stores I go to in Ohio. So I picked up a few items.

The other things that the store sold was these items. I know its probably not correct at this time in society but this store is surrounded by battlefields so I guess it is an appropriate items. I am not going to debate the rights and wrongs. I'm a historian and think that monuments represent history and history can't be forgotten or shoved into the back of a closet. If we don't remember the bad and the good of history we are destined to repeat it.

Just when North Carolina got to long, along comes South of the Border. I don't know if its the Corvid-19 or its just that things have changed but this looked like it was closed. But now that I've looked it up on the internet, it looks like a few of the parts like the motel have closed. Still its a welcome site that I've made it to South Carolina.









Here are a few other random pics from the trip down to Mt. Pleasant, SC. When I got there and checked into the Cambria. I did have a problem finding it because there was no sign and trees block my view of the hotel from the street. We went out to Page's Okra Grill. Tonight I decided to go light and ordered the Shrimp Primal which was a salad. Of course we ordered desserts. Becky and Dan split the banana pudding that came in a cute mason jar. Anne and I split the Key Lime Pie. 2 thumbs up!

Until the next adventure, happy travelling,

Kelli