Day 14 – Today We Combined Traveling With A History Lesson

A Trip Back In Time

We left Collage Park this morning for a two hour trip to Fredericksburg, VA where several significant civil war battles took place.

We didn’t want to leave the dogs alone after yesterday’s long day by themselves, so we took them with us.

The ride to Fredericksburg was nice and easy.  Highway 95  is flanked on both sides by wooded areas,. Dick explained that beyond the trees, there are large communities everywhere.  Dick attended the FBI Academy in Quntico, VA in 1992 and we passed right by the academy, but I couldn’t see a thing for all the trees.

We arrived at the Fredericksburg visitors center just before noon.  Luckily there was plenty of shady parking for the pups.

I admit not knowing my civil war history very well, but the guys make up for it and were able to fill in my “grand canyon” size  gaps with their knowledge.

We watched an introductory film about the Battle that took place in Fredericksburg in 1862. We then walked the grounds where the actual battle took place.  It is really hard to wrap one’s brain around the fact that so much blood was spilled in such a beautiful area.

From the visitors center we walked along the “sunken road” to get an overview of the battlefield.  We walked up to Cemetery Hill and had the same view the Confederate artillery had.

After touring the battlefield, we did a little browsing at a civil war artifacts store. The owner recommended an Irish Pub just down the street for lunch.

We were able to sit outside with the dogs….the food was great and Shelby enjoyed sampling Ken’s sweet potato fries.

From Fredericksburg, we went to the site of another well known civil war battlefield in nearby Chancellorsville.   Again, the area is stunning to see….but the profoundness of what occurred there is hard to imagine.

I thought it was interesting to learn that although General Lee outfought his opponent at Chancellorsville, his right hand man, General Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded in battle there and died eight days later.

Back To Fredericksburg For Dessert

We wanted to give the traffic some time to lighten up before heading for home, so we went back to the historic section of Fredericksburg to do some window shopping and have dessert.

I have to give my hubby “hats off” for being able to parallel park our huge truck and making it look easy!

We topped our evening off in Fredericksburg with some delicious milkshakes.  A perfect ending to a perfect day of site seeing and learning.

There was still alot of traffic on our way home, but no major hang-ups.  We saw a beautiful ferris wheel on the ride back, Dick said it reminded him of “The London Eye”.

Goodnight to all.