Maryland In Review

We actually cheated on our trip into Maryland.  Our first visit was in August during our stay in Gettysburg.  We drove about an hour SW near the border lines of West Virginia, Virginia & Maryland to Antietam National Battlefield.  Our beautiful drive thick with trees and along rolling hills brought us to the visitor's center which overlooked the much-smaller-than-Gettysburg battlefield.  

A National Park Ranger gave us a talk as we overlooked the site which held the bloodiest single-day battle of the Civil War with 22,720 casualties on September 17, 1862.  

It was an unexpected attack on the Confederates after a Union soldier found a copy of General Lee's plan of operations for the Maryland campaign.  The woods and fields changed hands many times in horrific combat and McClellan's "simple" battle plan became a series of uncoordinated attacks because of confusion, difficult terrain, smoke and noise.  The battle left the town of Sharpsburg in total destruction.  With thousands of dead or wounded soldiers, there was great sickness and death from disease as well as great property damage.  Hospitals were set up in barns, churches, homes and make-shift tents to care for the over 17,000 wounded.  But good came out of the tragedy as well.  Clara Barton brought bandages, lanterns and food to the injured and was called "The Angel of the Battlefield."  She later founded the American Red Cross providing aid to civilians after natural disasters.  During this time Dr. Jonathan Letterman was instrumental in establishing an ambulance corps to evacuate the wounded.  He also adopted triage- a system of prioritizing casualties by the severity of their wounds.  The Battle of Antietam also made way for the Emancipation Proclamation which completely reshaped the war and was the start of bringing freedom to slaves.

This area of the battlefield was called Bloody Lane.
After seeing the dead in its path, one observer wrote, "They were lying in rows like the ties of a railroad, in heaps like cordwood mingled with the splintered and shattered fence rails.  Words are inadequate to portray the scene."

Burnside Bridge
Confederate soldiers held this bridge for hours until Burnside's command allowed Union forces to capture the bridge and cross Antietam Creek forcing the Confederates back.
Also the spot where we felt the Virginia earthquake!!!

This was just one of the many memorials scattered throughout the battlefield

Memorials like these honored the Generals who lost their lives here.

4,776 Union soldier's remains lie here (38% unknown)

Private Soldier Monument
This monument stands in the center of the cemetery and depicts a Union infantry man standing "in place rest" facing homeward to the north.  Inscribed in its base are the words: "Not for themselves, but for their countrymen"

Our second trip to Maryland was to Millersville (near D.C.) and just 1 1/2 hours from our Delaware site.  Unfortunately, that 1 1/2 hours turned to almost 4 hours thanks to dead-still traffic.  The girls were grateful for the extra quiet time to complete homework, but our antsy driver was not as thrilled!

Once we arrived, we set up camp (which we now have down to a SCIENCE!) and -being a Sunday- got ready for church.  Though we occasionally visit local churches, we've come to love our new Sunday tradition.  Either morning or evening- whichever fits our schedule- we fix a big breakfast (which according to the girls has to include pancakes) and sit around our tiny kitchen table with our pastor Dan Sutherland...of course he joins us on the Mac thanks to pre-recorded sermons:)

We stayed at the Maryland campground for about 1 1/2 weeks and it was so, so nice to be in one spot for so long!  We had a few days to tour the area before Jim left for a business convention in Phoenix.  Immediately upon dropping him off at the airport, us 3 girls drove straight to Michaels and literally shopped/browsed for 3 hours!  The girls loaded up their carts with supplies to make Christmas gifts & for the next few days the floor of the RV (and picnic table outside) was covered in crafts!  Though we missed Jim, we totally took advantage of the girl time.

When he returned, most of our days were spent touring D.C. (which will be the next blog entry), but the other Maryland tour-stop was to Annapolis to visit the Naval Academy.  

We took a guided tour led by an academy grad and enjoyed the beautiful campus.  We stopped in the huge swimming/ wrestling facility, the breath-taking chapel, and Bancroft Hall, including a look at an immaculate dorm room.  And later in the week we attended a church service at the chapel, especially enjoying the navy choir and many young men & women in uniform.

All of the stained glass windows around the chapel depict water-related scenes from the Bible.
Behind the chapel's alter is a Tiffany glass portrait of Jesus walking on the water with the words "Eternal Father, strong to Save."

A great naval leader of the American Revolution,  John Paul Jones died in Paris in 1792.  Over a century later, a search for his burial place began in order to have his remains returned to the U.S.  His body was found & returned with great fanfare in 1906 and is now kept in the elaborate crypt below the chapel.

Bancroft Hall is one of the largest dormitories in the U.S.   It also houses Memorial Hall- an ornate gallery dedicated to alumni who gave their lives in the service of the nation.

James Lawrence spoke these words as
he lay dying on board USS Chesapeake
during the War of 1812.

Officer homes

Natalie & Alayna with the Naval Academy's mascot: Bill the Goat

By the end of the tour we were well informed of at least one thing... the rivalry with the army is intense.  Many displays bragged of their own superior accomplishments over their rivals and scattered throughout was their simple motto:  "Beat Army."

At the end of our day touring the academy, we enjoyed crabcakes by the Annapolis waterfront, but our favorite stop in Maryland was to Canton Dockside.  Right by the water in Baltimore, this restaurant boasted Maryland's best steamed blue crabs... so we had to put them to the test!

Having never eaten blue crab before, our waiter brought out a sampling of sizes to choose from.  We went for the bucket of a dozen large!

We reviewed how to crack 'em open while enjoying an appetizer they're known for... a plate sized pretzel smothered in crab dip & cheese... so big, it came with a steak knife to cut it!

Our dozen crab were dropped right on the table!

We especially enjoyed using the mallots to crack into the claws. And with our recent visit to Dover's House & Senate, Alayna had fun joking about it... "Order in the crab court!", she'd say while pounding it on the table:)

Other things we enjoyed during our Maryland stay were skyping our little Minnesota cousins,

Ana, Alivia & Ashton

trick-or-treating a local neighborhood (which made the girls REALLY miss friends & family... not the same trick-or-treating alone!), and making a pitiful attempt to "decorate" for halloween:

We're still not fully on board with the RV lifestyle... our one spider web was no match to the elaborate decorations of many campers:)

And of course, the rest of our time was spent touring our nation's capital... which deserves a blog of its own!

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A) Antietam National Battlefield

B) Millersville, MD (campsite)

C) Annapolis, MD

D) Baltimore, MD