Dobbin House, a stop on the "underground railroad"

We were in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and found the old Dobbin House Restaurant. This house was standing during the Civil War and acted as an army hospital for both sides. It was also a stop on the underground railroad which we were able to see the hiding place where they kept the runaway slaves.




You can see the little opening in the wall in the stairwell. Look at the picture of Emma and Noah sitting on the narrow little stairway. Right above Noah's head is an opening in the wall with shutters.

That "room" was meant for storage and was not ever checked. In the picture with the manequins you can see how small and cramped the storage space is, but at least they were safe for a night or two until they had to move northward again. It was so cool to see so much important history. And by the way the food was AMAZING too!

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

So... I love history! I was really excited to see Gettysburg and it was only about 1 1/2 hours from our hotel so my family humored me. Even though all of Jason's co-workers told him that Gettysburg was just a bunch of fields, it was,
but I wanted to see that particular bunch of fields for myself! I read a book about Gettysburg and the battle that was had there between the Union and Confederate armies two days before I left for Maryland, so I would not be deterred! In these particular fields thousands of people died and literally in this battle there were cases of brother killing brother. I found this fact on the internet.
"We do know that the Union army's official report was 3,155 killed in action, 14,529 wounded and 5,365 missing, a total of 23,049 casualties. We do know that the Confederate army's official report was 2,592 killed in action, 12,709 wounded and 5,150 missing, a total of 20,451 casualties. So in July 1863 the official totals for both sides were 5,747 killed in action and 43,500 total casualties.
It is widely agreed that the Confederate report understates the numbers to some extent due to the turmoil of defeat and retreat and the loss of so many officers who would have been able to assemble more accurate figures.
Many soldiers initially reported as wounded died within a week of the battles. Historian Dr. Robert Bloom of Gettysburg College stated in 2008 that approximately 20,000 soldiers died at Gettysburg out of 50,000 casualties."
It is so important that we know our history and learn from it so that we are smart enought not to relive it!
The town of Gettysburg is so neat! I could have spent a few days there just poking around the cute little town. We stopped by the main visitors center and bought a book and cd that had a guided tour. You can actually pay a battle field guide $50 to ride in your car with you and tell you about all the action, but having the kids with us, we didn't want to have to work on someone elses schedule. So, we popped in the cd and were so excited that it was really like having a guide with us. They even directed us out of the parking lot and gave directions to each stop while telling stories about the battle. It was really interesting and Jason and I enjoyed it, our kids... not so much. Thank heavens we had a mini dvd player to keep them occupied as we drove around for 2 1/2 hours.
This is where the fighting began at McPherson Ridge and Oak Ridge It was crazy how many cannon are still in place, the town just left them all where they were to show how the fighting took place.
All of the reinactors who were walking around on the day that we went were so knowledgeable about the battle it was amazing.

This man was really fun to talk to. He was a Confederate reinactor and explained to the kids some of the clothes he was wearing and the heavy gun that he had. Emma noticed that the letters US on his belt buckle were turned upside down. He told us that the soldiers would pick up belt buckles that the Union soldiers wore and use them for themselves but put them on upside down to show which side they were on.


This was looking down from Little Round Top where thankfully the Union soldiers got their break and were able to gain the high ground first. Had a couple "seemingly" insignificant things happened differently, even a few minutes differently, the Union wouldn't have gained this advantage that helped turn the tides. Being here really made me see the hand of God in this battle.




Looking up at Little Round Top

We stopped at an outhouse in the middle of nowhere to go to the bathroom and it was a pleasant place with a stream running by and some large rocks sunk into the landscape. I sat on a rock and was relaxing looking through my guide book reading ahead so that I would be ready to go when we got back into the car. I then realized that I was sitting in what was called the "Slaughtering Pen"! It was a place where apparently tons of soldiers were killed trying to hide amongst the rocks and the lovely stream that was meandering by was nicknamed Bloody Run because it was red with the blood of the dead. My nice quiet spot became a little creepy.


The Wheatfield is one of the places where the highest causalties took place. It was said that about 6000 men died in this one field and that there were so many bodies that you couldn't walk across the field without stepping on someone. I couldn't help tearing up a bit looking out over this field and realizing the magnitude of the lives lost. Okay, the gross facts of the tour. It was said that the stench of blood was so bad the night after the fighting in this field that the nearby farmers pigs went crazy and broke down their fences and feasted on dead men. Sooooo, makes me want to avoid pigs! Nasty!

With all of this killing and men dying there was one civilian casualty. Poor Jennie Wade was at her sister's house helping her deliver a baby the day that the fighting broke out. She baked bread and filled canteens for the Union soldiers that filed passed the house. When they were out of bread she went to the kitchen to begin kneeding dough a Confederate sharpshooter's bullet pierced 2 wooden doors and killed her. Sad to say that her fiance was taken prisoner and died from his wounds a few days later as well. So many sad stories.
There were tons of memorials around the park I would say maybe in the thousands. I photographed a few just to get an idea.
North Carolina
Eternal Light and Peace Memorial
New York Cavalry
Virginia Memorial
Pennsylvania Memorial

Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington

We had the best time at Mount Vernon! Jason and I were a little skeptical about keeping the kids entertained all day, but they loved it. The weather was cool and sprinkly at times, but we had fun walking most of the grounds, which were expansive. Emma really enjoyed learning facts about George Washington and the difference in the times that he lived in. Did you know that George Washinton's dentures were not made of wood, as everyone seems to think, he used carved hippo teeth and when possible, would pay one of his slaves to pull their teeth for his dentures! YUCK! Another interesting fact that we didn't know is that he died from a cold! The man was amazing and sailed across icy rivers in the dead of winter and did so many crazy things in his life, and then one day he was out in the fields when it started to snow, he caught a cold and his throat swelled closed and he suffocated to death! Hmmm...

Here's the house garden, it inspired me to go home and start expanding my own!




Greenhouse

Slaves Quarters

Overseers House

This was something really cool. Mount Vernon looks like white brick, or stone when you look at it. George Washington wanted it to look rich without spending the money so he mixed sand into the paint and painted over the wood! It felt like stone!
George's Riding Chair

Slave Burial Ground

Roaming the Property



The George Washinton Museum

Invasion of the Jellies!

This was such a neat jellyfish exhibit at the Baltimore Aquarium and I had SO MUCH FUN photographing them!