Now further south

We headed toward the capital of Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. Most of the days drive was along the Susquehanna River. The valley formed by the river was quite impressive, and made the day’s drive quite nice.

Since Harrisburg is the capitol of Pennsylvania, we booked a tour of the capitol. Clearly the Pennsylvania capitol may be the most impressive and ornate of any we’ve seen. The original capitol building burned in
1897. In 1902 they began construction of the current capitol, which was completed in 1906. Because of its spectacular design, materials and artwork, the Pennsylvania capitol was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997, and was later designated a National Historic Landmark in 2006. We can easily say this was the best capitol tour we have ever taken.

This viewpoint looked very familiar to us, and we learned why. Apparently, the dome of the Pennsylvania capitol building was designed as a replica of the dome in Saint Peters Basilica in the Vatican in Rome. Since we been there a scant few month ago, it was no wonder to us that it looked so familiar.

The locals in Harrisburg are expectedly proud of their state capitol – apparently it is generally believed to be the most ornate state capitol in the US, and is considered to have the finest artwork as well. Apparently, even trailer trash are proud of their state capitol building.

We visited the Cathedral of Saint Patrick just steps from the capitol. Completed the year after the current capitol building, this Baroque Revival style cathedral with Renaissance Revival influences is impressive indeed. Unlike the capitol building which had mostly stone imported from Europe, the cathedral was covered in granite from North Carolina. Its rich interior is adorned in marble quarried in Vermont.

Harrisburg lies on the Susquehanna River. We didn’t realize it at the time, but when we were back in Williamsport we were also on the banks of the Susquehanna, which starts in New York and flows nearly 450 miles to empty into the Chesapeake Bay. As we began our trek southwest, we got one final gorgeous view of the River during the early morning sunrise – nice!

As we crossed into Virginia, we hit the very historic town of Winchester. Established in 1752, it is not unusual that it’s a vortex of US history since it is only about 75 miles northwest of
Washington DC. We learned that George Washington came here around 1748 and bought a parcel of land in what would soon be the town of Winchester. He also established his military headquarters here in 1755 in order to oversee the construction of Fort Loudon on the north end of town.

We also found in Winchester the military headquarters of Major General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson out of which he managed his Civil War campaigns in the Shenandoah Valley. The home belonged to Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Moore, a good friend of Jackson from their time at West Point. Moore was going to be away seeking medical care for a war wound for a long time, and offered his home to Jackson. Lewis Moore’s great granddaughter, Mary Tyler Moore, even helped generously in the refurbishing of the home.

Again, because this home never left the family until the time it was donated to the historical foundation, something like 80% of the furnishings and art would have been used, sat on, or looked at by Stonewall himself. A devoutly religious man, his actual prayer table that he took with him everywhere he went was there. The desk he plotted maps on, wrote letters from, the table he dined at, all remain in the home. We learned that at Manassas at the First Battle of Bull Run, he commanded his troops to fill a breach in the confederate lines. One of his fellow Generals said “Look at Jackson standing there like a stone wall.” The name stuck.

We learned that Jackson died long before the end of the war in a very strange way. On May 2 1863, on returning to camp after an assault on the Union forces, he and his men were mistaken for a Union cavalry unit and were fired on by his own confederate soldiers. He was given immediate medical care, but died 8 days later from his wounds and the complications of pneumonia.

Tomorrow we head further south to meet up with our besties, Ron Ezra and Teresa Bell. We plan to meet at Shenandoah National Park, another Park we have never been to. Yippee!

Talk to you soon.