Virginia
Appomattox National Park
General Lee Surrenders
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We made it to Virginia!
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This is the view of the Blue
Ridge Parkway from the Puckett Cabin.
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Foggy view of valley
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Valley view from Blue Ridge Parkway
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Natural Bridge
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Lois is in the picture.
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Salt Peter mine-used for gunpowder
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Loud sound of "Lost River"
through this hole-have never found source or mouth of river
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Monacan Indian food area
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Basket weaver
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Monacan ati (house). It is coverd
with the leavs of a cattail plant.
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You know how I love convertibles-my
niece, Susan's Miata
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Niece Susan, Lindsay (up), Cara,
Michael and Frank
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Fred, Lois, Susan, Frank
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Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
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What?
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Remember the typewriter erasers?
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June 27 - Moving on into
Virginia we got off the interstate to travel on the Blue Ridge Parkway, a small
highway that runs along the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
It is maintained by the national park service.
It is a beautiful drive, but with all the twist and turns, it has a 45
mph speed limit so the day got really long.
We ate lunch in a pull-out next to an old cabin. The lady that lived there, lived until she
was 102. She was a mid-wife and delivered
over 1,000 babies and never lost a baby nor a mother during the delivery.
She was so good at this thing that she had 24 children of her own.
It didn't say how many husbands she had.
The one other stop we made was another grist mill run with the creek
water. It also had a system of belts
to run a lumber saw, a sander and a large jig saw to cut curved pieces. The man was also a blacksmith and operated
the mill in the early 1900's.
I think everyone in this
area should give us special thanks for bringing rain, we brought thunderstorms
to the area in the afternoon. With all the slow speeds on the Blue Ridge
Parkway, this became a 10 hour drive, whew!!!
First day out we went to the Natural Bridge. This is a bridge formed when the softer, lower levels of rock and dirt washed away over time. The rock is about 500 million years old and they think the lower part washed out in the last million years or so. The bridge is 200 ft off the creek bed and the gap between the walls is about 100 ft wide; State highway 11 actually crosses the bridge today. This site was surveyed by a young George Washington in 1750; his initials are carved in the wall. They have also found surveyor stakes with his name it them. Thomas Jefferson bought the site from the British in 1774 for about $2.40 where he built a home. This area was inhabited by the Monacan Indians for over 300 years. The area is limestone that was uplifted as the mountains formed and the creek bed that runs under the bridge looks like a series of shelves. During the war, they mined saltpeter out of the canyon walls for making gun powder
We did come back through Virginia a second time in August. We visited with my niece Susan Mann. They showed us their wonderful Virginia Museum of Science in the old train depot. Frank filled us in on a lot of Richmond history as we drove around!