A Visit from Aunt Annie, Uncle Brett, Evie and Stanley

 Towards the end of September my sister Annie, her husband Brett, and their daughter Evangeline came to visit us. We hadn't seen them in quite some time because they were westcoasters. They lived in California for a few years then Utah for the past year, but in July they moved to Marietta, Georgia and we are so glad. This makes it much more possible for us to see them. Evie was born 11 days after Caiden so they are very close in age, size, and ability. It was cute to see them "play" together. The first day that they were with us we decided to head out and show them around our town. The first stop was Old Mill park which is right along the Rappahannock River. It was a beautiful day perfect weather and the view of the river was breathtaking. We packed a picnic lunch and sat at a table alongside of the river and ate our lunch. It was very soothing.

 After our picnic lunch we headed over to Chatham Manor. Chatham is literally less than 5 minutes away from us, it is a mansion that was built in the 1770's and was a working plantation well into the 1800's. During the Civil War it was used as the headquarters for the Union Army. The owner of the plantation at the time had enlisted with the Confederate forces and was gone when the Union Army literally told the owner's wife to get out that they were going to be using the house as their headquarters. I can't imagine being in that position, but when you see the mansion you can understand why the Union forces wanted it. It is strategically placed overlooking the city and just beyond the river.

 Fredericksburg around the time of the Civil War (Thank you Annie, I copied this from your blog.)

 A similar view of Fredericksburg today. The church spires that you can see in the distance were there at the time of the Civil war and still stand today!

 Chatham also served as a barracks for the soldiers as well as a hospital. Along the inside of the windows many of the soldiers carved their names, rank and division. This was left in place and can still be seen today. Many soldiers were brought to Chatham after being seriously injured. While there the doctors and nurses would try to help them often having to resort to chopping off arms and legs that were too seriously wounded to be saved. The limbs were then literally thrown out the window and piled up along the base of this tree which is still standing. This is the oldest tree in the county. Most of the other trees were cut down to be used for the war effort, so that's why this is the oldest one around. 

Walt Whitman came to Chatham looking for his brother who was a Union soldier and upon seeing the tree and the carnage  he wrote: "a heap of amputated feet, legs, arms, hands, etc.-about a load for a one-horse cart. Several dead bodies lie near," he added, "each covered with its brown woolen blanket." In all, more than 130 Union soldiers died at Chatham and were buried on the grounds.

Many other famous people have been visitors to Chatham including George Washington who grew up literally less than a mile away, Thomas Jefferson, and Clara Barton who served there as a nurse and later founded the American chapter of the Red Cross. 

 After touring Chatham Manor we visited the Fredericksburg battlefield. The battle of Fredericksburg was fought on two fronts. Chatham being where the Union soldiers were stationed and Marye's Heights being where the Confederate soldiers were. Marye's Heights is pretty much right across from Chatham on the other side of the river.The Union forces were planning on taking over the city of Feredericksburg but couldn't get over the Rappahannock until barges were delivered. The barges were delayed getting to Chatham and upon their arrival the Confederate forces had already secured a stronghold within the city forcing the Union soldiers to attack. It was a terrible defeat for the Union. The Confederate troops were all lined up along the wall in the picture below and when the Union soldiers tried to get close they would be struck down. The tour guide that was talking with us another time we were there said that no Union soldier got within 100 feet of the wall, they were all shot  down before they could get there. General Burnside kept sending more and more troops up to the front line only to have them struck down as well.  In all over 12,000 Union soldiers died at the battle of Fredericksburg. This picture is of the wall along the Sunken road at the base of Marye's Heights that the Confederate troops were lined up along. Most sections of the wall have since been rebuilt, only a small original section still stands.

 Picture of the Sunken Road shortly after the battle of Fredericksburg. Yes that is actual bodies of soldiers lying in the trenches along the wall.

 

Day two of Annie and Brett's visit we headed up to Washington DC. Annie and Brett left earlier than us and went to Mount Vernon and The Holocaust Museum. To read about their adventures check out Annie's blog at:

http://abmurdock.blogspot.com/2011/10/virginia-sweep-new-jersey-part-i.html

We met up with Annie and Brett at the American History Museum. This was the second time I was there and I still have probably only seen 1/3 of it. There is so much history there. Of particular interest to me was the Civil Rights exhibit. During my teaching days I taught a unit on a novel called The Watson's Go To Birmingham-1963, which deals with a black family who travels to Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 during the height of the Civil Rights movement. I taught a ton of background information about the movement to my students therefore it is something close to my heart that has always interested me. We arrived at the museum fairly late in the afternoon and the museum closes at 5:30 so I did not get to see as much as I wanted. After that we headed over to the mall where all the memorials are located.

This is the Washington Monument. It was damaged during the recent earthquake that we had here in Virginia. Cracks have been found all along the top so it has been closed for repairs since the earthquake.

 WW II Memorial, I hadn't been there in years.

 This is the Reflecting Pool, :( they are apparently remodeling it so it was a muddy mess and closed to tourists.

Here's the  Lincoln Memorial, we had walked so far because there is no parking anywhere close to the mall in DC so our cars were literally miles away, then we had to walk from the museum to the mall. Anyway we were very tired and our lazy butts didn't want to carry our kids up the steps into the memorial. At the time there was no way I was going to do it, but we could have taken the elevator because we had strollers and now looking back I wish we would have.

 Annie and Evie

 Lucas, Ayla, Amber, and Caiden

 After the Lincoln Memorial we were determined to see the brand new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. It was just dedicated a couple of weeks ago.

 After the MLK Memorial we were plumb tuckered out and just wanted to go home. I can't imagine how tired Annie and Brett had to have been considering they had left at the crack of dawn and gone all day without eating. As I said our cars were parked literally miles away and we figured it would be faster to send the husbands to get the cars while we waited with the kids. We figured wrong. It took hours.  Annie and I and the kids waited at an outdoor cafe type place while the boys went to get the cars. Poor Annie was mutilated by chiggers and Ayla got quite a few bites as well. Mercifully Evie, Caiden, and I were spared.  We got home after 10 and were starving, luckily I had dinner cooking in the crockpot all day so we sat down and enjoyed a meal together after getting the kiddos to bed.

Before they left I made sure to get some pics of Caiden and Evie together because they are so close in age. Here are a few of them. You can definitely see the resemblance and tell that they are related. They even have matching drool spots on their shirts! Shortly after they left Caiden started rolling all over the place. I think Evie inspired him. He figured he couldn't let his girl cousin who's younger than him show him up. :)

Evie is the happiest kid I ever did see. She is so darn cute, always smiling. Even if she's not smiling, as soon as you look at her she turns it on and gets the biggest smile on her face. It's so cute.

 Annie and Brett we loved having you, even Stanley :)  Now that you're closer let's do it more often. Maybe next time we'll come to you.