09.03.09
Always Bring Fresh Batteries
About a month ago I visited Spotsylvania Courthouse National Battlefield while on my way down to Richmond. I knew that this battlefield was part of a single Fredericksburg-Spotsylvania Counties park system and didn’t have a visitor facility at the battlefield, but I didn’t want to go out of my way to stop at the Fredericksburg NBP visitor center for the muffin stamp. I was kind of hoping that in the interpretive shelter they might have the stamp and ink pad in a box, like they do at Fort Washington Park, but they don’t. If you want a stamp to mark your visit, you’ll have to stop in the Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville NBP visitor center.
Anyhow, I have always wanted to see this NBP because of all the descriptions of the bloody, protracted hand-to-hand fighting that occurred at the Bloody Angle on May 12th. It’s just one of those things that is hard to imagine. 20 hours! I wanted to see the battlefield for myself in order to try and picture it.
Unfortunately, I can’t provide any photos to help you picture it. My camera batteries were low and my spares had not been charged. The first (and last) photo I took was of this plaque:
To imagine that small arms fire could bring down a 22-inch oak tree might tell all you need to know about the intensity of this battle without other photographs.
…and then my batteries died.
It is an amazing battlefield. On the Confederate lines, can you imagine seeing 20,000 Union troops of the 2nd Corps emerge out of the woods just a few hundred yards in front of you in the early morning mist?
Hiking over to the treeline, can you imagine walking out of the woods that May 12th morning and looking across the terrain and slightly upwards at the Confederate breastworks, bristling with men and cannon?
Casualties were tremendous; regiments were wrecked and yet there is a paucity of monuments at the site. Personally, I expected dozens clustered right there. There are good and bad consequences to that, but that’s a discussion for another post.
06.18.09
Go to National Parks for free this weekend!
And on July 18-19 and August 15-16, too.
Details here: http://www.gadling.com/2009/06/17/take-dad-to-a-national-park-this-weekend-for-free/
Not a big post, I admit, but an important last-minute notification!
05.24.09
Special Commemorative Stamp and Button
In addition to receiving the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens stamp yesterday, the Rangers also stamped my book with a stamp commemorating the Inauguration.
A Limited Edition stamp
They also gave me a button.
"Where History Happens": How'd they know history was going to happen there?
Considering that I did not attend, the stamp is merely a “Collector’s item” in my book. So, no reason to protest. It will not count towards my total this year.
It is Limited Edition stamp, supposed to have been available only from January 20 to February 20, 2009.
The rationale behind the stamp was that Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, given on park land, helped make possible the 44th President.
The woman who gave the Inaugural poem was a little girl in the crowd that day on the Mall, which is part of the reason why she was picked; the other reason being that she and Obama attended school together. I am sure that helps. That’s a relief to hear, because it definitely wasn’t because she was a good poet.
06.07.08
National Park Talk Radio
While looking into Karen Midkiff’s Got the Stamp? book series, I discovered “The Ultimate Talk Show About America’s National Parks,” hosted by…Karen Midkiff.
Hard to tell when “This week’s show” on Arches National Park was actually posted. I will have to check back “next week” to see if anything has been added. It’ll be interesting to listen to the entire thing and hear what she’s put into it.
