Washington D.C. to the C & D

Continuing up the Chesapeake, we anchored out in Deltaville, VA and the  next day moved on to Deale, MD.  We rented a car and drove into Washington D.C.  

Union Station, a busy place.

Outside of Union Station, we boarded the on-off Red Tour Bus to see the parks and monuments.  We don't have many photos because our camera battery was dead.

We had The Library of Congress for a planned visit.  We had not been there before, the library is an amazing and beautiful place.  We hope to go back again for a longer visit.  So much to see.

The Reading Room

The Library states that its collection fills about 838 miles of bookshelves.  Books cannot be removed from the reading rooms or the library buildings.

After our day of touring, we drove to Springfield, VA to spend the weekend with college-days friends, Benny and Lenita.  We certainly enjoyed our time with them; they are wonderful cooks and gardeners.  We were treated to great meals and even sent home with strawberries from their garden.

Benny's garden

Backyard landscaping, so pretty to see.  Sharon is sitting at the table inside the glass doors.

It was time to go back to the boat and start our trek toward New York City.  We continue up the Chesapeake, go across the C & D Canal (Chesapeake and Delaware), down Delaware Bay and up the Atlantic.  It is a long trip that takes several days.

Lots and lots and lots of different types of boats.

Sailing on the Chesapeake.

We saw this boat near Baltimore, MD.  It appeared to be carrying a crew to the large ship.

We met this in the C & D Canal.

Going down the Delaware Bay.  

Look close, do you see New York City in the distance?

History Comes Alive

In the middle of May, we enjoyed wonderful weather and the history of Jamestowne and Williamsburg, VA.

Colonial Williamsburg is a living history museum.  Some surviving colonial structures have been restored to their 18th century appearance.  Horses, sheep, chickens, gardens and smokehouses add to the colonial atmosphere.  A fiddler entertained us while we enjoyed a wonderful lunch of Shepherd's Pie and Welsh Rarebit at Chowning's Tavern.

While at Williamsburg, visitors interact with its citizens who reinact the 1775 era and the beginning of the Revolution.  The townspeople - shopkeepers, polictical figures, women, and slaves share their hopes, fears and opinions about events which led to the upcoming war.  

The townspeople are very upset because their gunpowder is missing.  The Magazine was colonial Virginia's storehouse for guns, ammunition and military supplies.  The action of British Governor Dummare the night of April 20, 1775, in removing the gunpowder belonging to the Colony, touched off the Revolution in Virginia.

Governor Dumaree talks to the townspeople to explain his reasons for removing the gunpowder.  He later flees to Yorktown.

Patrick Henry addresses the crowd persuading the colonists to fight for a free and independent nation.

Recruiting soldiers to fight in the war.

Hear Ye, Hear Ye - Reading of the Declaration of Independence.

Walking around the town.

Town Jail

Interesting fences.

Horse and buggy that visitors may hire for a ride.

One of many shopkeepers.

This mid-eighteenth century building was the home of George Wythe, tutor and friend of Thomas Jefferson.  Wythe was a Virginian and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.  George Washington used the house as his headquarters in 1781 before the siege of Yorktown.  Five major outbuildings and garden plan reflect a plantation layout.  

George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette met in Williamsburg before the battle at Yorktown.

Next stop, Jamestowne.

This settlement was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas.  Jamestowne served as the capital of the colony for 83 years, from 1616 until 1699.  

 Archaeological dig at historic Jamestowne.  Many artifacts are preserved in the museum.

The blacksmith makes nails for repairing Jamestowne buildings. 

Powhatan Village.  It is estimated that there were 14,000 - 21,000 Powhatan people in eastern Virginia when the English settled Jamestown in 1607.  The English and Powhatan were united through marriages of its members, of which the most well known was that of John Rolfe and Pocahontas.  

King talking to a 'sailor' on a tall ship.

We thoroughly recommend visiting Williamsburg and Jamestowne, another must stop!

We left Hampton, Virginia and headed for Maryland.  Here we spent several days anchored in Solomon's, Maryland.

Blue Moon in the center of this photo.  We took the dinghy to shore for a fish dinner.  Also pulled the boat out for maintenance at Zanhisers Marina.  

Sailing on the Chesapeake

Not So Dismal Swamp

Some people like the Dismal Swamp and some don't.  The Dismal Swamp 2014 was our first day boating on the Loop.  We had minor mishaps and made mistakes.  I was nervous because I didn't know what to do or how to do anything related to docking a boat.  Even so, we thought the Dismal Swamp was pretty and decided to go that way again.  (The Dismal Swamp is an alternate route off the Intracoastal Waterway).

Jump to 2015.  What a difference a year makes.  Sunny and bright.

Dismal Swamp Visitor Center is a wonderful facility with a free dock wall.  Here boats often raft together for the night.  The night we stayed there were only four boats, so no rafting for us.

We enjoyed a tasty picnic dinner with Roundabout, Ken and Teri.  Teri's cousin joined them on their boat from Elizabeth City to Hampton, VA.

Roundabout and five other boats waiting for the lock to open.  There are two small locks and two bridges that must be opened.  The Lockmaster controls the locks and the bridges.

After the Dismal Swamp, the Elizabeth River opens into a very busy shipping channel.  Below is a tour boat.  We should be in the pictures they were taking of us.

Norfolk, VA is on the east bank.  Many large destoyers, tankers and ships.

On the west bank is the town of Portsmouth, VA.  We stayed here last year. However, rules have changed and no boats over 40' can stay on the town wall. We were travelling with Roundabout and they are too large.  So, we took our boats and our dollars to Hampton, VA, to the Hampton Public Piers Marina.