• The James River Plantations
The James River crosses Northern Virginia, through Richmond, and reaches the sea near Williamsburg. Along this seaward stretch the early Virginia planters set up their family homes and businesses.
Some of these plantations have been restored to their original splendor; one or two are original after over 300 years.
The Shirley Plantation
This is one of the few truly original Plantations. It was established in 1613, and the current main house completed in 1723. It is still in its original condition with furnishings, silver and some fabrics still in the house. It contains a beautiful carved walnut staircase that rises three stories with no visible means of support.
Most of the Plantations were destroyed during the Civil War (or the War between the States or the Late Unpleasantness, depending on who is speaking). The Shirley Plantation survived because the Shirley family opened their home as a hospital for wounded Union soldiers. In gratitude, the "Damn Yankees" did not burn the buildings as they did with other farmsteads.
Sherwood Forest This property is known mostly for having been owned by two U.S. Presidents; William Henry Harrison and John Tyler. Tyler's descendants still live there.
The grounds are beautiful, with huge old oaks shading a big sloping lawn. The house is a bit peculiar; it is 301 feet long and only one room thick. From the entry, it is possible to look right through the house and see the "front lawn". (All these plantations are built with the front door toward the river, since boats were originally the main means of travel in the 1600's.). The extreme length of the house is attributed to the habit of repeatedly constructing an outbuilding, then adding a connection to include it in the main house.
In my opinion (IMHO) the condition of this plantation is fair, except for the ball-room which has been renovated recently,and is excellent.
Evelynton
This manor house is one that was destroyed during the Civil War and not rebuilt until 1930, when a newly-designed mansion was erected, combining some of the better features of the other Plantations. It is still worth visiting, because of the grandeur of the house and lawns.
A feature worth mentioning is the 300+ year old trees. Evelynton, in common with some others, considers them so valuable that each of them has its own lightning arrester, complete with copper ground cable!
• Luray Caverns, Luray, Virginia
Words can't express the beauty of the Luray Caverns - in fact pictures can't do them justice, either. Since I don't have pictures yet, I'll try "gorgeous, awesome, beautiful, interesting, fascinating".
The Shenandoah Valley, in Virginia, is well-known for scenic beauty. Farmlands, pristine forests and small, neat little cities abound. For a quiet, relaxed trip it's well worth visiting.
Under the Shenandoah Valley, at Luray, is a whole nother world. 400 million years ago the valley was under water, and generation after generation of sea creatures lived and died there. Their skeletons laid down deep layers of limestone. Over the ensuing centuries the land rose above sea level, and water trickling down through the limestone began to carve out chambers in the rock. Where it dripped from above, stalactites were formed; where it reached to the floor, stalagmites began to develop; when they met, columns were the result. (I can only keep them separate by remembering that stalactites stick tight to the ceiling.). Other minerals present as impurities give color to the formations. Some of the most impressive of the formations are "draperies" where water flowed over large rocks, and eventually formed curtains of limestone.
The only thing I can compare the caverns to is Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Rose prefers Luray, I vote for Carlsbad.
In the little town of Luray we encountered a most interesting lady. At the time of our visit, she had opened a combination restaurant, bookstore, reading room, and had plans to renovate the building for the benefit of the city. We wish her every success.
• Biltmore, the Vanderbilt House, Asheville, North Carolina
The Vanderbilt family, beginning with the "Commodore", Cornelius Vanderbilt, was excellent at making money, and using it to build big, lavish, expensive residences. George Washington Vanderbilt, a grandson of the Commodore, seemed to be determined to out-do his grandfather and father. For whatever reason, he fell in love with the western part of North Carolina; enough so that he bought 125,000 acres at Asheville. Then he commissioned what turned out to be the largest residence ever built in the United States.
Biltmore, as he named it, took six years to build, starting in 1889. He hired Richard Morris Hunt, a noted architect from New York, to design it, and Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect who designed Central Park on Manhattan Island to design the grounds.
The result is a huge French Renaissance mansion. Some statistics: 34 master bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, 3 kitchens, 65 fireplaces; 250 rooms in all. In the main entry room are three fireplaces, each at least 30 feet wide, and 20 feet high.
Is this a beautiful building? Not in my mind. It's impressive because of its size, but not at all attractive. What's beautiful about Biltmore are the grounds and outbuildings. There still remai n about 8000 acres of the original purchase.
Is this an expensive place to visit? Very! But since a person will probably only do it once, Oh Well!
•The Hershey Candy Visitors' Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania
It's true! As soon as you approach the city of Hershey, Pa., the wonderful aroma of chocolate fills the air. Yum! The Hershey factory is the main industry in the town, both from a production standpoint and as a tourist destination.
Admission to the factory itself is no longer available, but that's no problem, since there is a new Visitor's Center, automated in Disney style, and very effective.
When you enter the Center, you walk up a long, winding ramp, with pictures and illustrations explaining how Mr. Hershey decided to build his factory there. (The availability of milk [from the Amish farmers nearby] for his milk chocolate was one factor.) Also something we had never heard about, he donated a good portion of his profits to a boys' school called the Hershey school which is still in existence, and extremely well-funded.
At the top of the ramp you step onto a large slow-moving circle of flooring and at the opposite side, take seats in a train of cars moving at the same speed. The cars are completely automated. If there is something to be seen at the left, the seats swivel that way.
Exhibits having to do with receiving raw materials (primarily chocolate, sugar and milk), mixing, forming, wrapping, are seen through windows. Here the Disney influence is obvious. Mirrors are used to good advantage, so that one little animated candy kiss stirring a pot, looks like a long corridor of them.
At the end of the train ride comes the piéce de resistance - a free CANDY BAR! (although a small one).
You then enter what would normally be the Gift Shop. In this case, though, it's the Chocolate Shop. Chocolate ice cream, chocolate bars, white chocolate, ...chocolate chocolate chocolate! Bet you can't get through without buying some. We couldn't!
• Washington D. C.
Unfortunately, our trip to D.C. was not as happy as it should have been.
It started off well: We motored into the Washington area, spent the night in Alexandria, and decided to use the pickup van provided by the motels in the area. It took us to a Metro station.
Metro is wonderful! It operates in a similar manner to the BART system in San Francisco; you put $5.00 in a machine, and receive a ticket which allows you through the turnstile, and on the train. At your destination the ticket lets you through the turnstile which deducts your fare from the ticket and returns it to you. The cars are clean and comfortable, and the viewing exceptional.
We got off the train at the Mall in D.C. and rode a motorized trolley to the Library of Congress. It was too early to get in. Across the street, at the Capitol, crowds of school kids on tour were waiting, and after 90 minutes in line, in rain and occasional snow, with the temperature at 33° we were informed that the wait would be about two hours more.
So, off to the White House! No map can indicate how LONG the Mall is, or how FAR it is from the Capitol to the White House. We walked it, but were not really prepared for the weather. "No tours of the White House, today!" and even if there were it was too late.
Back down the mall to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. After not nearly long enough to see everything, we decided to eat in the Museum's cafeteria. Expensive!
We did see the Museum of Natural History. Magnificent, but also crowded with school tours.
At that point, cold and wet, we decided to return to the motel. Couldn't find the Metro station! Someone finally pointed it out to us; it was marked by a small brown pole in the lawn. The trip back to Alexandria went well, then when we got off the train, found that the pickup van didn't operate for two more hours. Finally took a cab back to the motel and our car.
We certainly acknowledge that our difficulties were not the fault of Washington; we were unprepared for the weather, and completely naive about travelling in our nation's capital.
