Place: Jamestown, VA Weather: Showers 56/71F Route: From Roanoke Island 155 miles NNW on US-158 W to NC/VA-168 N to I-64 N.
Established: 1607 Significance: First permanent English settlement in North America. It was the capital of the colony of Virginia until 1699, when it moved to nearby Williamsburg (where Kendra and I had our honeymoon). It was a tough sledding at the beginning however - 80% of the original colonists died in the first year and almost abandoned the settlement - but they were saved by a ship bringing provisions and new settlers. Jamestown and the surrounding area saw many themes that would continue with European settlement - namely wars with Native Americans and arrival of the first African slaves (brought to the area in in 1619). Websites: Historic Jamestowne, National Park Service.
Images:
The settlement today (from virginia.org)
17th Century drawing of original fort (from nps.gov)
Place: Roanoke Island, NC Weather: Mostly Sunny, 59/65F Route: From Stagville Historic Site 222 miles east on I-540E and US-64E.
Significance: The first English settlement in North America - the "lost colony" of Roanoke. In 1584 the English were playing catch-up to Spain in terms of settlement of the New World. The initial excursions of the English into North America were mostly focused on disrupting the dominance of the Spanish in the Americas. England and Spain were the two major world super powers at the time. They would fight an informal war for much of the late 16th and early 17th century - punctuated by the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. There were expeditions in 1584 and 1585 to Roanoke Island, but it was the expedition of 1587 that would become known as the "lost colony." John White, the governor of the colony stayed on the island for only a month. The only real "success" of the colony was the birth of the first English child in North America - Virginia Dare.
White hoped to return quickly back to Roanoke - however, the threat of the Spanish Armada in 1588 meant that all English resources had to be focused on defeating the Spanish - which they did. The appetite for English exploration of North America also waned, as it was expensive and seemingly wasn't paying dividends. White wasn't able to convince anyone to finance his return to the colony until 1590. He didn't find any surviving members of the colony. He only found the cryptic "croatan" carved into a palisade post. He was stopped from searching for survivors by a storm and returned to England not knowing the fate of the colonists. England wouldn't be successful in forming a permanent colony until 16 years later in Jamestown. Website: Fort Raleigh Historic Site National Park Service.
Video:
National Geographic Society video on the lost colony
Place: Stagville Historic Site, NC Weather: Mostly Sunny, 43/67F Route: From Charlotte 153 miles ENE on I-85N.
Time period of interest: 18th and 19th centuries Significance: I haven't visited any plantations yet on my trip. Mostly because many of them are focused on the romanticizing the "old south" - rather than the exploitation of slaves that led to their wealth. Stagville is different in that nobody is going to be taking their wedding pictures in front of the relatively bland looking manor house. However, the plantation was incredibly vast. By 1860 the plantation was over 30,000 acres and had 900 slaves. The current site focuses on the lives of the slaves, including still standing dwellings. Websites: Stagville Foundation, North Carolina Historic Site.
Place: Charlotte, NC Weather: Showers, 56/78F Route: From Great Smoky Mountains National Park 200 miles east on I-40E, I-26E, US-74E, and I-85N.
Population: 872,498 (2018) Nicknames: The Queen City, The Hornet's Nest Popular Places to Visit: NASCAR Hall of Fame,Levine Museum of the New South, Mint Museum Uptown. Nonfiction books: Kratt, Mary. Charlotte, North Carolina: A Brief History.
Gallard, Frye. The Dream Long Deferred: The Landmark Struggle for Desegregation in Charlotte, NC. Photos:
Place: Great Smoky Mountains National Park - UNESCO World Heritage Site Weather: AM Showers, 52/72F Route: From Nashville 224 miles east on I-40E, then TN-66S, then US-441S.
Significance: Incredibly diverse species of plants and animals. There are more species of trees in this park (130) than in all of Europe. It is home to 31 species of salamander. The drive from Nashville is one of my favorites. Tennessee may be the most underrated states for beauty in the country. Animals: American Black Bear, Salamander, Elk, hummingbirds, trout, woodpeckers etc. Further Reading: Brown, Margaret. Wild East: A Biography of the Great Smoky Mountains. Websites: UNESCO World Heritage Site, National Park Service. Photos:
The misty mountains (from tripsavvy.com)
You might encounter some bears on your trip - like I did 20 years ago (from triptodiscover.com)
Place: Nashville, TN Weather: AM Showers 56/74F Route: From Montgomery 280 miles North on I-65N.
Population: 692,587 (2018) Nicknames: Music City, Athens of the South Popular Places to Visit: Grand Old Opry,Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Cheekwood. Nonfiction Books: Kosser, Michael. How Nashville Became Music City U.S.A.: 50 Years of Music Row.
Patchett, Ann and Ross, Heidi. Nashville: Scenes from the New American South. Photos:
Grand Ole Opry Stage (from opry.com)
Cheekwood Estate and Gardens (from citysights.com)
Nonfiction books: Kohl, Herbert and Brown, Cynthia Stokes. She Would Not Be Moved: How We Tell the Story of Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
Parks, Rosa and Haskins, Jim. Rosa Parks: My Story.
Photos:
Alabama State Capitol (from civilrightstrail.com)
Statue outside of the Legacy Museum (from nbcnews.com)
Place: Tuskegee, AL Weather: PM showers 67/83F Route: 105 miles from Andersonville on GA-26W and US-80W
Population: 8,413 (2018) Nicknames: Thou Pride of the Swift Growing South History: In 1881, 25 year-old Booker T. Washington was named the head of the new Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers. Born into slavery himself - he developed the school into the Tuskegee Institute. He gained financial support of many philanthropists from around the United States and built the school into one of the major centers for African-American higher education. Their most famous faculty member was George Washington Carver, who made advances in agriculture. The town was also the home of the Tuskegee Airmen - the first squadron of African-American pilots in World War II. Further Reading:
Homan, Lynn and Reilly, Thomas. The Tuskegee Airmen Story.
Vella, Christina. George Washington Carver: A Life.
Washington, Booker T. Up From Slavery. Websites: Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site - National Park Service, Tuskegee University.
Place: Andersonville National Historic Site, GA Weather: Sunny 58/82F Route: From Atlanta 125 miles south on I-75, then GA-42 south, then US-341 south.
Time Period of Interest: 1864-1865 Significance: This one is not exactly a pick-me-up. For 14 months near the end of the Civil War, Camp Sumter - more commonly known as Andersonville, was the site for Union prisoners. It was a camp open to the skies - 26.5 acres enclosed by 15 foot high stockade walls. It was designed to hold 10,000 prisoners - at its height it had 33,000 prisoners. Shelters were made from whatever the prisoners brought with them - mostly tents made of blankets. The only water available was from a creek that ran through the camp. Over 12,000 men would eventually die from disease there. Website: National Park Service Further Reading:
Futch, Ovid and Gray, Michael. History of Andersonville Prison.
Ripple, Ezra and Snell, Mark. Dancing Along the Deadline: The Andersonville Memoir of a Prisoner of the Confederacy. Photos:
Place: Atlanta, GA Weather: Partly Cloudy 50/73F Route: 300 miles from Charleston west on I-26 and then I-20
Population: 498,044 (2018) Nicknames: The City in a Forest, The ATL Popular Places to Visit: Atlanta Botanical Garden, National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Buckhead, World of Coca-Cola. Nonfiction books:
Hagerman, Jeff. Abandoned Atlanta: Echoes of a Storied Past.
Dooley, Laura-Ann. Wicked Atlanta: The Sordid Side of Peach City History.
Burns, Rebecca. Rage in the Gate City: The Story of the 1906 Race Riot. Photos:
The skyline (from narcity.com)
Earth Goddess Sculpture at Atlanta Botanical Gardens (from atlantabg.com)
If I could only go to one place in Charleston it would be Fort Sumter. I am a bit of a Civil War buff. To me it just seems crazy that less 100 years after this country was established that things became so contentious that a war was necessary to iron out our differences. We were born on the idea that "all men are created equal." Most of our biggest conflicts in this country have been regarding what defines a "man." It seems obvious to most of us today, but it wasn't always that way. It makes me think about how if we were so obviously that blind in the past, what are we blind to today?
Ok, to get back to Fort Sumter. It was the place where it all started 159 years and 7 days ago. South Carolina and six other states had already declared secession from the United States. However, there was only a general framework of an army in the south. The participants in that first bombardment included students from the local war college, The Citadel. The signal to start the bombardment came from some old crazy farmer from Virginia (see picture below), who had wanted to secede from the U.S. for 20 years. The general in charge on the southern side was P.G.T Bauregard, who had been the star pupil of Major Robert Anderson at West Point - who was in charge of Fort Sumter for the Union side. Captain Abner Doubleday, who was erroneously declared to be the inventor of baseball 40 years later, fired the first shot for the defense of the fort.
The rag tag nature of this first battle - the professionals with personal relationships - the entrance of people on to the stage who would become famous even into our own time. This battle had a lot of characteristics that would become themes in the coming war. What it didn't have were deaths (only a confederate horse was killed) or length (Anderson gave up the fort after 34 hours). It seemed to give many people the false sense that the war would also be bloodless and short.
Place: St. Augustine, FL Weather: Showers, 59/72F Route: From Cape Canaveral 127 miles north on I-95.
History: Founded in 1565 by Spaniards, it is the longest continuously inhabited city by Europeans in the contiguous United States. Soon became part of the war between Spain and England to be the world's superpower at the time. It was sacked by several British privateers, including Sir Francis Drake. Population: 14,576 (2018) Nicknames: Ancient City, Old City Popular Places to Visit: St. Augustine Lighthouse & Maritime Museum, Castillo de San Marcos, Pirate and Treasure Museum, The Lightner Museum. Nonfiction books:
Gold, Robert. St. Augustine: A History of America's Oldest City.
Graham, Thomas. Mr. Flagler's St. Augustine.
Sappington, Drew. Hidden History of St. Augustine.
Corbett, Theodore. St. Augustine's Pirates and Privateers. Photos:
The Ponce de Leon Hotel (from atlastobscura.com)
Castillo de San Marcos (from visitstaugustine.com)
Place: Cape Canaveral, FL Weather: Scattered Thunderstorms, 69/82F Route: From Miami 213 miles north on I-95.
Significance: Home to the United States' only "spaceport", Kennedy Space Center, since the beginning of NASA in the 1960's. Nonfiction books:
Barbree, Jay. "Live from Cape Canaveral": Covering the Space Race, from Sputnik to Today.
Spencer, Donald. Cape Canaveral: America's Spaceport.
West-Reynolds, David. Kennedy Space Center: Gateway to Space. Websites: Kennedy Space Center,NASA Kennedy Space Center Home.
Photos:
Kennedy Space Center (from nasa.gov)
Launch from Kennedy Space Center (from wheretraveler.com)
Place: The Bahamas Weather: Mostly Sunny, 73/85F Route: Our first trip outside the US! From Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale there are twice daily ferries to Freeport on Grand Bahama. The ferry takes approximately 2 hours 30 minutes. The Bahamas are relatively spread out. Most of the sites I link to here are actually in Nassau, which is 100 miles south of Freeport - to get there from Florida, especially for a day trip - it's probably best to take a plane.
Population: 385,637 (2018) Popular Places to visit: Pirates of Nassau Museum, Pompey Museum of Slavery & Emancipation, Fort Charlotte. Nonfiction books:
Riley, Sandra. Homeward Bound: A History of the Bahama Islands to 1850 with a Definitive Study of Abaco in the American American Loyalist Plantation Period.
Keegan, William. The People Who Discovered Columbus: A Prehistory of the Bahamas
Curry, Christopher. Freedom and Resistance: A Social History of Black Loyalists in the Bahamas. Photos:
Fort Charlotte (from historynassau.wordpress.com)
Government House with statue of Christopher Columbus (from bahamas.gov.bs)
Place: Miami, FL Weather: Partly cloudy, 77/88F Route: From Key West 164mi NE on US-1.
Population: 470,914 (2018) Nicknames: The Magic City, The Gateway to the Americas, Capital of Latin America Popular places to visit: Art Deco Historic District, Vizcaya Museum and Gardens, Little Havana, Deering Estate,Wynwood Walls. Nonfiction books:
Didion, Joan. Miami.
Farzad, Roben, Davis, Jonathan et al. Hotel Scarface: Where Cocaine Cowboys Partied and Plotted to Control Miami.
Eire, Carlos. Learning How to Die in Miami. Photos:
Vizcaya Museum and Gardens (from visitflorida.com)
Art Deco Historic District (from miamiandbeaches.com)
