Tenth Day in Washington, D.C.

Oops, today was NOT spent in Washington, DC.  Instead we took a break away from the city and drove up to Baltimore to see Fort McHenry.

Fort McHenry is the birthplace of the “Star Spangled Banner”, our National Anthem.  The words were written by Francis Scott Key when he saw the flag still flying over the fort after a brutal battle with the British during the War of 1812.

He wasn’t actually at the fort because he was being detained on an American flag-of-truce ship in the Chesapeake Bay while doing a prisoner of war exchange.

The song was made the national anthem by a congressional resolution on March 3, 1931, which was signed by President Herbert Hoover.

We saw a movie about the war and then as the Star Spangled Banners started playing the curtain slowly rose and there was our flag.   It was quite moving.

Hand written draft

Every weekend in the summer employees dress in period costumes and do reenactments.

Drum and fife corps

Firing the cannons

The “tavern”

The bottles were never labeled, they knew what was in them by their shape

The barracks

Inside the barracks

Wow, who knew my Canadian friend not only fought in the war for America but he must be REALLY old and he left his stuff behind!  LOL

LOTS of cannons here

From there we headed to Clara Barton’s House.  Clara Barton organized, and was the first president of the Red Cross.  She was a teacher, humanitarian and a nurse.

I used to love to read biographies when I was a kid and a few that I remember vividly were Clara Barton, Amelia Earhart, and Florence Nightingale.  How cool to visit this site.

She died at the age of 90 in an area called Glen Echo.  While talking with the park ranger we were told there is a Glen Echo Park that is on the George Washington Memorial Parkway and it was right across the parking lot.

The park was nice and even had a carousel.

There even used to be a trolley that ran through here.  Read about the trolley service here.

The park ranger also gave us some information about the George Washington Memorial Parkway and a map so tomorrow we’re going to take it for a leisurely drive (and to get off our feet) from start to finish and end it at Mount Vernon, President Washington’s final resting place.