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Category: US & Canadian Parks

Greenville, South Carolina

Greenville, South Carolina

There are several Revolutionary War battlefields in the area I wanted to visit: Ninety Six National Historic Site, Cowpens National Battlefield and King’s Mountain National Military Park all part of the Southern Campaign of the American Revolution. Each has a nice visitor center with info on the battles. I was lucky to stop by Ninety Six on the weekend when they were having a special event, 96 Crossroads, always on the first weekend of April. There were guided battlefield tours as well…

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Marietta, Georgia

Marietta, Georgia

I wanted to see several sites in Atlanta plus the Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield but didn’t want to stay in Atlanta. The traffic there drives me mad, worse than Washington or Chicago, so I found a nice place in Marietta. There is plenty to see here and it’s not far for a visit to Atlanta. Recommendations I enjoyed walking around downtown, Marietta Square, and Glover Park. It’s a beautiful area, a lovely walking district, with many stores and restaurants. There is…

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Albany, Georgia

Albany, Georgia

After leaving Pensacola, I headed straight north to visit the Tuskegee Airmen National Historical Site, in Tuskegee, Alabama. I spent the afternoon here, visiting Hanger 1 and Hanger 2, learning so much about these brave men and women. So many people thought they weren’t capable of learning to fly or maintain the planes, they had to deal daily with the blatant racism of other military personnel, and after serving honorably they came home to repressive Jim Crow laws and more. I…

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Fundy National Park

Fundy National Park

I stopped at Hopewell Rocks Provincial Park on my drive from PEI. I arrived about an hour after low tide but found the path down to the beach. Very muddy. Very weird looking. The stairwell down to the rocks on the other side blocked off but I found a path later that led down but by then tide was coming in. I went back a couple days later to see the difference at high tide. Fundy National Park is a small…

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Cape Breton Highlands National Park

Cape Breton Highlands National Park

Hurricane Fiona moved through Atlantic Canada when I was in Halifax. Boo and I stayed safe in our AirBNB even if we were both worried and a little frightened with the wind and rain. Neither of us got much sleep Friday night from the noise. Our power went out around 2230 but was out for less than a day. Cape Breton was harder hit, as was Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland. Power was restored to my rental in Ingonish before…

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Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Cuyahoga Valley National Park

Cuyahoga Valley wasn’t high on my list of parks I ‘must’ visit but it was a little over halfway between where I was and where I wanted to be. I thought it would make a convenient stop for a couple days. It was created in 1974 to protect the Erie & Ohio canal history and the valley from over development. Local advocates worked with Congress to designate it a national park; it was partially created from two county parks in…

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New River Gorge National Park

New River Gorge National Park

Our newest national park, New River Gorge! The “New River” is one of the oldest rivers on the continent. I was surprised to learn there are various methods to date the geological features, so the estimate varies widely between 3 to 320 million years. It’s been a national river since 1978, was “upgraded” to national park and preserve in 2020. On the drive from Charlottesville to Beckley, I stopped at the Sandstone Visitor Center. They have some good exhibits on…

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Antietam National Battlefield

Antietam National Battlefield

The battle of Antietam was the bloodiest day in the history of the United States. On September 17, 1862, 23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing after twelve hours of combat between the Armies of the Potomac and Virginia. I booked a tour through the NPS website with Antietam Guides, offered through the park’s cooperative. I read up on the battle prior to meeting my guide Sharon at 0900 at the visitor center. Scheduled for four hours, we were about four and…

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Harpers Ferry National Historical Park

Harpers Ferry National Historical Park

I tried visiting Harpers Ferry NHP about 18 months ago, on the way from Gettysburg to Shenandoah but, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in the fall, it was crazy busy. There was no parking in the small historic town, even the overflow parking lot two miles up the road was full, so I kept driving. It took me over an hour to get in and out and back on the road because of bumper to bumper traffic. When planning a visit…

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Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park

Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park

The NPS manages all the battlefields in the area, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Chancellorsville, and the Wilderness. It also manages several historic buildings, including Chatham Manor. The battles in the area were over a period of about 18 months, starting with the first battle of Fredericksburg in December, 1862, between Burnside and Lee. Chancellorsville was April and May, 1963. Lee defeated Union general Hooker here and this was where Stonewall Jackson was mortally wounded during the battle. The second battle of Fredericksburg…

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