We had a good trip to Maryland. The weather was good and the scenery along the way stunning. I was impressed with Virginia, its rolling hills and acres of forest along Route 81. We had missed the striking fall colors but the grey skeletal trees were still appealing in their own way. The landscape looked like we all do in our autumnal season!
Spending Thanksgiving with the family was a good idea. We spent time with both brothers, and my Dad who was very happy to see us. And I was especially thrilled to meet and hold my beautiful baby niece. Finally I am an aunt to my younger (by 16 years) brother's first child. It seems backwards, but I was a grandmother before becoming an aunt. In fact our daughters became aunts before I did!
When we left Maryland to return to Knoxville after the Thanksgiving long weekend, we toured the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia. This is the companion facility to the Air & Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington DC, and it opened in 2003. We had flown into the adjacent Dulles Airport many times over the years, but never visited the museum before. Since our driving route south to Knoxville took us right past the area, we took the opportunity to stop in for a visit.
The facility is huge, with hundreds of planes on display, and thousands of other exhibits.
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| my plane nuts hubby, happy as can be |
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| layout of museum with all the planes listed |
- Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a Cold War-era stealth reconnaissance plane, and fastest aircraft at Mach 3.3 at 85,000 feet
- Air France Concorde, operated 1976 – 2003, Mach 2 at 60,000 feet
- Space Shuttle Discovery, in operation 1984 – 2011, 39 earth-orbital missions, 365 days in space
- Boeing B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay, the most sophisticated bomber of WWII, dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima August 6, 1945
- Boeing Dash 80 (prototype for the Boeing 707), famously barrel-rolled in publicity stunt over Lake Washington during Seattle’s 1955 Seafair festivities.
We took a 90-minute docent-led tour through the facility that provided an interesting overview of the museum by taking us to each section and giving a detailed description of an aircraft exhibited there. It would take many more hours to see all we would like to, but we had to move on.
Another “theme” for our RV touring is to visit presidential libraries along our route. Since our return route to Knoxville along Route 81 took us past the small town of Staunton, Virginia, the location of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library, we stopped overnight at the Olde Staunton Inn B&B. This is a grand old home of a wealthy farmer that was purchased about a dozen years ago and refurbished into a B&B and home of the owner. We had dinner at the Depot Grille, a restaurant in the town’s old rail depot, and then were in time to watch Staunton’s annual “Blue Ridge Christmas Parade” with over 100 floats along Beverley Street.
The next morning, after a filling breakfast at the B&B, we went in search of the Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library.
The “manse”, or residence of a Presbyterian Church minister, was the birthplace of Thomas Woodrow Wilson in 1856, a year after his father became the pastor of the Staunton Presbyterian Church. Less than a year later the family moved to Georgia. After President Woodrow Wilson’s death in 1924 the manse was restored to its appearance in 1856 when Thomas Woodrow Wilson was born. We took a guided tour of the house which provided interesting details of 19th century life in Staunton.
One antique item on display in the manse that caught my attention was this sewing machine. Photos were not permitted but the kind docent let me photograph the item entry in the museum's catalog of objects.
What caught my eye were the treadle pedals in the shape of two feet. I doubt my feet would fit into the Cinderella-sized shoe pedals! This machine, a Wilson & Wheeler made in Bridgeport, Connecticut, sold for between $150 and $300, and predates Singer who bought the patent.
We don't know if Mrs Wilson would have owned a sewing machine since they were pricey. But it was interesting to me to know that women were sewing on machines as early as 1850.
The museum in the next building housed the Presidential Library and displays of President Wilson's life. He graduated from Princeton University and later earned a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. He went on to become president of Princeton University in 1902 and then Governor of New Jersey for one term in 1910. In the presidential election of 1912, some Republicans, unhappy with William Howard Taft, split away and formed the Progressive Party with former President Theodore Roosevelt as their candidate. The split allowed the less-popular Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win the election. He was reelected for a second term in 1916.
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| American-made Wheeler and Wilson sewing machine |
One antique item on display in the manse that caught my attention was this sewing machine. Photos were not permitted but the kind docent let me photograph the item entry in the museum's catalog of objects.
What caught my eye were the treadle pedals in the shape of two feet. I doubt my feet would fit into the Cinderella-sized shoe pedals! This machine, a Wilson & Wheeler made in Bridgeport, Connecticut, sold for between $150 and $300, and predates Singer who bought the patent.
We don't know if Mrs Wilson would have owned a sewing machine since they were pricey. But it was interesting to me to know that women were sewing on machines as early as 1850.
The museum in the next building housed the Presidential Library and displays of President Wilson's life. He graduated from Princeton University and later earned a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University. He went on to become president of Princeton University in 1902 and then Governor of New Jersey for one term in 1910. In the presidential election of 1912, some Republicans, unhappy with William Howard Taft, split away and formed the Progressive Party with former President Theodore Roosevelt as their candidate. The split allowed the less-popular Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win the election. He was reelected for a second term in 1916.
Woodrow Wilson is best remembered for his role in World War I. Most Americans were initially isolationist, considering it “Europe’s War”, and wanted to remain neutral. However America had closer cultural and trade ties with England and France and began to see Germany as the aggressor. Two German actions in particular eventually changed American attitudes: German U-boats implemented unrestricted submarine warfare and sank the cruise ship Lusitania killing 1200 passengers including 128 Americans; and, the British intercepted a German message asking Mexico to attack the USA if it entered the war, and Germany would support Mexico’s reconquering of lost territories in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
While Woodrow Wilson had campaigned for the presidency promising to keep the US out of the war, he saw no alternative after these actions and asked Congress for a declaration of war, which occurred in April 1917.
Woodrow Wilson is also remembered for his attempt to establish the League of Nations after the war. At the Paris Peace Conference, the final Treaty of Versailles included many of Wilson’s ideas, but the Treaty was voted down by Congress, and the United States never joined the League of Nations.
On the home front, Wilson's legacy includes establishing The Federal Reserve, and reducing tariffs on imports which resulted in the first federal income tax. He opposed restrictions on immigration at the time when the influx of 14.5 million Catholic and Jewish immigrants from central and southern Europe before the war was viewed as a threat to the traditional Protestant American values.
The pamphlet for the library and museum has an interesting perspective on Wilson's contribution as president. It states -
DEMOCRACY HAS A HISTORY, TOO.
Thomas Jefferson taught us what democracy is.
Abraham Lincoln taught us how democracy works.
And Woodrow Wilson taught us to protect democracy, at home and abroad.
Wilson suffered a stroke in 1919 while still in office, left office in 1921 and died in 1924. He is buried in the Washington National Cathedral.
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| Woodrow Wilson's 1919 Pierce Arrow is still functional and participates in Staunton parades |