Park Unit 124: Eisenhower National Historic Site

Home of Eisenhower Family

48 States Wallpaper in the Front Hall - with Territory of Hawaii

The last day of our summer vacation, we drove back to Gettysburg National Military Park to take the tour of Eisenhower National Historic Site. This is only accessible via the tour bus from Gettysburg. We had a ranger who gave us a general overview of Eisenhower's life and why this farm in PA was important in his life originally as a retirement home, but that ended up being a big part of his life when he was President.

Formal Living Room with Gifts from Notable Dignitaries, such as the inlaid table from Korea and rug from Iraq

Painting done by DD Eisenhower - one of his favorite hobbies

A second ranger gave us a tour of the Eisenhower's house which was interesting as an historical recreation of the 1950's and 1960's. It gave a good sense of what type of man he was and how the family lived. We learned a lot and it honestly sparked our interest in Eisenhower which is the best that a national park unit can do!


Finally, we stopped at Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site on our way home through Pennsylvania. Catherine and previously spent a day here, but we loved it so much, we wanted to bring the family, too. It was blazing hot when we arrived and they were doing a demonstration of casting an iron door to the famous stoves that they made here. We learned a lot from the ranger, then explored the furnace and "Big House" before checking out the exhibits in the visitor center. We finally got on our way back home, happy, tired and much smarter :-)

Park Units 120-123: Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, Monacacy National Battlefield, Catoctin Mountain Park, Gettysburg Military Park

Great Falls Overlook at C&O Canal Park

Our first stop today was the Great Falls Tavern Visitor's Center for the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historic Park. This canal is similar to our canal at home and we got to see a canal boat, locks, and some history about the tavern on this site. The highlight was walking down to the view of the Great Falls and Olmsted Island. The park was crowded on this Saturday morning and there was an organization holding a kayak competition. The entrance and exit to the park was a beautiful tunnel of trees.

Great Falls Tavern at Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park

Canal Lock at C&O Canal

We drove next to Monocacy National Battlefield. The visitor's center had a nice museum upstairs and the ubiquitous diorama that displayed the steps in the battle. It was yet another civil war battlefield where the troops lined up in an open field and shot at each other. We didn't stay long.

After stopping for lunch, we headed to Catoctin Mountain Park. This is a great recreational park with many trails of different lengths and difficulties. We stopped at the visitor center to get stamps and to ask where a good spot for painting would be. We decided to go to the Blue Ridge Summit Vista and found a shady spot to paint, draw, and capture the beauty. We also hiked the Charcoal Trail where we learned about how they made charcoal to use in the Catoctin Iron Works in the mid 1800's. On a side note, this is the park that houses Camp David deep in the center. We can see why they choose this location for a retreat!

We ended the day at Gettysburg Military Park. Even at 4:30 the park was crowded and busy. We got tickets to the film and cyclorama. The film was a pro-union explanation of the reasons for the war and the importance of the Gettysburg address for military morale to continue the war. You can tell you are in Pennsylvania and not Virginia. The cyclorama is a 360 degree painting of the battle of Gettysburg which is narrated. There is also a museum, auto tour, bus tours, and, of course, large gift shop.

We will be back tomorrow to visit the Eisenhower National Historical Site which is only accessed through a tour bus from Gettysburg.

Park Units 117-119: Manassas Battlefield, Wolf Trap, Great Falls Park, Clara Barton/Glen Echo

We left Shenandoah National Park first thing in the morning and the fog in the valley gave us wonderful views!

Manassas National Battlefield Park

We stopped first at Manassas National Battlefield Park. This park has a few sites - a stone house and farm in addition to the visitor center. Typical of civil war parks, this site commemorates an important battle and loss of life. We did part of the auto tour, then drove on to Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.

Filene Center at Wolf Trap

Wolf Trap holds a special place in my heart because I learned so much from some of the Wolf Trap educators about storytelling when I was a new teacher. We viewed the Filene Center and stopped at the ranger station for a stamp. We also got to view the lovely flower gardens on premises.

Next we drove to Great Falls Park (a sub-unit of the George Washington Memorial Parkway) and took the trail that overlooks the falls in three different places. The rock formations were particularly interesting - very rectangular - and the falls were quite impressive. We were fascinated watching a man kayak down the falls!

This pole shows the high water marks from previous floods

Next we drove to Clara Barton National Historic Site, which includes the Clara Barton House, and was established in 1974 to interpret the life of Clara Barton, an American pioneer teacher, nurse, and humanitarian who was the founder of the American Red Cross. This was a fascinating tour with many stories that made us all appreciate her life and work a great deal!

Cabinets were built into the walls to keep the emergency supplies ready to go

Front of the Clara Barton House with Red Cross Stained Glass Windows

 Finally, we walked over to Glen Echo Park which is part of the Clara Barton site. This was once a popular amusement park at the turn of the century, then revived during the depression. It has been restored and is used as a park focusing on fine and performing arts education. The buildings made you feel like you were right back in the 1940s!

We ended the evening playing games and going to bed early to be ready for a busy day tomorrow!

Park Unit 116: Shenandoah National Park Day 2

The common room in Big Meadow Lodge

Front entry way to Big Meadow Lodge

We had breakfast in the beautiful Big Meadows Lodge, then went outside for our White Oak Basket-making Class. We thought this would be a quick class in weaving a basket, but instead, it ending up being a class in REALLY making baskets - starting from splitting the white oak into small thin pieces for weaving. The man who ran the class was Clyde Jenkins who is a famous basket maker - having a piece in the Smithsonian and having made a basket for Michelle Obama a few years ago. He was quite a character!

Clyde Jenkins teaching us how to split the wood along the growth lines

Trying to make an attempt at splitting the wood strips

Jason splitting the wood

John learning how to begin weaving the splits after building the base

Catherine weaving the splits and making sure to pull out the slats so the shape becomes round.

We started at 10:00 and after it started raining, we moved into the lodge. We took a break to have lunch, then went back to work. First we split the oak (which we did poorly so his apprentices cleaned them up). Next we wove the base of the basket with wide slats and next we wove the splits in between them. Finally we cut off the ends of the slats and tucked them in. At this point, I cut my thumb with the knife and needed some medical attention, but the rest of the gang finished off the handles on the baskets and wove the final split around the top edge. The total class took us almost 5 hours and we are impressed with how they came out! It was a great way to spend a very rainy day!

Jason's completed basket

After the basket class, Jason and Jill took advantage of a short break in the heavy rain and walked to the Rose River Falls trail and hiked down to the falls. They did a total of 5 miles, plus quite a steep grade coming back up. Here are some of their beautiful photos:

We ended the evening with a lovely dinner in the lodge dining room for Jason's 26th birthday!

Happy Birthday, Jason!!

Park Unit 116: Shenandoah National Park

We started this morning on Sky Drive through Shenandoah National Park - a lush, green mountain retreat! The overlooks are stunning and there are over 70 throughout the park. We stopped at the Dickey Ridge Visitor's Center at the northern-most end of the park to get our stamps, then traveled south. We stopped to hike the Stony Man trail which goes to the second highest point in the park. We especially enjoyed the trail guide that gave us interesting information throughout different sections of the trail.

View from Skyland Drive

Stony Man Trail

Overlook from the end of Stony Man Trail

Appalachian Trail Marker on Stony Man Trail

View from the Terrace at Big Meadows Lodge

We continued south to the Big Meadow area where we are staying at the Lodge. We have three little rooms in the main lodge which are rustic and peaceful. The lodge was built in 1939 by the Civilian Conservation Corps and has that wonderful feel of the CCC national-park architecture. The main common room and terrace overlook gorgeous views of the mountain and valley below.

View right outside of one of our rooms

Filling up the balloon

We headed south on the skyline drive with more beautiful "tunnels" of trees and overlooks. Late afternoon, we made our way out of the park to Woodstock, VA where John had arranged for a hot air balloon ride in the Shenandoah Valley for Jason's birthday. We ended up with the weather being perfect - a warm clear night with enough clouds to make a lovely sunset. It was a great adventure!

Ready for lift-off

It took a while to set up the balloon and fill it, then we waited a bit for the wind to be just right - then take-off!

Enjoying the ride!

Heading over the corn fields

Full moon over the fields as we headed home

We drove home after dark on the skyline drive, which had it's own beauty at night - and laughed the whole way back to the lodge. So lucky to be together as a family!