I’m on the east coast this week, in Northern Virginia to be specific, visiting my new employer‘s facilities. As I have some downtime over the weekend, I figured I’d hit some sights that I’ve never seen. When I was a child I had relatives in Maryland and visited all the major sights of the Capitol: the Lincoln and Washington Memorials, the Capitol, and of course the Smithsonian museums. This time I decided to drive down to Manassas, the site of the first major battle of the US Civil War. I brought my camera along so I could share.
I stopped at a few sites of minor skirmishes, but the main battlefield at Henry Hill provided the best photographic opportunities…
After Manassas I drove to the Capitol and stopped along the river to shoot low-flying aircraft (seen above) and then over to the Jefferson Memorial. I’ll post those images soon.
I’m glad to see that the powers-that-be haven’t eliminated access to Roach’s Run, the approach end of runway 18 at DCA. We used to launch our boat at the ramp there when we lived in Rosslyn.
I liked to airplane-watch there while listening to the tower frequency on a scanner. When it got busy, my blood pressure would go up just listening to the controllers. They can push a LOT of tin when the weather is good.
We drive through Manassas Battlefield Park every time we go to visit our older daughter in Dale City. I’ve lived in the Washington area since 1963, and have yet to tour the battlefield! I did go through the visitor center once, though. The civil war never held much appeal for me. It’s over, you lost, get over it! (Born in the North, obviously!)