Day 6, Thursday

Departed Front Royal and headed to Fredericksburg, VA, a 90 minute drive to the L’Hotel du Walmart.  Car drive to historic downtown and a visit to Mary Washington’s house (mother of George)(see photo), Mercer’s Apothecary (see photo) and the Rising Sun Tavern (see photo) in the house of Charles Washington (brother of George).  Each offered a guided tour with guides in period dress and in character.  Very amusing.  Then a walking tour of the Fredericksburg Battlefield coupled with a driving tour during which we saw 3 deer walking across a plain.  The Union Army destroyed the city but lost the battle due to the moronic Union General Burnside who sent wave after wave of Union troops across a 600 yard plain against the Confederates who were behind a stone wall with artillery above them of Marye’s Hill.  Thousands of Union soldiers died over eight hours of trying without ever reaching the stone wall.  Parts of the original wall still exist and you can walk the area and see the vantage point the CSA had.  It was nothing more than a suicide mission.  Fortunately, the Union had another general with a little more smarts, but that’s for Gettysburg a little later on the trip.  Also did an evening tour of the Chatham Manor grounds (see photo).  Chatham was built in 1771 and was occupied by the Union Army during the battle of Fredericksburg. While there we witnessed an unusual sight for us Floridians, 3 wild groundhogs scurrying about.  Thanks to repeated viewings of the movie, Groundhog Day, I recognized the critters.

Day 7, Friday

Did driving tour of the battlefields at Chancellorsville and Wilderness.  Visited Ellwood Manor which is still intact and was uilized by Robert E. Lee during the battle of Chancellorsville and by the Union General Warren during the battle of the Wilderness.  It was also where, after his greatest victory at Chancellorsville, Stonewall Jackson was taken after being shot by his own men and had his left arm amputated.  The arm was buried in the Ellwood cemetery and we visited the arm’s grave.  Such a site, not to be forgotten (see photo).  Jackson died 8 days later but was not buried with his left arm.  The afternoon was spent at Belmont, the estate of artist Gari Melchers (see photo).  The house and grounds are beautiful and included a very large stone building that he used as his studio and which displayed much of his art.

At 4:20 headed north on I-95 to Fairfax to meet our good friend, Marie-Claude, for dinner.  The 53 mile trip took 2 hours.  The bumper to bumper traffic resulted in 8.3 mpg.  I don’t think I will ever complain about Florida traffic again.  Overnight at Chez Walmart in Chantilly.