Tall Ships
As part of the 250th anniversary of the U.S., many events are scheduled in the DMV. I don’t know how many I will attend, but my first was the Sail 250 Virginia. The gathering of international tall ships and other private and military vessels had reached Alexandria the week before; however, I didn’t want to deal with the crowds either there or at the next stop in Norfolk. I looked at the route down the Chesapeake where the armada of ships was scheduled to travel. This is a major event, so I suspected that each of the several viewing sites set up for the trip would draw large crowds. Then I noticed that the ships were scheduled to cross over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and recalled that I had found a nearly perfect place to get a perfect view.
I had just driven through the tunnel three months earlier during my visit to the North Carolina Outer Banks. At that time, I had found a spot where a construction site had been set up just before the tunnel entrance, offering a superb place to take pictures without becoming a traffic hazard. Even though accessing the tunnel would cost a $21 toll, I took a chance that the construction site would still be there and that I could use it this time, too.
After leaving home around 4 a.m., the surprisingly heavy traffic (it was a Federal holiday, right?) on the drive from Maryland to Richmond made the drive longer than I’d expected. I still made it to the tunnel just after 8 a.m., however. I was pleased to see not only that my spot was still there, but also that, judging from the limited activity at the site, its workers were off for the holiday!!
Unfortunately, rain and heavy fog arrived at the same time. I could see that at least one of the tall ships had already reached the waterway over the tunnel, and that the ship that followed was shrouded in fog, making it difficult to see. Then I noticed that the ship seemed to be slowing down just as it was completely draped by the fog. I got a photo of it just before it disappeared.
I thought I’d have a long wait for the fog and rain to stop, but it was far less than I’d expected. Soon, the ships were underway again, and I took photos of several as they passed. Some of them are below, with the rest available at https://singin1.click/piwigo/index.php?/category/25.
Check the Sail250 site above for more information about the ships and other scheduled stops. BTW, after it leaves Virginia, it’s headed to Baltimore, then eventually to New York City and Boston. It won’t surprise me if I find myself in Baltimore.
First Africans in Virginia
When it seemed that the last ship had passed and it was still morning, I decided to take advantage of my proximity to Old Point Comfort and the Fort Monroe National Monument, the site of the arrival of the first Africans to Virginia. But first, I wanted to see the gathering of ships in Norfolk. On the way, I saw a Bojangles where I ordered lunch from the drive-through and then was very pleasantly surprised to find a Krispy Kreme on the next block! I showed remarkable restraint by buying only a three-pack of glazed doughnuts; unsurprisingly, however, none of them made it home.
I didn’t make it anywhere near the site where the ships had berths in Norfolk because of the crowds, so I drove to Ft. Monroe, also known as Freedom’s Fortress. I had far better luck because the crowds that had gathered to see the ships pass on their way to Norfolk had mostly left by the time I arrived.
While I drove through Ft. Monroe, its old structures — including a lighthouse — and its proximity to the Chesapeake Bay reminded me of my 2024 visit to Dry Tortugas National Park. There was a security staff member who was very informative about the marker pictured at the top of this post, which indicated where the first Africans brought to Virginia had arrived. Each element of the African Landing Memorial plays a symbolic role in explaining the events that led to the 1619 arrival of “twenty and odd” enslaved African men and women on the shores of Virginia.
The site is scheduled to have three additional commemorative elements added over the next two to three years. I hope to return to see them and a museum in Hampton at that time. Honestly, I was concerned that the site would have been a victim of the rather aggressive efforts presently underway to remove historical information about slavery from national park sites. Fortunately, those efforts don’t appear to have reached that site.
In the meantime, I have displayed several photos from my visit below:
The drive back home was the worst part of the trip. Yes, I knew that it was a holiday weekend and Friday evening rush hour, but I had expected to be going in the opposite direction–north towards Washington–of that rush. Instead, I-64 was one continuous construction site (see all the yellow dots on the map to the left), and I-95 became a series of traffic jams right up to the Beltway exit. Thank goodness I had great music on my playlists to make the approximately 450-mile round-trip drive mostly enjoyable. Thankfully, too, the gas prices had dropped a little in the DC area and were even lower when I refilled in Virginia.
Upcoming Plans
I have been contemplating a trip to the Southwest this fall, but it might have to be delayed if my proposal to present a paper on the singer and activist Paul Robeson at Princeton University is approved. Instead, I would hopefully have the opportunity to revisit New England during what I believe will be its peak fall foliage season, and finally visit Acadia National Park. More about this soon.
