Tag: Civil War
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Mitten Accomplished
I got a unique opportunity to visit counties in a corner of the Midwest I hadn’t touched much when my older kid decided to go to college in Michigan. But it didn’t offer a lot of time for my quest, just a four year window before graduation. Even so, I set what I thought was…
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Southern Hills, Day 1 (Positioning)
I returned to more familiar travel patterns during the current and hopefully permanent lull in the COVID-19 pandemic. This included my first airline flight since February 2020 when I returned from Bermuda. Then the world shut down and I endured the longest period of my life without an airline flight since I was fourteen years…
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Bogue Banks Bound, Part 4 (Conflicts)
These areas near the coast were particularly valuable during a time when limited transportation options existed. Naturally new European arrivals settled there and built their towns. Even so, times were not always wonderful. Differing outlooks led to inevitable conflicts. Just as I’d discovered during my recent trip to South Carolina, military conflicts left their marks…
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Ohio River, Part 7 (Corydon Loop)
We used Louisville, Kentucky as our home base for the week and we took several day trips into the countryside. Because the drive to Louisville took a toll on us we decided to relax early in the week. Then our first foray focused on Corydon in nearby Indiana, barely a half-hour away. Something else figured…
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Carolina Wetlands, Part 6 (Ruins and Tombs)
South Carolina sure loved its old buildings whether lovingly maintained or reduced to rubble. In particularly her people revered historic churches with their requisite cemeteries filled with live oaks and draped in Spanish moss. Old churches and weathered cemeteries became a recurring theme on my journey. Or sometimes just the family cemeteries of long-lost plantations…
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Carolina Wetlands, Part 4 (This Means War)
I expected to run into a ton of Civil War history during my excursions. After all, the first shots of the conflict happened nearby at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. So it surprised me to see a lot less than I figured within the pocket I explored. There was some of course, but not much…
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Finishing Pennsylvania, Part 3 (Northern Loop)
The initial push to capture a dozen remaining unvisited counties in Pennsylvania took a decidedly northern turn. This loop led nearly to the New York border. It also reduced my punch list by half while taking only 4 ½ driving hours. New counties encountered: Elk; Cameron; Potter; McKean; Warren; and Forest. Roadside Aliens My older…
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Bermuda Shorts, Part 8 (Museums & More)
With an area as small as Bermuda — just over 20 square miles (53 square kilometres) — one might conclude it wouldn’t need a lot of museums. Well, as it turned out, a lot of history happened there. Plus the tourists needed something to do. Maybe they couldn’t golf or lounge at the beach the…
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Bermuda Shorts, Part 6 (Forts )
Longtime readers of Twelve Mile Circle know that I love my forts, fortresses and fortifications. So I really loved Bermuda, a place practically custom-designed by Great Britain to be one giant fort. Its strategic placement and and heavy militarization led to its nickname the “Gibraltar of the West.” Maybe I should have included it in…
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Stone Mountain
DeKalb County, Georgia, USA (April 2010) Stone Mountain rises above the plain just a few miles northeast of Atlanta, a solid monolith standing alone like nothing else around it anywhere east of the Appalachians. It started out millions of years ago as magma that hardened below the earth’s surface. Slowly, over time, the surrounding landscape…