US History Tour

by James Allen

Harpers Ferry

Harpers Ferry is at the confluence of the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers and was an important location for the canals and railroads before and during the Civil War. It was perhaps the cradle of the Civil War. It was here that John Brown in 1857 attacked the armoury to arm himself and his followers for an anti-slavery crusade. The attack was foiled (by troops including General Lee and Lieutenant Custer) and he and his followers died or were executed, but the tinder was lit.

The town is now a part of the National Park Service (NPS) which normally charges for entry, but we happened on a free entrance day. We parked up and caught a shuttle bus into the ‘historic’ town. We looked around, but the armoury is now gone and the building where John Brown was finally cornered has been moved, removed and rebuilt. This area was fortified by both sides as battles swung back and forth across the area.

Smithsonian Air and Space hangar, Dulles Airport, Virginia

This hangar is big – how big? Well, it has an SR71 ‘blackbird’ spy plane, a Concorde, a Space Shuttle and the B25 that dropped the atomic bomb, as well as 65+ other planes; a fantastic collection, if somewhat overwhelming. The space gallery includes a large collection of missiles, the Shuttle and early manned flight items.

Monticello, Virginia

Monticello was the home of Thomas Jefferson, second president of the USA, writer of the Declaration of Independence. He was an amateur architect, inventor, farmer and all-round superstar of his era. The house is located on a hilltop overlooking miles of Virginia countryside, and Jefferson owned much of what he could see. Much had begun as his father’s lands. The house is very intelligently designed and for the late 18th century the design is very, very forward looking. It felt like a 1910 designed house. He made use of the hilltop location to hide much of the outbuildings in the side of the hill to give better views. The tour takes in much of the ground floor including his office, library, and bedroom. It also covers the possible affair between him and one of his slaves - or, one of the ‘enslaved staff’ as they call them - Sally Hemmings. While not saying he did have an affair, the guide made it plain she believed it had occurred. Following the tour we walked back down the hill, passed the slave quarters (the better slave quarters) to the car. The whole farm of 5,000 acres was run by 300+ slaves.

Appomattox Court House, Virginia

It was here that General Lee surrendered the Confederate army to Grant, thus ending the Civil War. Not that it ended the fighting across the US. The last battles were months later, undertaken before the news caught up.

The site is preserved since the town, which was on the stage coach route, moved after a serious fire swept through it, towards the rail-road line 3 miles away. Lee was here because he had tried to march south to join up with another confederate army in North Carolina, but was forced west by Grant’s army in a serious of skirmishes and was finally unable to go further after the supply trains failed to arrive.

The site includes the area where both armies were camped in the battles in the days before, and some of the buildings in town, including the house where the surrender was signed. The site is incredibly well run, has an interesting museum, good bookshop, knowledgeable rangers and an interpretive performer.

Jamestown, Virginia

Jamestown was where the first European settlement successfully started in the ‘new world’. Founded in 1607, it had a difficult start with over half the group dying in the first year. However, very quickly it became a valuable trading partner for tobacco. It was the location from which Captain John Smith left for his investigation of the navigation of the Chesapeake Bay – his time with Pocahontas etc. The site is the location of the original fort and the extended town that grew up around it.

The fort was later built over and again the Confederate army created fortifications on the same location. The fort was considered lost in the change of the course of the river, but approximately 15 years ago the first post holes of the palisade were discovered. Over 90% of the fort area remains. The one feeling we had was how small the fort was and how insignificant it must have seemed for the 100 or so who first arrived.

Kitty Hawk, South Carolina

It was here in December 1903 that the world’s first powered flight took place - not gliding, which occurred a lot at the large dune at the site (Kill Devil Hill), but self-propelled flight. There were four flights that day; the first was a mere 120 feet (33 yards). The second and third were not much better, but the fourth and final flight was over 800 feet and took nearly a minute. It was another two years before the Wright brothers had perfected the ability to fly, return safely and fly again. But it was on the then windswept Outer Banks of North Carolina that the first flight was recorded. The site is today dominated by the dune (since stabilised by planting grass) that is topped by the memorial to the Wright Brothers, the actual location is marked out by a series of markers.

Kennedy Space Centre (KSC), Florida

The highlight is the KSC complex tour; there is a basic or a couple of special interest tours, and we opted for the ‘then and now’ tour. This took us to the sites of the first missions, Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. It started at the USAF museum on the base. Here we saw an armadillo and watched as others discovered fire ants!

This museum featured unmanned rockets etc, but we were taken into the launch bunkers used on the Mercury flights. These were built to withstand enormous blasts as the first rockets tended to explode rather than fly. The roof was six feet of concrete; the windows 15 sheets of glass thick, then three of these were placed in front of each other! The bunkers were so close because the rockets were literally wired to the bunkers; the fuelling was completed based on the weighbridge; the gantry was an old Texas oil well. It was from here that the first chimps were launched and then the first Americans to go into space. Alan Sheppard reportedly said he went into space because NASA had run out of chimps...

Then there is the Gemini launch complex. The bunkers were like beehives and used naval periscopes to watch the launch. We were unable to enter the buildings due to the contamination from lead paints etc.

There is also the pad used for the first Apollo launch. This was the site of the deaths of the first Apollo astronauts who died in what was then Apollo 1. Following their death and a complete redesign Apollo 7 then launched from this site. Thereafter it was left as a memorial to those who died. It’s a strange place, desolate and windswept. The huge size of the structures is almost intimidating, but the feeling that great things started here is palpable.

First published in VISA 84 (Apr 2009)