Today was a driving day. We got an early (for us) start and were on the road by 8am from Acadia. The drive was about 5 hours long today. We stopped at the American Revolution Museum. When we pulled up, I realized the street looked familiar and the girls remembered visiting before with Nole the last time we passed through this way.
There was a tour in progress when we arrived and we joined in. The tour guide was telling the story of two enslaved people. The first was Ona Judge. Here is a summary of her story, which explains the details better than I can.
Washington used a loophole to evade the abolition laws in Pennsylvania and did not want this information made public because he knew it would look bad.
This lithograph is displayed at the museum. It is rare for a family portrait to include an enslaved person. In the back right of the frame is William Lee, Washington’s valet.
Melissa asked if we could also tour the tavern on the same property and the tour guide said, “Sure!” so we walked over to see what that was about.
This tavern’s claim to fame was a visit from Washington himself!
The large flat pieces of wood used above the fireplaces was a way for patriots to thumb their noses at King George. Apparently, large straight trees in the New Hampshire forest were being marked as belonging to King George to be used as masts for his majesty’s navy. Patriots took offense to this and cut the trees down and used them, called the Pine Tree Riots.
We were getting ready to leave when we remembered that we had wigs and tricorn hats to bring out for our Revolutionary War stops. The kids were excited to put them on and we did a little photo shoot around the museum grounds. Be sure to check Melissa’s blog for more photos. Lily called them “Washingtons in the wild” which I thought made a great blog title!
Nova wanted some extra photos looking forlorn like people did back then.
From there, we went to our next campground. I had some trouble pulling into the spot and backed into a rock that put a dent in the camper. Esme and I were talking tonight and she asked if I missed having an adult to help me with the camper and I said I did. While I don’t mind doing it, it was nice when my mom was here to help and I’m looking forward to Nole joining us in a week with Cal and Asa.
Martins Take Flight 