We visited the Grandview area of New River Gorge National Park, the newest full National Park in the US. The Grandview section overlooks a bend in the New River.
The NPS map of the whole park; click or tap to interact on their site:
An interactive map of our route for visiting Grandview:
A small visitor center:
Grand Canyon of the East:
Path to the main viewpoint:
Road to the Turkey Spur Overlook:
View:
Path with 150 steps to upper viewpoints:
Train:
We visited Antietam National Battlefield in Maryland, where “23,000 soldiers were killed, wounded or missing after twelve hours of savage combat on September 17, 1862”.
Visitor Center:
Old church:
Cannons:
Stone bridge:
We visited Harpers Ferry National Historical Park in West Virginia.
Relief map:
Bus from the visitor center to the town:
Exploring the old town of Harpers Ferry:
We did an evening guided tour of Washington DC from the Cherry Hill Park campground.
Selfie in the bus:
US Capitol:
Washington Monument:
Back to our bus; there were lots of food trucks like this lining the roads in DC:
Treasury building:
The White House:
Guide talking about the White House:
Washington Monument:
Thomas Jefferson Memorial:
Sunset:
Lots of tour buses:
Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial:
Korean War Veterans Memorial:
Washington Monument and the Capitol beyond the reflecting pond:
Lincoln Memorial:
Vietnam Veterans Memorial:
World War II Memorial:
World War II Memorial:
The second post about Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, including the battlefield memorials and Gettysburg National Cemetery.
The interactive map again:
The battlefield has a bunch of roads, dotted with monuments from the various states and military divisions that participated in the battle:
GIF:
Gettysburg National Cemetery:
Lincoln address memorial, where he gave his famous speech:
We visited Gettysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania, including a third-party museum and visitor center.
An interactive map:
Visitor center:
Gift store:
“Now we are engaged in a great civil war”:
Exhibits:
Theater:
The Gettysburg Cyclorama, a 360° painting by the French artist Paul Philippoteaux depicting Pickett’s Charge, the climactic Confederate attack on the Union forces during the Battle of Gettysburg on July 3, 1863. It was painted in 1883, and measures 42 feet by 377 feet. The viewing of it started with a dramatization of the battle with light effects:
After the light show, it was shown without light effects. The foreground in front of the painting is a natural-looking landscape, blending into the painting:
An easter egg: a wounded President Lincoln is in this part, representing a wounded nation:
Impressive stuff.
The Gettysburg address:
Tomorrow, the battlefield and cemetery.
We visited Manassas National Battlefield Park in Manassas, Virginia, where the first major battle of the American Civil War took place on July 21, 1861 (plus a second battle later).
The NPS map; click or tap to interact:
An interactive map:
Visitor center:
Henry Hill Loop Trail:
Stonewall Jackson:
After leaving Shenandoah National Park, we continued south for a few miles on the northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway.
This park, barely wider than the highway, is 469 miles long, between Shenandoah National Park in Virginia at the north end and Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina at the south end. We certainly didn’t have time to drive the whole way, but we went to the northernmost visitor center before turning around. We’ll probably visit the southernmost visitor center in the parkway in a few weeks time.
Visitor center:
Jenn had a nice long chat with the volunteer there:
We visited Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, a drive-through park southeast of Washington DC.
NPS map; click or tap to interact on their site:
An interactive map of our route, heading south through the park, then returning outside the park:
Shenandoah National Park north entrance entrance sign:
Visitor center:
I’m sure the vistas would be much more impressive in the fall:
Picnic lunch:
Highest point on drive, elevation 3,680 feet (aww, how cute):
Visitor center:
There are a few commercial waysides in the park:
We visited two ends of the Assateague Island National Seashore, in Maryland and Virginia. Famous for their wild horses.
The NPS map; click or tap to interact:
An interactive map of our route (we were going to have dinner in Ocean Beach, but it was too busy, so we continued up the coast to Bethany Beach):
Visitor center:
Wild horses:
Dunes trail hike:
Wild horse and touron:
The Chincoteague end of the island:
Horse corral, where they collect the horses on this end of the island:
Visitor center:
A popular beach:
Lighthouse info:
