General George Washinton

 After sleeping till 10:15 this morning, we got cleaned up and went into town for one last explore.  We stopped at the Iron Rooster for brunch.  The portions were huge and really tasty, too tasty as we ate almost everything on our plates.  We have heard there is a lot of very interesting documents in the State Legislature Building.  David headed that direction while I made a shortstop at the hand thrown pottery store.  They had some beautiful pieces and I would have brought a few home, but there's that "no more room on the boat" thing,  the pieces were quite spendy and they are very breakable.  I left empty handed and decided to think about it and go back if something was nagging me with "I should have bought that".  I followed David to the Legislature Building.  We had to go through security and wear our masks, but once we got to the exhibits,  masks were forgotten about.  This place gave me goose bumps it was so awe inspiring.  Did you know that George Washington was not the first president of the United States, but the 15th?  Our country had 3 kinds of governments before our modern day Democratic Republic was established. There were 14 other men that served as president before Mr. Washington.  On July 6, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was published in local newspapers, the people knew nothing of this.  Those original pieces of newspaper copy were in amazing condition and completely readable.  The very significant event of General George Washington stepping down and relinquishing his office and power of the military to give it back to the people was a pivotal point for our newly established country.  The observers in the small gallery were very moved, some in tears.  Even General Washington had to hold his hand written resignation speech with both hands, shaking hands, to get through the entire speech. He returned to Mount Vernon, VA to be with his family after 8 years of absence and began farming again.  He thought his service to the country had ended.  But soon after he was elected President of the United States of America, and people considered him the first president since he was the first after independence was declared.  There were statues of Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglas, both played important roles in our history.  I just want to say I love anything patriotic, and to witness these original documents was very moving, I had tears well up just thinking about those events and those people that made our country what it is today.  God Bless America!

                                            We saw 3 weddings today with beautiful brides.

This is something I haven't seen since I was a little kid, the Postman delivering mail to people's homes.

                                                                    The Postman again.   

             

Homes from the 1700's had a very small footprint but were 3 stories tall, some had basements too.

                                                            An original historic home.

                                                                Another 3 story home.

                                                                        Funny sign.    

                

                                                Rounded brick work, looked pretty amazing.

                                        Azaleas, I think and still beautiful whatever they are.

                                       View from the front door of the Maryland State House.

                        The docent telling us about General Washington being the 15th President.

                                                                Frederick Douglas statue.

                                                                Harriet Tubman statue.

                        Furniture reproductions in the room where George Washington resigned.

                    George Washington (life size) holding his speech with both hands shaking.

                                Exact place where he stood in the room to deliver his speech.

                                                                Overview of the room.

Life size portrait of George Washington, one of the first life size paintings the Charles Peale painted.

                     Mural painted on the walls, sort of like a impressionist watercolor, stunning!

                                The actual paper penned by George Washington for his speech.

                    The original newspaper that printed the new Declaration of Independence. 

                                                                    The Caucus room.

                                                                        The vault.

                                                        The voting buttons on every desk.

                                                            House of Delegates Chamber.

            House of Delegates Chamber, the Senate Chamber was the same except it had blue carpet.

                                                Cannon out side of the Maryland State House.

                                                        A fun rock lamp in the pottery store.

                                                    Ever had Crab Imperial? Here's the recipe.

                            A massive magnolia tree with many blooms ready too open, for Kitty.

Lunch, fried chicken with biscuits and gravy, cheesy grits with bacon and sausage, scrambled eggs on top.  Sweet tea too!

                                                                    Selfie at lunch.

                                            Beautiful room with Tubman and Douglas statues.

Old House of Delegates Chamber

                                A street musician, he was very good and gathered a large crowd tonight.