Today is our last day in Gettysburg so we head out to take some photographs at a couple of towns close by. All of these towns have round abouts in the center of their historic downtowns and some interesting pre Civil War buildings as well as houses.
In New Oxford we drive around the round about where we see a number of old buildings and find this old railroad station a few blocks away.
In Abbottstown, we find this old City Hall in the round about which is being renovated as evidenced by the scaffolding.
In Hanover, we find this old church with the tallest spire that I have ever seen. I could not even get this entire building and spire in one picture standing across the rather narrow street. One of the things that cannot be avoided in pictures in these old towns are all the overhead electrical lines.
One of our fascinations here in Pennsylvania has been with the old, old barns. These are the Pennyslvania Barns which are rather unique to this state. These barns appeared in the late 1800's and flourished from 1820 to about 1900. They are most prevalent in the southeast and central parts of Pennsylvania and were most common among the Pennsylvania Germans.
The Pennsylvania Barn features a 7-8 foot forebay or overshoot and is banked on one side. The upper levels consisted of a threshing floor, flanked by mows (an area in the barn where hay, grain or other feed is stored) and a granary which was sometimes located in the forebay and sometimes next to the mow on the bank side. The building sported a gable roof. The lower level is a stable or stalls for horses, milk cows, beef cattle and sometimes hogs or sheep with alleyways between humans. The barns range in size from 20 feet to over 100 feet long.
Below are a couple of old barns which we came across as well as this updated version.
On our way back to Gettysburg, we came upon this old church and cemetery. While the church has a cornerstone from 1922, a sign (see below) tells us that an old church dating to the 1700's was here and this cemetery tells us that burials date back to the late 1700's and early 1800's. These are earlier burials than any we have seen on our trip thus far. We have seen many Civil War cemeteries both Union and Confederate but most date from the mid to late 1800's.
A stop at the grocery store on our return to town finishes off our day. We have enjoyed our time here and wish we had more time to take in some of the other outlying towns, but that will have to wait for another time.
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
We are off about 10:00 this a.m. for West Virginia with a trip across the very upper part of Maryland. Driving south on Highway 15 to the town of Thurmont, we decide to take the local highway to I-7. By the time we see the sign that says no trucks over 40 feet on this road, it is too late for us to turn back as this is a narrow two lane road with no shoulder. We trudge on taking all the curves and closed in treed lined areas in stride and with Ron slowing our speed to almost nothing at times as we make our way across the 20 miles to Smithburg where a road number does not jive with my map. After driving on a short distance, we turn around at the local high school finding a kind gentleman to ask about getting to I-70. He gives me directions and taking pity on us leads us back to the right turnoff and down a 5 mile road to the Interstate.
Getting on the Interstate, we begin following this road up and down hill and dale through many, many small towns along the way.
We also see this old car on the Interstate.
Finally nearing Morgantown where we get off and follow directions from the Interstate to the campground which is only about 2.5 miles away. Once off the first road, we drive for 2.2 miles on a narrow (barely one lane wide) road for 2.2 miles praying that we do not encounter another RV as there is no way we could pass each other. There was barely room for a car to pass us on this stretch.
Our campground is located among the trees and we are pointed down a narrow dirt road to our spot which is between two trees. Carefully guiding Ron into the site, we try to find the most level spot and back up a bit so we can open our slides. (See photo).
After getting settled in, we take off to see the town of Morgantown about 15 miles down the road. It is a college town of some size with tall mountain on one side and river on the other giving one the feeling of being closed in. The streets up from the river reminded Ron and I of San Francisco and Lead, SD. Nothing really grabbed us so we turned around to begin our way back to the campground.
After getting off the Interstate at our exit, we found a sign for the Copper Rock Overlook about three miles away so decided to see what it was all about. It was an interesting and pretty overlook. The overlook is a free standing rock cliff formation about 50 feet from the cliff and reached by a wood bridge that was built by the forest service.
Returning to our campground, we met another couple also staying in the campground with a Blue Bird RV which we had never seen before. We passed a pleasant evening talking with them and searching for some ice cream at another nearby campground. It is always fun meeting other RVers and exchanging information.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Leaving our campground this morning we return to the Interstate to continue south toward Charleston, WV. I am on the phone early trying to find a campground as the Elks Lodge rv facility in Charleston was full. West Virginia has few campgrounds and many do not take large RV's. Fortunately, we were able to find a KOA south of Charleston that was not full.
Today's scenery was much as yesterday. This is another pretty state with its many small towns, large valleys and high bridges that gap the mountains and/or valleys.
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