It took two long years to get from Yorktown to the signing of the Treaty of Paris. After their defeat at Yorktown, the British still had 30,000 British soldiers in North America and the British held all the major American ports except for Boston and Philadelphia. But, after six long years of fighting a costly …
From April 2016
Other Duties As Assigned
When you agree to be a volunteer at a national park, you sign a volunteer agreement that includes, at the end of your list of responsibilities, the phrase, “and other duties as assigned.” When we worked at Death Valley and at Chickamauga, our duties were pretty straightforward and we didn’t have too many “other duties …
Fort Moultrie: A Division of Fort Sumter
When Tom and I went to Fort Sumter, we also stopped by Fort Moultrie. Actually, we went to Fort Moultrie first because we were more interested in it. But Fort Moultrie is not its own National Park: it is a division of the Fort Sumter National Monument. So a lot of people have never heard …
Two Years in the RV
Two years ago last week (April 22), Tom and I moved into the RV and out of our four-bedroom house with an acre of land and an in-ground pool. How are we doing after two years? Great! When are we planning on moving into a “sticks and bricks” house (as people say who are full-time …
I Need Help!
I need help! This was how the prayer at the beginning of the worship service started yesterday and it certainly caught my attention. I listened with great interest to the rest of the prayer as the woman went through several variations – “they need help” and “we need help.” It was an honest and refreshing …
Yorktown: The Final Battle?
On October 19, 1781, General Cornwallis surrendered his forces at Yorktown to General George Washington, after what most believe to be the final battle of the Revolutionary War. But since we last saw Cornwallis and his army holed in up Wilmington, how did he get to Yorktown? After the “victory” at Guilford Courthouse, Cornwallis had …
National Park Week: Busy Week Part II
National Park Week started last Saturday and coincided with our busy week. National Park Week means that there are all kinds of special things going on. 2016 is the 100th birthday of the National Park Service, so many of the special things are related to the Centennial. On Saturday we had almost 700 visitors to …
Busy Week at Work
This last week was a busy week at work; in fact, it was so busy that I’m going to take two days to tell you about it! The first part of the busy week was on Thursday and Friday when we had Education Days. Seven hundred 3rd and 4th graders from all over the area …
Fort Sumter: The First Shots of the Civil War
Tom and I had never been to Fort Sumter, despite visiting most of the Civil War sites in the east. But we wanted to visit all the National Parks in South Carolina, so we decided to hit all the Charleston area sites in a couple of days. We went to the fort on April 12, …
How Do We Measure God’s Love?
“How do we measure God’s love for us?” was the subject of the Children’s Time at church this morning. Being someone who believes that we often learn as much from Children’s Time as we do from the “adult” sermon, I listened and thought about the question. The Children’s Minister started by suggesting that we might …