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Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington VA – March 2021

Women in Military Service for America Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery.
Grave of President William Howard Taft, 27th president of the US (1909-1913), and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court (1921-1930).
Grave of John F. Kennedy, 35th president of the US (1961-1963).
Supreme Court Justices graves.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Admiral Rickover was the “Father of the Nuclear Navy”.
Omar Bradley was out last 5-star general.
Alexander Haig served as President Ronald Reagan’s Chief of Staff.
Custis Mansio. This was Robert E. Lee’s house before the Civil War.

Grace Church

Ca Ira VA – January 2021

When I was in college, during the summertime, I would help my academic advisor Richard Couture prepare this church and grounds for its annual worship service. The church only meets once a year because the church community is so small as to be almost extinct. Its historical significance draws (or at least in the late 1970s) a number of historians, college professors and other interested people to the worship service, which is/was followed by a fellowship meal on the grounds.

The church’s historical significance is described in the application for inclusion on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1980 (application signed by Mr. Couture):

Grace Church, Ca Ira, survives as a charming illustration of the stylistic hybridization that occurred with Romantic Revivalism in the antebellum period. Unlike many of its similarly imaginative contemporaries, Grace Church is devoid of architectural naivete and is at once a skillful blending of Roman, Greek, and Gothic Revival elements, all executed with superb craftsmanship. Its temple form and fine brickwork are an offspring of Virginia’s Jeffersonian tradition, while its Greek and Gothic details are adapted from builders’ pattern books. The church was erected in 1840-43 by Valentine Parrish, a local master builder, and is one of the only remaining buildings of Ca Ira, a town laid out in 1787 which prospered briefly in the antebellum period as a milling and tobacco warehouse center.

President James K. Polk Birthplace

Pineville NC – November 2020

James Knox Polk was our 11th President. He was born here in Pineville NC in 1795.
The house no longer stands, but there are some reconstructed buildings onsiite that are typical of that time period.
There is a small museum dedicated to President Polk on the state park grounds.
President Polk, was a “dark horse”, an upset winner for the 1844 Democrat Party nomination, and then for the presidency.
President Polk served one term, 1845-1849, and died shortly after leaving office in 1849 at age 53.
The Mexican War was fought during President Polk’s term. This is the actual dress hat worn by Mexican General Santa Ana.