5-21-11 Patuxtant Wildlife, Ft. McHenry, Ft. Carroll

Our day trip today is to Baltimore to see Ft. McHenry of the Star Spangled Banner fame. On the way while driving on the Washington-Baltimore Parkway, we turned off and visited the Patuxant Wildlife refuge. We had seen the sign for the turnoff on our many trips to Baltimore and we thought that today would be a good day for a visit. It was a nice area to walk - not much wildlife - fairly hot, but we got some good exercise. That morning at the Farmer's market, Sue had bought a sun hat for such days. Doesn't she look like a Southern Belle? We also found Mountain Laurel trees bringing back memories of our Shenandoah trip last year.

We headed on to Baltimore and drove to the Visitor's Center. There is a large display about the Flag, the shelling of Ft. McHenry, the War of 1812, and the Star Spangled Banner song. All very interesting. We walked out to the Fort and started to look around - and Lo and Behold, a Lighthouse. This is Lazaretto Point, a replica of the original light built by the Company that owns the dock to remember their founder. The fort has a set of replica artillery from the War of 1812 days, complete with reenactors, but most of the grounds are covered with a wonderful display of Civil War Rodman guns. I love these behemoths and they are all over the place. The Fort itself is a display about life in the early 1800s.

After Ft. McHenry, I talked my lovely wife into visiting just one more lighthouse - Fort Carroll. How could we pass that one up. Deserted, dilapidated, on an island in the harbor, the light is in pretty bad shape. But we got the picture.