My family and I just arrived back from a wonderful family vacation to Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC. The first part of the trip was spent in northern Maryland and Virginia areas where my husband has family. One of our outings was to the Rose Hill Manor in Frederick, MD. This is a historical home where staff are in costume, spouting interesting facts about farm life in the 18th and 19th centuries, like the girls were expected to complete seven quilts by the time they were 13 to prove they were ready for marriage and homemaking.
The former dining room in the large house is now a playroom for children. The room is filled with old-fashioned wooden and cloth toys. The tour guide said that the point of the room is to show that kids can have fun without computers or toys with batteries, lights and sounds. My children spent the entire visit in that room, happy as can be with the toys, especially the puppets and puppet theater.
Outside the manor was a group of surveyors who were displaying antique surveying equipment and talking to interested guests about how surveying was done in colonial days.
Another trip we took was to downtown Winchester, Virginia, which is very pedestrian-friendly and charming. I met an elderly gentleman and lifelong resident of Winchester who sat in a rocker next to the historic Civil War courthouse, watching people pass. Winchester is not as well known today, but during the Civil War it was a very fought-after city, changing hands between the Union and Confederate forces more than 70 times.
On our day in Winchester, our group ate at the historic and reportedly haunted Cork Street Tavern.
Surveyors in Costume
An interesting Winchester resident
Downtown Winchester, VA
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