Halloween at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philly

So what can I say?  It was fun.  I screamed a lot.  I admired the efforts of the staff, both in their costumes, their ability to scare us yet taking good measure instantaneously of how far to go (how scary to be) with the customers like this old lady and my old man, and how wonderful the "art work" was with the lighting, spray painting, and however they made (or purchased) the other decorations.  Also, the dancing was pretty good and fun.  

It was fun.  It was worth it.  We got into the area early, found a decent place to park within a couple blocks of the Penitentiary and had a nice, leisurely dinner sitting up at the bar at the Urban Tavern which had good food, good drink and a great bar tender.  

The rain pretty much held off until we were on our way home.  A good day.  

Walking Big Stone Beach

We try to get in good runs, bicycle rides or long walks each day or at least several times a week.  The walks might be in a city, in a state park or natural area or on a beach.  This walk was on Big Stone Beach, one of our favorite of the quiet, non-touristy "dirty" beaches in the area.  

Looking into the sunset from Big Stone Beach.

River Dancer in Lewes, Delaware

We took new friends out in the River Dancer to float the Lewes/Rehobeth Canal.  It's the first time we tied up at a restaurant to eat.  There aren't all that many places to do that on the Delaware side of the Delmarva Peninsula, not like the Patapsco or Magothy Rivers off the Chesapeake.  

Docked at the Wheelhouse Restaurant in Lewes, Delaware.

River Dancing on the Choptank

We put our 22 foot C-Dory, the River Dancer, into the Choptank River in Cambridge, Maryland, and floated it up to Denton, Maryland, and back.  It's a good size, beautiful river and one that I have always loved ever since reading Michener's historic novel Chesapeake which covers the era 1583 to 1978.  I credit his novel to my love of the Chesapeake region.  

The Choptank is the largest of the Chesapeake's Eastern Shore Rivers.  The Tuckahoe River, Harris Creek, Broad Creek and the Tred Avon River all flow into it.  The Choptank is 68 miles long.  We didn't take the River Dancer west from Cambridge towards the Chesapeake and Tilghman Island or out to Crook Point as it was getting darker and we wanted to get trailered.  Also, we'd had our Omicron booster shots that morning and I could feel just a tad of the ugh setting in as the day wore on.  As with many women, I seem to have more of a reaction to the covid boosters than Dave does. 

The river was important for shipping in the early days of white habitation in the area as well as a major seafood source for commercial fishing.  Today it suffers from too much nitrogen and phosphorus in upriver, and is brackish and impacted with whatever is in the Chesapeake Bay towards the mouth of the Choptank.  The Riverkeeper was trying to do swims across the Choptank each year as a way to draw attention to the water quality and in 2018 it had to be cancelled because of too much bacteria making it unsafe for human contact.  There had been a lot of heavy rains within the days leading up to the date of the swim so it had washed everything down into the river from all the settlements and farms.  

Train bridge west of Denton in the Choptank.  I believe this is called a pony plate girder bridge or drawbridge which swivels sideways instead of splitting upwards. It's been abandoned for years. It's called the Denton Railroad Drawbridge, the Queen Anne Railroad Bridge and the Baltimore and Eastern Railroad Bridge, among others. 

There is a mix of forested and marshland areas along the Choptank as well as mansions, farm houses and farm fields. Above, someone's deck/pier. 

Denton, where steamboats used to stop.  Amazing.  

During the 1850's steamboats traversed the Choptank River from Denton, Maryland, out into the Chesapeake and north to the Patapsco and Baltimore.  It was important to the underground railroad too, and in Denton a captured Underground Railroad agent was put on a steamboat to be tried in Cambridge, Maryland.  He spent 40 some years in prison and the African Americans captured were returned to slavery.  The Choptank was a huge impediment for people trying to escape slavery.  It was deep and wide.  

Road bridge over the Choptank in Denton.

Dilapidated warehouse/dock building in Denton.

John Dickinson Plantation

We visited the John Dickinson Plantation which I've been meaning to do for a year now ever since I read about the African American burial ground being found last year, shortly after we moved to the Mid Atlantic.  We were busy getting settled so we didn't visit and time got away from me.

I've read some about the plantation and knew it dated back to before the American Revolution, much further than many others in this country.  Dickinson is known as the "Penman of the Revolution" but that doesn't sit all that well with me in that it's indicative of the culture of white male supremacy. It makes the plantation all about him and not the African American slaves he owned or his wife or the type of structure or the geographic locale.  But yes.  I get it that being a primary writer involving events that led up to the Revolution is a big deal.  I get it.  I am just venting in part due to the Trump era focus on "Might is Right" and lies told often enough become true for many people and outrageous lying has become commonplace among many of his followers.  They want to get back to the time where white men reigned unquestioningly in this country defining freedom and liberty for themselves and not others.  I was actually surprised that there wasn't a tour bus of Trump followers there wearing their garb and taking notes.  Kind of.  

The African American burial ground was found just over a year ago, March 9 2021 but is not available for the public to walk towards.  The entire path to it is not accessible.  It was found through archeological research and is thought to hold the remains of many human beings, maybe 400.   That's a lot of lives, a lot of people's ancestors lying in ground unmarked and forgotten for years, maybe as far back as the 1720's. The state is currently working with community members on how to go forward.  The land the burial ground was found on was acquired by the state in 2000.  

The plantation faces this view, towards the St. Jones River which used to be much wider and deeper and capable of supporting boats.  The rivers were to the inhabitants of the day what roads are to us now. But the St. Jones has been straightened and no longer follows the course or provides a view (to see approaching ships) along the front of the house. 

The plantation house was know as Poplar Hall and the main house was built in 1739 through 1740.

John Dickinson grew up there and lived there off and on.  He was born in 1732 and died in 1808.

The house was raided and significantly damaged in 1781 by the Brits and in 1884 a fire wiped out most everything but the bricks. Dickinson really only lived in the house a handful of years total - 1776-77 and 1781-82. I believe he lived in Wilmington, Delaware and Philly the rest of the time and is buried there though his father is buried not far from the main house, easy to see as it was done with obvious pomp and circumstance befitting a wealthy white man.

Ironically, Dickinson didn't vote in favor of the Declaration of Independence though he supported it. He thought the Colonists weren't ready to declare independence and didn't have foreign support lined up. He thought that civil disobedience would help alter British thinking and laws.  Dickinson was a Quaker though he made exceptions to allow for his wealthy lifestyle and slave holdings and joined the Continental Army. 

Dickinson wrote essays anonymously entitled "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania" which were printed throughout the Colonies and credited in large part with uniting the white Colonists against Britain. Only Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" is given more weight. Dickinson's persona in his "letters" was as an intelligent farmer of modest means, calm, thoughtful, reasonable and moral. He was actually a wealthy Philadelphia lawyer and large landowner. In his essays he wrote convincingly of Britain's constitutional flaws and questionable legalities regarding aspects of their rule over the colonies. Dickinson explains away his detailed knowledge of laws and politics by saying he spends time reading in his own small home library.  Not all that believable to me but it was very effective in it's day.  And I guess a lot of "fake news" and psychological operations in today's times are also effective in accomplishing goals.  History is fascinating.  I wonder how current times will be framed in history 20-30 years from now?

After we left Dickinson Plantation we went to Bowers Beach for a walk.  Access to South Bowers Beach is now blocked off as private property.  Bummer. That is where we found a rusty old narrow single bed springs that we drug home with us last winter.  

National Folk Fest 2022

The 81st National Folk Festival was held in Salisbury, Maryland Friday, August 26 through Sunday August 28.  We volunteered Saturday and Sunday all day.  It was a lot of fun and a lot of on our feet time since we'd signed up as  "bucket brigade" volunteers.  Bucket brigade volunteers walk around with a big bucket hoping for donations to help fund the next folk festival.  The next one for Salisbury will be the Maryland Folk Festival and not the national one.  The festivals are free so the donations help a lot.  As bucket brigade volunteers we don't get pushy but are encouraged to dance and have fun.  So I did.  I noticed that my dancing certainly increased donations and that just plain walking quietly up and down the isles during breaks between musical numbers increased donations.  Many people who hadn't donated the last four or five times I walked by ended up donating.  It was an interesting phenomena which tells reinforces what I already knew - that perseverance pays off, repetition wins the day, just keep giving opportunities without necessarily making eye contact but always smiling. 

We had expected singer/songwriter folk musicians like we used to host in house concerts over the years in Baltimore and Annapolis.  Those musicians would be singletons or small groups.  There weren't any of those at the folk fest which disappointed us.  But that's not to say we didn't enjoy the groups playing at the folk fest.  It's really an amazing event and so wonderful that its three days of free music where you donate whatever you can or nothing.  Suggested donation each day is $10 which is a really amazing deal.  

My feet were sore at the end of the first day though I can walk for miles and am used to it.  I wore a pair of sneakers that I hadn't really tried out to any extent so now I know they aren't up to the job.  The next day I wore my good distance running shoes and no problem.  It was hot as hades both days but cooled down with a horrendous gushing rain storm and lots of lightening for a couple hours on Saturday where things were put on hold and people were told to shelter in nearby buildings due to the lightening.  At the start of that storm we headed back to the volunteer tent to check in and through the ankle deep rain on the street and with torrents washing down from the sky I danced in and twirled around to the laughter of the volunteer tent volunteers.  A girl has to have fun. 

Below is the Maryland Spirituals Initiative Ensemble.  The music was beautiful. A couple got up and left from the front row when the Kentavius Jones, the group leader and music professor at Salisbury, began to describe how black spirituals came about during slavery after the first number.  The woman had on a baseball hat with the 1776 flag on it which has been used of late, unfortunately, by the white supremacists.  I don't know why people like that were even in the audience to begin with.   

Dave ended up working back stage at the Maryland Traditions Folklife stage all day on Sunday due to changing needs or perhaps a volunteer not showing up.  

We really enjoyed this volunteer opportunity and the other volunteers we met.  It was a lot of fun and well worth it.  I hope we are available to help out next year at the Maryland Folk Festival.  

Hippiefest in Milford, Delaware

The Lincoln City band, an oldies cover band.

We attended the Hippiefest at the Causey Mansion in Milford, Delaware on August 20.  We'd driven by the entry to the Causey Mansion a lot and wondered about it.  We had no idea the lot was as large as it is and as beautiful.  It has kind of an overgrown, English garden look from the street which I like.  And the foliage keeps the house and the lot very private, even in the winter.  So what a surprise when we entered and began the walk back and discovered many small (and large) garden settings with seating, fountains, sculptures and beautiful flowers.  

We were joined near the back of the seating area by a couple who'd been married at the Causey Mansion years before when it was under different owners.  They have great memories of the mansion and the surrounding gardens for their big day. 

The band was so so and Dave was poo pooing it to our new (and maybe brief) friends who'd been married at the mansion.  So when Dave complained about the bands' lack of skill, the wife informed us, politely, that they'd hired that same band to play at their house for a lawn party.  Yikes.  She diplomatically alluded that perhaps Dave's knowledge of musical prowess exceeded hers.  I had the feeling we wouldn't be trading phone numbers when the evening was over and I was right. She was really nice though, as was her husband.  

The best part of the Hippiefest in my opinion was seeing how many townsfolk came out dressed for the era.  Talk about enthusiasm.  It was a fun evening. 

The Alcohauler truck was at the festival providing drinks for the hippie era celebrants.  This is the second time we encountered the Alcohauler and I have a t-shirt celebrating them because I thought it was such a great idea and a great name for a "food truck" that only sells drinks. 

Large multi-colored beach balls were batted about throughout the evening with most people enjoying it even if they got bopped on the head with it unaware of it's impending arrival.  A couple folks got testy but then these hippie celebrants mostly were not high but more likely tipsy with alcohol.  In my humble opinion people high from marijuana are more chill than people drunk from alcohol, not that I'm hating on alcohol. 

Below,  a couple night shots of the Causey Mansion. 

Side view of the mansion.

Front door of Causey Mansion.  The mansion itself was not open to the public.

The Causey Mansion dates back to really early Delaware days, which is early since it is the "first state" in the union.  It is a Greek Revival Georgian home built in 1763.  It's older than the town of Milford and is now right in the middle of the town but once was part a a huge parcel of land.  It's been home to two Delaware governors and to the Vineyard family of shipbuilders as well as slaves. We were on the phone with old friends who live in Florida.  We were telling them about the Hippiefest held at the mansion and how far back it's history goes, dating back to before the revolution.  The friend made the remark that it was obviously a place that defied anyone's ability to "cancel culture".  Hmmm... Is he working off a different meaning to "cancel culture"?  I just didn't understand what he was referencing.  We didn't bother to tell him that slaves had been a part of that property back in the day and probably were the bulk of the labor that built it and worked the fields around it that are now the town of Milford.  Maybe we should have asked what he meant about his remark.  Maybe we should have pointed out that the mansion history had covered revolutionary times which also included slavery.  

A fun ending to the Hippiefest was the hole hoop contest at the end.  It was amazing how long many of the  folks (all women, I think) could keep that hoop going.