Virginia, Lorton - Thursday, August 28, 2014 - Gunston Hall

On Tuesday I came down with a fever and sore throat.  I was feeling pretty good by this afternoon so we decided to get out and about for a while.  Gunston Hall, the colonial home of George Mason is about half a mile from the campground so we decided to check it out.

I had no idea who George Mason was until I started reading about Gunston Hall.  He wrote the Virginia Bill of Rights to preserve the individual rights of the Virginia citizens.  It was adopted in convention June 12, 1776.

When the colonies became independent from Britain’s rule the members of Congress were having trouble governing the newly independent states.  A federal convention was called in Philadelphia and George Mason agreed to attend as Virginia’s delegate.  From mid-May to mid-September 1787 delegates worked to write our Constitution.  George Mason delivered over 125 speeches during the convention and was regarded as one of the primary architects of the Constitution.    However, once the Constitution was completed Mason was one of three delegates who refused to sign the finished document because there was no Bill of Rights included in it.  He felt that the proposed federal government would diminish the rights of the individual citizen.  Our Bill of Rights came at a later date and the wording is very similar to the Virginia Bill of Rights written by Mason.

George Mason married sixteen year old Ann Eilbeck, they were married 23 years.  She bore him 12 children, nine survived.  Ann died at the age of 39 (I think I know why).  Gunston Hall was constructed as their home between 1755 and 1759.

 

 

Louis Hertle was the last private owner of Gunston Hall.  He purchased it in 1912 and began restoration of it in 1913.  Upon his death in 1949 the estate was presented to the Commonwealth of Virginia and the renovation has continued.

Gunston Hall was once a 5500 acre tobacco and wheat plantation.  Today it totals 550 acres.  The home is a prime example of Georgian architecture.

You approach Gunston Hall by way of a long driveway flanked on both sides by magnolia trees.

 

The entry hall was constructed to impress visitors continuing the Georgian style of the outside of the house.  Looking down the stairs into the entry hall.  The “public” side with a parlor and dining room is on the left.  The “private” or family side is on the right and consists of the master bedroom and Mason’s office plus the back stairway used by family and servants to get to the seven bedrooms on the second floor.

 

 

I was impressed with the hinges on the front door.

And the stairway detail.

Right now most of the furnishings are out of the house anticipating a roof repair in September.  Because of that we were able to actually walk into the rooms and take pictures of the architecture instead of just looking at it from a doorway.  Having everyone in the room made it pretty difficult to take a picture of the room as a whole, but I could get some pretty good pictures of the details of the rooms.

The parlor is the most elegant room in the house.  It is done in the Palladian style.

 

 

 

There was lots of gold gilding plus red silk/damask wall coverings.

 

The guide said that there were four styles of architecture used to complete the house, something rare in England and practically unheard of in the Colonies.  I can remember three styles she mentioned but the fourth escapes me.

The dining room where Mason’s friends and colleagues Washington, Jefferson and Madison were entertained is done in Chinoiserie or “Chinese-style” architecture which was just coming into style in England so it was pretty cutting edge here.  It’s pretty awesome to know that you are standing in the same room that those famous men stood in over 250 years before.

This is a view of the garden from the porch at the back of the entry hall.  This porch was originally the “front porch” because it faces the river.  Later when the popular mode of travel changed from the river to land the other side of the house became the front.

This is a picture of Mason’s office and the desk where he wrote the Virginia Bill of Rights.

 

 

Notice the detail on the shelving in the closets of his office.

 

 

In the master bedroom an expensive green glaze was chosen.  One of the women in our group recognized it as “colonial green”.  Definitely not my taste but evidently it was the thing to have in colonial times.

 

 

The closet in the master bedroom held the family’s most precious items for the table under lock and key.

 

The back stairway is narrow and curved, making you wonder how the servants made the many trips up and down during the day.  I bet those chamber pots were a challenge.

Upstairs four of the seven bedrooms had fireplaces and some of the better furnishings.

The other three bedroom were sparser.  That is a mousetrap to the left of the bed.

This is a picture of the gardens from an upstairs window.  The gardens are still being renovated, I can picture very formal gardens.

Just outside the main house are the kitchen, dairy storage and wash house.

This is a view of the Potomac from the gardens. 

Some of the boxwood in the garden are over 250 years old.

This school house is where all of the Mason children were educated.  The teacher lived in quarters upstairs.

I usually don’t buy items from gift shops but I couldn’t resist these bayberry candles.  I love bayberry candles for Christmas and it is really hard to find them anymore.

Virginia, Lorton - Tuesday, August 19, 2014 - Pohick Bay Marina

We decided to explore the Pohick Bay Marina today.  We rode the bike over because we were going to pick up a few groceries afterwards.  Tomorrow we might try the trail through the woods to get there.

Looks like they just redid their boat docks.

 

 

This is the area where you can shore launch a small boat.

We weren’t the only ones out gazing at the water.

The administration building houses restrooms and a small concessions area.

I could sit out here all day.

There is a large picnic area.  The only problem I can see is if this place fills up there may not be enough parking.  We were the only ones walking around today.  There was another couple that got out of their car and headed to a bench.  They seemed content to read the paper and listen to the water.

On a day like today when no one else was around we could have our own little private beach.

No pretty shells, just lots of large snail shells.  They were about 2 inches long.  I didn’t pick any up, thought they might still be inhabited and that would have been a huge snail.

Since I don’t know what direction this bench faces, don’t know if you could see a pretty sunrise or sunset, but it would be a pretty place to sit anyway.

Lots of great scenery.  I really like this place, need to come back again.  And the next time I hope we are the only ones there again.

 

 

Virginia, Lorton - Monday, August 18, 2014 - Pohick Bay Regional Park

This is site 67 where we are for the next couple of weeks.  Lots of nice shade, no TV reception at all.

 

This post, which is for the site across the way, was what gave us so much trouble getting into the site.  If not for it there would have been a whole lot more room to maneuver around the trees we had to get between to get into our site.

Our next door neighbor who came in after us said the guy on the other side of him was amazed that we were able to get a coach this large into this site.  You note that I take part of the credit since I was the one outside running around making sure we missed everything.  In reality, that was just a small part of the process, once again I’m amazed at where Greg can put this thing.

We took a walk (actually a “hike” for us) this morning to check out the park.  That’s us behind the tree.

 

They also have some pretty nice looking cabins here.  We don’t think they have bathrooms because there were some trails over to the facilities.  They have two nice looking buildings with baths and laundry rooms.

This is the ranger station as you enter the park.

It was early and still pretty cool so we decided to give the trail to the pool a try.

I’m sure it was farther than that.

The Pirate’s Cove waterpark wasn’t open yet, but I could get a few pictures from the outside and one through the fence.  Looks like it would be fun we’ll check it out before we leave.  We are going to try bringing the bike to the parking lot here to load it before we go home.  It might be easier to get the coach out without having to worry about the bike on the back and the ground would definitely be more level in the parking lot.

We’ve spotted a couple of full hookup sites we’ll try to get the next time.  Sites 71 and 75 look good with a lot easier access than site 67.  Site 68 across from us that we had to use in order to get in here only has electric service and would accommodate a small camper or a tent.  We asked at the office if it was rented for the Labor Day weekend which is when we will be leaving and they said it hadn’t been.  Since they know we will need to swing into it in order to get out they are going to try to keep it open.

We saw this little guy as we were walking past an RV storage area.  I don’t think he would have run away but a car came past and scared him off.

 

 

This playground area sits in an open field behind the camp sites.

I wrote postcards to the grandkids this afternoon.  We had bacon and tomato sandwiches for lunch.  Son AJ provided the bacon along with some other pork for the freezer when we visited them in Indiana.  Daughter Robyn got the beautiful tomatoes and some peaches for us at the farmer’s market.  We had some of Robyn’s fresh strawberry preserves in an ice cream sundae last night.  I’ve got fresh green beans cooking in the crockpot courtesy of daughter Desira, she sent things from the garden when we left there.  Daughter Amanda provided a parking space for us for part of our Indiana stay.  Son David raises cattle so we’ll be picking up some beef when we get to Kansas.  Visiting these great kids is turning out alright for us J.

This is the view from my outside recliner this afternoon.  Doesn’t get much better than this.