Echoes of the Southwest

DAY SEVEN Rosewell Ruins, Deadrise Charters and the Lighthouse I was so glad that I looked up Rosewell Plantation Ruins .  I found out that we can visit the skeletal remains of the mansion.  We picked this day to see Rosewell and I am so glad we did.  The remains are haunting and gorgeous.  I took pictures at every angle and close-up shots of interesting features.  There was a gravesite near the structure with a marker.  The lingering walls and chimneys were poignant and made my visit memorable. After visiting Rosewell, we went to Haven Beach.  We liked this beach because it was small and not-so crowded.  We lay on towels on the sandy beach and swam in the bay.  We relaxed and enjoyed the quietness of the beach. Our next adventure was to take a boat cruise out to the Newpoint Comfort Lighthouse.  The boat, Mathews Deadrise Charters, was docked at The Inn at Tabbs Creek (B&B).  We met up with our captain, Trey, who was a wonder host pointing out

DAY SIX Jellystone Park, Little England and Gloucester Beach We decided to try Hardee’s for breakfast before heading out this day.  The first thing we wanted to do was to go back to the suicide/ghost/witch house to see if Bigfoot is still there.  We found out that not only was a murder and suicide conducted inside the house, but apparently there were witch rituals preformed as well.  Magic and spells were done in this haunted house.  Nothing exciting happened on this visit. Afterwards, we headed out to try and find the mansion known as “Little England”.  My three-time great-grandfather once owned it so I was curious to see a bit of my family history.  Unfortunately, we couldn’t get passed the front gate and the house was not visible.  I did take what pictures I could of the grounds from the gate.  Disappointed but happy to see where it was located, we decided to hit a beach.  We found that Gloucester Point Beach Park wasn’t far away. While driving out of the nei

DAY THREE Cemeteries, Museums and Crab House This was our last day in Fairfax and Sharon wanted to see Aspen Grove one more time.  We started the day at St. Mary’s Catholic Church and cemetery.  There were many old graves around the grounds.  The Grotto was hit by lightning and is still standing.  After leaving there and before Aspen Grove, we had breakfast at Bakery Bread & Grill.  I just love it when we find these small and delightful places. Since we were not able to get inside the house on this day, we did ask the owner if we could wander around the grounds, and she was just fine with that.  We walked around the entire property and Sharon shared many stories of the fun times she had there.  We took tons of photos of the gardens, house and the townhouses in the back.  Even a deer ran in front of us to get his picture taken as well.  He didn’t want to be left out.  One of the townhouses was for sale so we couldn’t resist going inside.  We pretended we were l

Since it is spring and summer is just right around the corner, I thought I would share my journal entry of mine and Sharon's Virginia trip we took in 2014.  On that trip, Sharon got to visit both the house and vacation home she grew up in.  I was glad to be able to see both places.  We also found an old family home that my 3 times great-grandfather once owned, do some ghost hunting, photograph amazing ruins, have an encounter with Bigfoot, swim in Chesapeake Bay, and take a boat cruise to an old lighthouse.  I documented this trip in a journal and will share each day in separate posts.   DAY ONE Flight, Dulles and Donuts The first day of our trip to Virginia started out with a wee bit of drama.  It appeared that Sharon’s luggage was a bit over the 50 pound limit.  We had to transfer some of her stuff to my luggage which was under the weight limit.  After that, we went through security and their “wonderful” (sarcasm of course) x-ray machine.  Feeling a bit violated, we f

He was born on November 21, 1819 in Essen, Prussia (a coal mining region which is now known as Germany).  His true name was Johannes Henricus Wickenburg, and along with his brother procured coal on the property his family owned.  In 1847, Wickenburg settled in the United States when the Prussian government stole the mineral rights from his family and invaded their farm.  He became part of the 7 th Arizona Territorial Legislative Assembly which embodied the district of Yavapai.  He was also the Postmaster of Vulture City, an inspector for the schools, a census taker, and Justice of the Peace. Henry Wickenburg founded the Vulture Mine and the settlement of Wickenburg.  Vulture Mine produced 70 million dollars of gold while in business and became Arizona’s greatest influential mine in the entire territory. Wickenburg spent his later years on his ranch, but had troubles gathering all the cash payable to the owners of Vulture Mine.  He was given twenty thousand dollars as an advanc