2021-03-30: Visiting history in St Louis, Missouri via Route 66 and the Gateway Arch on Day 8 of our 3404 Roadtrip Adventure

Welcome back friends! Today we finally make it out of the State of Illinois, cross over the Mighty Mississippi River, and into St. Louis Missouri. We'll pay our respects to some notable figures buried in the Bellefontaine Cemetery and I finally get a chance to stop for a visit to the St Louis Gateway Arch. So hop on board as we continue to Geocache through history...

Our first stop was a quick geocache (GC50RQ2) find in Greenville, Illinois to mark our overnight stay and getting a find for Bond County.

Then we jump onto I-70 westbound. Instead of taking it all the way into St Louis, we detour onto the northern I-270 route. This not only takes us into Madison County, IL, but also over to the Route 66 Chain of Rocks Bridge and an Earthcache (GC68M54). Over its 50 year history, Route 66 crossed the Mississippi River at five different locations: 1) McKinley Bridge, 2) MacArthur Bridge, 3) Old Chain of Rocks Bridge, 4) MLK Jr Memorial Bridge and 5) Poplar Street Bridge.

This crooked crossing spanning the Mississippi River was a memorable passage for Route 66 travelers. The privately funded bridge was built in 1929 as a toll bridge. The distinctive 22-degree bend in the middle resulted from the need to build on solid rock footings on the river floor. Eventually turned over to the city of Madison, IL, it became the US-66 Northern Bypass from 1936-1965. In 1967, the New Chain of Rocks Bridge opened just to the north replacing this one to vehicular traffic. Now it is a pedestrian / bicycle bridge. We walked out to the center where Illinois meets Missouri where there was also a virtual geocache (GC2258).

There is also one stage of a 5-part Adventure Lab Cache here. We were only able to complete the one question as the other 4 stages were back in the other direction and I'm not backtracking.

These two structures you see here are just south of the bridge and look like they're a couple of secluded castles. In reality, they are water intakes for a series of locks and dams for the Chain of Rocks Canal to the east. This 17-mile section of the Mississippi River is very treacherous to navigate with its rocky bottom. In the 1940's-50's, the Army Corp of Engineers created a straight canal on the eastside of Chouteau Island to make it easier for ships and barges to navigate and bypass the rocky rapids.

Next we looped up, around, and crossed the mighty river on the New Chain of Rocks Bridge into Missouri. Our first stop over here was in the Bellefontaine Cemetery just a few miles in. So there was one gravesite we came to see. But upon arriving, we discovered there was so much more history here to see. Such as...

... William Clark (GC7B7DX) of the Lewis and Clark explorers. Born in Caroline County Virginia, Clark moved with his family to Louisville, Kentucky in 1785. In 1789, he joined the militia. He was commissioned a lieutenant in the regular army in 1792. One of the men briefly under his command was Meriwether Lewis. Clark left the army in 1796. In 1803, Captain Meriwether Lewis invited Clark to share the leadership of a corps of exploration in an extensive journey into the vast uncharted area newly acquired by the United States with the Louisiana Purchase. Clark acted as mapmaker and artist, portraying in great detail the life they observed.

After Clark's successful return from the Pacific coast three years later, President Jefferson awarded him 1,600 acres and made him Brigadier General of militia for the Louisiana Territory as well as superintendent of Indian affairs. He held that post the rest of his life. From 1813, he served as governor of the Missouri Territory. Clark died in St. Louis where a 35-foot gray granite obelisk was erected to mark his grave.

The Wainwright Tomb is one of Bellefontaine Cemetery’s most well-known mausoleums. It was designed in 1891 by renowned architect Louis Sullivan. Entombed here is Elis Wainwright, a millionaire brewer who lived from 1850 – 1924. He’s also known for the Wainwright Building in downtown St. Louis, one of the world’s first skyscrapers. Notably, Louis Sullivan designed that too. But the tomb was originally constructed for his wife Charlotte who’d passed away at the age of 34. Wainwright would then go on the run to Paris after being indicted in a bribery scandal. Decades later, he was finally entombed next to his wife upon his death.

The grave of Herman Luyties (1871 – 1921) is among the most unique at Bellefontaine Cemetery. And it has a rather creepy backstory. Luyties, the owner of the first drug store in St. Louis, took a trip to Italy at the turn of the 20th century. There, he fell in love with a model who ultimately rejected his proposal for marriage. But Luyties couldn’t let her out of his mind, and he even commissioned a sculptor to immortalize his former lover in stone. Now, in some form at least, Luyties can lie forever with the woman who wouldn’t have him. Over time, the marble statue gradually eroded due to weather, and so it was later placed in the glass box we see it in now.

Adolphus Busch (1839 – 1913) was a well-known brewer who ran the Anheuser-Busch Company with his father-in-law, Eberhard Anheuser. And like Anheuser, Busch was also born in Germany. As a young adult he emigrated to St. Louis which was home to a large German community at the time. And that meant that there was also a large market for beer. Following Anheuser’s death, Busch became president of the company. And thanks to his marketing expertise and innovations like refrigerated freight cars, he helped Budweiser become a nationally recognized beer brand in the 19th century.

Today at Bellefontaine, the Busch Mausoleum is one of the more notable tombs on display. It was designed by the Barnett, Haynes & Barnett architectural firm in the Bavarian Gothic style but made with local stone. It supposedly cost around $250,000 to build at the time, which equates to over a couple million dollars today!

The main reason for stopping by this cemetery was to visit the gravesite of Rush Hudson Limbaugh III. The majority of people know the name, many who listened loved him, and the others who only know what was told about him probably hated him. Rush was a radio personality, political commentator, and author. He got his start in radio in 1971 at radio station WIXZ as a DJ in Pennsylvania reporting "farm news." Within 18 months, however, he was fired due to a "personality conflict" with the program director. He went through a number of radio stations, working as a deejay and a talk show host, but it wasn't until 1984, when he became famous with his radio show on KFBK in Sacramento, California. He could voice any opinion he felt, regardless of how controversial.

(At the time of our visit, Rush's headstone had yet to be installed.)

His show was picked up by ABC-Radio in 1988, now being broadcast all over the country for what would be over three decades. It eventually rose to 600 stations and 27 million weekly listeners. Limbaugh was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1993 and the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 1998. Additionally, he was a five-time winner of the National Association of Broadcasters Marconi Award for Excellence in Syndicated and Network Broadcasting. Limbaugh's unabashed love of country and belief in American Exceptionalism caused detractors to seek controversy in every broadcast.

He was well liked for his charity work, using his show for the annual Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Telethon and the Marine Corps–Law Enforcement Foundation. He also was not afraid of poking fun of himself, voicing himself in cameos for three episodes of Family Guy.

Limbaugh, a cigar and former cigarette smoker, was diagnosed with lung cancer, eight days after his 69th birthday. On February 4th, during President Donald Trump's State of the Union Address, he awarded Limbaugh the Presidential Medal of Freedom. After his lung cancer diagnosis, he continued working on his radio show as much as he could. "I told the staff that I have a deeply personal relationship with God." Limbaugh died on February 17, 2021, at the age of 70.

(A more recent photo with the headstone.)

Continuing south for several miles along the banks of the Mississippi River into St Louis, we finally found a parking spot a few blocks away from the Gateway Arch (GC7ED). Along the way we spot the Tom Sawyer River Boat getting ready to pass underneath the historic Eads Bridge. This was the first bridge across the Mississippi at St. Louis. It was a major engineering feat, the largest bridge built at that time and the very first steel bridge. Completed in 1874, it is the oldest bridge standing on the Mississippi River. It was designed and built by James Buchanan Eads, an engineer famous for his ironclad gunboats built for the Union in the Civil War.

Nearing the Arch, we pass by this statue of Lewis and Clark and their dog coming ashore after crossing the river during their expedition.

During my days as a truck driver, I used to pass through St Louis on Interstate 40 often and could only get a view of the Gateway Arch out my window. I had always wanted to stop for a closer look, but parking a 70' long 18-wheeler within walking distance in downtown St Louis is probably not an easy task. Now, finally, we are able to get an up-close look at this monument.

Now for some history and facts. The St Louis Gateway Arch (GC7ED) is 630 feet tall and 630 feet wide at it base. The idea for a memorial to commemorate the western expansion of the United States began to take shape in 1933. On June 15, 1934, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill into law, instituting the United States Territorial Expansion Memorial Commission. In December 1934, the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Association discussed organizing an architectural competition to determine the design of the monument. Local architect Louis LeBeaume had drawn up competition guidelines by January 1935. On December 21, 1935, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 7253 to approve the memorial and 82-acre National Historic Site.

On February 18, 1948, Eero Saarinen's design was chosen from among the initial 172 entries in the design contest. After much deliberation and planning, the official groundbreaking ceremony finally occurred on June 23, 1959 at 10:30 AM. The first order of business was to build a tunnel and reroute the railroad tracks. In 1961, the foundation of the structure was laid and construction of the Arch itself began on February 12, 1963 as the first steel triangle of the south leg was set in place. The arch's visitor center opened on June 10, 1967, and the tram began operating on July 24. Upon it's competition, the arch became the tallest memorial in the United States and the tallest stainless steel monument in the world. The official dedication ceremony was finally held on May 25, 1968 by then Vice-President Hubert Humphrey.

Because of its tight quarters inside and limited exits, the Secret Service has forbidden all Presidents from ascending the Gateway Arch due to security concerns. The only exception was made in 1967 when he was 77 years old, former President Dwight D. Eisenhower was in town to give a speech. He had signed the order for the construction of the Arch in 1954. He paid a visit to the site after it had already closed to the public and insisted he get a ride on the tram to the top.

One more stop in St Louis before leaving the downtown traffic. I've played the game of chess since I was a kid. I taught my two sons when they were young. And when they started in a private Christian School, I formed and hosted the Chess Club for 2 years. So when I saw this virtual geocache at the World Chess Hall of Fame, we just had to stop. Outside they have the Guinness Record World's Largest Chess Piece (GC890GN) at 20 feet tall and a 9'2" diameter base and weighing in at 10,860 pounds!

Now to get out of the city to the rural open roads, find something to eat, and get some rest. To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-03-24: Turning a 1400 Mile Drive into a 3404 Mile Road Trip! Day 2 in Virginia, DC, Maryland, and Pennsylvania

On this Day 2 of our 3400 mile road trip from NC to TX, taking the long route, we geocached our way from Virginia through Maryland, DC, West Virginia, and into Pennsylvania history. Picking up new geocaching counties along the way, we were sightseeing places of Revolutionary and Civil War prominence that included churches, houses, cemeteries and more. So come join us as we travel back in time...

Our first two geocaches were quick urban hides to get credit for the county. In Virginia, there are not only the counties but also some of the larger cities have their own "boundaries" separate from the county. So the first of the geocaches was for Spotsylvania County (GC1FYJ1) and the other just a few blocks away was located within Fredericksburg (GC82XNE).

Our next geocache and county was up the road into Stafford County. It was a old virtual geocache at a piece of Civil War history (GCB1C). This huge stone block base is all that remains of a train bridge which spanned the Potomac Creek. The Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad crossing this bridge was a major supply route for Confederate troops along the river. Early 1862, the troops were ordered to abandoned their positions here. The advancing Union troops found the bridge destroyed in an effort to slow them down. In May 1862, engineer Herman Haupt supervised the unskilled Union army soldiers in harvesting two million feet of lumber and reconstructing the bridge in just nine days (see photo at top of page). Over the next three years and continued destruction by the Confederates, the bridge was rebuilt four times using this same foundation. You can see the modern roadway through the trees on the right side.

Our next "county" geocache, one of Virginia's separate townships, was in Falls Church. Just a quick parking lot LPC (light post cache) (GC3XCZE), but it fills in a blank on the county map and keeps us moving forward.

Our next two geocaches are practically in the same spot at the intersecting corners of Arlington County, Fairfax County and Falls Church. Located in a small park in a residential neighborhood is the original 1791 survey stone marking the proposed western corner of the diamond shaped District of Columbia for the newly formed United States Capital. Maryland was donating land NE of the Potomac River, while Virginia was to donate land SW of the river forming the diamond shape. However, Virginia rescinded and we have the current half-diamond configuration of Washington D.C. today. The two geocaches located here are a virtual for the survey marker (GC6781) and a Challenge for finding 300 Virtual caches (GC572WE).

Just a short distance away, and in Fairfax County, is another Virtual geocache at this 9-11 Memorial (GCA072). There are a LOT of virtual caches in and around Washington DC, but we don't have the time at this point to get to them all. So we just try and grab a couple every time we pass through the area.

In an effort to not get too bogged down and spend the entire day in Virginia, I make another quick park & grab parking lot LPC find in Loudoun County (GC3V6QF).

We add Clarke County to our map by picking up a geocache in the County Seat of Berryville (GCXGQF). From the historical marker: "The year after Clarke County was formed in 1836, construction began on a brick courthouse based on county justice David Meade's design. The courthouse was remodeled in the Neoclassical style about 1850 when the portico and copula were added. Portraits of locally prominent judges and lawyers from the 1840's to the present are displayed in the courtroom. The last public hanging in Clarke County occurred here in 1905."

There was much to see around the courthouse square. One of which is this statue erected as a memorial to those Clarke County residents who fought and died during the Civil War defending states rights and the Confederacy.

The other was the Grace Episcopal Church and Graveyard erected in 1832. Do you know what the difference between a cemetery and a graveyard? Originally graveyards were burial grounds on church property, whereas cemeteries were land specifically designated for burials. Some very old churches actually have clergy or other very prominent members buried WITHIN the church under the floor. Their flat headstones would be down the isles between the pews.

My next two geocaches are in the Winchester Township. On previous roadtrips through Virginia I had just skipped the small townships, instead just focusing on the larger and rural counties. But I'm gonna have to fill these in on the map sooner or later. Might as well get to working on them.

During the Civil War, the Union and Confederate armies each used the Frederick County Courthouse (GC4XT0K) as a hospital and a prison. The Greek revival style courthouse was completed in 1840. It was the third courthouse constructed on this location. In 1758, the first courthouse was the site of George Washington's first election to office, when voters here elected him a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses.

Though these buildings have not been around that long, Colonel James Wood, a native of Winchester, England, laid out and founded the new Winchester in Virginia prior to 1743. It received a charter of incorporation from the colonial legislature in February 1752. Colonel Wood was the first surveyor of Orange County from which the county of Frederick was carved by an act of the House of Burgesses passed in 1738.

The Taylor Hotel, also our next virtual geocache (GC890KN), was a major stopping point for travelers because of its location on the Valley Turnpike and also was the center of town life. During the Civil War it was the headquarters for several commanders, most notably Confederate General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. This is the Taylor Hotel below as it looks today.

Arriving in November 1861, his stay at the hotel was short. Continuing crowds of people eager to meet the famous Stonewall Jackson, he moved a few days later to a private residence of the Lewis T. Moore house, which is now the Stonewall Jackson Headquarters Museum (GC4XT6Y) pictured below. He used this as his headquarters until March 1862 when he left Winchester to begin his Valley Campaign.

Finally exiting Virginia and making our way into West Virginia, our next stop was in the town of Middleway to grab a geocache for Jefferson County (GCM0TN). From the historical marker: Middleway, founded in the late 1700's, flourished as a trading center for most of the 1800's. About 1820, the Lutherans and German Reformed congregations joined together to build this church. Some years elapsed and the building was erected and finally the Presbyterians agreed to bear one third of the cost. Services were alternated, thus the name Union Church.

As the village declined, the Union Church and its cemetery deteriorated. In a more recent act of destruction, vandals smashed tombstones with bats and knocked others askew. The nearby Grace Episcopal Church, built in 1851, (pictured below), having acquired the forsaken property, stepped in and has restored the site to its former dignity.

For Berkeley County, I stop for one of the famous WVTim gadget caches. Since 2012, it has had over 1400 finders and awarded nearly 700 favorite points. Located on the grounds of a fire station, it's made to look like an old fire house. I'm not gonna give you the GC code to this one cause I'm gonna tell you how it works. In order to open the compartment that contains the log sheet, you must first open the compartment which contains a package of balloons. Insert the balloon into tube on the side leaving enough around the tube for you to blow on and inflate the balloon. As the balloon expands on the inside, it opens the door containing the swag and log sheet. A fairly simple gadget cache but fun none the less. Oh and please take your balloon with you as you don't want another cacher to using the same one as you.

Up next in Morgan County, I stopped for a quick guard rail cache (GC4AX47) but still a significant point of history. From this point along the banks of the Upper Potomac River, Stonewall Jackson began shelling Hancock, Maryland from Orrick's Hill, January 5, 1862 after it refused to surrender Jackson's men were able to plunder a large cache of rifles, ammo, and blankets from a supply train that came into Alpine Station. After destroying remaining supplies, the B&O Railway track and the bridge over the Great Cacapon, Jackson marched his army of 8,500 men to Romney and captured it.

Crossing the bridge over into Maryland, we followed the river westbound until we got to that narrow piece of Maryland that separates West Virginia from Pennsylvania. Turning north a few hundred feet into Pennsylvania for our next geocache in PA's Fulton County and a significant piece of survey history. Here is located a stone survey marker for the Mason-Dixon Line (GC2BCKX).

The Mason–Dixon Line was surveyed between 1763 and 1767 by Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon in the resolution of a border dispute between British colonies in Colonial America. The disputants engaged an expert British team, astronomer Charles Mason and surveyor Jeremiah Dixon, to survey what became known as the Mason–Dixon Line. It cost the Calverts of Maryland and the Penns of Pennsylvania £3,512/9 to have 244 miles surveyed with such accuracy. To them the money was well spent, for in a new country there was no other way of establishing ownership.

Mason and Dixon's actual survey line began to the south of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and extended from a benchmark east to the Delaware River and west to what was then the boundary with western Virginia. The surveyors also fixed the boundary between Delaware and Pennsylvania and the approximately north–south portion of the boundary between Delaware and Maryland. Most of the Delaware–Pennsylvania boundary is an arc, and the Delaware–Maryland boundary does not run truly north-south because it was intended to bisect the Delmarva Peninsula rather than follow a meridian.

And finally our last geocache of the day was a virtual (GCED74) at the Sideling Hill Welcome Center on I-68. The Interstate 68 highway through Maryland is also known as the National Freeway. It runs parallel to US-40 and the original National Road which was built in the 1800's. I'll talk more about the National Road more next week when we visit some of the remnants along the way including the first toll booth in the United States.

That's it for today. To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, RVillage, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-03-23: Turning a 1400 Mile Drive into a 3404 Mile Road Trip! Day 1 in North Carolina and Virginia

WOW! What a roadtrip! So after two weeks, we finished up in Maiden, NC and now have to drive back to McCamey, TX to start the next project. Google maps says that it should only take 21 hours and 1400 miles. But where's the fun in that? BORING!! This wouldn't be the AwayWeGo Geocaching Adventures blog if we did that. NOPE, we took the LONG way back to Texas. It ended up taking us 12 days and 3404 miles later to reach our destination! So I hope you'll join us over these next few weeks as I bring you the stories and photos of the places we've discovered geocaching and sightseeing along the rural backroads and byways of the upper mid-west. So let's get started with Day 1 in North Carolina and Virginia...

Our first stop after checking out of the Lake Norman RV Resort on this cool spring morning, was for a virtual geocache (GC7B67D) in the historic town of Hillsborough, NC. On the grounds of the 1768 St. Mathews Church, later to become the Presbyterian Church, is the Old Town Cemetery. Not a traditional churchyard burial ground, it is one of North Carolina's oldest municipal cemeteries, established in 1757 by the Colonial Assembly and is the final resting place of several people who are significant to North Carolina history.

Among those buried here are William Hooper (1742-1790), who studied law in his native Massachusetts before moving to North Carolina where he established a law firm first in Wilmington and then Hillsborough. His gravestone lists several of his accomplishments, his greatest one was the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In 1894, Hooper's gravestone, and perhaps some of his remains, were moved to the Guilford Court House Revolutionary War battlefield. After a statue of Hooper was erected a few years later, the gravestone was returned to Hillsborough.

The tallest headstone is an obelisk honoring William Alexander Graham (1804-1875), who was governor, a United States Senator, and vice-presidential candidate.

The oldest part of the cemetery is just north of the church buildings in what now appears to be an empty field. In 2016, a ground-penetrating radar revealed that at least 100 graves are located there. The original grave markers, probably rough fieldstones or carved and painted wood have long vanished.

The only other stop in North Carolina on this trip was to make up for a previous DNF, see previous blog. Located in Chapel Hill was a geocache for the North Carolina County Challenge. I first attempted the geocache back in 2019 while working on another project and taking a roadtrip to pickup new counties. At that time of my visit the cache was missing so I wasn't able to sign the logsheet. Last year I completed the last couple of missing counties I needed to complete the state, but wasn't able to make it back to avenge my DNF. Upon this return trip, I noticed a new earthcache was placed at the outdoor amphitheater. So we gathered the needed answers to submit for the find.

Then we made the short hike through the park into the woods to find the ammo can replacement to claim a find for finding a cache in ALL 100 North Carolina Counties (GC19YRC)!

Crossing over into Virginia, it's back to focusing on county caching, virtuals, and other places of interest. First up were a pair of geocaches in Brunswick County and the town of Alberta. Usually not something I want to do when I don't want to spend a lot of time and that is hunt for a train hide geocache (GC80MYC). However this one was found pretty quickly and I moved a few blocks down the road.

We drove to another cache (GC8WD4N) just down the road at the sight of the original school house. I was hoping to find the remains of the school or something. But it was demolished in the 1980's and nothing remains except the short entry road to an empty field. I did find the geocache though.

Every now and then you get the unexpected surprise of finding something interesting when geocaching and sightseeing along the backroads during a road trip. The old bank building, now abandoned, is still standing on Main Street and 1st. I did a quick search to try and find some history on the building but didn't have any luck. It looks like a similar building I saw down in a small town along the Rio Grande in South Texas.

Driving north on US-1 into Dinwiddie County, we passed by this old motel and I just had to stop and get a photo of it. Located in McKenney, VA, the Wilmurt's Motel first opened in the 1930's as Wilmurt's Lunch Room, Cabins, and an Esso Gas station. As automobile travel grew in popularity after WWII, it expanded into a motor court / motel style business and did away with the cabins. It finally closed in the early 2000's and sits empty.

For this counties cache, we drove up to the town of Dewitt at the old fire tower (GC84NWP). The fire tower is no longer in service but at one time there were more than 150 fire towers scattered all across Virginia and were used to detect forest fires. Tower operators would sit up in the small room at the top mostly during the spring and look for smoke columns. When they saw one they would check with a neighboring tower for a cross reference and then call or radio a forestry person who would respond. Virginia on average has about 1,000 wildfires each year.

When we got to the city of Richmond, we had originally intended to find the virtual geocache at one of the large cemeteries that contain some significant interments of Virginia history. However by the time we got there they were just closing the gates so we couldn't get in.

So we drove over to the Virginia War Memorial for the virtual geocache there (GC7B656). In 1950, five years after the end of World War II, the Virginia General Assembly authorized the building of a memorial to honor and remember the nearly 10,000 Virginians who made the ultimate sacrifice serving in the U.S Armed Forces. A design was chosen, as was the location – nearly five acres overlooking the James River and downtown Richmond along U.S. Routes 1 and 301, the primary route from Maine to Florida before the construction of Interstate 95. As construction began, America entered the Korean War and plans were changed to include the heroes of this conflict. Construction was completed in 1955 and the Memorial was officially dedicated on February 29, 1956. The Memorial celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2016. The photo of the statue at the top of this page is looking through the center of this building below.

Our final geocaching stop for the day was in Hanover County at the I-95 Travel Bug Hotel (GC8132F). By now it was around 7:30 PM and we were hungry and tired ourselves and still needed to figure out where we were gonna stay for the night. So stop by next week when I'll show you Day 2 traveling through Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia's colonial history, Revolutionary and Civil War sites and more.

To follow along on our travels and keep up with my latest blogs, you may do so here of course by clicking the "Follow" button to the right. But also by using one or more of your favorite of these social media platforms: Facebook, MeWe, Gab, Reddit, Parlor, Twitter, RVillage, GETTR, Instagram, and TruthSocial. These all link directly to my profiles. Again, please feel free to comment and / or share.

2021-03-05: Touring the Mississippi Gulf Coast for History and Lighthouses

Finishing up the eastbound segment of our huge looping roadtrip around the east half of the United States, we followed the Mississippi Gulf Coast to check out some lighthouses and other historical sites. Obviously picking up some geocaches along the way too. So join us as we exit the Interstate, drop down to the backroads highway of US-90, and let's see what (and who) we found...

Our first geocaching stop was for a virtual geocache (GCED4C) at the statue of French explorer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne. Born in Montreal, New France (now Canada) in 1680, he landed and explored this area of Bay St Louis, MS in 1699. He was appointed governor of French Louisiana several times  in the early 1700's. Also known as Sieur de Bienville, he died while in Paris, France in 1767.

Moving along to Gulfport, MS, we come to our first lighthouse. Ship Island is located out in the Gulf of Mexico, about 12 miles south of Gulfport. The island got its name because it was often used by early explorers and larger ships to anchor, sending smaller boats navigating the shallower waters to the mainland. With the efforts of Congressman, and later as Senator, Jefferson Davis in the 1840's, Ship Island finally got its first lighthouse built in 1853. It was a 45-foot round tower made of brick.

In 1861, Confederate soldiers abandoned the fort and lighthouse on the island and returned to the mainland. They set the structures on fire to make it more difficult for Union troops to use the lighthouse to aid in navigating the waters. However, Union forces occupied the island before long and had the lighthouse operational once again by late 1862. In 1886, the brick lighthouse was considered unsafe and a square wooden lighthouse was constructed later that year. The lighthouse continued operating by the U.S. Coast Guard until 1957.

In 1959, a private use permit was granted to Philip Duvic who renovated the bottom floor to a kitchen and bathroom, second floor into women's quarters, third floor into a men's dorm, and the top floor a honeymoon suite. He eventually purchased the lighthouse in 1965 when the Coast Guard put lighthouses up for sale.

In 1969, Hurricane Camille severely damaged the wooden structure. And in June 1972, two campers lit a campfire too close for the windy conditions and caught the lighthouse on fire, completely destroying it. In 1999, a replica lighthouse was built on the island but destroyed in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina. And finally, another replica (pictured) was built in 2011, but not on Ship Island. This time right on US-90 in Gulfport making it more accessible to tourists.

I also grabbed the geocache near the lighthouse (GC6ZKCN) before driving off to the next location.

Further east down the beach and a block off of US-90, you'll find this red-brick building and our next virtual geocache (GCD69F). The Mississippi City Courthouse building was originally constructed in 1893 as part of the Harrison County Clerks office, the "Old Courthouse." It was the last remaining structure associated with a complex of courthouse buildings in Mississippi City, which served as the county seat from 1841 until 1902. After that the county seat was moved to Gulfport. The original building was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. This replica you now see was constructed in 2009.

Moving on over to Biloxi, we come to one of the lessor known lighthouses on the Gulf Coast. Constructed in 1965 as part of the Broadwater Beach Resort, the resort was destroyed by Hurricane Camille in 1969. Rebuilt as the President Casino in 1992, it too was destroyed in 2005 by Hurricane Katrina. This is all that remains. Even the geocache hidden near the base tends to disappear often and I had to DNF that one (GC6DTPB).

The Biloxi Lighthouse (GC7B8V6) was one of three Mississippi Sound lighthouses authorized in 1847 by legislation sponsored by Mississippi Representative Jefferson Davis. The Biloxi Lighthouse was erected in 1848 and was one of the first cast-iron lighthouses in the South. It has survived two of the deadliest hurricanes in Gulf Coast history, Camille in 1969 and Katrina in 2005. Katrina’s record-breaking storm surge crested at 27.8 feet above mean sea level. It destroyed nearly the entire city, but the lighthouse remained standing.

One of the features of this lighthouse is that it contains a webcam. You can login to the live feed from your smartphone to take that unique selfie as if you were both on the ground and up inside the lighthouse. Yep, that's me down in the lower left corner by the light post.

Our final stop was in Ocean Springs, MS for another virtual geocache (GCEC3D) at the Mississippi Vietnam Veteran's Memorial.

Making our way back to Interstate 10, yeah I know it sounds boring, but we have to get to Central Florida. We spent the following day with family and the next morning saying my last goodbye at my father's funeral. After the funeral we had to get back on the road up to North Carolina where we return to the Maiden Creek solar project for a couple weeks of touch up work. Then we head back to Texas for the next project. But we'll be taking the LOOOONG WAY back via the northern route! So be sure to check back in soon. Until next time...

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