It was cold this morning, but clear, a sufficient invitation to get outside for a walk. The better half agreed to my suggestion, so we drove to Cedarville Forest State Park, near Waldorf. Seeing hunting signs posted, we declined the walk and settled for a car tour (I couldn’t help but think about Dana Carvey, in an HBO Special several years ago, poking fun at Vice President Cheney - “Mr. President, a 6-foor man in an orange hunting vest does not look all that much different from a baby quail"…)
Show and tell follows, including the Dr. Mudd House Museum (outside only) and a great lunch find in Waldorf.
Remember our last geo quiz, which focused on wetlands
and green spaces? The one
that fascinated me the most was the Wicomico River. Quite frankly, I had never heard of
it.
Turns out there are a handful of Wicomico Rivers in the Washington area. Perhaps the best-known flows past Salisbury, Maryland and runs to the eastern shore. In Virginia, the Great Wicomico River dissects the Northern Neck peninsula. The little Wicomico lies a few miles to the north.
Our Wicomico River (Zekiah Swamp Run) starts in Cedarville Forest State Park, runs to the east of Waldorf and empties into the Potomac near the Highway 301 Bridge south of LaPlata. The Zekiah Swamp Run is a “braided stream” and the largest hardwood swamp (oxymoron?) in Maryland, as well as its largest freshwater swamp.
South of the park lies the Dr. (Samuel) Mudd House
Museum. After shooting Lincoln
at Ford’s Theater, Booth escaped into Maryland on horseback. He arrived at Mudd’s farm near
dawn. The doctor set his
broken leg.
Booth, Mary Surratt and the two other co-conspirators were hung. Mudd escaped the rope, and went
to jail until President Johnson pardoned him in 1869.
Much has been written about Mudd and his involvement and knowledge of the plans. I haven’t read much about it, other than James L. Swanson’s Manhunt, a real page turner.
Anyway, look for an increase in visits to this house/museum and the Surratt House Museum in 2015, when the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination takes place.
Driving through Waldorf, our tummies growled. The better half pulled out
her smart phone, but nothing other than the usual fast food options popped
up. Relying on old-fashioned eyesight,
we spotted “Genghis Grill.”
The strip mall location portended mediocrity but turns out to be a great
change of pace, with Mongolian-style, build your own stir-fry.
Can’t really classify this one as a road trip, but we did get lost around Bryantown, and spent about 20 minutes more than we wanted to. It was a delay I wouldn’t describe as charming, but we took in stride. In these days of instant gratification and whizzing around the web, you need to get out sometimes for what we used to call a "Sunday drive."
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