Fredericksburg Auction Block

Our map of the historic district of Fredericksburg, VA showed a spot where the slave auction block still stood.  We arrived there and looked around, then looked down on this.

It wasn't what I expected - nothing like what I saw in the movie "12 Years a Slave".

Did enslaved men, women and children have to stand on this small block?

I went searching the internet and came across this blog that had several posts about the auction block.  The author did find contemporary texts stating that the block was used to elevate slaves being sold. Read his entry that I linked to above if you want to learn more about this block.

Fredericksburg Steeples

Most of the churches in the historic part of Fredericksburg, VA are gathered on one street in town.

We walked passed most of these on our way to a restaurant on Mother's Day.

Same steeple - different angle.

I think the one top and below had the same architect.

This one we saw coming from our BnB.  Not sure what happened to the rest of the building.  I guess we'd know if we'd stop to read the historical marker.

I only captured half of the front, but it was symmetrical so you can imagine what it looked like.

Joining Inspired Sundays.

Bank to Restaurant

We visited Fredericksburg, VA with friends Janet & Will on Sunday to Monday of this week.  This is the first of several posts on what we saw.

We had lunch at Foode.  They didn't take reservations and being Mother's Day and a graduation weekend we took our chances at getting seated.  We arrived at noon and got on their list for an hour and 3/4 wait.  Turned out to be only an hour which we used to walk around the old town.  They called Will and we were only a 5 minute walk away at that point.

Foode is in an old bank building.  A great use of the space.  

We were surprised to see Lincoln's face above the mantle in this southern town.

Even the old vault is used for seating.

No photos of the food.  It was good.  Janet and I had the grits and eggs served with a tomato cheese small salad mix on top.  Dan had a large salad with grilled chicken and Will had waffles and fried chicken.  As an appetizer we had pimento cheese toast. 

Joining Tuesday Treasure

Airplane Noses

A second post from our visit to the Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

I was taken by the decorations on the various planes, mostly in the front or the nose.  And that part of the airplane came in a variety of shapes.

I think the first one is a Corsair.  Someone who knows their planes may correct me.  Very popular among pilots in WWII.  Women flew these in the States but not in battle.

Compare the nose above to the Blackbird which flew incredibly fast and used in Cold War aviation.

Skunk on the Blackbird has something to do with how it smelled.  The plane is made of titanium which the US didn't have access to so dummy corporations were formed to purchase titanium from the Soviets.  The plane was then used to spy on the Soviets but never flew over their airspace.

This one as insignia on the fuselage.  Recognize it?

Here's a close up.  It's the USA throwing its hat in the ring to join the war.

Love this eagle!

Look closely at this image.

Yes, daring young men on the flying trapeze.

Here's the nose of the Concord.  It may have been a fast flight over the Atlantic but required so much fuel that it wasn't economical to fly.  Notice the very small windows - necessary because of its speed.

This one is really shiny.

Here is one of the smallest planes.  7 foot wing span!

You know what this one was famous for.

Interesting pattern on this nose.

Can't remember what this was

Here's the nose of the space shuttle.  

To get the shuttle in the building the roof had to be removed above the doors.

It is a fascinating place.  More to come in another post.