Fall Festival, Manassas

The weather forecast for Saturday threatened showers so Barb and I decided to stay close to home and went to visit the Fall Festival in Manassas Old Town. For the past few years the community has worked hard to draw business and visitors to the area so that now it has been transformed to a lovely area to visit. There are craft,antique and book stores with wonderful restaurants and events planned throughout the year. This festival has grown in size with the streets filled with vendors and entertainment. 

Our first stop was an area where the Chainsaw Chicks were creating works of art from tree stumps drawing a large crowd.

 

 

The finished carvings were auctioned off and collected over $2000 which I think went to the U.S. Forest Service. The fox carving raised over $300. Each carving took over an hour to complete and each of the girls had 3 chainsaws fuelled to use throughout their creations. We marveled at how they wielded such heavy instruments in the blazing sun to create such wonderful pieces of art.

We both had a turn at wearing the local firefighter garb. 

There were also civil war characters with tents, fires and cooking demonstrations near the old cannons.

Apparently the guy who lives here is quite a character known for speaking his mind and flouting his opinion in his back yard where everyone can see from the street.

 

There was plenty of entertainment for the kids with swings, pumpkin decorating booths, palm trees to climb and dance routines in the pavillion.

This church is now a mexican restaurant so we went inside to investigate and whet our lips with a beer. When the barman refused to take our money, we discovered we had crashed a wedding! Our cameras drew a few looks from their official photographer so we knocked our beers back and headed out, as we were feeling decidedly uncomfortable. I didn't even realize the white fluffy veils draped outside were an indicator of the activities inside, I'd just put it down to the restaurant's decor since it had once been a church.

We headed next to the cemetery where we spent a while roaming around looking at the headstones and the confederate area fenced off. I spotted a train carriage at the edge painted with this wonderful graffiti.

I though this was the saddest grave in the cemetery, a headstone marked only with a name and this dear little bedraggled teddy bear sitting up against it, which had obviously sat through many downpours.

We later walked past this abandoned house which Barb informed me was a Sears catalog house, and supposedly the only one in the area. As dusk was drawing in, we packed our cameras away and headed back to the welcoming sounds of the festival, where we sat with a beer listening to the bands until it was time to go home. And not a drop of rain!

Forest Haven Revisited

After a sleep in, four of us went back to Forest Haven to explore further. I've been here a few times now but the place is so vast that we still have areas undiscovered by our group.

The day was murky, threatening us with rain and putting a sadder veil over the place than usual. Barb had sent us an article she'd found online, a long read, but a tragic report, and this was still haunting me as we trudged along the broken roads.

 

  

We passed overgrown playgrounds with rusty slides and silent swings, then crept through decaying corridors quietly treading the dusty floors. We appeared to be the only visitors here this day and that seemed to add to the already still and heavy atmosphere.

All of my photos were of a dark nature and I was struggling to find a shot that could be beautiful.

 

Emily, Barb and I were sitting on the curb outside a building waiting for Tim to come out. I was shooting the grey sky with my camera trying to get a shot where the clouds didn't appear ominous when Tim came trotting out of the door with a triumphant grin on his face. He had found an identity bracelet in the basement. I was incredulous. Tim has an amazing gift for foraging and finding treasures and has really been an asset on our trips. He's also a walking wikipedia, but I digress. We all clamored to look at the bracelet and excitedly decided to see if we could find another. My mood had lifted and I raced with the others downstairs. We scrummaged around and couldn't believe it when after covering the whole area, we had found another two.

The ultimate souvenir and a proud possession!

 

We happily continued to the next building which was also quite a find. it was the site laundry with massive machines for washing, pressing and folding clothes and linens. The photo above is of a machine used for steaming clothes called a form finisher which inflated to the desired form so the clothing placed on it could be steamed properly.

As we left the building, the rain started to fall heavily meaning cameras had to be packed away. Undaunted, we went to our regular bar to drink beers and gloat over our precious momentos.

H St. Festival, D.C.

After St Elizabeth's, we headed down to D.C. to see the H St Festival which is held annually to encourage people to the area. They have music, craft and food vendors, health screens, art cars and a fashion show.

 

 

The place was jumping and the sun beat down as people crowded the streets, dancing, eating the international food available, or viewing the multiple art pieces on show. The fashion show seemed to be the main event so we headed for there to grab a spot by the catwalk.

 

 

The children were adorable and strutted to rap music up and down the catwalk, but the highlight of the day were the male models. Ladies, feast your eyes on these hunks!

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, there were some female beauties also and I managed to get a great collection of photos. By the end of the afternoon, I was ready to head home for a glass of red, some quiet relaxation and to tend to my sunburn; it had been a long day.

St Elizabeth's Hospital, DC

On Saturday a few of us went to D.C. to take part in a tour of St Elizabeth's Hospital, now closed and owned by Homeland Security. John Hinckley used to be a resident here and we were very excited to see one of America's most famous mental hospitals. It was also used in the movie, 'A Few Good Men'. We had a wonderful view looking over D.C. and then doubts started setting in. We spent nearly half hour of our 1.5 hour tour standing here learning about H.S. and their plans with the site. We were also informed that we would not be allowed inside the buildings but would only walk around the site. I was devastated. This campus was an urban explorers dream, visiting wonderful empty old buildings and and being allowed to be there. But it was not to be. We were allowed to take photos of the outside only and we weren't allowed to wander. I was using my new 50D for the first time and had really wanted the opportunity to put it through its paces.

 

All the buildings, though wonderfully preserved, looked the same as we traipsed round. They all had red shutters over the windows, some of which had metal vents powered by solar panels on the roof for climate control.  

The hospital is a Kirkbride building planned to give patients a sense of freedom and views of beauty. Civil War soldiers were treated here and there is also a cemetery at the back of the site with many unmarked graves.

We weren't allowed too long to take photos and I often felt like a kid on a school trip, constantly being told to move on by the teacher. This link gives more information and photos of the hospital. The tour guides mentioned that because they had so many photographers on the tours, they would organize a trip soley for them. I'll wait and see. 

George Washington Masonic Memorial, Alexandria, VA

On Saturday after sleeping in late, making some phone calls and reading the paper, I felt I should get out of the house and do something with my day. I headed down to Alexandria to the G.W. Masonic Memorial. This is a beautiful building which I had passed by countless times and looked at, thinking, one day I'll visit.

The building was completed in 1923 and was styled after Greek and Roman architecture with the tower based on the lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. It's the only masonic temple in the U.S. that is maintained by a group of lodges. The building is in honor of George Washington built by a Fraternity as he was himself a freemason and believed that 'the grand object of Freemasonry was to promote the happiness of the human race.'

There is marble throughout the building, in the rooms, the stairways and in this theater which holds events open to the public. First I knew of it!

 

This room is actually used for lodge meetings and holds a lot of G.W. mementos, including his apron above, which he wore when laying the final piece of the Capitol. Today, no one is sure which piece that is and our guide thought that this was the subject of Dan Brown's latest book, The Lost Symbol.

 

This room in the tower pays homage to George Washington, with displays illustrating his life from birth to death. It even had his will there and newspapers documenting his death.

 

 

The photos above are of rooms in the tower dedicated to different lodges. I was eager to reach the observation tower and see the view which I was expecting to be spectacular. The elevators that we rode in were unusual as they tilted at 7.5 degrees so at the bottom ,they were 58ft apart, yet at the top, only 8ft apart. And, built by Otis Elevator.

This was the best view from the top, looking straight down through Olde Town Alexandria to the Potomac River with Maryland over the other side.

And woo hoo, a pentagram. We all know that the pentagram is fundamentally a life symbol, but it still has an ominous feel to it thanks to its misuse, and it did seem a little creepy to see it on the floor with candle stands, evoking images of hooded ceremonies and chanting!

This is a spectacular building and anyone who is a George Washington fan, like me, should pay this a visit. It is much bigger on the inside than it looks from the outside, and be sure to do the full tour and not just the trip to the observation deck, which for me was the least interesting part.