Category: USA

Birthplace of Country Music Museum

Bristol VA

Bristol is considered the birthplace of Country Music, so of course they built a museum.
In 1927, Bristol hosted what became known as “The Bristol Sessions”.
Interesting history.
The mandolin is a key instrument in country music.
Gazoo.
Autoharp.
Oscar Schmidt guitar was owned, signed and played by Jimmie Rodgers, and also signed by June Carter Cash, Janette Carter, Loretta Lynn, Doyle Lawson, Jim and Jesse McReynolds, Earl Scruggs, Roni Stoneman and others.
Banjo
Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs sang the Ballad of Jed Clampett, for the Beverly Hillbillies.
Live radio studio WBCM.
A constant theme throughout country music history is the gospel song Will The Circle Be Unbroken, first popularized by Maybelle Carter, mother of June Carter Cash. Maybelle popularized the guitar as the lead instrument for country music, with a style named “Carter Scratch”.
Willie Nelson singing Will The Circle Be Unbroken.
Hee Haw
Minnie Pearl and Grandpa Jones on Hee Haw. My father saw Grandpa Jones in concert in Fredericksburg.
So basically, hillbilly, country and bluegrass music came from southwest Virginia.

Outer Banks NC

Atlantic Ocean at Corolla NC
A cold November day at the beach!
Displays at the Roanoke Island Festival Park, Manteo NC. This is an interpretation of an Algonquian Indian village. This is the leader’s house.
Inside of the leader’s house.
Carved posts formed a circle for The Dance Circle.
Canoe carved out of a tree. The Indians used seashells to scrape out the wood that had been softened with fire.
Pole and slat frame called a hurdle, used for cooking fish and meat.
Pillory.
Fishing weirs, used by Indians to catch fish.
Colonial camp tent
Blacksmith
The first English colony in America was here at Roanoke Island NC.
The first colony was settled in 1584.
By 1590, the colony had disappeared, and it has never been discovered what happened to the “Lost Colony”.
The first permanent English colony was settled at Jamestown VA in 1607.
First English baby born in the New World in 1587, named Virginia Dare.
Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse.
Jockey’s Ridge State Park, Nags Head NC.
Decent hike to the top of the dunes.
In the distance, Albemarle Sound.
Atlantic Ocean in view.
Historic Corolla Chapel.

Annapolis MD

Annapolis is one of the oldest cities in the US, with many historic houses. This is the William Paca House, which dates to the 1760s.
Hammond Harwood House, 1774.
Chase Lloyd House, 1769.
James Brice House, 1767, now under extensive renovation.
Hogshead, early 1800s.
Colorful row houses.
Pinckney Street.
Sculpture of Alex Haley, author of Roots.
Ego Alley, where the people show off their yachts.
Main Street.
The Choptank.
Sunset on Main Street.

Maryland State Capitol

Annapolis MD

So I added Annapolis to my capitols list, and of course the dome is undergoing renovation.
Front of the Maryland State Capitol. This is one of the oldest state capitols.
This cannon dates to 1634, when it arrived from England and was mounted on the walls of the fort at Old St. Mary’s MD.
Ship’s bell from the USS Maryland, 1921.
Senate chamber.
House Chamber.
George Washington statue.
George Washington portrait.
Painting that depicts General George Washington resigning his command of the Continental Army at the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783.
Benjamin Franklin bust.
Main foyer.
Looking up to the rotunda.
Frederick Douglass statue in the Old House of Delegates Chamber.
Harriett Tubman statue.
Maryland Governor’s House.