WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA

Back on Memorial Day weekend in 2012 I took a little mini vacation to through Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. A lot of the journey took me along the historic National Road.  One such stop was in the historic river town of Wheeling, West Virginia.  The National Road run right through downtown Wheeling and crosses the Ohio River on a suspension bridge that was built in 1849. With a total length of 1,010-feet is one of the longest and oldest pre-Civil War bridges still in use today. It is still open to vehicle traffic, with a weigh limit of 2-tons or less.  The historic bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Place in 1975.

Just down the street from the suspension bridge is the historic Capitol Music Hall. From 1926 until 1977 the Capitol Music Hall was the setting for "Jamboree USA, a live country music radio show broadcast live over clear channel WWVA - 1170 AM. The Jamboree was the second longest running radio show in the United States; only the Grand Ole Opry has had a longer run.  Some of the greatest stars in country music, including Hank Williams, Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb and Bill Monroe have performed on the stage of this historic building.

Here is a short video taken highlighting my visit.

TOMBSTONE TOURIST VISIT MARYLAND

Green Mount Cemetery

When Traveling I like to spend time visiting Old and Historic Cemeteries so I have been labeled the Tombstone Tourist. While on a recent trip to Maryland for the Military Bowl I had the opportunity to visit Baltimore and the Historic Green Mount Cemetery. Driving up from Annapolis my GPS took me through downtown Baltimore.  The area surrounding Green Mount Cemetery is not the best and anyone visiting here should remain aware of their surrounding. As I was getting close to the cemetery the neighborhood got progressively worse and it looked like some of the building had been burned in the riots last year. It seems that the politically correct term for what happened is protests, but anything that does this much damage is a riot.  As I pulled into the cemetery, I stopped at the office. This is a very, very large cemetery and I needed to Pick up a map and also all visitors are required to register with the office before entering.  I signed in and picked up my map that included the locations of more than 70 of the most visited graves.  It was a cold, rainy morning as I drove through the cemetery beginning my search for some of Baltimore's most historic and notable figures.

General Joseph E. Johnston

One of my target graves was that of General Joseph E. Johnston.  I found it interesting that General Johnson surrendered the last and largest number of the Confederate Forces during the Civil War. On April 26, 1865, some two weeks after General Lee Surrendered at Appomattox, General Johnston surrendered more than 89,000 Confederate Troops to General William T. Sherman at Bennett's Place near Durham, North Carolina.  One thing that I found Interesting was that following the war General Sherman and General Johnston became close friend. The two was so close that when General Sherman died in February 1891, General Johnston served as a pallbearer at his funeral.  It was a cold rainy day but out of respect for for his friend General Johnston refused to wear a hat and as a result caught pneumonia and died a few weeks later.

Samuel Arnold

 Also buried here is Johns Hopkins, the founder of Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins University.  His grave is located near the Chapel, and the grave of Maryland's Longest serving Governor, Albert Richie.  Governor Richie served for over 15-years as Maryland's 49th Governor.   On top of the hill near the large mausoleum I found the grave of Samuel Arnold, who was involved in the original plan to kidnap President Abraham Lincoln. Although he withdrew from the plot prior to Lincoln being assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, Arnold and Dr. Samuel Mudd were both found guilty of conspiracy and sentenced to life in prison at Fort Jefferson off of the Coast of Florida. In 1869, President Andrew Johnson pardoned both Arnold and Mudd.  Both men returned to Maryland and lived out the rest of their lives.  After being released from prison, Arnold lived quietly for more than 30-year. Samuel Arnold died on September 21, 1906. Only a simple white stone with the name Arnold, marks his grave.

Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte

When walking through cemeteries, I often find something unexpected and interesting.  This was the case when I stumbled on the grave of Elizabeth Patterson who was the wife of Jerome Bonaparte. Jerome was the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte who strongly disapproved of the marriage. When Jerome and Elizabeth tried to return to France, Napoleon refused to allow Elizabeth to enter the country.  She was exiled to England and Napoleon had the marriage annulled. Elizabeth Bonaparte returned to being Elizabeth Patterson and returned to America where she lived out the rest of her life.

John Wilkes Booth

My final stop in Green Mount Cemetery was at probably the most visited grave in the cemetery; the grave of John Wilkes Booth. A couple of weeks after shooting President Lincoln at Fords theater, Booth was located by U. S. Soldiers in a barn on the farm of Richard Garrett, near Port Royal, Virginia. Refusing to give up a soldier named Boston Corbett shot Booth in the barn, and he died a few hours later. President Lincoln's Assassin is officially buried in an "unmarked" grave in the booth family plot.  The only mention of John Wilkes Booth is on the family grave monument which lists the name of Julius Booth's children. While the cemetery maintains that his grave is unmarked, many people think that a small white stone at the corner of the family plot actually marks his grave.

After finishing my visit to Green Mount Cemetery, I made my way back through Baltimore and headed north toward the Dulaney Valley Cemetery in Cockeysville, Maryland. The Dulaney Valley Cemetery is a modern cemetery with flat ground markers which makes his difficult if not impossible to locate specific graves.  While Find-A-Grave is very helpful the GPS coordinated posed for individual graves are often incorrect.

Spiro T. Agnew

I stopped by the office and while they don't offer a map of famous graves the staff did provide me with the locate of Spiro T. Agnew grave.  Agnew was Vice President of the United States under Richard Nixon.  During his term in office he was investigated for corruption and became only the second vice president to resign the office. John C. Calhoun was the first.  Even with the map I was having great difficulty locating his grave.  A very helpful cemetery worker came to my rescue and not only took me right to his grave but gave me direction to a couple of other famous people who are resting here.

Johnny Unitas

With the help of the cemetery worker I was able to visit the final resting place of NFL Hall of Famers Johnny Unitas and Art Donovan.  Both are resting in a very peaceful location on the banks of a small lake near the cemetery entrance. Both played most of their careers with the Baltimore Colts and were two of the teams most beloved figures.

Francis Scott Key

After visiting Dulaney Valley it was time to head west and toward home.  I made my way out Interstate 70 and it was very late in the afternoon when I pulled into the Mount Olivet Cemetery in Frederick, Maryland. I had been here several years ago and wanted to once again visit the grave of Francis Scott Key, who composed the words to the Star Spangled Banner which became out National Anthem. Key is buried below the impressive monument at the cemetery entrance.

It was very cold and windy in Frederick and after visiting the Key grave I made a quick stop at grave of Civil War Folk Figure Brabars Fritchie and Maryland's first Governor Thomas Johnson.  Both graves are located very close to each other and allowed for a very quick stop. Here is a short video of my visit to these cemeteries.

Mount Olivet was the final stop on my visit to the historic cemeteries of Maryland and I headed home the cold wind and rain turned into blowing snow as I made my way down Interstate 81.