Road Trip! Flight 93, James Buchanan's Wheatland, Valley Forge, NYC
So I’m not sure there will be a rhyme or reason to the order of the road trips or historical sites and topics I choose to blog about, but this trip we took through Pennsylvania and up to New York in May 2021 was a memorable one with some sites / sights from three different eras (along with some art and food)!
Here’s the link to the route from West Bloomfield, MI (you can obviously adjust it - that “21 hour” graphic is the entire loop starting and ending with West Bloomfield) and here’s the map from Cleveland eastward:
Our daughter Lacey was getting ready to start her M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Publishing at Long Island U in Brooklyn and we were heading there to scope out the neighborhood with a stop in Lancaster, PA to visit friends. So of course this provided us with a few opportunities starting with the Flight 93 National Memorial between Stoystown and Shanksville, PA where one of the four hijacked planes crashed on 9/11.
Flight 93 National Memorial
As you probably know this was the plane that was initially delayed giving the passengers time to find out that they needed to take action to save targets on the ground from the terrorists, and I will tell you that this memorial is really well done - a somber and fitting tribute to the heroes on that plane and to that horrible day for all of us. It’s worth the stop even though we missed the visitor center hours. We focused on the main flight path and the site of the crash - the large stone walls actually trace the path of the plane leading down to the field where it crashed. The visitors center is within that structure and then there is a pathway down to the memorial plaza and the field.
Quick video that gives you an idea of the layout…
Wheatland - The James Buchanan House
Now I promise you we haven’t only visited the homes of the “bad” presidents lol… but certainly James Buchanan gets the rap as one of the very worst. To me visiting the home of anyone who at one point was indeed our president gives a lot of insight to the person and the era - a way to immerse yourself in that period as an American. The person who led the country whether well or horribly was still the person who sat in that seat and the person who the country pinned hopes and expectations on. Buchanan was no lightweight politically before he became president - he had a political career stretching back almost 50 years including serving as Secretary of State under President Polk almost 20 years before his presidency. He mainly caused headaches for Polk seemingly acting in his own best interests for his presidential ambitions rather than doing the job at hand and having Polk’s back. Reading a Polk bio will have you completely annoyed with Buchanan by the time you’re done. After he lost the Democratic party nomination in 1848 to Lewis Cass he returned to private life for 4 years and it was during this time he bought Wheatland - the house in Lancaster which (aside from a stint as Ambassador to the United Kingdom and his time in the White House) was his home until he died there in 1868. When Buchanan was elected predident in 1856 the country was certainly barreling towards potential disunion. Could he have done more to stop it? YES. Would it have actually worked and prevented the war between the states? Not likely at all. Does that absolve him of not doing enough? Still no - not really.
As for Wheatland, it was closed and I don’t quite recall if it was because of the day or the time of day that we missed the tour schedule. But an employee came out of the house and we explained that we were from Michigan, had never been to Lancaster and might not have much opportunity to get back, so he graciously gave us a tour of the home! He knew his stuff, the house was spectacular and the tour fascinating…
You can take your own virtual tour of the home at this link!
Valley Forge National Historical Park
After a hang and a bat mitzvah in Lancaster where we stayed at a charming bed & breakfast we headed to Valley Forge National Historical Park! Going back in time from 9/11 to 19th century to the Revolutionary War…. This was where the Continental Army set up camp under General George Washington during the winter of 1777-1778 - the third year of an 8 1/2 year war. The park is 3,500 acres of monuments, meadows, and woodlands and it’s pretty impressive. No battle was fought here but it was still certainly a tough go. Here’s a pretty good summary of what happened there, but the mythology around Valley Forge is a bit of an exaggeration - it wasn’t a downtrodden extreme winter characterized by constant starvation and complete hardship. Entrenchments were dug to defend any potential attack from the British who had occupied Philadelphia which was a day’s march away and 1500 log huts were built by the soldiers to protect themselves and the civilians who were there for the 6 months from the winter elements. The encampment actually included some women and children in addition to the soldiers - it was like a small city. About 2000 ultimately died from disease in total so no, it was certainly no picnic. All in all it’s definitely worth the visit.
Solid visit - Washington’s Headquarters is the original building - it wasn’t open when we were there but you can take a virtual tour of it at this link.
As a postscript since roadies are always about more than just history - sometimes a little sports, arts, music and especially FOOD are all involved hehe… so let’s bring in a little New York flava…
There’s no city like New York City for food and here’s a few of our favorites from this trip above… The pancakes at Sunday In Brooklyn in Williamsburg have become a go-to for us when we’re there - they’re incredible. The knishes at Yonah Schimmel on Houston in the city are THE best, and Roberta’s Pizza in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn is LEGIT. Highly recommend all of them!
We also visited the MoMa - Museum of Modern Art on this trip which has several of the most important works of all time and there was a fantastic Calder exhibition there at the time.
So there you have it - this was an epic trek to be sure and I hope you enjoyed the highlights! Feel free to comment below with your thoughts or if you’ve visited these particular spots yourself!
M10 Social is owned by Doug Cohen in West Bloomfield, MI and provides social media training and digital marketing services from the Frameable Faces Photography studio Doug owns with his wife Ally. He can be reached there at tel:248-790-7317, by mobile at tel:248-346-4121 or via email at mailto:doug@frameablefaces.com. You can follow Doug’s band Vintage Playboy at their Facebook page here.
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