RoadTrippin'-- Part 2: What Is RoadTrippin' Thru History?

I got the term "Roadtrippin' " from Liz and my love of traveling down this country's old roads.  You start the trip on one of these with no real idea where you are going to go or what you're going to see around the next bend or curve or town.  It is like a trip back home.

Illinois is lucky to have probably the three most famous of the old roads:  one from the early 1800s, the first transcontinental road and arguably the most famous of the numbered roads, here in Illinois.  That would be the National Road, Lincoln Highway and Route 66.

In 2006, when we retired, Liz and I drove from one end of Route 66 in Chicago to the other end in Santa Monica, California.  We also drove a big section of it in 2017 when we both turned 66 (you know, Route 66 when you're 66).  I have driven the Lincoln Highway from east Ohio out to Nebraska and also the whole National Road.

When we drive these old roads, we don't have a set time table because you never know what you'll find of interest along the way.

When I apply this to history, I start off with a story and really don't know where it is going to take me.

And this particular "RoadTrip" took me all over."

In the next post, I will give you an itinerary to know where you'll be going.

--Old Secesh

Antietam Group Purchases Historic Land

From the August 16, 2021, Herald-Mail media  "Antietam preservation group purchases land outside  national battlefield" by Sherry Greenfield.

The Battle of Antietam on September 17, 1862, left nearly 23,000 men dead, wounded or missing.  It is still considered America's single bloodiest day.

For the first time, the preservation group Save Historic Antietam Foundation (SHAF) has bought land outside the national battlefield park.  It is located along Harpers Ferry Road.  The half-acre property is one-half mile south of Sharpsburg and was bought for $132,000.

An abandoned house sits on the property and will be removed.

It is on high ground inside Confederate lines that overlooks the final assault of Union General Ambrose Burnside's  attack in the afternoon where Southern artillery occupied this spot and pounded Burnside's assault.

SHAF will be fund raising to pay for it.  An anonymous donor will be matching everything raised one-for-one.

-Old Secesh

Okay, So Actually My Big COVID-19 Road Trip Was a Little Longer Than I Thought

I had mentioned back in July that my drive to Algonquin, Illinois, from Spring Grove, Illinois, was 20.4 miles.  I looked it up on the internet and that number was evidently from town limits and not for driving to a specific spot.  Saturday, I set the trip odometer at zero and drove it again for our second MCCWRT discussion meeting, this time on "Beast" Butler.

It turns out that the drive from home to the Panera Bread in Algonquin was 22.4 miles.

Still the longest I've driven anywhere since March 17, Year of the Coronavirus.

By the way, this Saturday, August 29, is going to be the first of three Record Store Days, rescheduled from April because of you-know-what.  And, this year, it will be held on three days instead of one to hopefully prevent the big crowds that usually attend.

Also, next month's McHenry County Civil War Round Table (MCCWRT) discussion group's topic will be on another much-maligned Civil War personage, none other than Braxton Bragg.

Now I Am, Going to Have to Put Gas in the Tank.  --Old Secesh

Remnants of Possible Civil War Cedar Log Highway Found in Virginia

From the Dec. 23, 2015, Chicago Tribune  "Remnants of Cedar-Log highway could date to Civil War era, historians say" by Jonathan Hunley, Washington Post.

They logs were found along Ox Road in Fairfax County, Virginia, on ground now occupied by George Mason University.  They were found below ground level on October 14th by a road shoulder/sidewalk project.  Work shifted to another part of the project while the logs were photographed and analyzed.

They would constitute what would be called a "corduroy road" because of its close resemblance to the cloth  Since the logs were buried, there was not a lot of deterioration.

A member of the Bull Run Civil War Round Table said that during the Civil War a "corduroy road ran from the Occonquo River to the Fairfax Courthouse and most likely these logs were a part of it.  The road was built in 1862 as a link to get supplies from the railroad's Fairfax Station to the Fairfax Courthouse which was a significant Union supply depot.

--Old Secesh

Civil War Memorial Highways Here in Illinois

The South is not the only place where the sesquicentennial commemoration will be taking place. There are plenty of events right here in Illinois.

Just from a road stand-point, I live right off US-12, which is called the Iron Brigade Highway. Farther south is US-20, the US Grant Highway and the first US transcontinental road, the Lincoln Highway (US-30, Il-31, Il-38 and Il-2) and the Grand Army of the Republic Highway, US-6.

Not bad for a backwater of the war.

Gettin' My Kicks on the Lincoln. --Old B-Runner