Stonewall

 

National Archives

The Henry Hill plateau in the Manassas Battlefield National Park is one of the best spots in all of Northern Virginia to watch a sunset.  It's a terrific location to watch the sun descend behind the Bull Run Mountains.  This plateau is where Confederate and Federal troops clashed during the afternoon of July 21, 1861 in the struggle that became known as The Battle of Bull Run or First Manassas.

On this field is a monument the marks the spot where General Thomas Jonathan Jackson earned the nickname that he would become well known by: Stonewall.  As the Confederate troops were being pushed back by advancing federals, Brig. Gen. Barnard Elliott Bee, Jr pointed towards Jackson and his men, who were standing firm, and proclaimed, "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall" or words to that effect.  As they say, the rest is history.

All of the photos in this post are views that I've taken of the Jackson monument.

 

 

 

 

 

Old Barns

I always enjoy poking around old barns.  Old saddles, pitchforks, lanterns, feed sacks, wheels, boots...you never know what remnants from the past you might find inside.  I sometimes wonder about the farmers from the past who used these old structures and what they would think of me, a stranger to them, nosing through their old belongings.

                                                                                

                                                                                 

Another Year Winds Down

As the last few days of 2009 wind down, I thought that a sunset theme would be an appropriate way to finish off the year.  May next year find all of you healthy and happy!

-Hominy

 

 

 

 

 

Portici

                                            Library of Congress                     

Portici (pronounced por-tee-cee) was the name of an estate house located about 6-1/2 miles northwest of Manassas, Virginia that burned down during the Second Battle of Manassas in August of 1862.  The house was a large two story structure built sometime in the 1780's and was located on a high hill overlooking Bull Run.  The land on which Portici stood is now inside the boundaries of the Manassas National Battlefied Park in Prince William County, Virginia and while very little evidence remains of the original home, there are still some later built farm structures that exist as well as the graves of the family that lived there.

All of the photos in this post were taken on the land that comprised the original farm.

 

 

 

I See Colors

Some days our world may seem drab and dreary, but if you take the time to look around you will find all sorts of bold and exciting colors.  Sometimes the color of an object alone  is enough to make me want to photograph it.  Thus, boys and girls, the theme for today is color...

 

 

 

 

For God's Sake!

Old churches are one of my favorite subjects to photograph.  Some are plain while others are quite ornate.  Some are large, some are small.  They all have deep personal meaning to those who attend them and symbolic meaning to the communities in which they are located.  So today I choose churches as my theme...