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War of 1812 Bicentennial

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SaxMan

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Here in Maryland, we have a number of activities pertaining to the War of 1812's bicentennial. Over the weekend, the burning of Washington D.C. by the British was commemorated. The British Embassy had a nice little joke there that didn't go over so well:

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/wo...urning-white-house-war-1812-article-1.1916016

Obviously, many here in the U.S. fail to appreciate the subtleties of British humor.

Today marks the 200th Anniversary of Brookeville, Maryland being the Capital of the United States...for 1 day! Brookeville is about 20 some odd miles north of the White House. It's where President Madison ended up after the British invaded and burned D.C. Brookeville hosted a celebration over the weekend. I was tempted to "crash" the party with Baby Blue, but the more rural roads around Sugarloaf Mountain were far more appealing on a beautiful day. The British left D.C. once everything was burned down, so Madison returned to D.C. the following day.

Next major events are next month with the Battle of North Point as well as the attack on Fort McHenry, which of course was the inspiration for The Star Spangled Banner.
 
I was working on the Delaware river in 76 and took this photo from our floating rig in Philly. Only one I had time to get a shot of and there were a bunch of them! There were tall ships up and down the river all week. My dad crewed on Bety Huttons yacht when on loan to the merchant marine acadmey in Sheeps Head Bay New York prior to WWII. It looked a lot like this one. While going through the acadmey, they had to know how to sail one of these, even though they would probably never be on one. He loved it! PJ

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Speaking of The War of 1812..........

While we were babysitting grandkids last night, my daughter re-played a show that she had previously recorded. The show was called "Who Do You Think You Are?"

This particular episode of the show was about the genealogy of Chris O'Donnell (the TV actor on NCIS and who previously played Robin in one of the Batman movies).
Chris O'Donnell happens to have a reputation of being a real nice, family guy who has never been involved in any of the typical Hollywood drama in his personal life.
Also, O'Donnell's grandmother was a McCabe, so we were especially interested.

As it turns out, most of the show was about his grandfather's (non-McCabe) side of the family, but still really interesting.

O'Donnell's 4th generation-back grandparent was George McNeir who supervised one of the canons firing from Fort McHenry during the War of 1812. Because of McNeir's proximity to the fighting in those days, a park historian at the Fort McHenry site told O'Donnell that it is very likely that McNeir witnessed the very scenes that inspired Francis Scott Key to write the Star Spangled Banner. Neat show.

There's a blurb about the show ~HERE~.

I attended the 1976 Bicentennial Operation Sail event on the Hudson River in NYC (most people call it "Tall Ships"). Very memorable.
 
When I saw the cake I busted out laughing. I have NO idea why anyone found it offensive. It was hilarious!

Apparently I'd get on well with the British Embassy crowd.
 
Burning Washington was probably the best thing that happened to the town. Ever since Washington picked the site for the Nation's Capital up to the War of 1812, there were constant calls to move the capital to a more fitting location. In the surge of patriotism after the conclusion of the War of 1812, the decision was to rebuild Washington and turn it into a true Capital city.

In the early days, the foreign diplomatic corps used to consider an assignment to Washington D.C. as an exotic locale. Unbearably hot & humid in the summer, freezing cold in the winter, basically in the middle of a swamp. Two World Wars and the invention of air conditioning really spurred the growth of D.C. in the 20th Century.
 
SaxMan said:
Two World Wars and the invention of air conditioning really spurred the growth of D.C. in the 20th Century.
Click to expand...

And don't forget K Street.
 
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