Yesterday the big kids went back to school, and the rest of us decided to take a low-key drive across the Chesapeake Bay.
We visited a park, and Todd made some new little friends. We also saw a house that was blown a few feet off its foundation by a tornado last year. I thought we left tornadoes behind in Arkansas, but apparently they get them every now and then in Maryland too.
Today we paid a visit to Fort McHenry. I usually prefer to post my own photos on our blog, but I just had to find an aerial view online so you could see how cool the "Star Fort's" design is. It was built on a peninsula, and designed so its cannons could fire in any direction on Baltimore's potential attackers.
Ironically, this cleverly-designed and heavily-armed fort has only seen combat once in over 200 years. That attack was the famous 25-hour bombardment in the War of 1812 that inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner." Amazingly, although the British ships fired over 1500 rounds at the fort, only 4 of the American defenders were killed.
While the fort has seen only one battle to two centuries, it has a very rich history. It served as a training ground for troops in later wars, and during WWI over 100 hospital buildings were built around the fort for wounded soldiers returning from Europe. Doctors performed innovative reconstructive surgeries there, and recovering soldiers learned job skills to help them get work after their release from the hospital. When we moved to Maryland last summer, I had no idea we would have such a cool historical landmark just a few miles away.
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