National Museum of Civil War Medicine – Fredrick Maryland

Initially the only thing we had planned for sure when we were talking about visiting Maryland was a visit to the National Museum of Civil War Medicine. Why? I guess because it was just morbid enough to be perfectly suited for the both of us. And it didn’t take a lot to convince our other travel companion to go along with it. History is always interesting to poke at… medical history… well, sometimes it’s just nice to be grateful we live in a time with such things as antibiotics. You know, luxury.

I remember as a kid I was singled out by the town historian to play the part of wounded Civil War soldier for some activity we were doing in grade school… I’m fuzzy on what my badge read but I think it was something like, “leg in need of amputation.” So really this was just an extension of this bizarre role play. Not to mention I’d already been to the Mutter Museum in Philly and loved it so this was going to be fun. I looked forward to seeing all the horrifying sharp and shiny medical instruments.

When we got there we very pleasantly surprised. I was expected a little back country museum with a few feeble displays but this was off what seemed a bustling street and it was several floors and even had a spacious gift shop filled with delightfully morbid things – pens in the shape of femurs, a whole library of books on the gruesome subject at hand, and a wonderful assortment of skeleton lithographs – one of which came home with me.

We learned right away that this wasn’t just the medical history museum it was also where the office of missing civil war soldiers once operated. I hadn’t really thought about this much but I guess a lot of soldiers, especially confederate ones, remained unidentified after their deaths.

I am going to admit right here and now that I know very little about the Civil War. I remember it being shoved down my throat in grade school when I was way too young to truly comprehend any of it and then it never being mentioned again. And if I want to be brutally honest this is probably the beginning of me hating school. I mean I had no interest in any of it. And this is unfortunate because I think if it was taught when I was a little older I would have been as fascinated by the human interest side of it as I am now.

With that all being said I’m sure I will say some dumb things about what I’ve learned so here we go! The museum was very well put together and had all sorts of interactive exhibits, a bunch of life size wax figurines, some dioramas, and of course a whole lotta history. Right from the get-go we were greeted by a big display called Civil War Myths and we got to read through them. One for the most repeated was that Civil War surgeons weren’t butchers or barbers, they were actual surgeons and doctors. I mean they wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny today but at the time they were the top of their field. To become a surgeon one had to attend two semesters of classes which spanned over 6 months and took two years to complete both. Granted there seemed to be little real life “practice” shall we say buuut… it was better than nothing.

Things I learned: the Civil War was the birth of the US’s ambulance system. There were a shocking amount of amputations because the bullets at the time were led and shattered upon impact rather than going straight through like modern artillery. There were women working the battlefields as nurses – some were even people of color. Some soldiers brought their entire families with them – which frequently resulted in their wives being cast in unpaid domestic chores and their children dying of dysentery and other camp plagues. Horses were so important to the war effort that the first ever sanctuary/livestock recovery farm was started to nurse injures horses and mules back to health so they could be sent back to the front lines – in the process of doing this the field of veterinary medicine expanded greatly in knowledge – well past the “Well, it’s injured, guess we have to shoot it now” mentality.

Among all the displays of sharp things there were photos of people before and after they were made prosthetics – an industry that again was founded in this tragedy. Some were profoundly disfigured and aside them there was a photo of a pile of amputated parts – feet, legs, hands. It was… honestly a bit stomach turning. And then we found the arm. An actual human arm. Mummified of course. Whose arm was it? Nobody knows! All we know is that it was plucked off a battlefield where it was lying minding it’s own business and brought home by a doctor before being eventually donated to this museum.

Who brings home an arm?!”

“Well he was a doctor…”

“AND?! Unless his name was Frankenstein that doesn’t make it any less WTF!”

We spent quite a bit of time here. It was even more morbid than I anticipated and it was very educational. Perfect for any history buff or medical student in my opinion. I would highly recommend it if you’re ever in Fredrick.

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Edgar Allen Poe’s grave – Westminster Cemetery – Baltimore Maryland

Before leaving for Maryland my travel companion learned that Edgar Allen Poe was buried in Baltimore and asked if he could be lucky enough to see both the grave of H P Lovecraft and Edgar Allen Poe in the span of a month. I didn’t see any issue with this as I love walking through cemeteries and used to know The Raven by heart. So of course this was the first thing we had on our list of to-do’s and the first thing we actually accomplished.

Edgar Allen Poe is buried in the Westminster Cemetery which is still attached to a church and is gated with appropriately Gothic looking iron fencing. It was still daylight so we were able to go in and take a respectful look around. A few tourists were crowded around Poe’s monument but the rest of this dainty cemetery was unpopulated by the living. And boy was it unique! Despite being small it had a lot of character. There were historic markers spread out explaining that a lot of the important people of Baltimore were buried here. Some told stories of prominence while others shed light on tragedy like the mother who lost ten children in her lifetime. Because it was part of church property we got to see stones that were right next to the building a few which seemed to be under it. There were also a number of tombs that appeared to be bricked in above ground burials, the likes of which I have never seen around my New England home. I always thought this was the sort of thing cities prone to flooding did but maybe there was some other reason. Also nestled in a quiet and almost hidden corner (which we only discovered after our guest disappeared around a hedge) was a series of monuments that had some Egyptian flare. One was shaped like a pyramid, another had very Egyptian looking busts. I guess it was in vogue at the time.

All and all this gave the entire cemetery a very unique charm. I almost didn’t want to leave. And of course we found both the original grave of Edgar Allen Poe and his current resting place across the cemetery. Both were adorned with beautiful stones. I couldn’t imagine a better place for one of the founders of the horror genre to be spending eternity.

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Pierce’s Park – Baltimore

As we were walking along trying to find the things we needed we all had a fit of ADHD and wandered off our route when we got distracted by Pierce Park. The first thing that caught our attention was a brick walkway with hundreds of homophones written in pairs, trios, and I think a couple quads. Obviously we had to follow the words and discuss how English must be the most frustrating language in the world to learn. But the pathway led us to a strange metal sculpture that beckoned for visitors to climb inside it to hear the park in a totally different way. There were too many people around to indulge our childlike instincts to explore this but we did partake in playing the weird giant metal xylophones not too far away. Children played nearby on a swing set as annoyed mothers gave us dirty looks. I however found it all very sweet. I’d never been in a park that was quite so interactive as this… and what looked from the outside to be just a small patch of grass in a big city was actually quite endearing and perhaps a little educational.

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Random Sights on the Streets of Baltimore

I’d been to Baltimore before, many years ago when Catching Marbles was super new. I had come to enjoy their aquarium which is to date still the most impressive one I have ever been to. However after the aquarium we ran out of town like our asses were on fire so I didn’t get to see much of the city. And that’s a real shame because walking around on this particular day I noticed just how beautiful it was with a playful spirit that was unique to any metropolitan area I have been in.

There were all sorts of interesting buildings with elaborate moldings far above our heads, the most intensely expensive parking garages I have ever let the Prius rest it’s sore tires in, random historic sights smattered about, and the friendliest city folk I have met in a long time! One of them was just a guy on the street who asked where we were from and then got severely confused by the concept of Rhode Island. Apparently Rhode Island is an actual island off the side of New York and not a state considerably farther north than all that. Also not an actual island. But his increasing consternation gave us all a good chuckle and me something to wonder about… why do we call it island??

We wandered several neighborhoods in search of banks and the basic necessities we all end up needing when we start traveling in a new locale. I was in love with a lot of the art I found sprinkled around. There was even a crosswalk that looked like a giant zipper. It was whimsical and fun. And we found ourselves in both well kept neighborhoods and one more questionable one as we made our way to the Westminster Hall Cemetery where Edgar Poe was buried. I snapped photos of anything interesting that I saw which is in the gallery below.

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Miss Shirley’s Café – Baltimore Maryland

Going to Maryland was no small ordeal. We’d started our travels at 2AM the night before and arrived at the airport to pick up our newest travel companion only after getting into the world’s dumbest car accident only 5 minutes away at the toll booths. Apparently they’d changed the entire system to EZPass which confused cash payers so much they were stopping when they shouldn’t have been…. hence I slammed into a stopped car ahead of me and the gentleman behind me slammed into me. Fun stuff!

So I was already loopy tired, high on adrenaline, and hungry enough to eat a horse when we decided to go in search of food. Miss Shirley’s came up as a suggestion and when we found out it’d been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, & Dives we had to check it out. Whether you like the show or not you have to acknowledge it showcases a lot of diners, all of which look food coma amazing, and I had wondered if I’d ever end up at one of these joints seeing as diners are my kinda food.

Even at this weird hour there was a wait but after getting in we were served quickly. I ended up drinking their strawberry lemonade which had such a delightful light flavor – it didn’t taste like pure sugar like lemonade usually does. I ended up getting the coconut stuffed French toast for $17. Never in my life did I expect to pay $17 for what is essentially peasant food but when in Rome… I was not disappointed! When they came out with my meal I couldn’t even tell what it was. It wasn’t a few identifiable slices it was the whole damn loaf of bread! Dipped in egg, settled on a nest of fresh strawberries and slices of banana foster, cut, and glued back together with two inches of coconut filling which came spewing out like lava when I hit it. Clearly I didn’t know how to eat this monstrosity. My companions both laughed at how huge it was knowing I’d never come close to eating it all. That was like four meals worth of toast for me! And it was GOOD. I ate far too much. It was so sweet it didn’t even need maple syrup. I am definitely adding coconut to my future breakfast endeavors.

Meanwhile everyone else was super happy with their choices of chocolate chip pancakes and a mixed egg breakfast of some sort. Their proportions were also very large although maybe not as excessive as my French toast. We all left stuffed silly and I would highly recommend this stop if you happen to be in Baltimore.

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    Busting out of New England! To Maryland I go!

    I am just writing this quick entry to announce that this week I will be doing something a little different with this blog. Since I was invited to attend a wedding in Maryland I decided to take a few days off and poke around Baltimore and Fredric. I had a lot of fun with great people and destinations and took enough photos to make you cry. We ended up everywhere – at museums, battlefields, escape rooms, some fantastic diners, antique shops, record stores, parks, and of course cemeteries. So buckle and stay tuned as I post a flurry of Maryland-based entries!

    Below are some photo teases to wet your apatite.

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    Swan Point Cemetery – Providence RI

    Swan Point Cemetery is a gorgeous 200 acre garden cemetery that I had been meaning to return to so I could take photos and blog it. My first visit was to find the grave of H P Lovecraft, which we did, but it was a very short visit as the cemetery was closing within the hour. This time we made sure to leave quite early so we could have the time to walk the entire grounds and I must say there was a lot to see!

    I think I was struck with the diversity in this particular graveyard. There seemed to be a lot of different ethnicities calling this their last resting place. Some of the stones even had different languages on them and a lot had symbols and designs even I was at a loss to interpret – which is always great fun! And mixed among them there were mausoleums, pillars, crosses, angels of all sorts, bronze statues, and a great deal of truly creative stones. One was even in the form of a dollhouse with the front door reading, “welcome home.” In fact there was a lot of endearing messages on these stones that would melt anyone’s heart – words of affirmation and love – poems, epitaphs, and Bible verses.

    I was also enamored with how many kinds of monuments there were here – everything from traditional slate stones, to simple marble, to ornately carved marble, to metal, to natural granite boulders which were probably already there, to metal and mausoleums. It gave this place great character!

    And so did all the infant stones. There were a lot buried within family plots that had not only their own stones but names in recognition of their exceptionally brief existence. It was pretty clear a lot of these were likely stillbirths and it sort of hit a soft spot with me. Having toured a lot of the less wealthy cemeteries I know historically infants and toddlers frequently weren’t given stones and of the handful of infants I have found almost none of them had names – instead being listed as “baby.” Sometimes they’d be buried with their mother if she also died during the birth or shortly after. I don’t think it’s because the poor loved their children any less – I think this was more a question of who has the luxury to spend time mourning. Infant deaths have historically been very common and in those days women were usually encouraged to just move on without any real grieving period – just pretending it never happened. It was another sobering lesson on the realities of the economic classes.

    Another one of these reminders came in the form of the servicemen I found – coming from each of the wars of the past century – their memorials often had whole passages written on them on how exactly they died – overseas, during battle, as a prisoner in foreign lands, or in the hospital after being injured in battle. I was not used to this. I was used to the only identification that a serviceman was buried being the flag planted aside the grave that is paid for by the state. It was a lot to take in.

    Meanwhile we did manage to find the grave of H P Lovecraft. I like finding author graves… the tokens left on them are frequently interesting. Today someone had left a bottle of whisky, a woolen hat, and a series of rubber duckies. Why, I have no idea but it was fun to speculate!

    All and all I had a great time and think this would be a wonderful place for a little stroll or even a picnic. It was mid October when I visited and freakishly warm at more than 70 degrees. The sun melted me into a puddle! But other than that it was very pleasant for both me and my travel companion.

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    Birchwood Orchard Apple Picking – Mason NH

    My mother told me recently she’d never been apple picking so I decided to take her today. She’s been super observant of social distancing and really needed to get out of the house. Apple picking seemed like the perfect outing after being cooped up for so long.

    I looked at the reviews of local orchards and the one in Mason peaked my interest. It was an odd deja vu adventure that transpired from there. Imagine my surprise to find it was a farm I actually knew about and played on when I was a small child. I couldn’t have been more than four or five when I spent at least one day there playing with the little boy who lived there. I don’t even remember his name now.

    Everything was as I remembered. This place was down a long dirt road smack dab in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by forest, with a few shady paddocks where some horses happily loitered.

    I had to follow signs to get to the orchard. The Prius already wasn’t happy with me driving it down a dirt road. It was even less pleased when the parking turned out to be a grassy patch of free space behind a stone wall and well off the road. Judging by the looks I was getting this may have been the first Prius to visit…

    We were the only ones there besides the woman who owned the property. I knew it was the end of the season but I was still hopeful. She directed us towards the trees that were still fruiting. A few pear trees were present with a sparse smattering of fruit still left. Behind them was a row of Red Delicious. I’m not a fan of Red Delicious so I went towards the Golden Delicious that were still heavy with apples. The rows were marked with the types of apples – Mccoun, McIntosh, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Courtland, and Honeycrisp. However, being so late in the season most of the trees were bare. My mother picked some small Mccouns which she favored for being so hard. I filled my bag with Golden Delicious before she found three or so Honeycrisp trees that still had some apples. Score! I was happy! Now I got the apples and the Mason jars I am going to be making apple butter for Christmas!

    This orchard was perfect for someone looking for a little known place with few people. Their prices were VERY decent too – cheaper than their competition for sure! And I was told that had we come at the end of September we would have also found peaches to pick. This is unusual for New England. All and all it was a lovely little adventure off the beaten track, well worth the visit!

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      Wright’s Chicken Farm – Burrillville RI

      We decided to eat dinner at Wright’s Chicken Farm after our adventures in the Douglas State Forest. It was not terribly far from where I used to live so I was once again surprised to learn about something I have never heard of – although maybe I shouldn’t be. By the time I moved into the area my narcissistic ex had gotten what he needed out of me and had long forgone the love-bombing process, instead coyly making sure I was isolated and car-free at home while he ignored me to pursue other romantic prospects behind my back. This included date nights and going out to eat so yeah… how was I to know there was a great chicken shack down the road?

      I had been to Wright’s Dairy Farm already (they have AMAZING buttercream frosted cakes there.) Wright’s Chicken Farm however is in a different location and it is a large venue hall and restaurant that only serves one dinner so it’s great for anyone who has trouble picking something off a menu. Dinner consisted of baked chicken (both white and dark meat), pasta with tomato sauce, french fries, salad, and buns. All served family style so you could pick and chose whatever you pleased.

      The ambiance of this place was… weird. I thought it looked like a hole in the wall casino, the kind you’d find out in the sticks somewhere. My companions thought it looked like the visitors/community room in a nursing home. Eventually we all agreed it had big bingo hall energy. The vast majority of the other people here were old, 100% of them were white, and they all looked respectable. Even I was a little uneasy – and I’m whiter than Wonder Bread! But not terribly respectable. Adding to the weird vibe it had a big gift shop attached with the most random of things in it – including but not limited to tacky glitter covered Christmas ornaments. They know their target audience. That being said they also had fudge and truffles in all flavors and that made up for a little bit of the oddness. As did our bombastic waiter whose rough NYC/Jersey Shore accent was woefully out of place and whose energy was just as loud. Made my brain itch a bit.

      Anyway. The place was simple and cheap and had good food so I am not complaining in any way. I particularly liked the dark meat and french fries which I ate far too many of. They offered ice cream after this but YIKES who has room for ice cream after an all-you-can-eat styled meal?! Afterwards I hung out in the parking lot a little bit talking while waiting for the others. We noted how quaint the motel across the street looked and the duck pond in between. Eventually a complete stranger, a woman, came up to me and complemented my laugh out of nowhere. Well that’s a new one! But I’ll take it.

      All and all it’s a decent enough place to go to if you happen to be in the area and have a craving for baked chicken and a family style meal.

      *Image taken from Wright’s Farm website (sorry, I didn’t bring my camera in with me.)

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      Douglas State Forest – Douglas MA

      Since my brain hasn’t been working full capacity for A WHILE now I have been allowing other people to pick my travel destinations – which by the way keeps things interesting for sure! I end up places I wouldn’t have even thought of and that’s great! But this time around when the location was mentioned I was far less than enthusiastic about it. You see it was the tri-state marker in Douglas MA, a small town I used to live in, and the only town I can say I never wanted to step foot in again. It’s not the town, which is quaint and idealistic, but the fact I built my dream life there and then had to leave it quite suddenly and under extreme duress. You can’t really blame me for not wanting to re-traumatize myself.

      But that got me to thinking that maybe avoiding psychological triggers wasn’t the healthiest way to move forward in life. And why should I? Just because someone else made my life miserable why should I let them continue to have any power over me now? I shouldn’t. Because I have every right in the world to take a peaceful hike through the woods. So I did and I am super happy with my decision because it was awesome!

      Into the muck I go!

      Hell, if I knew when I lived there that there was a gorgeous HUGE state forest just a mile or two from my house I would have been there every day! Of the off season anyway. I guess it’s $9 per head for Mass residents and $30 a head for out-of-staters to get a day pass there during the on season. Little too rich for my blood but that’s only because I’m poor. Luckily for all of us we went during the off season when it’s free to everyone.

      This place was whimsy central. The fall foliage was almost at it’s peak and everything was yellow with bursts of red and I can’t tell you how many mushrooms we found. Hundreds. All different kinds and colors – purple, red, pink, yellow, white, brown, and even some that looked like full sized pancakes on stalks! There were even mushrooms in every stage of life – a great deal of them having melted into gooey black puddles. I was just happy to be out with a party that seemed just as impressed with them as I was. And there was wildlife too. Before we even reached the proper trail I found a little red bellied snake just off the parking lot and there were salamanders and birds galore. And interestingly enough we also found a bunch of old foundations to what I am guessing were houses at one point. They were a delightful surprise. I have tried to look up information about them but no one’s been forthcoming and all I could really figure out was the forest was created in the 1930’s so the foundations had to have predated that.

      We were all having a lot of fun but that’s not to say the journey wasn’t without it’s troubles. For one we didn’t have good directions at all and the 5.4 mile loop to the tri-state marker that we were promised was… how shall we say… not as straight forward as it seemed. It took several turns onto different trails and somewhere along the way we must have messed up because when we did find a marker it wasn’t the one we were looking for… it only marked the Massachusetts Rhode Island boundary. But we thought we found it and headed back to the car after many miles of hiking. By this point I decided I didn’t feel like dancing around the flooded parts of the path so I took off my shoes and went straight through the water. This was fine until I went through one puddle that went for quite a stretch and the water came almost up to my knees at points. Of course being a puddle and not clear water I couldn’t see where my feet were going and it was a rocky bottom making navigation challenging. Still, even though I was painfully slow, I didn’t regret my decision at all. That ice cold water cooled me down and indulged my inner child who found the splashing hilariously fun. By this time our party of four had whittled down to a party of three and I was struggling to keep up as my energy was going down to 3%. I’d pay for this dearly in the days afterwards but I still think it was worth it. My hiking companions were also not unfazed as the mosquitos were so thick on this day they nearly sucked us all dry. Little bizarre for mid October but OK! I don’t think my camera appreciated the trek very much unbeknownst to me it was throwing a fit the whole time and all my photos came out blurry. I apologize they are not as crisp and professional as other entries.

      All and all this place was beautiful and I would happily return – maybe even finding the right marker this time! I highly suggest it to anyone who loves hiking, swimming, boating, or even horseback riding (as there was much evidence other horses had been through here.)

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