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We grabbed lunch at an Arby's on our way out of Delaware, then headed off through Baltimore and into Maryland and whatever diversion we could come up with. We settled on Monocacy National Battlefield, a National Park Unit commemorating a small Civil War skirmish that conveniently lies right next to our westbound path along Interstate 70. I'd been looking at signs for Monocacy for years, and we'd often thought about stopping, but never had. Now, we can mark it off our list.
The battle that gives Monocacy National Battlefield its name was named for the Monocacy River, a small stream maybe a mile downrange of this cannon. This was a small skirmish in July of 1864, toward the end of the Civil War when the Confederates were getting desperate and looking for something to do. The National Park System folks say that the battle was a big deal, even though most people have never heard of it ... though they would. I don't know that I buy their argument, but I'll get into it later.
I've always pronounced the name of this place "MAH-no-kay-see," as if it were Latin for "One Casey." The NPS guy in the visitor center pronounced it "muh-NAH-kuh-see," so I guess that's what the locals say.
Dr. Steve Weisberg, Executive Director of the Southern California Coastal Water Research Project discusses the toxic impacts of oil spills at Signs of the Tide.
I chose this photo because you don't look at signs from this angle.
Additional Tools: Selective Focus
The Wife found this one after a fair bit of circling the marked 'X'. I had been feeling around the spot, but as I wasn't watching what I was feeling I missed it. Geokids gave up after a quick glance, announcing loudly "It's too hard". Took several goes at signing the log as it was that windy I had to chase down the log twice.