There is a typical fascination for most people with villainous characters from our nation’s history. And the outlaw characters from the old West have a significant placement in our historical perspectives. Somehow, a few generations or a century or two can turn a despicable outlaw into a folk hero. This has certainly been the case with Jesse James, who was actually well on his way to becoming a legend in his own time. He remains one of the 19th century’s most famous bank and train robbers.
James was part of the James-Younger gang who robbed plenty of banks and trains in their time. And while some bank robbers would try and blast apart the safes , James and his gang members would typically hold the bank tellers at gun point and force them to open the safe. This was a much easier, if there was such a thing, way to rob the bank and was less likely to draw such overwhelming immediate attention.
This was also during a time when banks were robbed on a much more frequent basis. Today, the amount of security in place, as well as the sophistication of safe and vault technology makes the crime almost impossible to complete, much less get away with. In fact, most home safes will guarantee the security of individual property better than the early safe boxes available for the public good. Of course today’s weapons are also a lot more powerful. Fortunately, technology is on security’s side, and not only is our money well insured but the chances of it being robbed are almost non-existent.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival in Washington DC is about to begin and announce the transition from winter into spring. This beautiful annual occurrence is just one of the beautiful aspects of Washington. There are numerous cultural landmarks, attractions and historic, as well as contemporary of course, elements of the city and the cherry blossom festival, while it is also one of the culturally based events, is also one of its natural beauty features. The beautiful display of beautiful cherry tree blossoms would be amazing on its own, and the festival is that occurs as a celebration of it is one of Washington’s premiere events.
Washington is popular with tourists from all over the country and also the world. And while the White House and Capital Hill remain the top two visitor destinations, visiting the city at during an event such as the cherry blossom festival is an extremely popular thing to do. Not only can you also visit all of the other great attractions and landmarks you get to be part of this amazing annual event and many of the capital’s hotels are full during this time. The blossoming trees are a beautiful commemoration of an event that took place in 1912 and marked the gift of the trees from Japan.
On March 27 of 1912, Mayor of Tokyo Yukio Ozaki presented the trees as a gift from the his country to the United States representing the friendship that had developed between the cultures and as well as an interest in continuing to build it. On that day in March, First Lady Helen Herron Taft along with Viscountess Chinda, the wife of the Japanese Ambassador, planted the first two trees of the orchard. These were planted along the north bank of the Tidal Basin in West Potomac Park. The United States responded with a gift of dogwood trees to Japan. Much later, in 1965, First Lady Ladybird Johnson received an additional 3,800 trees. This was a particularly special event and Johnson was well known for her national beautification efforts. The festival will take place in Washington from March 27th through April 11th.
What better way to spend an evening than at one of the many the finest Baltimore restaurants, and then off to spend some time at one of the many museums the city has to offer. No matter what you fancy, if it is art, architectural history, political history, the history of dentistry, this city has it all. One of the most popular museums is the Maritime Museum located at the Inner Harbor. Here some of the most famous ships are kept, and tours aboard them are offered throughout the year. Floating museums. From a United States Navy submarine, to the old fashioned lightships, to Coast Guard cutters, there is an extensive collection of the ships that fought wars, rescued civilians and stopped drug cartels.
This is just one of the many aspects of the city of Baltimore’s rich and full heritage. The Lightship 116 Chesapeake is among the ships on the harbor that are part of the Maritime Museum. She was built in 1930, and at the time was one of the most capable and modern of ships that were put to use with the United States Lighthouse Service. She was comprised of the finest of accommodations for her crew–up to sixteen seamen at a time, a great capacity for sending signals with the highest engineering technology and was just an all around, very stable vessel. One of the stories you will be told on a tour of the Chesapeake is of two separate storms, or hurricanes actually.
One occurred in 1936 and the other in 1962. On both occasions the crew was trying to navigate into the Chesapeake Bay, and both times when they tried to drop anchor, the line broke and they had to head into the wind for many hours before they could drop their spare. These are the kinds of adventures in which legends are made. Throughout the 1960′s upgrades were made on the equipment and the technology, but in 1971 the Lightship 116 Chesapeake was acquired by the National Park Service, and she became part of the Maritime Museum in Baltimore in 1982. She is just one of the many ships in the museum with a story to tell.
Posted December 31st, 2009. Add a comment
