New York & the Mid-Atlantic Trips 2 - Full PDF eBook

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VIRGINIA

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Tappahannock

Franklin

Murrfreesboro

Williamsburg

Jamestown

Northern

Neck

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1 Northern Neck

About 85 miles south of

Washington, DC via I-95

and VA-3 is the Northern

Neck, a peninsula

of land sandwiched

between the Potomac

and Rappahannock

Rivers. Colonial Beach

is a small resort town

on the Potomac, with a

pretty public beach and

some decent dining and

lodging options (p330).

But the main draw to

this area is of a more

historical bent.

Eleven miles southeast

of Colonial Beach, at

the point where Pope’s

Creek flows into the

Potomac River, is a rustic

patchwork of tobacco

fields, wheat plots,

broadleaf forest and

waterfront views over the

bluffs of the Northern

Neck. This is where John

Washington – great-

grandfather of the first

president – settled in 1657.

Washington carved out a

plantation here, where his

most famed descendant

was born in 1732.

An obelisk fashioned

from Vermont marble, a

one-tenth replica of the

Washington Monument

in Washington, DC greets

visitors to the George

Washington Birthplace

National Monument

(%804-224-1732; http://www.nps.

gov/gewa; 1732 Popes Creek

Rd, Colonial Beach; h9am-

5pm), run by the National

Park Service. The site is

interesting enough as

Bracketing the

Bay

Virginia.is.blessed.with.three.coasts,.and.you’ll.

experience.them.all.on.this.trip..From.the.golden.sands.

of.Virginia.Beach.to.the.quiet.forests.that.line.the.rivers.

of.the.Northern.Neck,.to.the.gentle.marsh.country.lining.

Chesapeake.Bay.and.the.skinny.Virginia.Eastern.Shore,.

there’s.always.water.at.your.fingertips,.and.all.the.leisure.

and.seafood.that.watery.geography.promises.

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