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Date published: 1/18/2008
It seems as if a new attraction, a water park, is coming to the Fredericksburg area. More "entertainment" for child and adult alike in a world continually searching for amusement and distraction. All of this at the expense of real gratification, learning, and worthwhile use of time. In our area, there are so many sites of historic interest, places that reflect our great history and give real meaning to the cold facts in history books--George Washington's birthplace, Stratford Hall, the bloody battlefields of The Wilderness, Sunken Road, and Chatham. Not far away is Williamsburg, Yorktown, Jamestown, Seven Pines the list goes on and on. How many have traced the path of Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth across the Northern Neck to his demise near Port Royal? How many residents of this area have been to these places? Have many parents have taken their children to these places? How many even know of the Leedstown Resolves, or have been to that ghost town on the Rappahannock River and marveled at those gentlemen who drafted what was a precursor to our Declaration of Independence? Schoolchildren should be bused Water parks? They're OK for those who have explored our historic sites first. How many will do that? Dr. W.R. Gardiner Westmoreland
I'ma big fan of local history so I've been to about half of the places you mentioned. I'll drag my kids to them all when they're a bit older. Our trips to Stratford Hall and Pope's Creek were fun, but they were too young to appreciate the history of the places. By the way, I have never heard of a ghost town on the Rappahannock. Can anyone give me more info please? I'd love to check this out.
Or an amusement park near Antietam? Do not the hallowed locations of our heritage deserve special reverence and protection? Granted, municipal economics are a serious reality that must be dealt with, but never -- never -- at the cost of denigrating this country's historical places. One need only to look at the present-day Fredericksburg battlefield and wonder, "what council allowed homes to be build on ground almost literally soaked with the blood of patriots?" What was gained? And what was forever lost?
Do schools today even have mandatory history classes? I'd heard some years ago, but I cant confirm it, that history classes if given at all were elective. I can tell you, they know more about global warming than they do George Washington.
Most of the kids in schools can't even read the plaques let alone understand what happened there, they are still figuring out which boyfriend mom is sleeping with tonight. Yes THE SELFISH HEDONISTIC BED JUMPING PARENTS ARE TO BLAME
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