Drive. Pray. Scream?: Day 39: Well, Hello, George!

We had our first encounter with George Washington today, visiting Fort Necessity in southwestern Pennsylvania, site of his first military skirmish in 1754. Even though he suffered a technical defeat at Fort Necessity (it was his one and only surrender in all his military years), he was on the winning side of the war; he was a Colonel in the British army and commanded a troop of militia from the Virginia Colony. His engagements there were the start of the French and Indian War and ultimately lead to the American Revolution: The French were forced out of power in North America; then taxes were raised on Colonists to help rebuild British coffers following the expensive war; the War of Independence was just around the corner.

Years after the French and Indian War, Washington bought a piece of land overlooking the site of Ft. Necessity (it was a small stockade, far from a grand fort such as Booneborough, and had been burned following his surrender). His intention was not only to remember the lessons learned there, but also to establish a waystation on the newly concieved National Road, of which he was a leading force (though he never saw it completed). I had no idea that one of the last original sections of this first "super-highway" lies near Greencastle, where I was in school. Most of the old road is now US 40; the original roadbed is paved over and much wider, but many of its way stations, toll houses and bridges are still around. The road, which opened up the west, was built to encourage and accommodate the large numbers of people moving to the frontier. Washington believed that if the country didn't provide such a road, settlers would go west with someone else's help and perhaps lay their loyalties elsewhere. The road's approval process was long and arduous, taking many years and compromises. When completed, it had been cut through deep forests and into and over various terrain from Cumberland, Md., to the middle of Illinois. More than 200,000 people traveled the 90-mile road annually over a 40 year period, beginning around 1812 and not tapering off until the railroad arrived in 1853.

We could prattle on about the interesting history and sites in this region...the Whiskey rebellion, which was the first test of federal authority under the new Constitution; Friendship Hill, home of Albert Gallatin, 13-year Secretary of the Treasury under Jefferson and Madison who arranged funding for the Louisiana purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition, and negotiated the financing for the National Road; Fallingwater, famous home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. And on top of all that, the area is incredibly beautiful...rolling hills leading up into what's called the Laurel Highlands.

Our final stop of the day shouldn't be lumped with the others: it was the Flight 93 Memorial near Shanksville. The permanent memorial is under construction, with phase one to be dedicated this year on the 10th anniversary of the crash; completion is scheduled for 2014. The temporary memorial, basically an overlook of the crash site and a visitor center that's in a nearby farm shed (which served as headquarters for the hundreds of people investigating in the days and weeks following the attack), was very moving. Our day began with our nation's first hero and ended with some of its most recent--the passengers and crew of Flight 93, who attempted to regain control of the hijacked aircraft, ultimately preventing it from hitting the intended target, the Capitol building.