The timing wasn't on purpose; the trip was built around the 50th Annual Philadelphia Folk Festival. The festival, which is well known to folk and acoustic music afficiandos, is one of the nation's largest and best. It actually is held about 50 miles outside of Philadelphia in Schwenksville, Pa. The concert goes for three days and hosts dozens of acts; it is held at a farm with a rolling ampitheater like basin and at least 5,000 people camp out at the farm for the weekend (sound like a festival in Bethel, N.Y. 42 years ago? There are other parallels but more on that later). This was the 50th year of the festival; Arlo Guthrie was the big name Saturday night and Levon Helm (from the Band) on Sunday. There were any number of other acts that are nationally known, such as Trombone Shorty, Dave Bromberg, and the John Hartford Band, but the great thing about festivals like this is discovering the "next tier" of performers- the ones who aren't really well known outside of their region but you know will break out soon.
When I looked at a map to figure out how to get to the festival (for this post I'm dropping the usual "we" since only I [Alan] went on this trip) I had a bad case of the "might as wells"; if I'm going to drive to Schwenksville, might as well visit the National Civil War museum in Harrisburg; if I'm doing that then Gettysburg is just down the road; if I'm in Gettysburg how could I not stop to see Leah in D.C? Then, when I booked my hotel for Schwenksville, it turns out the hotel was only fifteen minutes from Valley Forge- it was like a history buff's Hanukkah present! So, with Ruth's permission, I figured out an itinerary; Harrisburg on Friday, Valley Forge and the Folk Festival on Saturday, Washington on Sunday, and Gettysburg Sunday night and Monday before driving home late Monday night. I loaded up the car with books on tape and set out Friday morning on only a trip that a folk music and history geek could love (that certainly let Ruth out!).
First stop was the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg. Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, was one of Robert E. Lee's objectives when he took the Army of North Virginia north into Maryland and Pennsylvania in June 1863. Some think he was going to try to take Harrisburg and Baltimore and then sue for peace while threatening D.C. In any event, the museum was interesting in that it was "neutral"; there was no favoring either the North or the South. Also, in keeping with current historical thinking, you could tell that the museum is changing to emphasize the role of slavery in instigating the war. Just a couple of shots from the museum:
 |
| Lincoln Death Mask |
 |
| Gotta love toy soldiers! Federals holding Cemetery Ridge in Gettysburg |
 |
| Lincoln's Hat Box for his Stovepipe Hat |
 |
| Exterior of the Museum The next morning I left early and drove the fifteen minutes to Valley Forge. While Valley Forge is indeed a historic site, and has a very nice visitor's center and some monuments and preserved barracks, mostly what Valley Forge is now is a beautiful recreational park. There is a five mile trail that winds through the site open to bikers, runners, walkers, and roller bladers. On a beautiful Saturday morning in August a lot of people come out to enjoy the area. I rented a bike and biked the trail.  National Memorial Arch  Barracks soldiers built and slept in-12 to a cabin  Barracks interior  View of area where soldiers drilled By noon I was at the Philadelphia Folk Festival; the line of cars to get in really did look like that Bethel Festival, if you've seen the movie; they had lots of people directing traffic; it took a while to get to the offsite lot but once there a bus took me directly to the festival. The festival was just as I'd imagined; there was an area of booths and tents where people were selling arts, crafts, and everything else you could think of:     Most of all there were people; the people watching was the best!!       Oh yeah, there was also music! There were six stages; until four there were simultaneous "workshops" on five of the stages, and at four everything shut down and the main stage opened up with the "named talent".  Singing group Dala, part of a harmony workshop  Steve Marmel, part of the "Brats" workshop; all people who have been attending the festival since they were babies  Full Frontal Singing Group, part of Brats workshop  Michael Braunfeld, another brat and a real find; he's also a Philadelphia Lawyer!  Kim and Reggie Harris, another great find    Dave Bromberg's big band closed the afternoon show  Opening of evening show   Battlefield Band  John Hartford String Band; I was devastated to learn that John actually passed away a decade ago but this was his backup group My favorite moment of the Festival, though, had to be when they brought out a bulldozer to clear out a mud pit that had formed during the Friday night rainstorms (but unlike Bethel, no one was sliding in it). They cleared us out of the way and then brought in the bulldozer:  I swear this guy drove the dozer to the festival directly from Woodstock! I left after the John Hartford String Band; I had seen Arlo Guthrie before and I wasn't keen on getting lost in Schwenksville at midnight fighting with 5,000 cars. As it turns out it was a great decision because unknown to me there were 15 offsite parking lots; no one told me the name of mine, and I had a very interesting hour finding the car (but that's a story for another day). On Sunday I drove to D.C. to visit Leah, who is interning with Congressman Gary Peters; we got to spend a few hours together on her birthday, which is always a treasure. Happy Birthday, Leah!  Where Leah gives Tours - two days after I left there was an earthquake while Leah was in the Rotunda and pieces of plaster were falling! After leaving Leah, I drove to Gettysburg. Gettysburg is a special place for me; I'm not really a Civil War buff in the sense of a lot of the people there (and as most of you know I intend to study 20th Century American History) but I have been known to schlep Ruth to a few Civil War battlefields and Gettysburg is special for a lot of reasons: it was in my opinion the decisive battle of the war; it's where the Gettysburg address was given [I hope that's a question on one of my exams!]; it is the best preserved and honored battlefield; and the substance of the battle raises such interesting questions. What if Stuart had done his job and Lee knew where the Union troops were? What if Reynolds hadn't been killed an hour after his corps hit the field the first day? What if Sickle had obeyed orders? What if Longstreet had commenced the flank attack Lee ordered? Gettysburg is one of the few places I know on earth where people actually are conversant on such topics and you can find someone in a bar to talk to about them for hours. For those of you who haven't clicked off yet, here's a few pictures from Gettysburg:  Confederates took this building as a sniper location the first day; it was peppered by Union fire throughout the fight; the bullet holes are still visible (the white markings on the bricks)  Michigan graves in the National Cemetery  This clump of trees was the target for Pickett's Charge  Pennsylvania Monument; the largest on the field. You can climb up to the top  View of Cemetery Ridge from the top of Pennsylvania Monument. Imagine Pickett bringing 15,000 troops across the open field into waiting Union arms And so ended my terrific solo Geekend Roadtrip. Thanks to Ruth for supporting this foolishness; it only encourages me to think of other, even more geeky, places (stay tuned for the Buddy Holly crash site and the Truman presidential libarary!) |
