At 6:30 a.m. the Lean, Green, Driving Machine motors west with full sunlight illuminating Route 77 in Kodachrome colors. This 4th of July will be celebrated at Washington Monument State Park on Zittlestown Road near Boonsboro, MD.
Driving directly west with the top down, the sun shines in my rearview mirror until I enter Thurmont. Weaving up Catoctin Mountain I turn left on Stottlemeyer through the tiny crossroads at Wolfsville. The descent down Boonsboro Mountain Road is mostly straight and slightly off camber. Best to descend in 4th gear so the brakes get a break... Turning east at Boonsboro, I head-up South Mountain.
Arriving at the park, I hike a quarter mile up the Appalachian Trail to the monument and climb the interior stone stairs. Scanning the view west, the eyes absorb a hazy view of Antietam Battlefield, West Virginia, The National Road (Alternate Route 40), Boonsboro, Fairview Mountain (it is), and Pennsylvania. A view of America - past and future.
On July 4, 1827, hearty citizens of Boonsboro hiked two miles up the mountain and by the end of the day had completed 15 of the 30-foot height of the monument.
This Independence Day on top of the monument, thoughts turn to Samuel Adams. As a colleague asked me, “Sam Adams – the beer guy?”
No, the patriot Jefferson called, “truly the man of the Revolution.”
Henry Lee said Washington was “first in war, first in peace, and first in the heart of his countrymen.” But perhaps Adams was first in war. A new book, The Revolutionary: Samuel Adams by Stacy Schiff is giving Adams his due.
Adams was a pre-internet blogger and troll who flamed the winds of liberty and independence. Under numerous pseudonyms, he penned incendiary articles and pamphlets, much of which were lies and falsehoods. Massachusetts Royal Governor Thomas Hutchinson wrote, “I doubt whether there is a greater incendiary in the King’s dominions.”
Adams won the Revolution but lost the peace. Adept at building opposition, his talent did not play well to a young nation trying to unite under the Constitution. Schiff notes that “alone among America’s founders, his is a riches-to-rags story.” Adams burned his correspondence and Schiff turned to Adams contemporaries' correspondence to paint a vivid picture of the man and the times.
Leaving the monument, I point the Lean, Green, Driving Machine down Monument Avenue and cross over The National Road onto Pleasant Walk Road.
Yes, 247 years in, a pleasant walk with the Father of our Country and his rabble-rousing contemporary, accompanied by a beautiful view of what they wrought.
How about you. How did you celebrate Independence Day? Share a story!
2nd Helping
The Revolutionary: Sam Adams by Stacey Schiff
Lean (2,575 pounds), Green (highland green), Driving Machine (2008 Mazda Miata MX-5).
Dessert
In addition to the Zittlestown Road and Washington, DC monuments, Baltimore, MD built a monument to Washington dedicated in 1829. Samuel Adams rates no monuments and merely 2 statues – one in the National Statuary Hall Collection at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC and one in front of Faneuil Hall Plaza in Boston, MA.
I passed through Frizzellburg on the way to Zittlestown. Would you rather grow up in Zittlestown or Frizzellburg? Take Zittlestown – your name is likely to be last on any list of hometowns…
Frizzell & Zittle - great name for a restaurant...
Comments