July | 2014 | DiscoverGen

Heading east on our way to visit Mom’s friend in Virginia we THOUGHT going by the Outer Banks of North Carolina would be a scenic route and a good chance to see light house’s and the Atlantic ocean. Bumper to bumper traffic and pouring rain only made us look for the quickest way to get out of there! We made only one stop, and that was at Kitty Hawk and the Wright brothers museum.

Wright brothers replica

Silly people walking around in the rain looking at very LARGE kites on museum grounds taken by smart photographer standing inside dry building!

Silly people walking around in the rain looking at very LARGE kites on museum grounds, taken by photographer standing inside dry building!

Tappahannock on the Rappahannock River, Virginia

Mom’s quilting buddy, Suzi

Earl and Suzi

: The family farm in Virginia. Suzi’s sister’s family lives in Maryland but they are working to clear 100 wooded acre’s for large gardens, hunting grounds and general mischief!

Suzi, Mom and John having fun touring the Estate/Farm

The Pond, you build it- they will come, the frogs that is. I have been properly trained in the harvesting of frog legs, at night with spot light and
adequate harvesting equipment, luckily said equipment had a scope!

Oh the bountiful harvest… yes I only got one… yes I would starve if left alone in the woods of Virginia!

Cabin being built 17th century style, to give the impression its been here for hundreds of years.

Cabin being built 17th century style, to give the look and feel that its been here for hundreds of years.

Touring the Tappanhannock and Northern Neck Area

Stratford Hall Plantation

Thomas Lee (1690-1750) purchased the land in 1717, built the house 1730-1738 and owned more than 16,000 acres in Virginia and Maryland. He and his wife Hannah had eight children, two of his son’s, Richard Henry and Francis Lightfoot Lee were the only brothers to sign the Declaration of Independence. Thomas was the great uncle to revolutionary war hero “Light-Horse Harry Lee” (Henry Lee III), Light Horse Harry was the father to general Robert E Lee.

Stratford Hall, Robert E Lee’s birth place

Gold Laced Wyandotte chicken. On the grounds they keep to period gardens and animals

Gold Laced Wyandotte chicken. On the grounds they keep correct time period gardens and animals

The Potomac

In search of blue crab!

Bad luck, the restaurant was out of blue crab but had good food anyway and we spotted some Osprey outside….

Suzi found some blue crab and I was schooled in the proper consumption! (that’s vinegar not butter)

There’s nothing better in this whole world than Crustaceans !!!!

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One of the main reasons we visited North Carolina was to see the birth place of my great Grandfather, James Lee Maxwell, the only one out of several generations of Maxwell’s that moved west. Below is a picture of his parents, Alexander Lafayette (1847-1926) and Martha Jane Justus Maxwell. Alexander and Jane owned a good chunk of land that included a waterwheel and mill, cannery and store. Martha Jane was a mid-wife and delivered many babies in the area. Alexander entered the civil war when he was 16, was wounded and captured and sent to Point Lookout prison. Their home was not still standing but we did get some pictures of the waterwheel and surrounding area. The actual wheel has been replaced with a similar one and the flume that carried the water to the wheel is no longer in-tact. The property is owned and being maintained by the Rhodes family, descendants of one of A.L. and Jane’s daughter, Mary Elizabeth Maxwell Rhodes.

Alexander Lafayette and Martha Jane Justus Maxwell

Alexander L Maxwell civil war picture

Our North Carolina cousin, Pat Edmundson Stepp, Mom and Peg. Thank you Pat for arranging and showing us all these properties!!!!

me, Mom and Peg

The cabin below is believed to be my 5th great Grandfather’s, Andrew Maxwell Sr. (1770-1843)

Maxwell cabin

me, Mom and Peg

In and around the area of the old Maxwell properties

This clump of trees is where my great,great,great,great Grandmother, Mary Merill Maxwell is buried but we could not visit because the field was "too snaky"

This clump of trees is where my great,great,great,great Grandmother, Mary Merill Maxwell (1796-1866) is buried but we could not visit because the field was “too snaky” with copper heads and rattle snakes!