Virginia Holocaust Museum,
2000 E Cary St:

It was something of a sombre start for the morning of the Outing day. We were visiting here to learn and listen and take in the stories of those who had survived, had lived to tell the tale, and those who had not.
On first reflection, it seemed a rather odd location for such a museum. Most people are aware of the one in DC, the nation's capital. Why Virginia? Watching the intro video, you quickly gain a sense of how many survivors wound up in the state. Wanting to help others know so that their story, this history, is not forgotten. The importance of remembrance.

I didn't walk around, camera in hand the entire time. I wanted to be able to take in the audio guide, the exhibitions from room to room and be able to reflect. Some of what I'd studied at GCSE came back to me: Dachau concentration camp; Kristallnacht.
It was what I didn't know before which I photographed; an act of committing to memory. Surprising truths about exiles; rejection; the way the world continued to turn its back.
And the way that artists had sought to represent the journey of the victims of the Holocaust and its survivors. Sometimes words prove only meagre, scratching away at the surface.

Images, sculpture, artwork speak much louder,

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Gross Breesen was an agricultural training farm, situated between Germany & Poland.

In the 1930s, it created a refuge to a hundred & thirty Jewish youths. By training them up in the agricultural industry, it was hoped that other countries would be open to providing opportunity to emigrate & put their profession to work.
Living in Richmond, I'd become aware of Thalhimer, just as I knew of Miller & Rhoads: the old department stores, long past their heydey, standing in downtown Richmond as a testimony to old shopping habits, long relocated to affluent malls elsewhere in the region.
Thalhimer was also involved in the resettlement cause, having experienced the growing tensions of Nazi Germany himself at first hand in 1930. William B. Thalhimer's suggestion was that refugees "be settled upon farms in the rural communities of this country in order to relieve their increasing concentration in the city &.. hasten the process of rehabilitation."
Hyde Park Farm, Burkeville, VA became the location. The necessary visas were almost not supplied but Thalhimer's persistence did eventually pay off.

A fascinating insight into Virginia's own direct involvement.

The Virginia Plan: William B. Thalhimer & a Rescue from Nazi Germany - Robert H. Gillette

Hyde Farmlands

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Of refugee Jews trying to emigrate to Cuba, then America.

On May 13, 1939, the German transatlantic liner St. Louis sailed from Hamburg, Germany, for Havana, Cuba. On the voyage were 937 passengers. Almost all were Jews fleeing from the Third Reich. The plight of German-Jewish refugees, persecuted at home and unwanted abroad, is illustrated by the voyage of the St. Louis.

After Cuba and then the United States denied these refugees entry, the St. Louis was forced to return to Europe on June 6, 1939. Following difficult negotiations initiated by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the ship was able to dock in Antwerp, Belgium; and the governments of Belgium, Holland, France, and the United Kingdom agreed to accept the refugees.

USHMM

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The Potato Hole:

An exhibit regarding the Ipp family who hid underground
for nine months, surviving the Holocaust.

The Potato Hole was an excavated chamber measuring 9ft x 12ft x 4ft high. We crawled through a tunnel, on hands & knees, beginning in the potato storage hole leading into a space constructed to the same dimensions. The Ipp family lived in hiding, in that space, underground for nine months. 13 Jews, 4 of whom were children under nine years old. They became survivors of the Kovno Ghetto-Concentration camp, assisted by Mr & Mrs Paskovsky & their son, Stanislavas.

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Haganah,

Exodus 1947

Sometimes it's being away from your home country which allows you a different perspective. The opportunity to take a long view rather than living in close up;

to discover truths one might otherwise have to dig a little deeper for on home turf.

Cyprus;

a refugee camp run by the British government,for the internment of Jews regarding Mandatory Palestine.
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The end of the walk around the museum brings you past this

stained glass window above the Tower of Remembrance.

The flames of the Holocaust lapping around Mount Sinai.

Remembrance.
Tolerance.
Hope.

So it happened to be A Very Good Thing Indeed that there were Plans afoot & Spontaneity did not have to occur Saturday.

If it had, I would've probably gone here & Style's feedback made it sound just a little bit busy. Plenty of Hanover Tomatoes in the stores to enjoy afterwards anyhow!

Shenandoah.

" While scholars debate the specific meaning.., they all agree that it has something to do with the land. "Silver Water" ... "Great Mountain" ... "River of High Mountains" ... "Daughter of the Stars", these varying definitions attest that the land inspired people to name it. "

We headed out of Richmond, late Friday afternoon. The forecast appeared grim: rain, rain & more rain. I tried to be upbeat about my unexpected free time anyhow. Drizzliness ensued. There are no photos from when we entered the Park that night via the south entrance at Rockfish Gap: due to the Fog, there was hardly a view at any of the overlooks.

Unlike our previous campsite in PWC, there was much less undergrowth, meaning a lot less dry kindling to be gathered in order to convince damp logs that they really did want to burn.

The evening meal began to look dubious. It started to rain.
The Manly Man made himself a makeshift Vulcan-inspired waterproof.

Those shoulders!

Our present from the Haileys!

Fire happened!

BBQ chicken happened.

Better.

.........

Saturday:

PWC's new camping gadget had been the Lantern.
For Shenandoah, it was a gadget best used for breakfast.

Check out these happy campers!

    Yay,
           coffee pot!

             We were off to a good start already.

Breakfast over, water collected from the faucet as deer napped on the grass nearby,
we struck out onto the Appalachian Trail.

I had packed for anticipated showers so was gratified as the day began to warm up. We passed fellow hikers on the trail, mentioning to us of snakes in the grass & a mother bear & her cub being spotted in the wood.

Shenandoah is bear country!
Home to the largest concentration of Black Bear in the United States.

But we didn't see either of those as we continued on our way, keeping an eye out for unexpected wriggly visitors. Frazier Discovery Trail brought us up and out onto an overlook, misty & blue, with Skyline Drive - the road we had travelled in on the night before - in view.

" Between 1933 and 1942, 10 Civillian Conservation Corps (CCC) camps were established within or on leased land adjacent to Shenandoah. During this time, more than 10,000 young men lived in these camps under the supervision of the Army. They worked on projects directed by the National Park Service & the Bureau of Public Roads. Their activities included building trails, fire roads & towers, log comfort stations, picnic grounds and construction projects associated with Skyline Drive.

... The "boys" built hundreds of miles of trails and installed much of the infrastructure.
These "boys" created the form & fabric of the new park so that future generations could find recreation and relaxation here. "
... "Iron Mike".

" The construction of Skyline Drive started on July 18, 1931, before the park was established. It was initiated as a drought relief measure by Pres. Hoover who had a fishing camp in the area. The road was first built by contractors who hired local farmers who needed work away from the farm because of crop failures.
The road was essentially finished in August 1939, during the Roosevelt administration. The cost of building this roadway was approximately $5 million at the time. "

It was beginning to brighten up.

" The park features 300 square miles of the Blue Ridge Mountains, rising above the Virginia Piedmont to the east & the Shenandoah Valley to the west, with two peaks rising above 4,000 feet."

The Piedmont hills.

Saturday evening's fire was a much happier affair.

The Manly Man was keen to encourage every log to
be involved & to play its part. Socialist firewood!

Fancy fare; shrimp & scallops...

And S'mores, of course:

Sunday was bright & sunny from the start,

Dundo Overlook.

I knew we were headed somewhere off site, destination untold. However I happened to know of The Manly Man's exploits in this part of the world so I thought I had him sussed...

Yup:

King Family VINEYARDS

King Family also operate a stableyard for polo horses (not playing on this particular Sunday) so an equine theme is apparent throughout the location, inside & out.

Hooks below the bar.

Saying "hi" to the residents:
"Darth masks" prove international!

The heat of the afternoon proved too much for us mountain-dwellers however so we packed up & returned for continued tastings at our cooler Loft Mountain campground. Elevation: roughly 2870 ft.