Friday in NoVa (that's Northern Virginia for those who don't know)

Friday was spent in Alexandria, VA. As much as I hate to do it, go here to read the Wikipedia entry on Alexandria's history. The George Washington Masonic Memorial was first on our stop. It was built by Free Masons in the early 1900's as a tribute to their numero uno Mason, George Washington. It's really a giant tool to show the public the merits of Free Masonry, and how the father of our country, George Washington, became the man he was because of Free Masonry. Here are some highlights:

This building is on top of a 200 foot hill, and it stands 300 feet tall.....so it stands about 500 feet in the air. A fitting tribute to GW!


The view from the top.


It might be difficult to read, but this is a 1904 commemorative coin from the "Braden Town" Masonic Lodge.

The rest of the afternoon, after a nice lunch at a fish & chips place in Alexandria, we visited the Weems-Botts Museum in Dumfries. Parson Weems was the man who wrote the Washington biography that started the cherry-tree and coin-across-the-Rappahannock myths. It was interesting because the town is kind of run down and forgotten, and it seemed like the house-museum was a major effort to bring the town back to importance.