{"id":4097,"date":"2023-03-21T20:47:05","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T00:47:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/?p=4097"},"modified":"2023-03-21T20:47:05","modified_gmt":"2023-03-22T00:47:05","slug":"a-perfectly-enjoyable-first-day-of-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/?p=4097","title":{"rendered":"A Perfectly Enjoyable First Day of Spring"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Tuesday March 21, 2023<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Road video and map<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although the names of the two places I visited today may suggest gloom and darkness nothing could be further from my experience as the first full day of spring dawned bright, warm and calm. I traveled 186 miles (299 km) from Suffolk, VA to Raleigh, NC. with visits to Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Preserve<\/em> and Historical Oakwood Cemetery<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many National Wildlife Preserves in this region and, I must confess, the name drew me to this one. All tend to be havens of peace in beautiful natural surroundings and I did not see another visitor during my 90 minutes there but I discovered that this preserve also has historical significance as part of the Underground Railroad, the routes that were taken to freedom by enslaved people who were attempting to escape from their owners. This area, together with swamps in Louisiana and Florida, were natural hiding places and communities of desperate people formed to mutually aid each other and receive help from supportive outsiders. It’s thought that these communities also included Native Americans fleeing from forced relocation by white settlers. This was called Marronage and the people in the community were called Maroons. There is a “pavilion” with explanatory displays and room for presentations by rangers near the entrance to the swamp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Apparently, Great Dismal Swamp is referenced in the exhibit on the Underground Railroad at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington but I had never noticed this.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The preserve has an auto tour to Drummond Lake, which is the largest natural lake in Virginia, and has a new pier memorializing the Maroons and those who helped them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I was able to take a walk along a couple of boardwalk trails but there seemed to be little wildlife around. The swamp is the winter resting place of millions of migratory birds but, today, the air was silent. Not encountering wildlife may be a blessing as the swamp is also home to one of the largest populations of black bears in the east.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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These turtles getting warm in the sun were the only significant wildlife I saw.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Much of the drive to Raleigh was on small roads in pleasant surroundings and was delightful. When I arrived I stopped at the Historic Oakwood Cemetery for a walk to stretch my legs. Although there are no Presidents or entertainment icons buried here I enjoyed an hour of peace in the warm sun and beautiful surroundings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The privately run cemetery is located on undulating hills with graves dating from 1869. There are nice views from almost anywhere (despite someone parking a familiar looking red car in the way)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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One of the 7 former North Carolina governors buried here is David Swain who was in office from 1832 to 1835. (The large memorial in the foreground.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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There is a confederate section containing over 1500 soldiers, many of whom are unknown.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tuesday March 21, 2023 Road video and map Although the names of the two places I visited today may suggest gloom and darkness nothing could be further from my experience as the first full day of spring dawned bright, warm and calm. I traveled 186 miles (299 km) from Suffolk, VA to Raleigh, NC. with … Continue reading A Perfectly Enjoyable First Day of Spring<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[96,3],"tags":[56,54],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4097"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4097"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4111,"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4097\/revisions\/4111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/relativerest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}