Alexandria, VA

Today we spent in Alexandria, Virginia. What an amazingly historic town! We started by visiting Duke Street which was where several slave auction houses and holding "pens" were located. We saw two buildings that had been auction houses. One is now an office building and the other is the headquarters of the Alexandria Urban League. They weren't open but we looked in through the windows. They are working to turn the building into a museum. Our next stop was the Contraband (which is what they called runaway slaves) and Freedman's Cemetery. It is so sad because it is just an overgrown field - no markers, nothing. Apparently it was "lost" and at one point a filling station was located on the corner. At some point they realized what was under the filling station and they planned a recovery and relocation of the bodies. The sign at the cemetery said the project was to be completed in 2007 - looks like that wasn't the case. It will be interesting to see what I can find out about the project on line.

We enjoyed walking through Old Town and visiting some of the little shops. We ate on the deck of a restaurant on the Potomac River. It was very enjoyable.

Once again our quest for the perfect quilt shop was a bust. We went to one store and it was now a dentist office. We asked someone in Old Town who was very excited to tell us all about a knit shop. She was amazed that I thought it wouldn't have fabric. Doesn't anyone sew out here?? This is a job opportunity for anyone who would love to live in this area!

We did find a big box store fabric store "G Street Fabrics" near our motel. We found two Civil war fabrics but nothing super neat. They did have an awesome button area - too bad I wasn't looking for buttons! They had an entire wall - with a sales clerk designated to helping with buttons!

We are looking forward to Washington DC tomorrow.