April 10, 2013

Howdeeee!  Oh that Minnie Pearl...what a sweetheart.
Another great day in Pennsylvania.  A great day for growing tobacco leaves in the Lancaster Amish area.

Today we took a tour of the Pennsylvania Capitol and also the National Civil War Museum which covered the history of the war from beginning to end.

The Pennsylvania Capitol building has got to be the most beautiful one that we have seen.  The outside grounds were well taken care of and the inside was very ornate with statues of well known people besides politicians.  Some of them may have even been educators, painters etc.  A lot of the upper works were finished in 23 karat gold leaf.

This is the main staircase where today, football players with great talent,  were being recognized for that talent and going on to  higher education rather than the prose (!)  For those that had been to Graceland, you could have almost mistaken these stairs for Elvis's.

The top of the rotunda is 272 feet above floor level and was really grand.

All of the main floor in the building was a pictoral history of the state done in tile.  This one happens to be of the steel industry.  Can you imagine Gov LeRage pulling up floor tiles because it might represent workers who might be unionized?

This is the Senate chamber that houses 50 senators.  Notice the ornateness of the chandeliers and the artwork in the background.  The Roll call vote is still done here the old fashioned way.  A verbal Aye or Nay.

The Majority Leaders desk made out of imported mahogany.

A stained glass window representing the Media.  Can you imagine a missing window?

The House chambers with 203 representatives.  All PC computers were alike.  They even had a couple of Pages going around opening them up and turning on the power.  Electronic votes shown on the boards on the wall.  Their name shows up in either red or green.

This is one of several 2 ton chandeliers in the house and senate chambers

The grounds outside were very colorful.  I thought I heard that they borrowed money from the education budget to pay for the flowers. (?)

These 2 stickers are for the annual exhaust emissions testing, and the right one reads "Annual Inspection Sticker".  I was wondering where it would go if you didn't have a windshield.

At the National Civil War Museum, which covered all of the Civil War, many real artifacts were kept here or on loan.   Can you guess whose stovepipe hat hatbox this might have belonged to?

The state of Maine during the war had 73,000 volunteers, which is the greatest number in proportion to all the other Northern states.  This on is of the Maine 7th Company.  Maine also was the home of 31 Generals during war.

There was also a traveling exhibit featuring Col Joshua L Chamberlain and told of his part in the battles.  There is a book titles Joshua L Chamberlain  A Life in Letters that gives his description of the accounts of the war.

I just thought I would end todays pictures with this quote.

Many of you have heard of a book called Tobacco Road...tomorrow it will be Quiltshop Road.

Good night John Boy.