Verdi, Nevada.
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In 1844 the Townsend-Stephens-Murphy Party became the first wagon train to reach California over the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Their rugged route through the Truckee River Canyon was hazardous to the pioneers and their animals, so in 1845 mountain man Caleb Greenwood blazed an alternate trail north of the river. It runs from what is now Verdi, Nevada, past Dog Valley and on to Donner Lake.
This trail was later used by the ill-fated Donner Party in 1846 and by Gold Rush pioneers after 1848 and is marked on either side of Dog Valley Road, west of this marker. In the terrible winter of 1846-47, the Donner Party was entrapped by a series of snowstorms at what is now Donner Lake and at a campsite at Alder Creek. Of the 81 men, women, and children at the high camps only 46 reached their destination in the California settlements. Some survivors resorted to cannibalism to stay alive.
(Settlements & Settlers • Roads & Vehicles) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
In 1844 the Townsend-Stephens-Murphy Party became the first wagon train to reach California over the Sierra Nevada mountain range. Their rugged route through the Truckee River Canyon was hazardous to the pioneers and their animals, so in 1845 mountain man Caleb Greenwood blazed an alternate trail north of the river. It runs from what is now Verdi, Nevada, past Dog Valley and on to Donner Lake.
This trail was later used by the ill-fated Donner Party in 1846 and by Gold Rush pioneers after 1848 and is marked on either side of Dog Valley Road, west of this marker. In the terrible winter of 1846-47, the Donner Party was entrapped by a series of snowstorms at what is now Donner Lake and at a campsite at Alder Creek. Of the 81 men, women, and children at the high camps only 46 reached their destination in the California settlements. Some survivors resorted to cannibalism to stay alive.
(Settlements & Settlers • Roads & Vehicles) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
You are standing at a crossroads of human history that goes back to the time of the mammoth hunters. This passage over the Sierra Nevada was a key route for Native Americans, mountain men, wagon-train pioneers, miners, stage coaches and travelers along the Lincoln Highway.
Tobacco has long held a sacred and prominent role among the Indian tribes in the southeast. Well before Christopher Columbus returned with tobacco seeds from the Caribbean or Sir Walter Raleigh made smoking fashionable in Europe when he returned from Carolina with a pipe and tobacco, Indians had universally integrated tobacco into their religious, social, and cultural ways of life.
While wooden trestle bridges were numerous in Brunswick County, the Meherrin River Bridge was one of a few truss bridges on the A&D between Pinners Point (at Portsmouth) and Danville. Built in 1893, the 150-feet long, through truss pin-connected span was supported by two steel towers secured into concrete block footings.
Did you know… A raindrop falling in the Meherrin River Watershed will travel over 200 miles before reaching the Atlantic?!
Hyeholde
Coleman County was organized in 1867. The landscape in this area included high grasses, pecan and live oak trees. Deer, turkey, bear and antelope roamed freely. Into this wilderness came such pioneers as John Thomas and Julia Gowens Hamilton, Julia's parents G.A. and Rachel Ann Berryman Gowens, and Rachel's father Benjamin Berryman and his family. The group passed Coleman, choosing instead to settle in this locality. The village of White Chapel grew from the efforts of these settlers and their neighbors.
On Sept. 29, 1863 Confederate forces of Texas and Louisiana commanded by Brig. Gen. Tom Green defeated Union forces of the 13th Army Corps capturing 500 men and 2 cannons. The battle is also known as the Battle of Sterling's Plantation. This marker is dedicated to the men who died on this battlefield.
The Piney Point area possesses its own unique social history and charm. Named for the loblolly and long leaf yellow pines along the shoreline, Piney Point became the social center of Washington D.C. between 1820 and 1910. President James Monroe vacationed here in 1820 in a cottage that became known as the “Summer White House.” Presidential guests Franklin Pierce and Theodore Roosevelt often came to Piney Point to escape Washington’s summers. 
On this site, the West Tampa Boys Club was organized around 1923 at the Rosa Valdez Settlement, a Methodist mission. From 1926 until 1944, the club was a major project of the Tampa Rotary Club. Under leadership of E.S. "Pep" Krantz and Charles "Stretch" Murphy, it became Florida's largest. With club sponsorship, Tony Pereira started Boy Scout Troop 38 here in 1930. West Tampa Boys Club became part of Boys Clubs of Tampa, Inc. in 1944.
On Christmas Eve of 1835, land consisting of 2.5 acres was purchased by the Federal Government from William and Charlotte Suter for three hundred dollars. The following year the first lighthouse constructed entirely on the shoreline of the Potomac River was built by John Donohoe of Havre De Grace, Maryland.
Rock Springs is the source of the Rock Springs Run, a swift running stream with an average flow of 26.000 gallons per minute and a constant temperature of 68 degrees. The spring flows from limestone containing fossils that date back 17 million years. In 1855, the State of Florida, wanting to encourage settlement in the state's interior, awarded land near Rock Springs to William S. Delk, a veteran of the Second Seminole War. Delk later became the owner of the area's largest plantation. He used the Rock Springs Run to power his grist mill, sawmill, and cotton gin. Delk's heirs sold the land to lumber companies. In 1910, New Jersey doctor, Howard A. Kelly visited Rock Springs. Kelly, one of the founders of Johns Hopkins Hospital and an internationally recognized gynecologist, was an avid naturalist. Taken with the "sweet" spring water from the "mysterious cave," he purchased 200 acres around Rock Springs in 1921 for use as a wildlife preserve and bird sanctuary. Kelly and his wife gifted the land to Orange County in 1927 with the understanding that it would remain a public park open to every citizen. Orange County named the park Dr. Howard A. Kelly park.
The Intruder is a medium-attack, all weather day-night carrier-based combat aircraft. Its first flight (prototype YA-2F1 BuNo 147864) was on 16 April 1960. The Navy’s designation of the Intruder was changed from the A-2F to the A-6A in October 1962. First fleet delivery of the A-6A was to VA-42, the Atlantic Fleet Replacement Air Group in February 1963. First operational fleet squadron was VA-75 with the first West Pac cruise onboard the USS Independence in May 1965. First flight of the A-6E, a refitted A-6A, was on 27 February 1970 and 240 A-6A’s were eventually converted. When the production of the A-6A stopped in December 1970, the Intruder was serving in 14 Navy and 6 Marine squadrons and some 488 aircraft had been produced. The first new production A-6E was accepted by the Navy in September 1971 and first operational fleet squadron (VA-85) started accepting their aircraft in December 1971. As of this writing, February 1995, Intruder fleet squadrons are still operational; however, a phase out is planned. Testing of the Intruder started at Patuxent River in the early 1960’s and continues today.
The CH-53A, the predecessor of America’s largest helicopter today, the CH-53E, was first flown in October 1964 and began entering service in 1966. Within 16,000 lb of cargo capacity, this large all-weather-capable helicopter could carry two jeeps, 105 mm howitzer, or 38 fully-equipped combat troops, giving the Marines valuable mobility in Vietnam. The CH-53A has also demonstrated the impressive ability to perform loops and barrel rolls and in April 1968, a Marine Corps CH-53A made the first automatic terrain clearance flight in helicopter history. For shipboard stowage, the Sea Stallion’s rotor blades and tail pylon folded hydraulically.
The Roy A. and Gladys Westbrook House is a 2½ story Tudor Revival style home constructed in 1928. The house sits on a 1.5 acre blufftop site in the Park Hill neighborhood that overlooks the Fort Worth Zoo and Forest Park. The Park Hill neighborhood was designed by the noted Kansas City, Missouri, landscape architecture firm of Hare and Hare. The home was designed by prominent Fort Worth architect Joseph L. Pelich, whose residential designs were mostly based on period revival styles. His work can be found throughout Fort Worth's oldest neighborhoods. Pelich also designed the original Casa Manana outdoor theater in Fort Worth.
Each spring, upon arrival from their Central and South American wintering grounds, Delaware beachnesters establish colonies and take part in courtship rituals. The birds lay their eggs in shallow nests scraped into the sand mostly between the dunes and the hightide mark. Within few hours of hatching, the chicks are able to run and swim. Feeding and brooding of the young is shared equally by both male and female beachnesters.
Commonly referred to as the "Broadway of America," the Bankhead Highway linked cities and towns throughout the nation as one of the first transcontinental highways of the 1920s. In the wake of the first World War, the American government sought to ensure proper defense and military transportation through an extensive national highway system. Senator John Hollis Bankhead of Alabama, along with the National Good Roads Congress, organized the Bankhead Highway Association in 1916. This paved the way for modern American tourism, commercial travel and daily transit.
The Osprey or Fish Hawk is found April through October in both salt and freshwater areas of the state. Almost as large as a Bald Eagle, the Osprey looks like a cross between a hawk and a gull.
The St. Mary’s Chapel, built about 1667, was Maryland’s first major brick building. The structure was built in the form of a cross, 55 feet long and 57 feet wide at the arms of the cross. In frontier Maryland, where most settlers lived in humble wood cottages, this was a remarkable building. All that remains of the chapel is its massive brick foundation, measuring three feet wide and five feet deep.
In Memory of
