DEE' BIRTHDAY
April 24, 2003
Age 68

Bladensburg, Maryland
Search for placque of Henry Dorton
American Revolutionary War Soldier

With only a few stops for coffee and breakfast, we arrived in Bladensburg around noon, heading directly for Peace Cross.

Regarding a placque for Henry Dorton who served in the American Revolution and whose home was in Bladensburg, MD for sometime, the reason I was seaching for this placque is that I was told by a cousin, "I live near Peace Cross where they have him listed on a plack with information about his stint during the war." and "The plaque is huge and in front of a waterway... " and that ".... gave me the information. I remembered the placque."

Well, this was enough to make me travel to search for it. Here are the results:

We first went to the intersection where the Peace Cross is.

This intersection has several spokes of traffic; pretty busy.
This Peace Cross is dedicated to World War I soldiers with their names listed on a placque..
Across the street toward a Marina before you get to the Marina, is a grassy area with monuments to the
Korean War and Vietnam War and World War II, with no names.
Next to these Korean & World War II monuments was an area being dug up.
There was nothing but dirt in this area.

"The War Memorials of Bladensburg" by Richard A. Wison, July 4, 1987

We drove thru the Marina which was somewhat busy with tourists, but saw no placques.

Across the street in the opposite direction of the Peace Cross is a park.
In one section of this small park was an overgrown mound that had gravel on it where something had been,
but it has long since been overgrown with juniper bushes.
At the end of this small park is the George Washington House.

Then across the street from the George Washington House (to the left) is another park.
We went thru this park and found no placque.
The owner of the GW House told us to go to Town Hall and inquire.

After finding Town Hall, we found that the workers that might know of the placque were generally in and out of the office. Town Hall had a brochure of the town monuments, but no monument nor placque was noted for the American Revolution nor any soldier in the American Revolution. Their most known historical event is the War of 1812.

So we then went to Fort Lincoln Cemetery where we were told by Town Hall that there was a monument/placque Commodore Barney in to the War of 1812. There was no mention of the American Revolution as far as we could find in the Fort Lincoln Cemetery. This is one of the loveliest cemetery settings I've ever seen.

http://www.porttowns.com/colmar_manor/cmhist.htm

This disappointing trip is similar to one or two other trips to WV to find a gravesite and placque for my great-great-great-great grandfather, Gustavus Croston, a Revolutionary War soldier who walked 163 miles to apply for his pension.

I have not gone back to look for the exact site for Gustavus Croston despite some new directions from another ancestor. But I will create a page as to the places I have looked and the new information I have received, as I know that a cousin who lives in the area where Gustavus' gravesite is looking for it.

Cantler's Riverside Inn - near Annapolis, Maryland
"........, where the watermen gather for fresh seafood and steamed crabs 7 days a week, all year ‘round."

While we were at Town Hall, Bladensburg, a woman there said that she sends all of her friends and people who request recommendations to Cantler's. We hadn't been there for several years, so 12 (large) crabs which had been $25 had climbed in price to between $49 and $79 for 12 crabs. The price pinched, but we knew how good they had been. As June is the season for Chesapeake Bay crabs, we were served Louisiana crabs. The Old Bay seasoning had no scent whatsoever. The choice of wine was less than ordinary. Service was perfuntory. The weather was absolutely glorious.

View from our Cantler's table and typical of many Chesapeake Bay and river views.

Getting ready to order Menu not needed

Pleased with the platter of 12 (6 a piece!). Freedom Fries X-tra

But after eating awhile, we both started thinking that these crabs are GROSS! (black skin covering most pieces and filled with runny green fat and water ) GROSS!

We left the restaurant thinking about dessert.

This reminded us of one birthday where we had driven on even a longer trip on recommendation of a good crab restaurant. We looked at their menu at the restaurant and decided to go to the competing restaurant next door. At least the atmosphere seemed a little better. We ordered and ate our meal of crabs and extras and when asked if we wanted to dessert, we declined. After we left we discussed where we should have dessert. As I recall, we were driving near Fredericksburg, Virginia, where there is a famous ice cream parlor. But instead we saw a quaintly built Mexican restaurant, live with Marachi's, and had a complete Mexican dinner.

But instead of doing this, we headed for Manassas and searched for a foreign film to buy and to have dessert at Borders. We bought our film, but on inquiring about a Chinese grocery that no longer was next door, we were told that "Global Foods" was down the street. Usually in this area, the grocery stores are either Indian/Pakistanian; Iranian; Korean/Chinese or Hispanic. But this large grocery store is a medley of Chinese and Hispanic. It was a kick in that they had a couple of little stalls of Victoria's Secret type gifts next door to the liquor department with Hispanic music playing loudly. It was nice to purchase Chinese cabbage for $.59 a lb. vs. $1.29 a pound at the local grocery, and fresh poblanos that I usually have to pay $2.98 a pound for were only $1.29 a pound. As we left the store a woman passed by with three slippery plastic bags of groceries, one in each hand and one on top of her head. A group of young Hispanic boys thought it was pretty funny and called it to the attention of their father.

Stopping at Border's I found 3 books that, since it was my birthday, I was able to buy without guilt. Dessert was rasperry & mango cheesecake, a brownie and oh, so strong coffee!

Happy Birthday, Dee Dee! Many more!

Dee 1946 5th grade