Flee the British!

[neadods]

Congressional Cemetery jumped on the 1812 bandwagon by sticking tongue firmly in cheek and having a "Flee the British 5K race." So I, M, and a bunch of people not on LJ anymore headed down to take part, dressed in blue jeans, red shirts, and white mobcaps.

The race started when 5 men dressed in redcoat uniforms fired their guns, at which point we all headed out, following Dolley Madison. She was in period gown and fluorescent sneakers, clutching a much smaller reproduction of the George Washington painting and with a golf cart substituting for her carriage.

Team "Pins, Abigail" got spread out along the racers, but most of us came in dead last (but we came in!) Hey, we're built for endurance, not speed. At one point, the British chasers passed us which was just insulting. (A lot of the "British" outside of the re-enactors were also wearing red shirts, so we got teased for ours. "Nice shirts. Consider wearing red as a lifestyle" one of the chasers told us.)

Before and after, we wandered through the cemetery. Many of the graves were political, but there were also poignant ones too, like Philip - b. June 20, 1920, d. June 21, 1920.

There is also an entire area for gay veterans, including the famous headstone marked "They gave me a medal for shooting 2 men and a discharge for loving one."

Comments

[redpanda13.livejournal.com]

An entire area for gay veterans...? Nice that they're allowed in, of course, but sounds a bit Separate But Equal.

For those not following DC-area history, the Battle of Bladensburg, a.k.a. The Bladensburg Races, was not one of America's finest moments. Sort of like a reversal of that song about the Battle of New Orleans: "They run through the briars and they run through the brambles...." Then the British marched into DC and burned things down, including the President's House and the Library of Congress. The population at the time was about 8000, so the port of Baltimore was considered the likelier target, and DC didn't have much defense.

There's at least one obstacle race somewhere that includes being chased by zombies.....

[neadods.livejournal.com]

One of my co-workers did "Run For Your Life" (one of apparently 3 zombie-themed races). The runners had three bandannas on their belts which represented "lives" that the zombies were trying to grab. She stumbled into a zombie at the first obstacle (literally), stopped to apologize and almost lost all her lives in one go. Thus spawning the immortal advice, "Never stop to be polite to a zombie."

[tiggerallyn.livejournal.com]

I've found some interesting graves there. My great-great-grandfather is buried there; for some reason, he named his son "Allyn" and it's been in the family every since.

John Galt has an impressive monument. "Who is John Galt?" Doesn't matter. He's dead. :)

John Philip Sousa's grave is nice. I have a great-great-aunt who's buried (unmarked) about twenty-five feet from him. (Her husband does have a headstone. She and her children, however, do not.)

I found J. Edgar Hoover's grave by accident the last time I was there, on July 4th.

I like Benjamin Latrobe's cenotaphs a lot. They're very striking.