Our first stop today was Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. We had a tough time finding parking because this park is primarily used as a jogging and cycling space by suburban Atlanta residents. In the visitor center, we were told that this park is the most visited Battlefield Park in the NPS system, but the visitor center itself does not get many visitors:
The visitor center was laid out as a timeline, placing the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain in the broader context of the Civil War, which was very helpful in understanding the events that took place here:
This canon is an original, shown in a period photograph beneath it:
The kids completed their Junior Ranger workbooks and received their badges:
I bought the NPS Passport, Collectors Edition for Trish:
Our next stop was the Chattahoochee River National Recreation Area:
Trish stamped her new passport book. Its going to take a while to transfer all of our old stamps to this book:
The kids completed their Junior Ranger workbooks and received their badges and patches:
We crossed from Georgia into South Carolina:
Our next stop was Cowpens National Battlefield. In January 1781, American forces routed British troops here. Using a strategy that had multiple lines of troops weakening the oncoming British, then falling back, US General Daniel Morgan was able to execute the Revolutionary War’s only double envelopment against Banastre Tarleton’s British troops, leading to a spectacular victory for American forces:
The visitor center was well done. We also walked the battlefield:
The kids completed their Junior Ranger workbooks and received their badges:
We crossed from South Carolina into North Carolina:
Our last stop of the day was Kings Mountain National Military Park, where British Major Patrick Ferguson was killed by American forces after being chased for hundreds of miles by the Overmountain Men along what would become preserved as the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail. This diorama in the visitor center shows the battle:
Several displays dealt with British Major Ferguson, inventor of the Ferguson rifle:
The visitor center was laid out like a forest:
The kids completed their Junior Ranger books and received their badges:
They also completed the workbooks for the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail:
We continued east to overnight at the Walmart of Thomasville, North Carolina. See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.
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