Fort Washington

I had a late afternoon flight out of the Washington area, so we took the morning and visited Fort Washington, which is an army fort built for coastal defense during the Civil War. We could see it from the back side of Mt. Vernon, and our curiosity was piqued.

After spending time in the nearly pristine conditions of Mt. Vernon, this seemed like a direct contrast. Fort Washington is a state park and while it doesn't have big money preservation behind it, architecturally it was great for photography. You come through this big archway, which was originally part of a drawbridge system. 

Collin's family has been back since then, and this is the view from the other side, along with David and my daughter-in-law.

The fort overlooks the Potomac, and originally, each of those circular areas held a cannon.

That's me in the distance there in the main open area. Collin told James to run to me and this is just vintage James. Head down, arms flung back, and coming at you without really looking at what's ahead...just leaping headlong into life.

There were buildings above ground, which Collin suspects were the officer's quarters, but there were also underground tunnels and barracks that could be explored.

This is a level down where there were bunk frames. Collin took these because I didn't want to crawl around there.

This wheel operated the drawbridge.

And leading through the drawbridge arch, bricks were laid in a herringbone pattern.

As with Mt. Vernon, there were just some really interesting details.

This was the doorway to one of the officer's quarters buildings, keeping in mind this is a military fort.

There were brick archways and stairways everywhere. 

Collin really has a knack for framing photos. This is taken from the drawbridge, looking into the fort.

And this is one of those tunnel places. You can see James just disappearing into the light as he runs out.

Again, these last few are Collin's pictures.

I'm convinced that there are people who just naturally see interesting shots when they look around. Sadly, I'm not one of those people. I don't really have the gift of good/interesting composition, but I appreciate it in people who do.

This was James outside the fort just before he decided he was way too tired to walk back to the car. It's funny how that switch flips from a kid having more energy than a bucket of monkeys, to limp spaghetti legs at the drop of a hat.

Loved this one of David headed out of the tunnel and silhouetted  by the light, and as fast as that boy can move, I'm pretty amazed his daddy got the shot.

Comments

[Elisa]

That last one of David running in the tunnel silhouetted... FABULOUS!