Читать книгу A Guide-Book of Florida and the South for Tourists, Invalids and Emigrants - Daniel G. Brinton - Страница 11

Distance, 130 miles; time 7.30 hours.

Until the tourist leaves Washington, he is on the beaten track of travel, and needs no hints for his guidance; or, if he does, can find them in abundance. Turning his face southward, he may leave our capital either in the cars from the Baltimore depot to Alexandria and Acquia Creek, or, what is to be recommended as the more pleasant alternative, he may go by steamboat to this station, a distance of 55 miles. The banks of the Potomac present an attractive diversity of highland and meadow. A glimpse is caught of Mt. Vernon, and those who desire it can stop and visit those scenes once so dear to him whose memory is dear to us all. The reminiscences, however, which one acquires by a visit to Mount Vernon are rarely satisfactory.

From Acquia Creek landing the railroad passes through a country still betraying the sears and scars of conflict, though, happily, it is recovering in some measure from those sad experiences. Fredericksburg (15 miles; hotel, the Planter’s House, poor,) may have enough of interest to induce some one to “lay over” a train. It is an unattractive spot, except for its historical associations. These are so fresh in the memory of most that it is unnecessary to mention them.

Beyond Fredericksburg a number of stations are passed—none of any size. The distance to Richmond is 60 miles.