Day 321
8 hrs, 14 kms
Day totals: 15 hrs, 29 kms

Down the ridge on the east side I enter "Middletown Valley" a valley between Cumberland Valley and the coastal plains that lead to Washington DC . In the middle is Middletown proper, which has a decidedly different feel than Boonsboro. Here you find elegant Victorian style houses that say this is historically a wealthier area.

What's the secret? Well, I'm going to have the chance to find out. The Middletown Historical Society just happens to be having a open house today, so I go in to check it out. A portly lady with a cheerful smile welcomes me and another guest and eagerly gives us a tour of the house. She shows us the contrast between the original house and its wide boards and later add ons where the boards got narrower and narrower as all the large trees had been cut down... Then she takes us to a separate building which was the kitchen--kept separate from the house due to risk of fires. There we see an open fireplace where kettles were hung over an open fire, and pies would be baked by being put in a pot with coals above and beneath. Somehow it seems like the traditional ovens of Morocco and other places look a lot more efficient and safer .

"After childbirth do you know what one of the leading causes of death was for women in this era?" our guide asks us. "Infections due to burns. With their long skirts, it was very common for women's clothes to catch fire and cause ultimately deadly burns. That's one reason why you read about so many men becoming widowers and marrying a second and then a 3rd wife to take care of all his kids!"

Fascinating--and I love the enthusiasm this woman shows about history. This, along with the young Civil War expert up at Washington Monument gives me a glimpse into an interesting American subculture: people who have a passion for history, and invest significant time and energy into this passion.

I'm always inspired at seeing people who have a meaningful passion in their lives. And today I've met two of these people.

I browse around the house a bit more, which has various displays, including old children's books. One book, maybe from the 1930s or 40s catches my attention, called "Children of other Lands". I wonder what American children were taught about other cultures 80 years ago...

It presents respectful, but rather stereotypical images (as would be expected). Arab children living in the desert eating dates and riding camels... Eskimo children in igloos... No chapter on African children, I notice...

I continue my stroll through town, snapping couple photos of the beautiful homes, then on may way, up over yet another ridge... then down into the plains, where the vast sprawl of Greater Washington-Baltimore begins...