Warm Day on the Accotink

No history lessons today, but I do have some more pics from Lake Accotink. Three days ago, while standing on the A&O foot trail, I enjoyed a few minutes of snow. Today, I enjoyed the remarkable absence of snow.

This foot trail was built on the original rail bed
of the Orange & Alexandria Railroad.

We had excellent weather today, clear skies, high around 60 degrees. So I spent my lunch break at Lake Accotink (again), and I suddenly remembered that, at about this time year, we visited Lake Accotink and it was completely frozen over.

Lake Accotink, the modern trestle, with historical marker
and official Civil War Trails interpretive signage.

More accurately, it was Christmas Day 2010. During that holiday week, we also visited Turkey Run Park and Fort Washington. We saw ice on the Potomac River. It was seriously cold. But this year, it's been fairly warm (with a few periods of chilliness). Of course, I'm hoping to put this fair weather to good use by seeing as many historical sites as I can before the inevitable chill falls on us. 

Historical marker, courtesy of the Fairfax Country History Commission.

I'm afraid I may wind up using Accotink photos as blog filler during my work days ... not because it's the nicest park in North Virginia, but because I visit the Park so frequently. The weekends are my only time to explore new sites and cook up new content.

Speaking of which ... the National Park Service is hosting a batch of events this weekend at several Defenses of Washington sites, including a hiking tour to Fort DeRussy and a "living history" event at Fort Marcy. I hope to catch at least one of these events (although the DeRussy hike looks dubious at the moment). Hopefully I'll have something fresh to write about by Sunday.