Saturday, March 21, 2015

Havre de Grace and Yorktown

Havre de Grace, Maryland, boasts the "Lafayette Trail," but the oldest standing  buildings post-date the Revolution.  Nonetheless, Rochambeau and Washington passed through there on the way to Yorktown.  The sign notes that the plaza is "named for the French General whose troops passed through here in 1781 en route to Yorktown. Records of the French Army noted plans were underway for a town at this place when the troops returned from Yorktown in 1782."


Not far away is another plaque noting that "Count Rochambeau’s troops camped here September 9, 1781 after having crossed the Susquehanna River on their way to the siege of Yorktown, Va." During the Revolution the site was called Susquehanna Lower Ferry.  Reportedly, Lafayette wrote to Washington suggesting it be called Havre de Grace after its French namesake.

It is sited where the Susquehanna River meets the Chesapeake Bay, and the beauty of the place must be as it was some 230 years ago:






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