7/5/15 - Confluence, PA

We packed up and left camp after being here for 7 days and drove to Confluence, PA.  On the way we stopped by Fort Necessity National Historic Site.  This was the site of the first battle of the French and Indian war in 1754.  This was a war over the territory from the Ohio Valley to the Mississippi River.  George Washington, a 22 year old lieutenant colonel in the British Army, engaged a much larger force of French soldiers and their Indian allies. Washington surrendered, but the British subsequently sent additional troops and eventually won the war.

One of the roads we drove on today was Highway 40, also known as the National Road, National Pike, and Cumberland Road.  It was the first improved highway financed by the U.S. government.  We visited Mount Washington Tavern, an old stagecoach shop along the National Road.  It was closed - we'll come back tomorrow to see the interior.

 

In Confluence we set up the trailer at Outflow Park, an Army Corps of Engineers campground.  It is on the Youghiogheny River, just below the Youghiogheny Lake dam.  We had leftovers from yesterday for supper.  Jim found a VFW near us and we drove over there for a beer.  The people there told us about things to see in the area that we didn’t know about.  One was the site where three rivers converge.  George Washington saw this and said it looked like a turkey foot.  The area around here is called Turkey Foot.  This morning Jim and I picked some blackberries in camp.  Next to the campground is Soft Freeze, an ice cream and burger store.  We drove there and got some vanilla soft serve in a cup and went back to camp and put the berries on top.