Five Page Turners’ World
Tour II
The Maryland Adventure
October
17-21,
2005
Five days, five crazy and curious
women in a minivan—yes, it was time for another World Tour, Five Page
Turners style. Our destination: Maryland, home to, well, we did have some research to
do. It is not exactly the literary Mecca that Mississippi is, but, as you can see, we did OK.
Armed with goodie bags from Esther,
we
started out at 6:15 a.m. on Monday, October 17th.
Our first stop was Frederick, Maryland, where we had dinner with Le, a former Book
Club member.
Early in the morning we stopped at the Mount Olivet cemetery in Frederick to check out the graves of Francis Scott
Key,
author of The Star Spangled Banner, and Barbara Fritchie, aged heroine of John Greenleaf
Whittier’s famed Civil War poem.
We could have spent hours in the Wonder
Book and Video store, home to books old and new, videos, CDs and prints
stacked floor to ceiling. It was a
treasure
hunter’s paradise.
In St. Mary’s Cemetery, Rockville, we located the resting place of Scott and
Zelda Fitzgerald and their daughter Scotty. We
found an envelope and a candle at the base of the headstone. The envelope was open at one end, and after
some hesitation, we removed and read the letter, which was an anonymous
fan’s tribute to the great writer—very touching. We
carefully replaced the note before leaving.
Wednesday morning found us
tracking
down the grave of Edgar Allan Poe in downtown Baltimore. We left
pennies for the poet and went to the Edgar Allan Poe home, where we had
arranged a tour. After a long wait, the
curator having never appeared, we moved on. In Baltimore, we also toured Fort McHenry, rode the “Ducks,” and enjoyed delicious
seafood.
The city dock in Annapolis features a sculpture of Alex Haley, author
of
Roots, reading to children. It
was here, in 1767, that his ancestor, Kunta
Kinte, arrived in America. In Annapolis, we also visited the U.S. Naval Academy and
had fun shopping.
Thursday morning we crossed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to the Eastern Shore. We meandered
up the peninsula, making a brief stop in St. Michaels for lunch, museuming, and more shopping.
Then it was off to Chestertown, our appointed destination. With the help of Jan’s friend Pat, we had been
able to arrange a dinner and discussion with Robert Mooney, author of Father of the Man.
Having discussed the book with each
other on the long drive from Indiana, the women had many questions that needed
answering. Bob Mooney was extremely
patient and gracious and asked many questions himself.
This picture was taken at the end of our three and one-half hour
discussion. It was stimulating,
illuminating, fun and a real
“high.” Bob looks exhausted.
The Page Turners look as though they could go on forever! Thank you, Bob Mooney!
Afterword (Jan has discovered that she hates
epilogues): The Page Turners are currently
planning their next author encounter.
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