Today was a free day -- meaning all my prearranged plans fell through since snow closed down several historic buildings and even closed down the zoo!  So I had leisure to relax and take my time heading down to breakfast.  There were a bunch of folks in the breakfast room this morning who were returning home from Washington DC after attending the inaugeration.  It was fascinating to listen to their first-hand acccounts of the day, and to see the pride they felt in the new President and the First Family.  They were happy to sweep me up into their group and share their joy with me.  It was a powerful moment.

After checking out of my hotel, I turned my car toward Raleigh, figuring I could check out the Capitol building and some of the major museums if nothing else came along.  I intended to poke my nose into anything that looked interesting along the way, and sure enough, fifteen minutes down the road I saw the sign for a battlefield.  I turned off the highway and went to check it out.  It was a "pre-Revolution" rebellion site.  I was the only guest on that snowy morning (about an inch fell during the night.)  The two guides showed me a film about the battle -- which was an uprising against a corrupt British government by starving and oppressioned farmers in the region.  They formed themselves into a group called the Regulators, and after much petitioning and protesting, took up arms against them.  The formal battle happened south of Burlington at the Alamance Battleground on May 16, 1771, where 2000 Regulators stood against the British militia.  When ordered to fire, the militia hesitated because so many of the rebels were known to them, and their cause against the oppressors was a just one.  In the end, they obeyed the orders of Royal Governor Tryon and fired, beginning a battle the Regulators had no hope of winning.  The Regulators were defeated that day, but it was only a few years later that patriots in the North and the South took up their battle cry, and the American Revolution began in earnest. 

As always on these serendipitous days, I stopped to speak with one of the historic site assistants, and he turned out to be a big fan of ghost stories and had actually read some of the Spooky Series.  Greeting one another like long lost family, we swapped stories, and he gave me some excellent leads for ghost stories in the area, as well as telling me his own experience viewing the Brown Mountain lights (which he described as shooting upward like fireworks), and of his cousin's experience with the Maco light, before the tracks were taken down.  Very cool stuff. 

After giving me a tour of the historic house on the battlefield property, the site assistant sent me in to Greensboro to the Guilford Courthouse battlefield which was part of the American Revolution.  Apparently, a fairly new ghost story has arise surrounding this battlefield.  There is a national park of part of the battlefield, but the rest of it has been slowly encroached upon by the housing needs of the city, and now several developments abut against the national park.  And this has, apparently stirred up a ghost.  According to the story, people living in the area have seen a soldier riding a horse through the streets at dusk (described as a 'reenactor' from the battlefield, though no reenactment is taking place).  If addressed, the ghost will comment sadly that it is a shame that these houses have been built over the bodies of those slain on the battlefield.  Then the rider vanishes into thin air.  Spooky!  I spent a couple of hours walking through the battlefield, and though I encountered no ghost myself, I had a wonderful time shooting photos of hawks and woodpeckers, woodlands and monuments. 

By this time, it was late afternoon and I was cold after running around in the snow all day.  So I headed to my hotel in Raleigh, checked in, and went to take pictures of the Capitol building in the sunset.  A lovely end to the day.