The party retraced their route from Valley Forge to a point near Philadelphia, and from there continued their journey, through Trenton, New Brunswick and Newark, New Jersey and then from Staten Island they crossed New York harbor on a steam ferryboat to the city of New York. They traversed many of the streets of the great metropolis and saw some of the lofty buildings, drove out Riverside Drive and saw the tomb of General U. S. Grant, and then started on their homeward trip. They passed through the Holland Tunnel from New York City to Newark, New Jersey, and thence through Elizabeth, Perth Amboy, Asbury Park, Port Pleasant, and Lakewood to Atlantic City, a great resort on the Atlantic Coast. I overlooked saying that the first night on this trip the party stayed at New Brunswick, New Jersey where a few years since a minister, Rev. Hall and his affinity Mrs. Mills were mysteriously killed; and the second night they spent at a small town near Atlantic City and reached the famous boardwalk city on the third morning of their journey. They stayed there several hours, promenaded on the boardwalk, saw the million dollar pier, and many other views about the city and left there about 2 o’clock P. M. and crossed the Delaware River at Pennsville, and passing through Elkton, Havre de Grace, Belair and Baltimore, they arrived in Washington soon after dark on the third day of their trip, having traveled about 570 miles.

During the summer of 1929, a number of one day motor trips were made to resorts and other places on the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay. One of these made in June to Piney Point on the river, which as its name implies, is covered with pine trees and other growth. The shore of the river is quite sandy and nearby are a few cottages. The only objection to Piney Point they had was that it was infested with myriads of mosquitoes which were very annoying. It is about 70 miles from Washington. From there they went down the river about 30 miles to Point Lookout, where the Potomac empties into the Chesapeake Bay. On the way there they passed through St. Mary’s, the oldest town and at an early day, the capital of the state of Maryland. At the point where the river flows into the bay, the latter body of water is 40 mites wide. The beach of Point Lookout is on the bay just above the confluence of the river with the bay and is very sandy and looks very much like the beach of the ocean. There is a lighthouse at Point Lookout and there are tidal waves there but not so strong as those of the ocean. On their route down to Point Lookout they passed a tall nonument to war heroes in Civil War. There is no town now at St. Mary’s, but there is a Catholic School and also an old Catholic Church.

On this trip to Piney Point and Point Lookout those in the party were Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Donohoe, Mary, Nelle, Carroll, Irene and their children, John Carroll and Bethel Irene. They were gone all day returning home late in the afternoon. The same parties and also sister Laura White made two motor trips to Beverly Beach on Chesapeake Bay and on one trip to Plum Point, also on the bay. Beverly Beach and Plum Point are both resorts and are frequented by many visitors from Washington and other cities. At Beverly Beach, which is only 7 miles from Annapolis, there is a hotel and some summer cottages. On each of these trips they were gone all day.

The most important and longest motor trip during the summer of only one day, was made on August 10, 1929. The party consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Donohoe, and his sister Mrs. Edwards of Baltimore, Mary, Nelle and their aunt Laura White, Carroll, Irene, and John and Bethel. They started out early on a fine bright morning, going first to Annapolis, Maryland and there they crossed the bay on a steamboat to Claiborne, a distance of 18 miles They barely reached Annapolis in time to take passage on the 8 o’clock boat to Claiborne, which is a small town. They went from there across Maryland from the bay to the Delaware line and thence to Rehoboth Beach in the last named state and on the Atlantic Ocean. This is also a small town but much frequented and very popular resort. They were at this place two or more hours, collected many ocean shells, and pine cones and other curios, and then continued their journey through Delaware, most of the way on a hard surfaced road, through a fine section of country of many well-improved farms, market gardens and pretty orchards. Many of the farmhouses were quaint looking structures with banistered observatories on top of the roofs. Then they arrived at Dover, the capital of Delaware, which although a fairly large city, it seemed like Annapolis, more like a quaint old fashioned town. Dover is a very old city and many of the houses look ancient and similar to those of Annapolis and other pre-revolutionary towns. They did not stop in Dover, but in passing through saw a number of large structures, one of which they supposed, from its appearance, was the state capitol; and continuing their route they passed through Elkton, Maryland at the extreme northern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, and then at Havre de Grace they crossed the beautiful Susquehana River over a fine bridge and from there via Baltimore to Washington, D. C., arriving at home long after dark. It was one of the most enjoyable one day trips they had ever gone and they had traversed parts of two states and had traveled between 250 and 300 miles.

About ten days after the motor party returned from their trip to Rehoboth and other points in Delaware and Maryland, my wife’s sister Mrs. Laura White, who had been with us since the last of the preceding June returned to Baltimore to resume her work in the Home of the Friendless. The children of the Home had been in the camp of Mr. Edwin Gould in northern New York since about the first of July and their return to Baltimore was expected soon. We were sure after conversing with her that sister Laura's labor at the home was too strenuous for her, and my wife advised her to resign her position as early as possible after giving her employers notice of her intention to do so. We had all enjoyed our dear relative’s visit very much and regretted the necessity of her departure, but hoped she would be with us again in the near future.

About the first of September, 1929, the last long automobile trip made by the inmates of our home and some relatives of Carroll and family left for another journey through portions of some of the southern states, The party consisted of our daughters Bernice arid Irene, and the latter daughter’s husband John Carroll Donohoe and their children John Carroll, Jr., and Bethel Irene, and the children 's paternal grandparents Mr. and Mrs. Joseph A. Donohoe and Mrs. Donohoe 's sister, Mrs. Maggie Studds of Alexandria, Virigina. They left Washington early in the morning and want by Alexandria and Fredericksburg to Ricnmond, Virginia and from there through Petersburg, Virginia and Henderson, North Carolina to Raleigh, the capital of the Tarhee state, which they had visited on a previous tour of the state. From Raleigh they continued their journey to Fayetteville, N. C. where they stayed all night. This city before the Civil War was a great slave market and a place of note in ante bellum days. After the war it became a cotton and tobacco market and quite an important manufacturing center. There are extensive cotton mills there and while there they went through the mills. On the road through North Carolina they saw many groves of evergreen trees and very extensive fields of tobacco and many small houses in which the tobacco is cured, and numerous log cabins chinked with clay, in which the Negroes who till the fields live; the white owners of which live in towns. They saw many cotton fields which were in bloom, a very pretty sight. The roads through the old north state are exceptionally fine and well-paved. The state is called the Yellowstone of the East. From Fayetteville their route was through Lumberton, North Carolina and Florence, South Carolina to the large maritime city of Charleston, on the Atlantic and one of the great seaports of the south. In the part of Smith Carolina through which they passed there are many live oaks which are draped with spanish moss on both sides of the highway. There were many cotton and tobacco fields. The country is not so well-improved nor the roads so good as in North Carolina. They saw a great many beautiful palm and magnolia trees. They said that Charleston is a very beautiful city. In one of the parks in Charleston the notorious Captain Kidd was hung, and near the city is Fort Sumpter famous as the place where the Civil War began.

From Charleston they drove on south through Walterboro, South Carolina to Savannah, Georgia, which is also an important seaport. The drive down through the Palmetto State to the great maritime city of Georgia, they thought was through the most beautiful tree shaded section over which they had passed. It was late in the evening when they arrived at Savannah, and they spent the second night of their trip there. They said that Savannah is a wonderfully pretty southern city. It has many very fine public structures and splendid mercantile establishments. It is a great cotton market and they saw large buildings from which bales of cotton are shipped to all parts of the world. In the morning they drove through some of the splendidly paved streets of the city which are shaded on each side by beautiful palm and magnolia trees. Along the residential streets there were many fine old two-story southern mansions, with large porches extending to the top of the second story, supported by massive columns typical of so many of the beautiful southern homes in city and country. And then they went out the Victory Drive, a splendidly paved boulevard, shaded on each side by a double row of magnificent palm trees, for about four miles. The drive extended further, but owing to limited time, they returned on the drive to the city and after viewing many very pretty parks and other interesting places, they started on their return home, passing over the same beautiful route until they came to Fayetteville, North Carolina, where they again stayed all night. The next morning instead of coming by Raleigh, they came by Wilson, N. C., which is one of the greatest tobacco markets in the world, thence by Rocky Mount, N. C., Emporia, Petersburg and Richmond and Alexandria, Virginia to Washington, D. C. arriving home late in the afternoon of the fourth day of their trip. They brought back specimens of cotton, peanuts, tobacco and spanish moss, they had seen while they were gone. They had had a very delightful time, and on their long tour had traveled about fifteen hundred miles.

I should have been very glad to have gone on one or more of the long motor tours of both northern and southern sections of our country during the summer of 1929, but owing to a persistent stomach affection and the very hot weather prevalent then I had to very reluctantly deny myself of the great pleasure, I am sure I would have enjoyed on the various trips which I have herein before described. I am thankful however that other members of the family were privileged to go to near and distant localities of our beloved land, and on their return home to graphically relate the story of their travels.

During the fall of 1929 we had some very much appreciated visits from some old and a few new friends. One of our visitors was Mrs. Charles Gage nee Miss Belle Brown, who was still residing in Washington. We had not previously seen her since the death of her late lamented husband, which occurred very suddenly and unexpectedly at their apartment in the National Hotel. Mrs. Gage was greatly grieved over the loss of her dear companion and we all sincerely sympathized with her in her great sorrow. She spent the afternoon with us and we enjoyed talking over old times in Hickory County, Missouri with her. She informed us that Mrs. C. V. Stewart of Bolivar, Missouri and her daughter Mrs. Hobby, of Salt Lake City, Utah, would be in Washington and would probably call on us, and a few days after Mrs. Gage’s visit, Mrs. Stewart and Mrs. Hobby, nee Miss Avis Stewart, arrived in the National Capital and visited us. We had known Mrs. Stewart and her husband Dr. C. V. Stewart and their daughter Miss Avis, when they lived at Elkton, Hickory County, Missouri; but after we removed to West Plains, Mo., the doctor and his family changed their location to Bolivar, the county seat of Polk County which adjoins Hickory on the south. Mrs. Stewart was Miss Rosa Pitts, a daughter of Mr. Brooks Pitts, and a cousin of Mr. William L. Pitts of Hermitage, Missouri, and a third cousin of our little granddaughter, Josephine Pitts. She was well acquainted with my wife’s sister Mrs. Laura White, having been one of her pupils when she (then Miss Laura Lindsey) taught school at Elkton, Missouri. They stayed several hours with us, and we enjoyed their visit very much. Mr. Hobby, Mrs. Stewart’s son-in-law is a commercial traveler, and Mrs. Hobby said she often accompanied her husband on his business trips.

Soon after the call of Mesdames Stewart and Hobby, we were visited by Mrs. Riley and her daughter, Margaret, of Elco, Pennsylvania. They were accompanied by another daughter of Mrs. Riley, Miss Christine of this city. We were glad to have the visit of these good people and to form their acquaintance. It was their first visit to their daughter and sister since she had been a resident of Washington, D. C.

On the 3rd day of October, 1929 occurred another important event in the history of our family; the marriage of our daughter Bernice to William Bengel of this city. Bernice’s husband is a son of Mrs. William Christian Benge of Washington, who is a widow (Mrs. Bengal was divorced and William Christian Bengal lived in Saint Petersburgh, Florida). He has one sister Miss Hilda who resides with her mother. William is government employee now working in the Patent Office, but formerly was in the same division of the Veterans Bureau where Bernice has been employed continuously since about the first of September, 1918.

When the cool days of October, 1929 came I began to have much better health and I was able to go on two motor trips with other members of the family. On the first of these trips we went down Military Road to Rock Creek Valley and visited the Zoological Gardens through which runs Rock Creek. This is a National Park and was established by an act of Congress approved April 30, 1890 for the advancement of science and the instruction and recreation of the people. The area of the park comprises 175 acres. At the time the park was established it was some distance from the city but now is well within the residential. section of northwest Washington. It is said there are about 1750 living animals in the zoo.

There are numerous paddacks and ranges for buffalo, deer and other large mammals, lakes and pools for water fowl, seals, beavers and other aquatic species; outdoor cages, some of large size for hardy birds and mammals and houses and shelters for species requiring special care or heated quarters during the winter months. The lion house near the center of the collection is at the summit of what is known as "Lion House Hill". In this building are most of the larger cats, the hyenas, the hippopotami, and some tropical animals. Here are most of the reptiles. Nearby are the monkey house and the bird houses and to the north, the antelope house, elephant house and zebra house. We went all over the zoo, saw the pools in Rock Creek where the seals, sea lions and beavers were bathing and viewed the numerous species of large and small animals, the birds and reptiles. After staying in and viewing the many interesting sights in the zoo for about two hours we went to Georgetown and crossed the Potomac over the Key Bridge into Virginia, went to Fort Myers and back by Hoover Field where we partly crossed the river over Highway Bridge, but when nearly across the bridge one of the axles of the car broke and we got a man from one of the large garages to take us off the bridge and to their garage where the car was left to be repaired. Carroll telephoned to his father that his car was disabled and Mr. Donohoe came promptly and took us home in his car. Barring our car breakdown and consequent delay we had a very pleasant outing and all enjoyed our afternoon’s ride and especially sightseeing in the Zoological Gardens. As it was the first breakdown of any consequence they had had during all of their motor trips, long and short during the summer and fall, I told them it must have been my great weight which caused it. On this trip Mary and I, Carroll and Irene and their children composed the party. And about a week later in company with the same members of the family I went on another trip through a small section of northern Virginia.

Chapter twenty-nine continued...