• Princeton, NJ
  • New York City, NY
  • Philadelphia, PA
  • Amish country in PA
  • Gettysburg, PA
  • Mount Vernon, VA
  • Washington, DC
  • Annapolis, MD
  • Williamsburg, VA
  • Jamestown, VA
  • Yorktown, VA
  • Virginia Beach, VA
  • Dulles Airport, VA
John Witherspoon, Princeton, NJ
Empire State Building
Lower Manhattan

In August of 2005 we flew to Newark, New Jersey, and rented a mini-van to drive to Princeton to see my oldest daughter who was finishing an internship.

I am grateful for those families who are missionaries or for those who go on mission trips instead of vacations. I respect various different convictions people may have about such priorities. I pray that our family trip was more than a vacation and that our Lord would bring fruit from who we talked to and what we saw and learned.

There were many things we observed that provoked me to examine the complexities of being in the world but not of the world.

Obelisks, Pyramids, Skyscrapers, Roman & Greek Temples

  • Princeton, NJ: 
    Nassau Inn, Nassau Hall
    John Witherspoon statue: President of Princeton, The only clergyman and only college president to sign the Declaration of Independence. Presbyterian. James Madison and Aaron Burr were among his students.
    Princeton University Chapel
    Einstein’s House
    “Beautiful Mind” setting
    Cemetery including Aaron Burr
    Princeton Theological Seminary

 

  • New York City, NY: 
    Strawberry Fields Memorial The Obelisk: “Cleopatra’s Needle” in Central Park behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art: Obelisks – A Wikipedia Article
    Simon Bolivar Monument
    Lincoln Center
    Columbus Circle
    Empire State Building
    WTC Site – Ground Zero
    Trinity Church building & Cemetery including Alexander Hamilton
    Wall Street & NYSE
    Federal Hall site where George Washington took his oath of office as the first President
    Fraunce’s Tavern site of George Washington’s farewell to his officers
    Battery Park and view of Statue of Liberty
    United Nations
    St. Patrick’s Cathedral
    Rockefeller Center & Prometheus statue
    Times Square
    Phantom of the Opera

 

  • Philadelphia, PA: 
    Liberty Bell
    Independence Hall

 

  • Lancaster County, PA: 
    home to Amish & Mennonites, both of Anabaptist heritage

 

  • Gettysburg, PA: 
    The Battlefield: Seminary Ridge, Cemetery Ridge
    The site of Lincoln’s Address: “Four Score and seven years ago…”

 

  • Mount Vernon, VA: 
    The home: Key to the Bastille from Lafayette, bust of John Paul Jones
    The tomb

 

  • Washington, DC: 
    White House
    Lafayette Square
    Organization of American States
    Washington Monument: An obelisk
    Lincoln Memorial: The Gettysburg Address, Second Inaugural Address
    Smithsonian Air & Space Museum: The Spirit of St. Louis
    American History Museum: Start Spangled Banner
    Natural History Museum: Hope Diamond
    Capitol Building:  The Apotheosis of Washington painted fresco on the dome ceiling.
    Library of Congress
    Supreme Court
    National Archives: Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, The Constitution, The Bill of Rights
    National Art Gallery:  Ginevra de’ Benci by Leonardo Da Vinci, The Last Supper by Salvador Dali
    Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian

 

  • Annapolis, MD: 
    The town
    The Naval Academy: Bancroft Hall, Chapel and Crypt of John Paul Jones

 

  • Williamsburg, VA: 
    Governor’s Palace
    The Capitol: House of Burgesses – Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington
    Raleigh Tavern
    Bruton Parish Episcopal Church building: George Washington’s pew

 

  • Jamestown, VA: 
    First permanent English settlement: John Smith, Pocahontas
    Church building tower

 

  • Yorktown, VA:
    The Battlefield: The cannon and Lafayette
    The town

 

  • Virginia Beach, VA: 
    Atlantic Ocean

 

  • Dulles Airport, VA: 
    Udvar-Hazy Center, an annex to the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum
    The Flight Home – Brother in Christ from Auburn who’s son is at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg , PA on “Seminary Ridge”.