The homes of St Elizabeth Ann Seton

We walked the grounds … what an amazingly beautiful day with tons of sunshine, but very little humidity! There are three key places to visit – places that figure prominently in the life of Mother Seton. The first one is the “stone house” which was the very first residence … a brief history of the building and the community is available via audio when you reach the house.
This was originally a small, one-story house. The building had some additions made through the years to accommodate the growing community.

We weren’t able to go inside the stone house – but we could learn about its history as well as look inside its windows. We can see that the original rooms were indeed quite small.

The next place was the “white house” (so named for rather obvious reasons), which served as the primary residence, chapel, and school for Mother Seton’s community.

For this we were greeted by a guide who walked us through the first floor rooms and gave use some wonderful insight into the life of Mother Seton and those who worked and served here.
The piano (left photo below) was in fact owned by Mother Seton as a young woman and she kept it her entire life. The rest of the room (right photo below) was set up much as a classroom much as it may have been during Mother Seton’s life.

Across the hall from this first room we came to the chapel (left photo below) where the community prayed and attended mass. There’s a small brass plaque on the very right-side of the communion rail where Mother Seton received Holy Communion. The crucifixion scene (right photo below) was a personal object owned by Mother Seton. It hangs over the fireplace of the room in which she died at age 46.

This is the room in which Mother Seton died. The room is adjacent to the chapel. The crucifixion scene above the mantle is indeed something Mother Seton owned … All the rest is replica or copies of furniture from that time.

Last day – St Elizabeth Ann Seton Shrine & Basilica

We decided to spend our last full day by taking a daytrip to Emmitsburg to visit and tour the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Basilica. This is on the grounds of her home from 1809 to her death at age 46.
We started at the Visitor Center – here’s a statue of Mother Seton just outside the center.

The center has a museum that recounts her life and legacy … and it shows a 15-minute film. The museum includes copies of St Elizabeth Ann Seton’s own letters as well as several of her own personal items.
For example, here is Mother Seton’s own writing desk and chairs that she used while here in Emmitsburg.

The Shrine Basilica is atop the visitor center. It is filled with images of the Daughters of Charity and Sisters of Charity, Stations of the Cross, and stained glass imagery of Mary as she is known by her various titles from the Litany of Loreto.
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton lies in the right-side shrine. (She was originally buried in the central cemetery, then was moved into a mortuary chapel on the cemetery grounds … and finally was brought here to her shrine when she was canonized.)

After touring the museum and spending time in the Basilica, we headed to the grounds to see the homes – one is called the stone house and the other is called the white house – and the mortuary chapel in the original cemetery.

Day 7 – a rainy day in Frederick with a little bit of walking

So the day was a bit of a washout with a passing rain … we decided to change some plans as a result.

A slow start to the day and then we headed back to Frederick for lunch and a little bit of a walking tour in the drizzle – and stopping in some stores as well.

Lunch was, again, at Quynn’s Attic – a great little restaurant/pub that offers some great atmosphere and some amazing food. This is definitely one of our favorite eateries in Frederick; and we’d recommend it to anyone and everyone!

After lunch, we ambled to the Barbara Fritchie house.

A friend of Francis Scott Key, the source of local legend and quite the character, an 1863 poem reputes her having waved an American flag while General Stonewall Jackson and his men marched through Frederick in 1862 … as a way to perhaps antagonize them?

"Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,
But spare your country's flag," she said.
A shade of sadness, a blush of shame,
Over the face of the leader came;
The nobler nature within him stirred
To life at that woman's deed and word;
"Who touches a hair of yon gray head
Dies like a dog! March on!" he said.....”

Apparently in 1943, so the plaque on the building says, Winston Churchill passed this way with FDR, and Mr. Churchill recited the entire Barbara Fritchie poem from memory.

She is buried in the Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Day 3 – the wander (part 2)

After the Civil War Museum of Medicine, we continued our wander in Frederick. I wanted to make sure that the family got to see the Community Bridge.

“It’s all trompe-l'œil,” I said.
“Oh. Okay.” was the response. I think that they thought there would be just a few faux effects of statues or something. I knew they were in for a treat.

The community bridge is nothing ordinary … all hand-painted, it took a group of artists five years to complete. Everything – and I mean EVERYTHING – is hand panted. So it looks like a stone bridge … but it’s all painted!

Yes, you can see the typical faux statues. There’s an iron gate on the other side.

Now … you see all that stone? Well, it’s painted, too. As you walk around the entire bridge you discover symbols hidden within the stone painting. And there’s a kiosk near the bridge that explains the meaning of some of the symbols.

The project is all about community – the artists asked what symbolizes community; and from the various responses, the symbols were collected and incorporated into the bridge’s paint work.

So, we wandered quite a bit looking for all of these symbols scattered throughout the bridge. And the look on my wife’s face – one of sheer delight as she discovered that the entire bridge is painted and includes all these hidden symbols – was worth every moment!

Day 3 – the wander

We’ve decided that we are going to alternate between a day of activity and then follow that with a day of “let’s just play this by ear” and take it easy. The previous day was filled with activity – meeting my sister, mom, niece, and nephew at a dinner theater. So, today was all about taking it easy and wandering around.

We wandered around Frederick itself, just us.

We started the day getting our bearings from the parking garage. We wandered a bit toward the shops and restaurants – knowing that when we get to that area we’ll be rather hungry for some lunch.

Sometimes making a decision is difficult – we all want to be deferential to the other and so the conversation can go like this:

“What do you feel like eating?
“It doesn’t matter.”
”It doesn’t matter to me, either.”
”Want to try this place?”
”That’s fine.”
”Or we could walk down here and see what’s available.”

And so on … This afternoon wasn’t much different; but, we settled on trying this second-story tavern looking place: Quynn’s Attic.

And what a GREAT lunch we had! Everything was fresh and tasty and just plain good tasting! (The boy has declared that we will be returning to this restaurant another day to sample more of their menu!)

With our bellies full and moods reset to good, we set out for more wandering and came upon the Civil War Museum of Medicine. Admittedly, I wanted to visit this place – being the Civil War buff that I am. The family were very accommodating and we entered.

It is actually a well planned and displayed museum … beginning with the age of “heroic medicine” as it was called to how medical advancements in both knowledge and techniques contributed to improvements in medical care for all. According to the museum at the outbreak of the Civil War the mortality rate among the wounded soldiers was well above 90%. By the time the war was coming to a close, the mortality rate plummeted to just under 10%. 
And the museum chronicles this entire period of time and how things improved. The upshot, too, was that as medical knowledge and treatment improved for those who fought the war, these improvements came into civilian medical care, too.

The displays included actual artifacts either discovered on or near Civil War battlefields or donated by individuals and organizations. The artifacts were then incorporated into displays that portrayed the various components of treatment. Above you can see an actual kit used to perform amputations, an example of an ambulance wagon, a doctor’s tent setup within a regimental encampment, and an example of an amputation being performed at a field hospital. (By the way – the wooden table in the last photo was indeed used for amputations during the Civil War. You can see the blood stains still in the wood!)