The Burial Ground at George Washington Birthplace National Monument /  by Todd Henson

The path to the Washington Family Burial Ground

In the past I shared views from the George Washington Birthplace National Monument, an historically significant area of land on the Northern Neck of Virginia. Recently my father and I returned to the location and spent some time at one of the features we’d not been to during previous visits, the Washington Family Burial Ground.

Entering the burial ground

Inside the burial ground

The first burials occurred in 1668 with the death of John Washington’s wife Anne and two children. John Washington was the first of the family to live in Virginia, and a great-grandfather to George Washington. Over the years three generations of the Washington family were buried here, including George Washington’s grandparents, with at least nine more burials after that of Anne.

The front view of the rebuilt Washington family vault

A side view of the rebuilt Washington family vault

An angled view of the other side of the rebuilt Washington family vault

As with much of the area, the burial ground as it stands today is not the same as it was in the time the Washington family resided in this area. Time wore away at the original vault and gravestones, with the vault actually sinking into the ground. So Washington descendants worked to clean up and restore the grounds in 1906.

A view from inside the grounds of the Washington Family Burial Ground

But as time went on the burial ground again fell into disrepair, so according to a sign outside the burial ground, “in 1930, the Wakefield National Memorial Association constructed the wall around the grounds, consolidated the graves into a single casket, and interred the remains in a rebuilt vault.” The NPS website says their primary goal was to “…rescue from decay and preserve the old family vault and burial ground which is in a most neglected condition.”

Looking into the Washington Family Burial Ground

Looking over the burial ground walls

The results of all this work are visible today as can be seen in these photos, though some of the text on the stonework was difficult to read when wet from recent rains.

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Polypore and Feather Moss Galore /  by Todd Henson

Polypore and Feather Moss Galore

This is a photo I created back in 2020, though I let it sit on the computer all this time before doing anything with it. I was drawn to the scene by the contrast between texture and color of the polypore mushroom and the surrounding feather moss. I thought it was a pleasant mixture of browns and green, and I loved that white band around the edge of the mushroom. I hope you enjoy it.

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A Rainy Spring Drive Over the Blue Ridge Mountains /  by Todd Henson

The glare of headlights

After a dry spell we suddenly received a large amount of rain in a short time, and sitting at home listening to that rain patter on the roof inspired me to sort through and process a number of photographs from April of 2023 when my father and I drove over the Blue Ridge Mountains on Skyline Drive through Shenandoah National Park in the rain.

Springtime rains on the road

Photographing From the Car

The day hadn’t begun raining (in fact, I’d just photographed my first white trillium flowers about an hour before creating these photos), and it didn’t end that way, either. But for parts of the day we had the pleasure of winding down the Blue Ridge Mountains through anything from a light and misty rain to a heavy downpour with gusty winds. Being the passenger that day enabled me to create these photographs.

Lichen, branches, road and rain

I would often watch the windshield wipers and time my exposures for just after they wiped the water off the windshield. This gave me the clearest view. But in some of the photos you can see droplets of water on the windshield. They create a slight blur that, when there are enough droplets, almost gives the photo a slightly more painterly look that I enjoy.

A wet and winding road

Camera Settings

From a technical perspective, it was a bit dark because of the rain and we were in a moving car so I wanted a high enough shutter speed to avoid too much motion blur (except in those instances when I played around with purposefully slowing down the shutter speed). This meant I used a fairly high ISO, between 1250 and 2000. I also used a reasonably wide aperture of f/5.0, which did limit the depth of field but helped give me a shutter speed of anywhere from 1/125th to 1/400th of a second. I was using a 16-80 mm lens (thanks, Alex) in the 44-56 mm range, chosen based on the view from inside the car.

Fleeing the rain towards a hole through the mountain

Post-Processing

I did process these photos a fair bit in Adobe Lightroom, largely dodging and burning (old darkroom terms for brightening and darkening) to highlight some areas and lessen the impact of others. For example, I liked the light greens and browns of spring so I brightened those up enough that they stood out, and I darkened wet branches to help them stand out more. I added a little contrast in some areas that had been reduced by the rain.

Follow the leader through the rain

What do you think of the results? Did I go too far? Would you have gone a little further? Let me know in the comments below.

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