Daniel Chester French

A Civil War family trip

Let's say, just for the sake of argument, that the family vacation this summer will include neither a water park nor a rollercoaster.

The plan here is to get the kids interested in something from a time long ago. The Civil War, so awash in drama, history, preservation and elegant presentation that it is nearly impossible to go wrong (once the kids understand there is no way out of this). You might even indulge your fantasy here and allow a vision decades from now in which your adult children return home to give you a big hug and heartfelt thanks for taking them on that Civil War trip back in 2011 ... or not.

So, it is decided. That's what we will do. We shall take a week of vacation and venture to the Civil War, participating in the 150th anniversary of the war – the sesquicentennial – an observance that began April 12 and will run through April 2015.

You're not alone here, you know. Last year more than 1 million people visited Gettysburg, Pa. Kennesaw Mountain battlefield in Georgia drew 1,512,191 visitors, with similar numbers at a score of other Civil War sites.

Our 1,500-mile trip will take us to some of the most important and fabled sites, but keep in mind that every state in this part of the country has its claim to Civil War heritage – Indiana included – so there are many options besides this outing. Rummage around the Internet or the history books or the half-dozen Civil War magazines on the newsstand and you're sure to find your interests and budget.

On this trip, we're going to Pennsylvania, Maryland, Washington D.C. and Virginia to visit:

•The sprawling battlefield on which the tide of American history was turned: Gettysburg.

•Antietam battlefield, where on Sept. 17, 1862, the bloodiest day in American history occurred.

•The icon of American history, the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C., and just across the Potomac River, the most hallowed ground in all the land: Arlington National Cemetery.

•The field in northern Virginia where the blood first flowed. If you are a Northerner, it is Bull Run; if a Southerner, more likely it is called Manassas.

And finally, the last stop both for the combatants and for us: the home of Wilmer McLean and his family. It was in their living room in Appomattox, Va., that the war ended when Gen. Robert Edward Lee surrendered his army to Gen. Ulysses Simpson Grant in April 1865.

Daytonian in Manhattan: Daniel Chester French's Nearly-Lost ...

As the 19th Century turned into the 20th, the “City Beautiful” movement swept over New York. The movement, which maintained that surrounding citizens with “civilized” buildings would in turn foster civilized behavior, resulted in grand marble, limestone and granite edifices. (A century later the feasibility of that theory is highly debatable.) Planners for the new Manhattan Bridge, just up river from the Brooklyn Bridge, had the movement vividly in mind. The approach to the bridge on the Manhattan side was to rival anything in Europe – a grand, open plaza with a monumental archway. Architects Carrere & Hastings, who had recently designed another City Beautiful show-stopper, the New York Public Library, were given the commission to design the plaza. In 1912 over a thousand families lost their homes when a swath of land 400 by 750 feet was leveled. A great triumphal arch would serve as the entrance to the bridge. On either side curved colonnades, like those embracing St. Peter’s Square in Rome, would welcome the traveler onto the span. Around the plaza, park-like landscaping was designed with grass, flowers and shrubbery. Meanwhile, on the Brooklyn side things were less monumental. The entrance plaza here consisted of two immense granite pylons – no arch, no colonnade, no landscaped park. Perhaps because of civic guilt, plans were put forward to add statues to the pylons two years later. Subsequently Daniel Chester French was hired to create two huge allegorical sculptures of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Although French was responsible for numerous civic sculptures, he would become most remembered for his gigantic rendering of Abraham Lincoln in the Lincoln Monument in Washington DC. For the bridge entrance, he sculpted two seated figures in matching granite using, most likely, model Audrey Munson as his model. (Munson would appear in sculpture throughout the city, such as Civic Pride atop City Hall and the Pomona Fountain in front of the Plaza Hotel.) French attempted to capture the essence of the boroughs in stone. Manhattan sits haughtily with her head held high, her hand turned under on her knee. She holds a winged globe and wears a tiara. French represented Manhattan’s wealth of museums with a ruined Greek torso, its banking industry with the money chest under her foot, and its shipping industry with the bows of three ships. A peacock stands regally beside her.

Daniel Chester French, an American sculptor

Daniel Chester French

Daniel Chester French, his statue of Lewis Cass in the United States Capitol

Daniel Chester French

Daniel Chester French, an American sculptor : November 4, 1976-January 9, 1977