Named in honour of Thomas Jefferson the buildings name was changed on June 13, 1980. Books were always an essential part of Thomas Jefferson’s life; he spent a great deal of time acquiring books for his own personal library at Monticello. By 1814 Jefferson had the largest personal collection of books in the US. After the British destroyed most of the Library of Congress’s book collection in a fire in 1814, Thomas Jefferson offered to sell his collection to Congress which they purchased for $23,950. Unfortunately a second fire in 1851 would destroy nearly two thirds of the 6,487 books Jefferson sold to them. It houses one of the largest number of books in the United States and the main Library (which featured in the recent film about J Edgar Hoover) is thought to be the largest book catalogue in the World.
In 1998, the Library of Congress decided to reconstruct Jefferson’s library by seeking out identical editions of titles lost in that blaze.
The exhibition opened in 2000, displaying the original Jefferson books that survived the fire – marked with the green ribbons – alongside those identical editions acquired from elsewhere in the Library collections or by purchase or donation (marked with gold ribbons). Ones still un-located are marked with black hardback covers and are placed amongst the other books.
So on to the train .............
As I had a Roomette booked I was able to enter the 1st class lounge at Union Station to wait for my train. I met a lovely lady called Mary who was also making the trip and she patiently answered my numerous questions about what to do and where to go etc. We enjoyed a very pleasant conversation and Mary helped me feel at ease - I must admit I was feeling just a little apprehensive!
My first sight of train 29 was another wide-eyed moment for me - I know EVERYTHING in America is bigger than in England but that train was mahousive - all stainless steel, shinny double-decker of it. Mary couldn't believe I had never seen a double-decker train!
Once I found my car I was helped aboard by my conductor for the trip - Carlos, who informed me he was there to ensure my every comfort (!). Indeed he worked very hard to make sure we all had whatever we needed and patiently again, explained to the slow English lady just what happens aboard an Amtrak train and I settled in for the duration.
Next I was asked to make my Dinner reservation and when called made my way to the dining car. I have to say dinner was delicious and I had the Steak. The dining car is as they put it 'community seating' so I was sat at a table of 4 and met 3 more lovely people who shared their stories and experience of Amtrak travel - this is one of the reasons I chose to travel by train, so I could meet lots of interesting people along the way.
Happily full I returned to my Roomette which had been transformed into its night time setting by the lovely Carlos and was fully made up with sheets and blankets and nicely turned down.
However this lock tenders house marks the ruins of the canal and the crossing of the longest continuous footpath in the World, the Appalachian Trail which is 2050 miles long. The Trail starts in the mountains of Georgia and goes all the way to Maine.
Harpers Ferry is where Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland meet, as do the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers.
This segment of my trip took 17 hours and covered 780 miles. We also changed from Eastern Time to Central time as we approached Chicago which meant putting our watches back an hour.
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