SUMMARY: The British launched a series of raids on the Chesapeake Bay area in August 1814. The British planned to attack to create a diversion in the East. They wanted to send the American troops scurrying back to defend the Eastern Seaboard and which would weaken U.S. forces elsewhere.

SUMMARY: Commercial coal mining became a successful business in Chesterfield by 1730. Coal was discovered in Chesterfield during the early 1700's near Manakin Town, a French Huguenot(*) settlement. Several French Huguenot families operated the coal pits near Falling Creek and the James River. (*) The Huguenots were French Protestants who were members of the Reformed Church which was established in 1550 by John Calvin. The origin of the name Huguenot is uncertain, but dates from approximately 1550 when it was used in court cases against "heretics" (dissenters from the Roman Catholic Church). There is a theory that it is derived from the personal name of Besancon Hugues, the leader of the "Confederate Party" in Geneva, in combination with a Frankish corruption of the German word for conspirator or confederate: eidgenosse. Thus, Hugues plus eidgenot becomes Huguenot, with the intention of associating the Protestant cause with some very unpopular politics.

SUMMARY: On a path to Sunrise Museum there is a statue of the Virgin Mary which reportedly cries blood on or about Halloween. It is said that she cries due to witnessing a Satanic ritual that defaced her and the area around her. She is on a trail that leads you to the museum from the railroad tracks below.

SUMMARY: Cat's Eye Pub used to be a brothel back when Fells Point was a great shipping port and dock. The Cat's Eye Pub went through major renovations to become a Pub, and during that effort workers found many "red light switches" on the walls: When women were not entertaining a client, they would turn on the switch to let the clients know that her services were available for hire. One haunting of the Cat's Eye Pub is tied to longtime bartender Jeff Knapp; if you ever visit the pub you will find his picture adorning the walls.

SUMMARY: Books have been written about Frieda, about the lodge, and about the hundred-plus years of treatment (and mistreatment) which occurred there, truly setting precedents and making history on a regular basis. Many lives were improved, no doubt, some couldn't be helped, and a number of deaths were involved. Frieda was one; she died in her cottage, April 28, 1957.

SUMMARY: An apparition of an old man has been spotted several times since the early 1920's standing in the middle of the Potomac River. This is no midnight fisherman.

SUMMARY: It's said that a young couple, who were madly in love despite their disapproving families, held hands as they jumped from this bridge. People travelling the bridge have reported seeing ghostly apparitions of a young girl crying, "I love you." Other reports have included apparitions jumping from the bridge.