And as I train on for the Camino next week I’m leaving stamps on my passport for Pocohontas on the John Smith Trail for a next trek.
Pocohontas, as we don’t have to tell you, is twice blessed in the sacred Rotunda in the US Capitol in Washington DC.
We’re concentrating here on the stone relief sculpture above the doorway.
Titled The Preservation of Captain Smith by Pocahontas by Antonio Capellano.
Captain Smith and Pocohontas which you’ll know from your Disney are inextricably linked.
At home with Pocahontas
As they are on the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.
The 3,000-mile trek through five states and the District of Colombia.
For Pocohontas fans Machicomoco State Park along the York river and Gloucester County Visitor Center are your touch points.
With Werowocomoco, where Pocohontas grew up, alas closed off for just now from us.
While the The National Park Service works through with Virginia’s First Nations how to shape the site.
With Werowocomoco holding truths about Native American societies in the Chesapeake stretching back thousands of years.
A tale of two Johns
The John Smith Trail is the authentic way through pre-American history.
In much the same way as the 216-mile John Muir Trail is in California.
You may be more familiar with the Father of the National Parks’ 134-mile coast to coast trek in his native Scotland.
Now whichever trek you set out on remember to take your passport with you.
Yes, of course, that document that will let you through the security gate but also trail passports.
Where you collect stamps as a memento of your odyssey.
Stamp your authority
I’ll be on my second Camino passport but a Portuguese Way one to go with my Camino Frances.
While I also have a Via Francigena from my journeys in Italy.
All of which reminds me that I have to update my Big passport for next year and get my Irish one too, like the Daughterie.
The Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail has 43 unique stamps,
And like all trails the first journey always has a first step.
