As part of our hopscotching around the Idaho parks, we spent a couple nights at Farragut State Park, just south of Coeur d’Alene.
Damn the torpedoes. Full speed ahead.
We’ve all heard that phrase. I’ve heard it used in business more times than I can imagine, but thankfully not recently.
The park was named after David Farragut, to whom the “Damn the Torpedoes” phrase was attributed. Farragut was a US Navy admiral known for the victory at the Battle of Mobile Bay, 1864 during the Civil War. He uttered the famous phrase when his brigade pushed through an area of tethered naval mines, at that time called “torpedoes”.
The site of today’s Farragut State Park was formerly a US Naval Training Center, and was opened soon after World War II began. Built inland so that it would be protected from coastal invasion, almost 300,000 sailors received basic training there, and it also housed about 900 German prisoners of war. The site was decommissioned in 1945, was a college for a short time, and then developed as an Idaho State Park for recreation.
There is a very moving museum in the park, dedicated to its history as the Naval Training Center. It’s located in the former brig. 
Cloudy and rainy skies made for a nice day to spend a few hours in the museum at Farragut. Because of the weather, there were lots of families there — they had three different sets of “scavenger hunt” maps to occupy and engage the kids. Smart.
NOTE: I was out of internet range for the entire time we visited Farragut, so when I toured the museum I was unaware of the horrific events that were occurring in Charlottsville. I only heard the news on Monday when I was able to get back online. I think it’s ironic that at virtually the same time all that was happening, I was immersed in a slice of history devoted to honoring those who fought 75 years ago against the hateful fascist ideology. In retrospect, it makes the visit much more poignant.
Sometimes no news is good news…I have actually NOT been watching much world news…or even local news. Local news is all about the upcoming eclipse…as amazing as I am sure it will be…enough is enough already. Excited to hear about your adventures…stay safe!!!
I find that sculpture, with the many faces etched in it, so powerful. “Out of many, one.”
Yes, it was indeed powerful. But interestingly it’s hard to find any information about it online.
Neys Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada was a former German POW Camp during World War II. During the winter, some of the Canadian women would visit the camp but were not allowed inside. They would write notes, put them in snowballs and throw them over the barbed-wire fences to the Germans of interest to them. And the Germans would respond in kind. No texting, emails phone calls and such, just snowball notes. :-)
“Snowball notes”. I guess communication must have fallen off in the summer, yes? :-)
I am learning so much from your adventures…thanks for stopping to smell the proverbial roses and then sharing.
Definitely sounds like we need to get back to idaho! I believe things happen for a reason, and so our plans for idaho fell flat this year, but your explorations there sound lovely!
With all the issues covered ad nauseum on tv lately, I have wished for no service at times, too!
Stay safe, see you back in AZ!
I love the statue of the soldier. I’m glad you showed the close up. So unique.