Tour Scotland photographs and videos from my tours of Scotland. Photography and videography, both old and new, from beautiful Scotland, Scottish castles, seascapes, rivers, islands, landscapes, standing stones, lochs and glens.
Old photograph of a car and cottages on School Street in New Pitsligo, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Hugh Mercer was born in Pitsligo on January 16, 1726, and studied medicine at the University of Aberdeen. He served as an assistant surgeon in Charles Edward Stuart's army during the Battle of Culloden in the Jacobite rising of 1745. After the failed uprising, Mercer escaped to the colonial-era Province of Pennsylvania, where he lived in Greencastle, Pennsylvania, which is present-day Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, and Fredericksburg, Virginia. He worked as a physician, and established an apothecary. He served alongside George Washington in the provincial troops during the French and Indian War, and he and Washington became close friends. At the recommendation of Washington, Mercer moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1760 to practice medicine after the war. He befriended another Scottish expatriate, John Paul Jones.Mercer became a noted member and businessman in town, buying land and involving himself in local trade. He married Isabella Gordon and started a family. In 1774, George Washington sold Ferry Farm, his childhood home, to Mercer, who wanted to make this prized land into a town where he and his family would settle for the remainder of his days. On November 17, 1775, Mercer was one of 21 members chosen for the Committee of Safety for Spotsylvania County. On January 10, 1776, Mercer was appointed colonel to what soon became the 3rd Virginia Regiment of the Virginia and the next day, George Weedon was appointed lieutenant colonel. Future president James Monroe and future Chief Justice of the United States John Marshall also served as officers under his command. On June 5, 1776, Mercer received a letter from the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, signed by John Hancock, appointing him brigadier-general in the Armies of the United Colonies and requesting him to report to headquarters in New York immediately. Mercer was placed in charge of a large troop of Pennsylvania Militia stationed in Paulus Hook, New Jersey to protect from potential attack from British troops in Staten Island. On January 3, 1777, Washington's army was en route to the Battle of Princeton. While leading a vanguard of 350 soldiers, Mercer's brigade encountered two British regiments and a mounted unit. A fight broke out at an orchard grove and Mercer's horse was shot from under him. Getting to his feet, he was quickly surrounded by British troops who mistook him for George Washington and ordered him to surrender. Outnumbered, he drew his saber and began an unequal contest. He was finally beaten to the ground, bayoneted seven times, and left for dead. He was mortally wounded and died nine days later, on January 12, 1777.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of a delivery cart outside a cottage in Luss, by Loch Lomond, Scotland. Historically in the County of Dunbarton, its original name is Clachan dhu, or dark village. Luss is the ancestral home of Clan Colquhoun and the McInturner's of Luss a sept of Clan Lamont. Blog post of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to travel and visit one day.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of the parish church in Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Scotland. There has been a parish church in Tobermory upper village since 1828, the original building was replaced by the current Victorian gothic style building in October 1897.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of cottages in Clarencefield near Dumfries, Scotland. In July 1796, probably suffering from subacute bacterial endocarditis the poet Robert Burns's medical friends Dr William Maxwell and Dr Alexander Brown suggested that he should go to Brow where was prescribed drinking the water of the mineral well, sea bathing, riding and the country air. He stayed for three weeks at the inn, lodging in the inn. John Burney of the inn at Clarencefield was the son-in-law of the landlord at Brow and Burns was advised to make his way to the village to get some port wine that had been prescribed as part of his treatment. Blog post of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to travel and visit one day.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
Old photograph of cyclists and houses on Argyle Road in Saltcoats, Ayrshire, Scotland. The name is derived from the town's earliest industry when salt was harvested from the sea water of the Firth of Clyde, carried out in small cottages along the shore. In the late 18th Century, several shipyards operated at Saltcoats, producing some 60 to 70 ships. The leading shipbuilder was William Ritchie, but in 1790 he moved his business to Belfast. By the early 19th Century the town no longer produced ships. Blog post of interest to folks with ancestry, genealogy or Scottish Family Roots in Scotland who may wish to travel and visit one day.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
