Hello there! It’s been much too long since I last posted here, so I intend to change that today! This month is the second anniversary of launching this blog (although it’s actually been three years since I first bought it), so I thought I would give a little history behind how I started it – and specifically how I named it.

Why Kenmore Pines?

I’ve gotten the question multiple times over the years, why did I decide to name my blog Kenmore Pines? Is there some special meaning behind the name?

As a matter of fact, there is. At least the meaning is special to me. 😊

When I originally wanted to get a blog, I thought a lot about what I would name it. And originally, I decided on Pistachio Green. (If you understand the reference, cheers to you. I think it’s rather obscure, though.) When I went to buy my own domain, however, Pistachio Green had already been bought. 😢

So I had to come up with a new name. It took me quite a while as I played with different ideas and checked to see if any of them were available. I love pine trees and wanted to post history-related stuff on my blog. So the fact that evergreen trees are the symbol for history seemed like a good reason to include Pines somewhere in my blog title. I tried so many different ideas – Five Pines, White Pines, etc. ad infinitum.

It was getting late in the day and I was getting tired of running through so many ideas. I knew I needed something unique but meaningful to me. My brain just wasn’t thinking of anything new. So I asked myself, are there any specific pine trees that are special to me in any way?

And I remembered my recent trip to Fredericksburg, Virginia.

A Visit to Fredericksburg, VA

While in Fredericksburg, I had visited the Civil War Battleground at Marye’s Heights and felt so powerfully connected to history there that I do not even know how to describe it. During that trip, I also stopped at a park and sat on a bench reading the memoirs of a Civil War soldier. As I read of the soldiers camping in the Virginia countryside in a grove of pine trees, I looked up at the tall grove of pines that surrounded me in the park. I felt so immersed in the soldier’s writings, so connected to the history that he wrote, that goosebumps prickled along my arms. It was as if I were there, right where the soldier described. And it was so vivid I did not even have to close my eyes to envision it. It was right there, right in front of me.

Meditation Rock

A short distance away, up a steep hill, a rock jetted out. I hiked up there to move further away from the people who came into the park. It was a beautiful spot, but that rock was no ordinary rock. A plaque at the summit of the hill stated that it was Meditation Rock, a quiet place that Washington’s mother would often slip away to in order to pray for her son as he led the Continental Army during the American Revolution. And standing there, I could still feel that this place was a place of prayer. Not far away was an old cemetery, and near it, an obelisk dedicated to the memory of Mary Washington.

I loved the park so much that I went back a second time during my stay in Fredericksburg. The name of the park was Kenmore Park, and to this day, it is one of the most memorable places I have ever visited. And since the pines themselves were a huge part of what made the park so memorable, I thought it very fitting to name my blog Kenmore Pines.

Extra Special Meaning

After deciding on a name that I was quite happy with, I started noticing things in my life, old things and new things, that in some way or another were connected to the name Kenmore Pines. I love sewing, but it wasn’t until I decided on the blog name that I noticed that I use a vintage Kenmore sewing machine. Then I realized that a character from one of my stories – my favorite character that I’ve ever created – was named Kenneth (or Ken for short).

Over the years, the name of Kenmore Pines has grown on me more and more. While I still think Pistachio Green would be a cool name for a blog, I know now that it could not hold the same amount of meaning to me that Kenmore Pines holds.

The History of Kenmore Park

And as it turns out, the park itself was named after a historic plantation estate known as Kenmore. The estate was built in the 1770s and was owned by George Washington’s sister and brother-in-law. It was purchased by the Gordon family in 1819, however, and received the name Kenmore, after the home of the Gordons’ ancestors in Scotland.

So unbeknownst to me, at the time, the name Kenmore actually has a history of it’s own. And I’m not at all mad about that. 😄

Conclusion

So there you have it. My blog is named after a memorable little park in Fredericksburg, Virginia. I have never actually been back there since, but I love that place so much I am totally wanting to go again sometime soon!

Have you ever been to Kenmore Park or the Fredericksburg Battleground? What is a memorable but mostly unknown place that is special to you? Let me know in the comments!

P.S. You can also follow me at my other blog, Kenmore Pines 1, here.
To learn more about this blog check out my blog launch post here.