DAYS 141 - 143 - Frostburg, MD to Winchester, VA - 2774 miles from home

Esther Lisa Tishman
Nov 23, 2025
5 min read

Updated: Nov 23, 2025

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2774 miles from home - and only 73 miles from D.C. Holy moley!

Distances have become so strange after all of these footsteps. 73 miles is the distance from my house in Eugene to the capitol building in Salem, Oregon. It's crazy to think that the nation's capital is the same distance away right now.

And there's something surreal about our trek over these past few days. The land feels saturated with history - with Brigadoon-like magic - with a touch of Blair Witch spookiness. At the same time, everything feels so tender, so temperate. The air is sweet. The landscape is human-sized. The towns are filled with red brick, with Georgian columns, with cobblestone roads. Mist lays over everything. Rich yellow lamplight pools in the air as we walk through Frostburg, Maryland after dusk.

This land is sweet-talking me. The cows sleep in the undulating pastures of the Potomac Highlands and the Shenandoah Valley. Slow running waterways - North Branch, South Branch, the Cacapon River... all different threads of the Potomac... all reflecting back the end of summer, the falling of leaves. We stitch our way back and forth between states - from Maryland, to West Virginia, to Maryland, to West Virginia... and now finally we've stitched our way into Virginia itself.

From the start, Liberty Walks has been a pilgrimage of faith in our republic, and now here we are - walking back in time, into the very heart of the republic. One morning last week, walking along the back roads over southwestern Pennsylvania - just over the border from West Virginia - I stopped to talk with some guys in their work vehicle. I had no cell service, and needed to reach Bob to tell him about a covered bridge that our RV wouldn't be able to clear. One of the guys was wearing a stars & stripes bandana. An American flag was flying from the back of their rig. They couldn't have been kinder to me, letting me use their phone and asking about the pilgrimage. "Well, you're where it started right now!" Pennsylvania pride. Yup. The Keystone State. We've been walking through the colonies.

We're walking through history and history is being written everywhere we go. Not so far away from the Keystone State, we found ourselves back in West Virginia again, heading into historic Capon Bridge. We rested at The River House: a cafe, arts center, performance venue and cultural collective right on the edge of the Cacapon River. Musician Peter Heichler greeted us, brought us our yummies (extraordinarily good tomato dill soup) and pointed us in the direction of a regular customer: Richard Anderson.

Richard was seated with his laptop and a glass of red wine near the window. An award-winning filmmaker from Baltimore, Richard has been exploring the confluences of art, community and history in West Virginia for some time now - and he has been particularly intrigued by Capon Bridge: a town that he has seen revitalize itself in recent years. Richard is asking, perhaps, the same questions we've been asking: how can history inspire community; how can community heal the wounds of history?

That sense of history suffused our time in Cumberland, Maryland as well. We were hosted by Jessica Roskin, cantor and spiritual leader for B'er Chayim (Well of Life): the oldest synagogue in Maryland - dedicated in 1867 - and the sixth oldest synagogue in the country.

(In Judaism, both cantors and rabbis are ordained - and many synagogues have both. Cantors are the experts in liturgy, rabbis are the experts in Torah and scripture. Both can serve and lead a congregation equally, guiding observance and inspiring worship. Cantors have the voices however - and by all accounts, Cantor Jessica sings like an angel.)

Jessica welcomed us into her beautiful home like old friends - like family. Like a sister, in fact. Like my own parents, Jessica's mother survived the Holocaust. The family was Dutch; the father perished at Nazi hands - but the mother and three children, including Jessica's mom, Ingrid, survived in hiding. (You can read a bit about Ingrid Roskin's life, in her own words, here.)

Jessica's home is filled with art work her mother created - paintings and pottery (Ingrid Roskin apparently created her first ceramics piece at the age of 70) - and it's filled with other gorgeous, colorful things. Oh my goodness! Her dining room chairs! The pillows heaped high on the midcentury modern sofa and chair from her parents' home! The clawfoot bathtub centered in a light-filled bathroom, like the magnificent sculpture it is. So much beauty and exuberant life. History made vibrant and fresh, here and now.

And then we walked from Maryland to Virginia, finding our way into Winchester, where both George Washington and Patsy Cline got their start. Washington started his political and military career here, during the French and Indian War. Our Airbnb in Winchester is half a block from Washington's wartime office.

As for Patsy, maybe she can provide the soundtrack for our final push toward Washington itself: "I walk for miles along the highway / Well that's just my way of sayin' I love you."

SPEAKING OF WALKING TO WASHINGTON:

Meanwhile, dear people, I'd love to see you on the finish line. Here are our trek's final moments:

We're taking Wednesday and Thursday off for the holiday (some major thanksgiving is in order!) ... But returning to the route on on Friday (Leesburg to Vienna, VA)... and to the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday.
Saturday November 29 will be a day of gathering and reflection: we'll be hosted by Joyful Mind Zendo and the Rockville United Church from 1:30 - 3 p.m. Afterwards, supporters of Liberty Walks are hosting a small reception for us in their home. If you're interested in joining us for all or part of the final few days, reach out right away.

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