Plymouth Rock

Ok, it's hokey, touristy, and hot, but ya gotta do it!

Reputed to be the first place the Pilgrims set foot, the rock story is debatable, but the fact remains that the first settlers did step ashore somewhere within Cape Cod Bay. The exact spot is lost in the mists of the past, so the Rock serves as a symbol of the Pilgrim Spirit for the entire nation. The rock is enclosed within a pavilion that protects it from vandalism.

Noted on the signs around Plymouth Rock Park is a story about how the rock was never mentioned in any of the early writings of the Pilgrims, but was first talked about in 1795 as a symbol that needed to be honored. Years later, the top half of the rock was removed and moved to the top of Cole's Hill in Plymouth where it was displayed. After years of controversy, the halves were rejoined and placed within the pavilion. A well traveled rock, indeed.

The town of Plymouth is also home of the Mayflower II, an accurate, and sea-worthy recreation of the original ship, and available for tours.

As well as some of the most beautiful yachts on the East Coast:

From Cole's Hill, the entire bay is laid out.

The rest of the small village of Plymouth is devoted to tee-shirt shops, restaurants, and candy stores, as you would expect, I suppose, but it's a little bit of a let-down to see. Somehow, in grammar school, Plymouth and Plymouth Rock seemed somehow….bigger. In any case, we enjoyed the walk through the park. After a couple of hours we selected a cool spot in the park to share a sandwich from Mike's Sandwich Shop and have a couple of bottles of water. Even Sasha had her own bottle of water! She prefers to drink directly from the bottle, of course. No glass for her!

A nice day's drive, and a destination that we would have hated to miss, even with it's flaws. The history on the East Coast is phenomenal! Every way we turn there is another name or town or story that we've heard since grammar school. Awesome!

Salem Witches

The temperature was predicted to be 95-97 today, with rain, so what did we do? Drove 60 miles northeast to the Village of Salem, Massachusetts, to check out the latest spells and hexes.

Essex Street greets the visitor as soon upon exiting the NPS Visitors Center. Lined with shops and restaurants, this street introduces the humor and history of this fishing settlement.

Complete with souvenir shops,

 And a statue of Elizabeth Montgomery!

Salem was established in 1626 by a group of settlers let by Roger Conant, who left a settlement that had been established on Cape Cod by England's Dorchester Company. The goal was to find more fertile, sheltered land than the stormy, rocky struggle they had endured on Cape Cod. Farming and fishing quickly thrived, and in 1629 the town was renamed Salem for the Hebrew word for peace: Shalom. This idyllic life continued until 1692, when fear, disillusionment, and stresses of 17th-century life combined with a strong belief in the Devil and rivalry between families to produce an environment perfect for outrageous and horrible accusations.

In January of 1692, the daughter of Reverend Samuel Parris became ill. William Griggs, the village doctor, was called to provide a diagnosis. His opinion? Bewitchment. This put in motion the forces that would ultimately result in the hanging deaths of nineteen men and women. In addition, one man was crushed to death, several others died in prison, and the lives of many were changed forever.

The Witch House is the only structure remaining in Salem with direct ties to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. This was the family home of Judge Jonathan Corwin, who was assigned to make preliminary determinations regarding witchcraft and was later appointed to the Court of Oyer and Terminer, which made the final judgements. This court allowed Spectral Evidence, a nebulous idea that actions seen in visions could be an indication of witchcraft, but Judge Corwin's viewpoint on that has never been clearly documented.

The Salem Witch Trials Memorial pays tribute to the twenty citizens who lost their lives to mass hysteral. Each bench is inscribed with the name of an accused, and the date of their death.

Bridgett Bishop was the first to be tried.

She was tried in June by the Court of Oyer (to hear) and Terminer (to decide) and hanged days later. She was followed by 19 others before the court was disbanded by Governor William Phipps in October of that year.

After the horrendous trials, a number of years were required for the village of Salem to recover, but recover it did. In the late 18th century, sailing ships brought goods from around the world to this bustling seaport. The recreation of the "Fame", behind Donna, is documented to be accurate in every detail. So is my lovely Wife!

Capt. Richard Derby built the Derby Dock that the Fame is tied to in about 1770. During the Revolutionary War, Privateers sailed from Derby Dock to prey on English shipping.After the war Derby's ships sailed to the Far East, bringing back unimaginable riches in goods, spices and silk. It soon became apparent that the government would get involved, and soon all the goods became subject to weighing, documenting, and…..taxing…..at the Customs House, located at the head of the dock.

To the right of Custom House is the home of Benjamin Hawkes and William B. Parker. Shortly after their purchase of the home in 1801, Mr. Parker separated and removed his half of the at-that-time 5000 square foot house, leaving his parter with renovation project of his own! Just visible to the right of the Hawkes House is the Derby House.

Wealthy merchant Richard Derby built the house as a wedding present for his second son, Elias Haskett, who made enough money privateering during the Revolutionary War to move his family to a larger home on Exxex Street. Eventually the home became a tenement for immigrant workers who came to Salem to work in the manufacturing industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Nathaniel Hawthorns House of Seven Gables overlooks the bay. Although never directly linked to the Salem Witch Trials, it will be forever immortalized by native son Nathaniel Hawthorn.

So by now it was deep into rush hour traffic, so dinner called to us, but only as a way of killing some time…..

We had tasted a bowl of soup at the New England Soup Factory for lunch (clam chowder and Lobster Newburg), but that was wearing a bit thin, so we stopped at the Lobster Shanty for dinner. Their claims to fame include: Warm Beer, Lousy Food, Surly Waitresses, Rude Bartenders, Cranky Cooks, Rowdy Regulars and Nervous Lobsters. None of which turned out to be true!

A serving of Mac and Cheese with Lobster and a salad,

And a Lobster Roll served traditional style (cold), completed our meal. Delicious!

See what I mean?

Our wonderful GPS took us on the shortest route home, but certainly not the earliest to navigate. Our route this morning took us on I 95 and I 93 to Salem, but on the way home, we ventured into downtown Boston via the Big Dig tunnel.

We only saw one section where the roof appears to be collapsing!

The travel time this morning was about 45 minutes. This afternoon: an hour and 45 minutes. Savings in miles? About 3. Ya gotta love technology!

John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum

Today was predicted to be one of the warmest days of the week, so we decided to visit the JFK Presidential Library and Museum on the UMass Boston campus. The Library is located on the banks of  Quincy Bay just south of Boston. From Foxboro, the home of the New England Patriots football team, we hopped on I 95, then switched to I 93, and, 30 miles later, there we were!

The building is impressive, and understated, as are most of the museums exhibits.

The self guided tour starts with President Kennedy's life as a boy, and his experiences traveling during college to Europe. Then the transition to politics is made, with the admission that "I really didn't think of politics as a career", since his older brother was being groomed for the presidency. After WW II, with the death of his brother, family encouragement to run for office resulted in Jack's election to congress, then the senate. His meteoric rise through the political ranks came to him as a birthright, since his roots are in an affluent eastern family. His skills as an orator, polished in college, served him well in the presidential debates of 1960, and his demeanor made him welcome in the living rooms and kitchens of a cross-section of America. Nonetheless, the election was one of the closest in history, with Richard Nixon winning more states, but Kennedy winning in the electoral college. The final map shows the spread.

On display is the Kennedy Family Bible that President Kennedy used at his inauguration ceremony in January, 1961. It is an 1850 edition brought from Ireland by Kennedy's forebears. The Bible was transported from a relative's house to Washington in a brown paper grocery bag taken from a local market.

A large part of the museum told us about First Lady Jacqueline. On display are a number of gifts received by the Kennedy's while in the White House, including this Gold, Diamond and Ruby studded purse presented to the First Lady by the King of Morocco.

Several of Jackie's dresses are on display.

As is one of the Presidents' golf clubs and a box of personalized gold balls. The sign says that the President never played 18 holes of golf, but played one hole, went to another randomly, and left after a few odd holes.

 
Many items from the First Lady's early life is displayed, including this photo of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy at age seven.

A large part of the museum is devoted to President Kennedy's Peace Corps Initiative, and, of course, the influence that Jacqueline had on the arts, but by far the most heart stopping exhibit was about the Cuban Missile Crisis. Everyone of that era remembers that America was on the brink of war, and that through a combination of strength and restraint, President Kennedy defused the situation. A couple of interesting stories were on display that were not declassified until recently.

Just how close nuclear war was is illustrated by this display:

We were that close!

Outside the Library and Museum, the Victura, a sailboat given to John Kennedy by his father is on display.

The Harbor Walk is a pleasant stroll around the Library, with a view of Boston across the water, and Old North Church in right center.

But, since the temp was 95, with a goodly amount of humidity from the rain yesterday, we didn't walk very far.

A 60 minute ride home (rush hour) got us back to the park in time to provide Sasha with a long walk and a trip to the dog park. She loves the dog park, particularly when she has friends to play with!

Boston's Freedom Trail

Known as America's Mother City, Boston is also known for it's walking tours. The city is compact, with so many historical, ethnic, and gastronomical things to see that it cry's to be explored by foot. There is an extensive rail/subway system, known as "The T", which we took advantage of today by driving to the Riverside station in Newton, MA. We found a daily parking space, then walked a quarter mile or so to the station, where a kind lady who works for the MBTA helped us through the ticketing procedure, and off we went toward North Station. There were 18 stops until we got to the Park St station, where we got off to go to Boston Common, the start of the famous Freedom Trail.

It was about a 40 minute rail ride to Park St, and we couldn't help but think about the old Kingston Trio song about Charlie riding the MTA (now known as the MBTA). "Oh, he'll never return, no he'll never return, his fate is still unlearned". It's a great song, but kinda scary when the train dives underground!

The Kingston Trio - M.T.A.

We fortunately didn't suffer the same fate as Charlie, and disembarked at The Boston Common. Boston Common is America's first public park and is sited on 48 acres of open land. Used as a common pasture for grazing cattle, a training field for the militia and as a British Army camp during their occupation of Boston, this park is, like Central Park in NYC, a welcome respite on a warm summer day. The Common was sold to the city of Boston in 1635 by William Blackstone, who had settled on Beacon Hill in 1622, but was unhappy with the increased number of people living in his neck of the woods. The inhabitants of Boston were assessed a tax of six shillings to pay for the land, and Mr. Blackstone moved to "roomy" Rhode Island.

The 2.5 mile long Freedom Trail leaves the Visitors Center and heads toward the State House.

The trail is marked by a stripe of red paint or, for the most part, a double row of red brick, so all us dummy tourists have to do is follow the red brick road. 

The State House is the seat of government in Massachusetts, and is the oldest building on Beacon Hill. The dome was covered with wood shingles in 1798, but now sports gold leaf!

Our next stop was the Park Street Church with its 217 foot tall steeple. For many years this was the first landmark seen by travelers approaching Boston. For nearly two centuries, the church has organized its life around the Christian Gospel and been a pioneer in human concerns.

Known as Brimstone Corner, either because of the many "hellfire and brimstone" sermons preached here, or because the basement housed Brimstone, a component of gunpowder, during the War of 1812.
Adjacent to the church is Granary Burying Ground, Benjamin Franklins parents, along with Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, James Otis and all five of the Boston Massacre victims are buried here.

Just up the road from the Granary Burying Ground is the Kings's Chapel and Burying Ground. We weren't able to go into the church due to a special event taking place, but the Chapel was built in 1686 and became the first non-Puritan church in the colonies, Paul Revere crafted the 2,347 pound bell i 1816, and proclaimed it to be the "sweetest sounding" he had ever heard. The adjacent burying ground includes the resting place of Mary Chilton, the first woman to step off the Mayflower. That's her in the foreground….

The Old South Meeting House was built in 1729 as a Puritan house of worship. On December 16, 1773, 5,000 angry protesters gathered at the Old South Meeting House to protest a tax on tea and start a revolution. Samuel Adams gave the secret signal to throw 342 crates of tea into Boston Harbor, and the world has never been the same.

The Old State House is dwarfed by the surrounding city these days, but it has stood as a symbol of liberty at Boston's historic center for 300 years.

Built in 1713 to house the colony's government, the Old State House was at the center of many key events of the American Revolution. James Otis railed against the Writs of Assistance in 1761 and in 1776 the Declaration of Independence was read to the people of Boston from the balcony. The Great Hall was the place where Daniel Webster spoke, and John Adams declared in 1768 the the "child Independence was born"here.

Paul Revere's house is the oldest remaining structure in downtown Boston and the only home on the Freedom Trail. Paul Revere bought the home in 1770, when he was 35, and lived here when he made his famous messenger ride on the night of April 18-19, 1775. It is now a museum.

The Old North Church, immortalized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: "Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere", is still an active Episcopalian congregation, and one of the most visited sites in Boston!. "One if by land, and two if by sea" ignited the American Revolution.

Copp's Hill Burying Ground is the final resting place for merchants, artisans and craft people who lived in the North End, one of whom is Increase Mather, the man who hung the lanterns on the night of Paul Revere's ride.

We stopped for lunch at Ducali on Causeway St. and enjoyed a Porchetta Panini and a side salad. The pork was prepared with Rosemary and Garlic and was absolutely delicious, and the open windows gave us a nice cool breeze. D and I shared the sandwich and the salad, but we each had our own Sweet Tea! Try a bottle of Sweet Leaf Tea the next time you're in the mood!

Right after lunch we strolled across the street, still following the red brick road, and crossed the Charles River.

Parallel to the Charleston Bridge we were on is the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge.
Built as part of the "Big Dig" that so famously overran cost estimates (2.8 Billion turned into 14.6 Billion, and there continue to be significant problems with the project), the bridge is an engineering marvel. It carrys traffic on I 93 as it exits the underground tunnel and heads north.

The USS Constitution, "Old Ironsides", was our next stop on the Trail, but the ship is in dry dock and undergoing significant renovation. Most of the masts and spars have been removed, and all of the cannon. We chose not to invest in a tour.

The ship has not been defeated since her launch in 1797, and still flies the "Don't Tread on Me" flag.

The last stop on the Freedom Trail was Bunker Hill. 

Today, a 221-foot tall granite obelisk marks the site of the first major battle of the Revolution. During the night of June 16, 1775, the Colonists quickly built a redoubt made of dirt and straw. On the morning of June 17, Colonel William Prescott uttered the famous order "Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes!". Although technically a British victory, this battle has come to immortalize the determination of the ill_equipped Colonists facing the powerful British Army.

Just down from the top of Bunker Hill, we passed a building that has been converted to apartments with a for rent sign:

The rent is $2395 a month, one bedroom, no pets but includes water and heat. Hey, it's location, location, location…..and that 8-foot entry door is priceless!

We walked nearly seven miles today, navigated the MBTA a couple of times, and made it home through rush hour traffic. What a day!