Reunion IX--Plymouth and Rockport

 

We traveled the Massachusetts coast, south to north, on July 3, 2013.  The Flindts and I began our day with brunch at a quaint Plymouth café, Blue Blinds Bakery.

 

 

The town was filled with Cape Cod-style wooden homes, painted pastel colors and decorated with flags for the Fourth of July.

We also saw worthy candidates for Dog of the Day.

We spent several hours at Plimoth Plantation, a living history museum of the way the Pilgrims lived in 1626.  There was one area for the Wampanoag Indian settlement, and another for the British settlers.  The Wampanoag settlement was staffed with Native Americans, many of whom had Wampanoag blood. 

 

 

The Wampanoags demonstrated traditional crafts.  One man showed how to burn out the inside of a log to make a canoe.  A woman sat inside a traditional Wampanoag hut, making nets for fishing and baskets.  Another woman sat by a fire, smoking fish and cooking gruel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was one handsome fellow, wearing only a loincloth, who relaxed in his home on Cape Cod, watching TV, when he wasn't at work as a Wampanoag from the 1600s.  He bemoaned the health and safety ordinances that mandated indoor plumbing and water, so he couldn't live like a Wampanoag on Cape Cod.  But what, I wondered, about his love of TV?  And what about that loincloth during Cape Cod winters?

 

We saw a traditional Wampanoag garden, with the corn that was indigenous to the New World.

 

We paused at the Traditional Crafts area before visiting the restored Pilgrim settlement.  A master carpenter made furniture from the 1600s with traditional tools.  His creations, including chairs, tables, and carved chests, are used in the Plimoth Plantation homes, sold in the gift shop, and purchased by other museums.  A potter also made jugs and bowls from the 1600s.

 

 

 

The "residents" of the colonial area of Plimoth Plantation stay in character.  As I walked towards the fort and then down into the village, I chatted with a woman who was out tending her garden, beyond the fort walls, and a man who discussed his schedule for planting and harvesting.  Both of them pretended complete ignorance of the 21st century! 

 

 

 

 

Within the village, we went from house to house, talking with the colonists and visiting such sights as the outdoor bakery and the pens where long-horned cattle lounged.

 

 

 

 

 

One favorite visit was to Priscilla Mullins Alden, wife of John Alden.  As the Flindt children left, I whispered, "That's your Grandma, with a lot of 'greats' added."

Another favorite was William Bradford, the governor.  He lamented about all the time he spent dealing with young men who got into fights!

As I returned to the fort, I could see Michael's and Bryce's heads peeking down from the top.  There was a great view of Plimoth Village from the fort, and a view out to sea, as well.  The Flindt kids were also intrigued by the cannon.

 

 

 

We drove up the coast to Duxbury, where we toured the Alden House.  John Alden, who is David's ancestor, crossed to America on the Mayflower, lived in Plymouth, and then moved north to found his own farm.  The house we visited was actually owned by John Alden's son and built in 1653, but John Alden himself had lived nearby.  It was fun to share with the Flindt children their own history.

 

 

 

 

We got caught in a vast snarl of a traffic jam, as we followed the coast north to Rockport.  Finally, we arrived, as evening began to fall, and met Camille, Steve, and their children, who had spent the day in Sudbury.  All the children dangled their legs over the seawall, looking out at Rockport's picturesque harbor.  We walked down the pier, with its artists' shops, flowery gardens, and widows walks, to spend a while playing on the rocks and looking out to sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We found a "lobster pool" on the coast, where the fish-eaters reveled in lobster and clam chowder, and the meat-eaters had burgers and fries.  The light turned from golden to dusky as we ate.

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner, we went outside to see the sun set, play on the outdoor swings, and watch other families finish their lobsters on tables set up on the grass.  It was a perfect New England evening.

 

 

 

 

Reunion VIII--Concord and Boston

Walden Pond!  Minuteman Park!  The Freedom Trail!  The North End!  On July 2, 2013, we explored all those famous spots.   We time-traveled three hours from the Berkshires into Boston, straight back into the 1700s.  First stop was Minuteman Park, stretching from Concord to Lexington.  We especially enjoyed Hailey's Tavern, which was one of the spots where British soldiers and the Colonials fought as the British attempted to confiscate the gunpowder stocks at Concord.  Costumed guides told us stories of those first clashes in the Revolutionary War.

 

 

 

 

 

The North Bridge was another spot where the British and Colonials fought.

 

 

 

 

We spotted a tiny cabin on a peaceful river near the North Bridge.  The scene reminded me both of Thoreau's cabin on Walden Pond and of the canoe rides I took with Camille and her children down peaceful rivers near Concord when Camille lived in Sudbury.

 

We paused for ice cream cones at Kimball's Farm, rated the best ice cream spot in Massachusetts.  Again, I remembered many delicious ice cream stops when I visited Camille in Sudbury.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After ice cream, the Flindts and I headed for downtown Boston, while Camille, Michael, and the Ebert kids stopped by to see friends in their Sudbury neighborhood.  The Flindts began the Freedom Trail at the Charlestown end, by visiting the U.S.S. Constitution, a sailing ship which fought in the War of 1812.

 

 

 

 

 

The Freedom Trail is marked with a red line painted on the sidewalk.  We followed the red line across the river and into the North End, which is now the Italian area of Boston.  There were red brick townhouses and huge banners across the streets, advertising saints' day celebrations.  The North End is an area of groceries selling Italian sausage and pasta and of bakeries selling cannoli and gelato.  It is also an area of many restaurants--where Boston goes to celebrate Saturday night. 

 

 

 

We stopped at the Old Graveyard, where the tombstones date back to the 1600s.  The graveyard was all the more picturesque because of the American flags decorating the gravestones for the upcoming 4th of July.

 

 

We walked on to the Old North Church, where the Colonists hung their lamps to signal "one if by land or two if by sea" to indicate the route the British soldiers were taking to Concord.  We met not just tour guides and other tourists, but a mascot for a Boston soccer team, drumming up interest in tonight's game.

 

 

 

Paul Revere is an icon in Boston.  We visited his house and then posed with his statute.

 

 

We walked past Quincy Market and into the Old Statehouse, where we took a tour.  The guide explained how this was the building where the British governor presided when the American Revolution began.  After the British evacuated Boston, the Colonists tore down British statues and made the building their own statehouse.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ate supper at Le Conte, a restaurant the Eberts discovered when they lived in Boston.  The pasta was fabulous.

 

 

Dusk was falling over Boston as we drove out of town.  The Flindts, Michael, and I headed south to Plymouth and the Eberts drove to the airport to pick up Steve.