The theme this time was the Cradle Of Liberty, a road-trip through sites in Massachusetts, from the founding fathers through to the midnight ride of Paul Revere. See pictures at this picassa web album.
Saturday 17th Feb, we drove out I-95, stopping briefly in New Bedford, whaling capital of the 19th century. Just one quick photo-op at the Seamen's Bethel and the "ship's bow" pulpit in that church. Interesting plaques on the wall memorializing fishermen's deaths at sea and a pointer to Herman Melville's pew.
(We would have started out with a drive-by of the Lizzie Borden house in New Falls, but missed the exit. A rare navigational error by yours truly.)
Thence to Plymouth, MA. Quite a nice little town with quick views of Plimouth Plantation (a smaller version of Colonial Williamsburg) showcasing the small houses, logged palisade, and meager existence of the Puritans after their near-disastrous journey to the 'new world'. Half the contingent died the first winter.
Plymouth Rock itself -- which actually has fairly good provenance of being the location of the first landing -- was more impressive than most pictures show. About a mile inland is the 81-foot-tall statue commemorating these forefathers. Wonder why this ("one of the biggest granite statues in the US") isn't better known. Especially as 335 million US citizens can trace their lineage back to one of the Mayflower ancestors. Background material from The Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick, a very good description of the Pilgrims and their tribulations followed by a meandering account of the King Phillip Indian wars.
From there, off to Boston, with drive-by visits to the Adams households in Quincy and JFK's birthplace in Brookline.
Saturday night, we got together with Jeff/Lynne and Shannon/Peter. Excellent dinner at the Rustic Kitchen , fancy food and home-made ("artisanal") pasta.
Sunday, traipsed around Boston in bearably cold weather, following the "Freedom Trail" with special notes made at the "Old Bookstore", previously the home of Tickner&Fields publishers of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, the Paul Revere home, and The Old North Church. This begins the Revolutionary War portion of the history lesson: With the British becoming increasingly annoyed with Colonial transigence, the Redcoats planned to confiscate arms and ammunition in Concord, MA, on April 19th, 1775. Learning of this plan, the colonials enacted their plan - Paul Revere (and others) rode out from Boston warning of the impending military expedition, and local Minutemen gathered at Lexington to oppose the them.
However, before following Revere's footsteps, we did stop at the Cheer's bar off Boston Common for a quick pick-me-up!
We drove off from Boston, to Charleston, where Revere borrowed a horse, and then to Medford, his first stop to alert the locals (and also the home of "Jingle Bells", based on the town's wintertime sleigh races). From Medford, to Arlington, and then to Lexington. We camped at our base, the Best Western at Historic Concord.
Sunday Morning we left early and got back to Lexington's town green and "the shot heard round the world". Here, militia, alerted by Revere and others, had gathered to confront the red-coats. This past weekend, wind chills were 10 degrees below zero!! The graveyard in back of the picturesque church (built long after the war) holds several dead from this battle, including some fallen British regulars.
We drove west on Mass Ave, which follows the western edge of Minuteman National Historic Park. As the colonial militia retreated west, several further skirmishes with the British ensued. This park will make a very interesting walk in warmer weather; it was far too cold for us to get out. And we are told that the visitor's center has a great movie presentation on the history -- alas, closed during the winter season when only fools would go to visit.
We continued to Concord: In 1775, the militia gathered there decided to group themselves at some high ground just east of town, across a small river. The British came across "the old north bridge" but were then routed and forced back, and indeed, the rout continued and they were made to retreat under heavy casualties all the way back to Boston. Again, our visit outside the warm car to walk over the bridge was curtailed due to extreme wind and cold. At the North Bridge site is the second of the Minuteman statues.
(We couldn't get in to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery to see the graves of Thoreau, Alcott, Hawthorne - closed perhaps for the holiday weekend?)
We stopped at Concord Museum to see one of the lantern's used by Revere to warn of the British expedition's travel plans ("two if by sea"). Misc other artifacts of the war. And Emerson's original study, moved from his house, still situated across the street.
Off to drive-by Walden Pond, much bigger than we imagined and the recreation of Thoreau's cabin, much smaller.
The gang split up at this point. We drove off to lunch at The Wayside Inn with Kristen's Auntie Anne. This inn was immortalized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's "Tales of a Wayside Inn", a nostalgic look at storytellers gathering in the old parlour as remembered by Longfellow and his friends. This Inn has been in service since the late 1600s and so has been a part of all of the previous history noted here. As a literary and historical conclusion to this trip, the first tale told, by the Inn's landlord, is "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere", the publication of which in 1863 re-ignited interest in this part of the Revolutionary War story.
Posted by netrc at February 23, 2007 01:27 PM