We knew we'd have a lot to tackle in Massachusetts and decided to park our home in one location for the length of our 10 day stay. From our campground in Foxboro we were within an hour and a half of all the destinations we had hoped to hit (except to the tip of The Cape which was 2 1/2 hrs). And an amazing campground it was! Normandy Farms was far from the typical RV park. The well kept & treed 100+ acres had 3 outdoor pools, 1 indoor pool, fishing pond, 18 hole disc-golf course, basketball & volleyball courts, soccer & softball courts, on site concierge service & much more, all on beautifully treed, rolling hills. A great family get-away if visiting the area! But with SO much to see, we sadly spent little time enjoying the facilities here.
With a couple of gorgeous days in our forecast before the cooler temps arrived, we decided to start our Massachusetts adventure with 2 days in Cape Cod. On our way to the beaches we stopped by the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory in Hyannis (near the "armpit" of The Cape) for a tour of their plant.
We learned some interesting facts like...
~It takes 4 pounds of potatoes to make 1 pound of chips.
~They use 39 million pounds of potatoes a year in their plant.
~The company started in 1980 and grew from making 200 bags a day to now over 380,000 per day.
Just north of the "elbow" of The Cape was the Cape Cod National Seashore... the most beautiful in our opinion. Forty miles of pristine sandy beach, wild cranberry bogs, marshes & lighthouses, and as we approached Coast Guard Beach, it was as if we were walking into a postcard.
We spent much of the day lounging, picnicking, reading, and a beach walk led us to a herd of seals playing in the water!
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| Tough capturing seals at play! One little head in view. |
Though we could've spent days just in this one magnificent spot, we wanted to make it to the "fist" of The Cape before dark. As we approached, we had to laugh at the view on our GPS... yet another site we'd never see at home:)
Provincetown is home to the first landing of the Mayflower Pilgrims in 1620 after spending 67 days at sea. While here they wrote & signed the first democratic document written in America, The Mayflower Compact. They spent 5 weeks exploring the area before sailing to Plymouth, where they found fresh water & established the first permanent settlement in the northeast. The 252 foot Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown was completed in 1910 and is the tallest granite statue in the U.S.
We stopped in the charming town of Brewster for some common northeastern menu items: fried clams, fresh lobster & lobster rolls (big chunks of lobster tail & claw meat nestled inside of a hot dog bun, with melted butter for dipping).
We needed another beach day, so decided to spend day #2 exploring Martha's Vineyard. We drove the jeep to Falmouth (south of the "armpit") then biked 4 miles along the beautiful coast to Wood's Hole where we rode the 45 minute ferry to the island. We biked straight to a beach and though not as beautiful as the National Seashore, this beach had more shells & rocks to find & calmer waters to swim in.
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| Chasing seagulls! |
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| So many interesting finds on the beach! |
Without enough time to explore the whole island by bike, we hopped in a taxi seeking a spectacular sunset. Our driver was native to the area and quite excited to show us his favorite spots. After an informative tour came our final & favorite destination...
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| The Gay Head Lighthouse seen on the cliffs was one of the country's first revolving lighthouses, erected in 1799. |
Aquinnah is on the very western tip of the island. Many of the residents here are descendants to the Wampanoag Indians who showed colonial settlers how to kill whales, plant corn & find clay (much of which came from the stunning Aquinnah Cliffs) for the early brickyards. In the 1960's & 70's, the cliffs became a popular place for "clay baths" until enough erosion called for laws to be put in place:
So unfortunately no spa treatments for us, just a spectacular sunset to bring the perfect finale to our time at The Cape.
Another fun day in Mass brought a visit to the Sam Adams Brewery in Boston.
Sam Adams got its start when owner Jim Koch brewed a family recipe that had been hidden in his parent's attic for years. Jim's great, great grandfather had used this recipe in his St. Louis brewery in the 1870's which subsequently closed during Prohibition. In 1984, when American craft beers were virtually non-existent, the Koch family tradition was re-born and Sam Adams beer is now recognized world-wide.
The tour included tasting different types of barley, crushing handfuls of hops in order to enhance the aroma, viewing the brew process, and then tasting a few of their 50-plus beer styles.
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| Not a beer fan... this sip was all Jeanne could muster! |
Cambridge was only 20 minutes north of the brewery, so we took the opportunity to visit an Ivy League school. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher education in the U.S., established in 1636 by vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. We took an informative student-led tour of the campus.
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| Memorial Hall |
We found these facts to be most interesting:
~Harvard employs 2,100 faculty to teach nearly 6,700 undergraduates and 14,500 graduate students.
~Harvard has the largest financial endowment of any academic institution in the world, currently standing at $32 billion allowing an average grant of $40,000 for students in need.
~In front of University Hall is the famous statue of John Harvard, also known as the "Statue of Three Lies". The inscription on the statue reads:
John Harvard
Founder
1638
Lie #1: It is not a replica of John Harvard. As no known images existed of him, the artist randomly chose a student to model for the statue.
Lie #2: John Harvard was not the founder, but an early financial contributor.
Lie #3: Harvard was founded in 1636, not 1638.
~Among the school's 8 original Rules & Precepts was Rule #2: "Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the maine end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, John 17:3 and therefore to lay Christ in the bottome, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and Learning. And seeing the Lord only giveth wisdome, Let every one seriously set himselfe by prayer in secret to seeke it of him Proverbs 2:3."
A beautiful campus & another great opportunity to chat about future plans & goals with the girls.
Another 20ish miles northeast was the town of Salem. We were intrigued to learn of the history in this area, but quite disappointed with our visit. With only an afternoon, we decided to ride the trolley tour to get a good overview. The town itself was beautiful with gorgeous, old homes and a lovely harbor.
Googling the history would have been a better use of our time, but we wouldn't know if we hadn't gone...and we won't be returning.
Another daytrip was spent exploring Plymouth. We started at the Plimoth Plantation- a living history museum dedicated to the story of two cultures living in Plymouth Colony during the 17th century. The Pilgrim Village showed Colonists living their day-to-day lives, speaking in first person, as if it were 1627. We went from home to home & in the fields, chatting with Colonists about their lives and even attended a Pilgrim worship service.
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| A wetu (Wampanoag home) was made by using wooden poles staked into the ground to create the dome shape, then covered with tree bark. The bark was easily removed from the tree if stripped while the sap was flowing through the tree. |
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| This woman was making a child's coat out of soft pelts. She used thin tendons for thread & had traded with the English for a needle. |
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| This man shared how his people often used fire as a tool. Here, he was burning out the tree trunk to create a canoe. They would also use the fire to "cut" the trees down. |
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| Helping to make cornmeal |
We then walked over to Plymouth Rock. And it is just that... a rock.
Though there is question whether this is actually the first bit of land William Bradford & the Mayflower Pilgrims touched, (as the first written reference to the Pilgrims landing on a rock isn't until 121 years after they landed) it is an important symbol of this momentous event in our history. The Rock is encased inside a monument & laid at sea level near the site of the Pilgrim's first settlement and Cole's Hill (scene of the secret night burials of those who died during the settlement's first bitter winter).
Also nearby were many monuments & historic sites, all overlooking the bay.
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| Shortly after landing, the Pilgrims elected William Bradford as their new governor. He governed the colony during most of the next 36 years. |
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| From his book Of Plymouth Plantation William Bradford wrote this: "So they lefte ye goodly and pleasante citie, which had been their resting place nere 12 years, but they knew they were Pilgrimes, and looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to ye heavens, their dearest cuntrie, and quieted their spirits." "Lastly (and which was not least) a great hope, and inward zeall they had of laying some good foundation (or at least to make some way therunto) for ye propagating and advancing ye gospell of ye kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of ye world; yea, though they should be but even as stepping stones, unto others for ye performing of so great a work." |
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| In 1921, Native Americans erected a statue of Massasoit- chief of the Wampanoag tribe & friend to the Pilgrims. Since 1970, Native Americans have gathered here to commemorate a National Day of Mourning on the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday as many of them do not celebrate the arrival of the Pilgrims and other European settlers. |
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| After their first harsh winter roughly half of the 104 passengers survived. Those who died were secretly buried nearby to hide the magnitude of their human losses. This monument now holds the bones that have washed out from the original burial site. ..."History records no nobler venture for faith and freedom than that of this Pilgrim band. In weariness and painfulness, in watchings, often in hunger and cold, they laid the foundations of a state wherein every man, through countless ages, should have liberty to worship God in his own way. May their example inspire thee to do thy part in perpetuating and spreading the lofty ideals of our republic throughout the world!" |
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| The National Monument to the Forefathers is the largest solid granite monument in America and is dedicated to the virtues of the Pilgrims including faith, freedom, morality, law and education. |
How exciting it is to be learning about our history where it actually took place!
Next stop was to Concord, Massachusetts, unique in three periods of history. Incorporated in 1635, Concord was the first Massachusetts settlement away from the ocean on a non-navigable river. On April 19, 1775, it was the scene of the first battle of the Revolutionary War. And during the mid-19th century (a period called "The Flowering of New England"), Concord was home to some of the greatest minds in America including Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Ralph Waldo Emerson & Henry David Thoreau.
We stopped for Jr. Ranger books, watched a short movie about the war, grabbed our bikes & rode much of the 5 mile Battle Road Trail from Concord into Lexington.
The road carried us through some of the dramatic events of April 19th, 1775, when a struggle between British authorities, determined to enforce the will of Parliament, and the people of Massachusetts, determined to retain their rights as English citizens, became a war for independence that lasted over eight years.
For a year leading up to the war, the British army under Gen. Thomas Gage had occupied Boston in order to clamp down on the colony's resistance to the mother country's economic policies. Meanwhile, local militia & minute men were becoming a well trained & unified force. In April, Gage & his troops had a "secret" plan to confiscate the patriots' military supplies stockpiled in Concord, but a group of Boston patriots discovered Britain's plans. Couriers Paul Revere & William Dawes notified Adams & Hancock in Lexington that the British were on their way & continued on their horses, now with Dr. Samuel Prescott, warning others throughout the nighttime countryside.
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| Dr. Samuel Prescott riding through town with warning of the British invasion. |
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| Site of Elizabeth and Josiah Nelson's home. Josiah was a Captain of the Minute Men and was known as the first injured of the Revolution due to a British soldier's slashing him on his head with a sword while inquiring at his home about other Minute Men. Josiah went on to warn the Minute Men of the British approaching. |
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| This was home to Catherine & Captain William Smith, commander of the Lincoln Minute Men. When he received word from his neighbor that the British regulars were marching to Concord, he rode into the Lincoln town center and rallied his minute company, who were the first to arrive in Concord later that morning. When the British column passed here later in the afternoon, the Smith family helped a mortally wounded soldier left behind. Thinking he had caused the good family a hardship, the soldier told them they would find a gold sovereign in the lining of his coat pocket. He was buried along the Battle Road. |
On this stretch of the Battle Road, the famous "Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" came to an end. Here Revere, Prescott & Dawes ran into a patrol of 10 mounted British officers. Dawes escaped back to Lexington and Prescott escaped, continuing to carry the alarm to Concord & beyond. Revere was held and questioned, but soon released without his horse.
When the British soldiers finally reached Lexington, a group of minutemen was waiting for them on the town green & the first shot was fired, signaling the birth of American freedom. This first battle of the day left 8 colonists dead but as news spread, militiamen flocked to the British line of march between Boston & Concord. By the time the British reached the North Bridge in Concord, they were outnumbered four to one. As the colonials fired, the British (soon with half of their officers wounded) retreated to the center of town. The skirmish on the bridge was immortalized in Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1837 poem The Concord Hymn recalling "the shot heard round the world".
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| Views of the North Bridge |
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| This is a view from the North Bridge. The monument says: "On the morning of April 19, 1775, approximately 400 colonials stood on the hill overlooking the North Bridge. As smoke rose from Concord center, the order to march was given. In the exchange of fire that followed, Captain Isaac Davis, who had exclaimed 'I haven't a man who is afraid to go', was killed together with Abner Hosmer, a private, also from Acton." |
On their retreat back to Boston (following the same path) colonists (now numbering 4,000) were positioned on either side, firing continuously behind trees and hills along the route.
After nightfall the British troops finally made it to the safety of Bunker Hill, but with a loss of 73 dead, 174 wounded & 26 missing.
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| Several British soldier burial sites are found along the Battle Road. |
Near the bridge were the British grave monument, Minute Man statue & a battle site monument.
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| The Minute Man statue shows a man dropping his plow in the field while picking up his musket, always prepared to be called to fight. By the rude bridge that Arched the flood, Their flag to April's Breeze unfurled, Here once the embattled Farmers stood, And fired the shot heard Round the world. -R. W. Emerson |
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| "Here on the 19th of April 1775 was made the first forcible resistance to British aggression. On the opposite Bank stood the American Militia. Here stood the Invading Army and on this spot the first of the Enemy fell in the War of that Revolution which gave Independence to these United States. In gratitude to God and in the love of Freedom this Monument was erected in 1836." |
Along the Battle Road we also watched a musket demonstration, but our favorite part of the day was talking with the knowledgeable and passionate rangers who encouraged our girls with their love for history.
Before leaving, we stopped at Louisa May Alcott's home.
If you've ever wondered how Jim can possibly run a business while we're so busy traveling, here's a glimpse. The man is amazing... and learning the art of multi-tasking.
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| Conducting business, sight seeing & riding his bike, all at once! |
All this Massachusetts history and I haven't even written about Boston (sigh)!!
So watch for Mass, Part 2 coming soon...
A) Concord (Battle Road)
B) Salem (Witch Trials)
C) Cambridge (Harvard)
D) Boston (Sam Adams & Freedom Trail)
E) Plymouth (Plymouth Rock, Plimoth Plantation & Mayflower II)
F) Aquinnah (Martha's Vineyard)
G) Hyannis (Cape Cod Potato Chip Factory)
H) Eastham (Coast Guard Beach)
I) Provincetown (Pilgrim's first landing site)
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