2021 August in New England

  Fall touring Boston MA, VA, NC, SC,

August in Boston, MA is quite warm and humid. I received a short work assignment near Boston, MA and fortunately this involves having a hotel room where it is much cooler. There are no RV parks nearby so a hotel it is. This work assignment is a pleasure for me, for 4 years ago I had worked here temporarily until a permanent hire arrived, it’s great catching up with people I have worked with before. It’s also nice to know I did not burn any bridges either!

 

Taking advantage of the location, we spent the first weekend touring downtown Boston. For those who are not aware there is an app called IZI Travel. This has worldwide self-guided walking and driving tours in many major cities. The Boston tour allowed us to see many of the revolutionary war sites that we have read about before. Many of these are listed in National Historic Register. Some of the streets still have old cobblestone paving. As you walk or drive with this self-guided tour as you arrive at each site, the tour begins “talking” and telling you about this location. I highly recommend this app when you are touring!

 

Here is a list of the places on this tour: The State House, Boston Commons, Granary Burying Ground, King’s Chapel, Oldest Public School, Benjamin Franklin, Old Corner Bookstore, Old South Meeting House, Old State House, Boston Massacre, Faneuil Hall, Paul Revere House, Old North Church, Copps Hill, Bunker Hill. The USS Constitution is the top on my list for this tour, it also is a National Park! For the most part we did the driving tour in the downtown area, crowds and poor parking made us a little uncomfortable, so we opted for just a drive by.

 

 

 

The Boston area has sooo much to see. A lot of historic items from the revolutionary war. Historic homes in regular neighborhoods. Salem witch trials sites nearby. Seafood everywhere!

 

We went to The John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and had forgotten that presidential libraries required advanced tickets due to Covid-19. Unfortunately, we did not do this in advance and the entire time we were in Boston there were no tickets available for us. We also wanted to tour the MIT Museum, but it was closed due to Covid-19.

 

John Quincy Adams birthplace and farm is a National Park. Only the gardens and birth house were open for viewing due to Covid-19. Tanya had a great time in the gardens and flowers. A flock of turkeys ambled past in the gardens! The boxwoods had been planted before Adams owned the house and are pre-1788 and still thriving. One climbing rose was actually planted by Abigail Adams.

 

 

The Park Ranger described Adams as a farmer as well as a lawyer. He would walk 8 miles daily in his rounds as a lawyer and still had time to work his farm!

 

Another National Park nearby is the Minute Man National Historical Park. Along is a portion of the actual trail used by the British Army who were attacked by the local militia, which sparked the Revolutionary War. The trail can be walked or biked and although it is forested now, at that time it was open farm fields with little cover. Inside the visitor center demonstrations of key people tell the story of how Paul Revere’s ride mobilized the Minutemen to attack the British Army followed by the siege of Boston.

 

Another road trip to Newport Rhode Island to see the fabulous mansions. We did tour the Breakers and the Marble House and The Elms mansions. Both Tanya and I felt overwhelmed with the opulence. Tanya wished she could have met all the craftsmen whose talent and hard work had actually created all the wall carvings and buildings. After she said that I started looking at this quite differently. How amazing to think of the craftsman as you view fine detailed scroll work bordering a fireplace, trim around a door, the picture frames! Sometimes you really wish there were a time machine and you could watch skilled craftsmen create such wonderful work!

 

What a wise and wonderful woman I have in my life!

 

 

The Historical Society has an app that you listen to when walking around the buildings. The app had more information that the printed paper and made it more interesting for me. There are also additional recordings of experiences living in the building that are interesting.

 

 

Another stop is Groton, CT and the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear powered submarine in the world! You do not have to enter the Naval Base; it is directly adjacent to the Naval Base. No base passes required. A museum showing the development of submarines, static displays of some of the electronic equipment used on submarines and key persons in the development of submarines as well as submarine warfare. Interesting displays takes about 45 minutes to an hour for the museum.

 

Actual submarine Nautilus, you can tour the forward section seeing high pressure watertight hatches, berthing (sleeping) areas - Tanya and I have toured other ships, mostly WWI and WWII ships and there is a major difference in the berthing areas. Tanya’s biggest concern was the space between the upper and lower bunk, even though now they had mattresses, there was very little space between the bunks, you can barely roll over!

 

You cannot go up the conning tower, but you do get into the control room to see how they “drive” the submarine. Kitchen, dining area are so different between Officers, Chiefs and crew.

 

Small signs describe ballast and vent tanks and controls to make the submarine rise or sink. Periscopes too! Steep ladders inside lead you to different sections, torpedo room, damage control center, control room, firing control room, berthing. Unfortunately, the engine room is not available to view. Something I am always interested in seeing for I am a retired Naval Engineer.

 

As our working stint finishes in Boston, we drive back to Florida with a stop in Hyde Park, NY to tour Franklin D. Roosevelt home. Again, the Covid 19 means not everything is open to tour, just some areas of the house. The view from the house over the Hudson River had to have been fantastic in Franklin’s day. Now however the trees along the river block much of the view. The displays are still there of the taxidermy Franklin did as a boy, one of his many hobbies. This was a working farm and Franklin began reforestation of the area which gave him the idea during the New Deal as President to create work for people. During his 12 years as President, Franklin is credited with starting Social Security, Federal Deposit and Insurance Corporation, Securities and Exchange Commission, established the minimum wage and unemployment insurance. Franklin gave his home to the newly formed National Park Service.

 

Next door to Franklin Roosevelts home is another home – Frederick and Louise Vanderbilt, related to the Vanderbilts of Biltmore, NC and Newport, RI. They had this home listed as one of the oldest “manicured” properties in the US, dating to the late 18th century. Many modern conveniences at the time were hot and cold running water, flush toilets, electricity, generated by a hydroelectric plant. Most families were using chamber pots. Frederick Vanderbilt was the first Vanderbilt to go to college, studying business and horticulture at Yale Sheffield Scientific School. Here just as at Newport, RI the detail of craftsmanship and opulence can be overwhelming.

 

We drove through the National Park “Delaware Water Gap” stopping at Dingman Falls to enjoy the waterfall. This is a nice drive along a bluff that was a huge shelf and a pass through the Poco Mountains. Very nice drive.

 

In Virginia we stopped at James Monroe (5th US President) home called Highland. A reconstructed house on the site of the original house. Not very large, this was a working farm with slaves for labor. They keep a garden there just as the one used at the time of James living there.

 

If you want to visit this area, be aware there is a lot of history here and nearby. James Madison home – Montpelier, Thomas Jefferson’s – Monticello and Poplar Forest. All good tours and all nearby to Charlottesville, VA, which in itself has interesting things to see.

 

We next stop near Charleston, SC to see our son where we spend some time just having time together!!!

 

The Charleston area has so many things to see that you could spend months here. I had lived near Charleston for several years and had seen much of the area, so much of it was repeat for me but all of it was new for Tanya.

 

Driving the downtown area using IZI App, also the Historical Foundation has an online app with stories about many homes. Interesting things to learn about historic homes and cities often include historical references to the revolutionary period, Civil War period - Charleston has them all and more!

 

During this trip, we toured the downtown using the Historical Society online app. Several places had audio function and shared much more information than the written part. All the locations had very short descriptions of each location. Very interesting way to tour.

 

Nearby McClellanville, SC is the Hampton Plantation State Park. This weekend happened to have an author telling ghostly tales of the Hampton Plantation. Very nice tour of the building which did not have any furniture common to most tours, it did have open walls, ceilings and floors to demonstrate the construction methods of the day. This is similar to another nearby plantation called Drayton Hall which is along the Ashley River. Both plantations showed that being alongside tidal rivers was very productive for “Carolina Gold” which is rice. Changes is agriculture have made other areas much more productive in rice growing and it is no longer grown in the south east coastal areas. That is for one exception and south of Charleston is a reconstructed rice field that harvest strictly for the name “Carolina Gold” more tourist attraction than production.

 

The author provided nice spoken tales, the one I was most intrigued with concerns the legend of “The Swamp Fox” Revolutionary war general (southern) General Francis Marion. He had been dining with the family (the Rutledges) in Hampton Plantation when the British army appeared. He quickly disappeared into the swamp as per his namesake.

 

Alas, it is time to end this journey for the season. I work a few months each year and the call to duty is upon us. See you in the spring!