New England Splendor Tour-Day 7 and 8

Boston and Plimoth Plantation

Day 7 - Tuesday, Sept. 29th

We arrived in Boston and picked up a local guide. As we were waiting for the guide, you'll never guess who I saw walking downthe sidewalk right past our bus?? Stephen King! You cannot mistake him. He looked at me and smiled. Too bad I wasn't thinkingfast enough, I could have invited him on the bus to say hello. We followed the Freedom Trail on the way to the Old North Church, Paul Revere's house and a host of other historic sites. We drove down Beacon Street, saw where they filmed Cheers at the Cheers Bar and there’s a part of Boston on Boston Hill where the glass in the windows turns purple. We saw some of those windows. Saw the State Capitol and the gold dome on top done by Paul Revere. Paul Revere learned the silversmith trade from his father and his work gained quick attention in Boston. After the revolution he expanded his business to include metal works and copper plating. Boston is a lovely city, very clean. Saw a guy vacuuming the sidewalk!We spent some time at Quincy Market. We drove past Ralph Waldo Emerson’s home, saw the site of the Boston Tea Party and we also
saw Massachusetts General - it’s the large teaching hospital with 1200 beds.
How many of you remember the TV series Banacek? It was an early TV
detective series starting George Peppard. The opening scene was of a man rowing on the Charles River – that river is in Boston. I WENT TO HARVARD. We walked around the Harvard Campus and rubbed our hand on the toes of John Harvard for good luck. All of the students rub his toes before taking an exam. The statue is bronze but his foot looks gold from
the wearing away of the bronze with all the people rubbing it.

Three U.S. Presidents went to Harvard. Can you name them?


John Adams, John Quincy Adams and John F. Kennedy.

Drove along Boston’s waterfront. Saw the yacht owned by John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox. Boston has the fifth largest Chinese population. Toronto is first, Montreal second, San Francisco is third and New York is fourth. The street lights and phone booths in Boston’s Chinatown are in the shape of pagodas. We saw Mary Baker Eddy’s Science Church complex with the reflecting pool, Boston Hall - home to the Boston Pops and Boston Symphony Orchestra and MIT.



Day 8 - Wednesday, Sept. 30th

We traveled back in time to Plimoth Plantation where the colonists lived. People were dressed in period clothing telling you all aboutthe living conditions back in the 17th century. I met the mayor of the town - he was quite the character.
The people we met at the Wampanoag Homesite talked of the past, but their story is also a very current one, told from a modern perspective. . Surrounded by soft furs, flickering firelight, and artfully woven bulrush mats, we learned about traditional Wampanoag family life as well as the arrival of the English. You can walk around outside and enjoy the scent of stew as it simmers over a wood fire. Discover traditional Wampanoag plant remedies or help scrape out a mishoon (boat) using centuries-old techniques. Gaze upon the tranquil waters of the Eel River and take this time to glimpse the world of the Wampanoag in the 1600s.The Wampanoag People have lived in southeastern New England for over 12,000 years.

One of the interesting sites at the Wampanoag Homesite was the hut or wetu
they lived in. It’s made out of bark from the trees. I asked how they removed the bark to make the huts. In the spring when the sap is running, they cut a circle around the base of the tree and also one about 6 feet up. They then cut a line from the top cut to the bottom cut right down the middle and the bark is pliable enough to pull it off the tree and place it on a structure
they have made out of tree limbs in the shape of a long oval. They continue
adding these pieces of bark in rows around the wetu until it’s completely covered. Inside the wetu are roughly made bunks where they sleep with a fire pit in the center to keep warm. Both men and women took part in the building of a house and the making of a home. The men were responsible for the actual construction, and the women gathered cattail and bulrush reeds to make mats for covering, lining and insulating the houses.

Also toured the Mayflower II. The ship is a reproduction of the one that first brought English colonists to America. Visiting Mayflower II is an extraordinary experience. The details of the ship, from the solid oak timbers and tarred hemp rigging, to the wood and horn lanterns and hand-colored maps, have all been carefully recreated to give you a sense of what the original 17th-century vessel was like. You go aboard and learn about the 1620 voyage of the Mayflower, the perils of maritime travel, and the tools of 17th-century navigation. We explored the cramped quarters of the ship's passengers. Peered down into the lower level "hold," where the food, clothing, furniture, tools and other items necessary to start a colony were stored. Admired the "spacious" Master's cabin, and compared it to the wet and windy accommodations of the common sailors. The ship is very small and narrow. They had 102 people in the lower bowels of the ship including the animals. I don't now how they survived. In fact, 20 women were along on the ship and only 2 survived to make it to America.
The recreated Mayflower II sailed from England in 1957 and is docked at the State Pier in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

History of Plymouth Rock;
Historians say the Pilgrims stepped on the rock after they rowed ashore from the Mayflower on December 21, 1620. The rock lay unnoticed for 121 years when an elderly Plymouthean, Thomas Faunce identified it in 1741 as the landing place of the Pilgrims. In 1775 the rock split as it was being raised from its bed by oxen. The upper part was hauled to Town Square and the remainder left on the waterfront. The rock stayed in Town Square until 1834 when it was moved to the front lawn of Pilgrim Hall on Court Street. The first section remained in its waterfront bed and in 1849, a granite canopy was raised over it. In 1880 the part which had rested on the Pilgrim Hall lawn was returned to the waterfront and the two parts were cemented together. In 1921, as part of the tercentenary observance, the present granite portico was erected over the historic site by the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America.

Had a wonderful lobster dinner at Wood’s Seafood Market and Restaurant
at the Town Pier in Plymouth for only $9.95. Do you know how to tell the difference between male and female lobsters? The female lobster has a wider tail which she uses to dig holes in the sand to lay eggs.

All in all it was a wonderful day of adventure.

Tomorrow, Day 9, New York City