Minute Man National Historical Park

Posted on April 14, 2011April 14, 2011 by Dusty Roads

Boy when it rains around here it pours…buckets…and it was a cold rain. I wore my hoodie and brought my winter jacket plus a rain poncho. I still got cold and soaked but it’s a good thing I came up or I’d be in big trouble on Monday!

It’s easy to find the park but not so easy to find the Visitor Center. I made 3 stops before I found it and even then it’s quite a walk from the parking lot. On a nice day I am sure it’s beautiful but in the cold rain, not so much. It didn’t seem to stop the visitors. I saw quite a few with umbrellas and there were school buses of kids at every stop I made.

Even so when I got to the Visitor Center it was quiet.

I chatted with the rangers and took come pictures of the life-size cut-outs on exhibit.

One of the rangers was asking me questions about my camera because I was taking pictures without the flash. As much as possible I prefer to use ambient light. (Of course that may change when I upgrade the flash) I demonstrated it to him by taking one shot with a flash and one without. Then I asked him which he liked better. He picked the one without the flash.

There was a woman dressed in period dress carrying ing a gun. I think they called them flint locks.

I asked her if I could take her picture and if it was ok for me to post it. She said sure as long as I told everyone that she was a Park Ranger, not a volunteer. So here’s the picture of the Park Ranger in period attire. 🙂

I found the National Park cancellation stamp and got my Passbook verified. Then I started asking questions. Turns out that the National Park does all of their events for Patriot’s Day on this weekend and it’s only done this time of year. They had a list of events on the desk and I asked them why it showed a whole list of things including a craft fair for Monday. The rangers explained that those events were by the town of Lexington and were not connected to the Park. With the ranger’s blessing I took a schedule of events for Monday. He told me that if I had never seen the reenactment that I should see it at least once because it is quite impressive.

They suggested I stick around and watch the movie The Road to Revolution. I was the only one in the theatre and one of the rangers remarked that I might be getting private showing. It was not to be. A group of kids came in. They were pretty rowdy at first but I have to give the chaperone’s credit. Once the movie started they quieted the kids down right away.The movie was really good. I found it very moving as they explained the events that led up to the bloody battle and the start of the Revolutionary War. It story was presented in a multi media format. A holographic type figure narrated and comments came from invisible men in the tavern. The battle was shown in a movie to the right of the central figure. It’s hard to explain but it was very well done.

After the movie I headed back to the car and went in search of the places on the agenda in Lexington. I found the Stop and Shop which is where the ranger suggested I park. I found the Green where the reenactment takes place. There is a sloping hill to the right of the green. I hope I can set up there because I should be able to shoot over the heads of the crowd.

I stopped for gas in Lexington and asked the attendant about the events. He wasn’t too enthusiastic at first but then he kind of perked up and said that if I had never seen it, that it was worth the early morning wake-up call.

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With that I turned my car back south toward home. I was wet and cold and ready to call it a day.

Lexington and Concord

Posted on April 13, 2011April 13, 2011 by Dusty Roads

The weather forecast is for rain all day. Not the best weather for exploring the Minuteman National Park but I really don’t have a choice.

This coming Monday is Patriot’s Day in Massachusetts, well-known for the day on which the Boston Marathon is run. To be honest, that seems to get far more press than the original reason for the state holiday. In fact I bet if I did a “Man in the Street ” interview most people would say that the holiday celebrates the running of the Boston Marathon. Even worse, I was listening to the news last night and the newspeople kept referring to Monday as “Marathon Monday”…No mention of Patriots’s Day. I bet there’s even be some who would think Patriot’s Day has something to do with the New England Patriot’s Football team…Sad, very sad.

You and I know, of course, that the holiday really commemorates the start of the Revolutionary War, Paul Revere’s Ride, and the Battle of Lexington and Concord at the North Bridge or the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World”.

Well, I am seriously planning to get my “butt” and the rest of my body out of bed on Patriots Day and drive out to see the reenactments. They try to make it so authentic that they even hold it at 5:30am! Even so, I am told that thousands turn out to see this and that the roads are closed into Concord and parking is at a premium.

Since I will have to be up so early just to get there, I don’t want to be wandering around wondering where to park and even worse, where to set up my camera to record the action. With my luck, it would be all over before I found it! So today I am going to take a drive down to the visitor center and ask a lot of questions. I will take my rain poncho and reconnoiter the area with my camera. I will give you a full report in my next post.

Since I haven’t been there yet I don’t have any pictures but I can’t have a “naked” post so here’s a picture I just like. 🙂

Roger Williams National Memorial, Providence RI

Posted on March 31, 2011March 31, 2011 by Dusty Roads

As the quest for the National Parks Stamps continues, I may not have succeeded in getting the Adams National Historical Park but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t successful. I took a quick trip into Providence, RI. Providence is only about 30 minutes from my home so when I say a “quick trip”, I mean it.

I was heading into Providence to see the Roger Williams National Memorial. This time I went to the web page www.nps.gov/rowi to download the directions. Then I backed it up with Map quest. I’m sure you’ve heard the expression “Garbage in – Garbage out”? Well I did it again. I entered the wrong address! The Memorial is on North Main st, I entered South Main St.

I found my way to S. Main St. with no problem. The directions were “spot – on” but I couldn’t find anything that looked like a memorial. I parked at a meter and fed about $1.50 in quarters into it’s maw and began to search on foot. According to Map quest (which I still didn’t realize was the wrong address) it should be on my left. There was nothing. Confused I returned to the car and pulled the little Passport book out and that’s when I realized my error. Rather than back track I decided to see if S. Main would turn into N. Main . So back in the car I continued on down South Main and sure enough. With no fan fare or street sign change, there was the National Parks Sign.

As I stopped at the light I realized I was right next to the visitor center. I made a left to go around the block and at the next light I saw a little parking lot designated for Roger Williams Park. I had arrived.

The park is a very attractive little park. I didn’t see any big statue to Providence’s founder but there were a lot of trees and picnic tables and benches. I bet it would be a great place to have your lunch in the summer or just to sit and “commune with nature”. (Sorry that’s my inner flower child coming out.)

After snapping a couple of pictures I made my way to the Visitor Center to collect my stamp. The Center was manned by a really nice ranger who was friendly and informative.

There was a short movie about Roger Williams that was very interesting. It was only about 5 minutes long but that 5 minutes was crammed with information.

Most people learn in school that Roger Williams left the persecution of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in search of religious freedom. I remember when I learned about him in school he wasn’t much more than a foot-note to the Puritans and there was sort of a bad-boy image. It was “ see what happens when you question authority? You get sent away.” Although there is some truth to this image, I think it may have been a bit slanted as there was so much more to this man.

Roger Williams was trained as an Anglican Clergyman but while he was still in England he became more and more sympathetic to the Puritans. Some Puritans sailed to the New World in 1630 to escape the severe restrictions, persecutions and penalties they faced in England and founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony. A year later Williams and his wife Mary followed with another group.

Williams soon clashed with Governor Winthrop. Williams became a “separatist” pushing for a clean break from the Anglican Church. The colony wasn’t ready for so radical a step. Williams also clashed with the Puritans on jurisdiction over what were know as “Matters of Conscience”. These were the first of the Ten Commandments. In Williams opinion, there was no place for civil jurisdiction over such matters.

He disagreed with the colonists where the Native Americans were concerned as well, arguing that Native Americans had as much right to property as the English Settlers. He went on to denounce taking civil oaths in God’s name and paying church ministers from civil taxes.

At some point he crossed a line and the colony refused to tolerate him anymore sentencing him to deportation. To avoid arrest he fled the colony. He spent that winter with the Narragansett cementing a life long friendship. Eventually the Narragansett deeded Williams the land at the headwaters of Narragansett Bay for a colony that he named Providence.

Williams was always a friend to the Natives of the area and although still exiled from Massachusetts Bay Colony, Governor Winthrop had no qualms about calling on Williams to intervene and negotiate on the colony’s behalf whenever relations with the Natives became strained.

I didn’t realize that Rhode Island was the last colony to ratify the Constitution but Williams pushed hard for the First Amendment and Rhode Island did not ratify until that amendment was included. Hence, we are guaranteed freedom of religion thanks to Roger Williams.

All that from a man that was considered a troublemaker and banished to avoid arrest. Sadly, Williams died destitute, only the year of his death being known.

Quite a different take than I got in history class. But to borrow a famous radio phrase: Now you know the rest of the story!

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The Best Plans….

Posted on March 29, 2011March 29, 2011 by Dusty Roads

I think I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again. Flexibility is the key! It’s something that I am not the best at but yesterday flexibility is what really saved the day.

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As you know if you have been following these posts, I do a great deal of preparation for my trips. Not so for my local excursions. I guess because they are local, no planes or trains or overnight stays and that lack of research and planning came back to bite me yesterday.

I thought I had my day all planned out. I had to go to Hingham, Ma on an errand. Since that is pretty close to Quincy I planned to visit Adams National Historical Park and get my next stamp. From there I was heading back to BJ’s to do some shopping and then home to do housework.

The only thing that went as planned was the errand in Hingham. Things went downhill from there but thanks to “flexibility” I did manage to salvage the day.

So here is part one of my story:)

After I completed my errand in Hingham, I pulled out the maps ( I still haven’t gotten a GPS) and checked the address in Quincy. The Adams National Historical Park was listed as 135 Adams St, Quincy. I found it and the exit # off the expressway on the map and headed off. It was cold but clear and bright. I figured it would be a good day for the visit.

I found the exit and got on Adams St. Adams St. crossed Furnace Brook parkway and I made a mental note that taking that would be shorter on my return. I drove past some beautiful homes and then the area began to change to more urban rather than suburban density.

I missed 135 the first time and had to turn around, muttering to myself about National monuments etc that are not well-marked but I did spot it on the 2nd pass along with the closed sign on the gates. The sign said they would reopen in April. Now I gave myself a mental kick for not checking before I came over and asked what do I do now?

I could go into Boston, but Boston is an expensive city. I had the car so I would have to deal with parking and I prefer Boston when it’s warm so I scratched that option. Then I thought of Cape Cod. Maybe I could get down there and get a nice sunset picture. I was coming up on RT 3 after all. In the end I decided to start heading in the general direction of the Cape but play it by ear.

As I headed south on the Expressway I saw a sign for Adams National Historical Park. It was on a different exit all together from the one I had taken. I found a place to pull over and pulled out the little “Passport” and oh gee, in the description it says “Begin your visit at …1250 Hancock St…” Hancock St, I didn’t see that when I started out. I might have been able to get my stamp after all but at this point I was well out of Quincy and I wasn’t going to go back. I’ll just wait until all the exhibits open in mid-April.

My first detour was to Nantasket Beach in Hull. I haven’t been here in years. It’s a pretty drive past beautiful homes. RT 228 winds it’s way right down to the beach so you can’t get lost.

This time of the year most of the places on the beach are closed but even so there were cars in the parking areas and people walking the beach. I spotted 2 lighthouses, one to my left and one to my right. The one on the left looked closer so I wondered if I drove along the beach if I could get closer for a picture.

As I drove along I noticed some kind of tower on a hill above the harbor. I thought if I could get to that hill I would have an unobstructed view so that was my target. After working my way through turning and twisting streets I spotted the tower and sure enough, I was on a hill but it was all built up so there was no unobstructed view. That’s not to say it wasn’t beautiful.

I tried different locations and took some pictures but it wasn’t until I saw the Postman that I got a hint on where to get an unobstructed view. I flagged him as he was stopped to make a delivery and asked him which light house I was trying to shoot. He said it was Boston Light and then added that there was a hidden public way if I wanted a really good view. He gave me directions and off I went. I hope you enjoy the result.

I wasn’t finished in Hull. After I got the Lighthouse photos I decided to explore a little more. I drove past the very exclusive and private gated community on Spectacle Island.

There were loads of things to take pictures of .

As I was leaving Hull I passed a farm that could have been right out of the English countryside. It had no access signs so I only pulled into the bottom of the drive to grab a quick picture of the beautiful scene.

It was only about 3-3:30 at this point so I decided to scratch the Cape for now and swing over to Marshfield to the Daniel Webster Wildlife Sanctuary. I thought I would take advantage of it being later in the day and see if I could see more animals. I’ll let you know if I was successful in tomorrow’s post.

Historic New Bedford and The Whaling Museum

Posted on March 26, 2011March 26, 2011 by Dusty Roads

Cobblestone streets, grand old mansions, ornate trim. Walk the streets that inspired Herman Melville to write Moby-Dick, that’s historic New Bedford.

Inside the Visitor Center I chatted with the 2 volunteers for a bit while I secured my stamps. I hadn’t planned to visit the museum but the volunteers were good. They were quick to tell me about the movie that was showing and that there was a new whale skeleton with a fetus. That kind of got my attention in a morbid sort of way. They said yes, the whale had a fetus and that was on display too. So I wandered off in that direction.

I planned to get lunch before I got involved watching a movie…and one with no pop corn to boot…and headed toward the Catwalk, a pub style restaurant that served amazing food for a reasonable price when Nancy and I were there last year. A couple of guys were hanging out in front that looked like they had just come in off the boat. Unshaven and in watch caps they were loitering and smoking in front of the Catwalk. It turned out the restaurant was closed for renovation. So taking a deep breath I asked the guys about it. They seemed to know all about it explaining that it was being completely done over. I asked them to recommend someplace for lunch and they suggested I go back uptown to a sandwich shop.

I asked them about Pizan’s which was right across the street and they just kind of shrugged, commenting it was ok if I wanted Pizza.

I decided it was worth a shot. It kind of reminded me of the little bar/restaurants I grew up with. There were little booths and a few tables. A plank floor and a counter where you placed your order. 2 Environmental Police came in with me so I figured it couldn’t be all bad. I’m not sure what they ordered but I had a meatball sub and a soft drink. It was not bad but nothing special either. If I go back there again I will have to try their pizza as that seemed to be what those guys felt was the best.

Finishing my lunch I wandered on down to the waterfront. RT 18 is quite a busy street so I didn’t try to cross but I could see the signs for the various ferries to Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. I began working my way back up toward the Whaling museum. In the process I spotted a building with really outlandish window decorations. There were Buddha’s and crows and vines to name just a few. They were all made from a black material, cast iron maybe????…and very shiny.

The sign on the building read Old Dartmouth Historical Society.

A little farther up the street was another white multi-columned building. According to the informational sign displayed this was once a bank. In fact, 2 banks. One side was for the wealthy merchants and whaling elite, Merchants’ Bank and the other side was for the working man , shopkeepers and tradesmen, the Mechanic’s Bank.

This was right across the street from the Whaling museum so it was time to check out the baby whale skeleton and the movie.

As I approached the museum I noticed some decorations I didn’t remember from last year. There was a bright orange squid, a miniature whale boat frame, and a sailor.

There was also some other statue that I couldn’t identify and I forgot to grab a picture. I will have to save that for another trip.

The movie was good, Around the World…The Business of Whaling in 19^th Century New Bedford . The title was longer than the movie! You don’t wait for it to start as it is on a continuous loop. You just go in and sit down and stay until it’s back to where you made your entrance. It tells about the whaling days and was very well done. The theater is also quite attractive. I didn’t go through the museum again but did go into the atrium to see the new whale skeleton and sure enough, there was the little baby skeleton. That is so sad but I guess that’s life …and death…in the wild.