Links To the Sea

National parks continue to help me understand the history and/or character of an area, and today’s park was no exception.  The New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park in downtown New Bedford interprets the city’s role in the whaling industry.  New Bedford was the preeminent whaling port during the mid-nineteenth century and, at one time, the wealthiest city in the world.



New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park Visitor Center



U.S. Custom House, the Oldest Continuously Operating Custom House in the U.S.

This park is another partnership between the National Park Service and local organizations, including the New Bedford Whaling Museum, and the park has made significant contributions to the revitalization of downtown New Bedford.



Seamen's Bethel



Mariners' Home

Tim has suggested that we take the time to watch the orientation films at the parks we visit, and we have only missed one or two.  These films are usually very well done and put the park into perspective.  I’ve found them to be very worthwhile.  Here in New Bedford the film “The City That Lit the World” explains the history of whaling here, including how whale oil was used for lighting during the nineteenth century.

Whaleman Statue

We finished our visit with a swing by the waterfront and marveled at all of the vessels docked there.  We later determined that the distinctive boats we saw are used to dredge for scallops.

Schooner Ernestina



Scallop Boats



I Know There's a Fish Around Here Somewhere

This afternoon our destination was Mystic, Connecticut, where Tim hopes to learn about his distant relatives, the Greenman family.  Tim’s grandmother was a Greenman, and the Greenmans were instrumental in Mystic’s history.  In the 1830s, three Greenman brothers founded the George Greenman & Co. Shipyard, which is now the site of Mystic Seaport.

The three houses built by the Greenman brothers are preserved at Mystic Seaport, an outdoor museum dedicated to telling the story of America’s relationship to the sea.  Also on the grounds is the relocated Greenmanville Church, which was financed by the brothers.  This section of Mystic was called Greenmanville after the three men.



Historic Photo Identifying the Houses Built by the Three Greenman Brothers in Mystic



George Greenman's House



Clark Greenman's House. This House Contains Mystic Seaport's Administrative Offices.



Thomas Greenman's House.  This House Is Open To the Public.



Greenmanville Church With an Anchor From a British Man-of-War Ship in Front

Mystic Seaport’s research center is open tomorrow afternoon, and Tim will do some digging there.

Constant Change

What a beautiful fall day to explore Cape Cod.  Provincetown, where we camped last night, was charming, and much more peaceful than it is in season. 

We set out to visit the Cape Cod National Seashore, which is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary.  The theme of Cape Cod seems to be constant change.  We heard that phrase repeated over and over.  The phrase describes the ever-evolving landscape that is formed and reformed by sand, wind and water.  We learned more about the “sands of time” in the National Park Service orientation film, which explains how deposits from glaciers laid the basis for the Cape’s landscape, as well as the processes that create changes today.

We explored the marshes around Salt Pond, which is a kettle pond.  Kettle ponds are depressions in the earth that were created after scattered chunks of glacial ice melted.  We also had to see the beaches.  Few people were about, and the ocean was calm, despite the high winds.  The Cape Cod National Seashore also preserves several historic buildings, and we saw the Nauset Light, which is still in operation today.



Salt Pond



Cape Cod National Seashore



Tim On Cape Cod



Sarah On Cape Cod



Nauset Light



Bayberry Quilters of Cape Cod - 30th Anniversary Quilt Show,
A Part of the 2011 Challenge To Celebrate the 50th Anniversary
of Cape Cod National Seashore

In order to see historic Cape Cod, we drove along a long stretch of the Old King’s Highway, also known as Scenic Route 6A.  Here small, quaint towns such as Brewster, Dennis and Yarmouth preserve scores of houses built in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.  This is where I could experience much of the charm that Cape Cod is known for.

Since we had not had the time to visit the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park in New Bedford, Massachusetts, on our way to Cape Cod, we decided to end the day there.  Our last hour on the road was a wild goose chase looking for a campground near New Bedford.  The first campground on our list apparently had disappeared, the second one had already closed for the season and the third simply did not exist.  We had talked ourselves into staying at a Wal-Mart parking lot, but even that didn’t work out.  The Wal-Mart on our list of “camping-friendly” locations no longer permitted overnight parking.  We finally gave up and found a hotel.  We’ll visit the national park in the morning.

The Cape of Cod

We said farewell to Jane and Providence, Rhode Island, and pointed the RV eastward.  Our destination was Cape Cod, or the Cape of Cod, as Tim enjoys calling it.  The sun was shining, and it seemed to be a perfect day to make our way out toward the Cape.

We detoured through Newport, Rhode Island, just so Tim could see the grandest of the grand “cottages.”  We decided not to take the time to walk around, so Newport became a “drive-by” destination.  The height of the RV, however, did give us a great perspective from which to view the mansions on Bellevue Avenue, so Tim at least got a taste of how the barons of the Gilded Age lived.



The End of the Cliff Walk in Newport

The day somehow slipped away from us as we made our way to the end of Cape Cod.  Thank goodness we were going east, as the traffic heading back into the city was backed up for miles.  We drove all the way to Provincetown, Massachusetts, and will explore the Cape tomorrow.

Norman and the Caporelli's

We began our day at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where we were joined by a huge crowd of people.  If the museum was this crowded on a weekday morning, what must it have been like on Columbus Day weekend?  Like him or not, Norman Rockwell had a vision of America and was a master at capturing American values and small town life.



Sarah at the Norman Rockwell Museum



Norman Rockwell Museum

The museum, which was designed by Robert A.M. Stern in 1993, was built on the grounds of Linwood House, one of the early Berkshire “cottages.”  That house has been preserved, although not open to the public.  Rockwell’s studio was also relocated to the museum grounds.



Linwood House



Norman Rockwell's Studio

The museum includes not only the Norman Rockwell permanent collection, but also exhibits not related to Rockwell.  Ice Age to the Digital Age was on display, celebrating the 3D animation art of the Blue Sky Studios.  Fanciful sculptural robots dotted the museum grounds.

Robot Sam - A True Ameri-Can, by Chris Spollen

I Can't Get Enough Fall Color

After a brief stop for lunch in Stockbridge, we headed east.  The drive across Massachusetts was not particularly exciting, since we didn’t have time to stop, but we did make it to Rhode Island and the Wawaloam Campground in West Kingston.  The campground is really nice, with huge sites, and the sites in our area are even partially enclosed with low stone walls.  To top it off, we are next door to a historic Rhode Island cemetery.  I love it!



Downtown Stockbridge

Our Campsite at Wawaloam Campground

We spent the evening with the Caporelli clan.  Jane and her mother picked us up, and we drove to Providence for a quick tour.  We met Jane’s sisters Mary and Patricia, and her beautiful nieces Torrey and Tessa, for dinner at Angelo’s, an Italian restaurant on Federal Hill.  We spent a wonderful evening catching up with friends and enjoying fabulous Italian food. 

We ended the evening at WaterFire in downtown Providence.  Both a work of art and an event, WaterFire is a uniquely Providence experience.  A series of bonfires in the Providence River illuminate the river and bridges, music fills the air and gondolas carry visitors among the fires.  WaterFire celebrates the renewal of the downtown area and the rebirth of the river.  It was an amazing experience.

Amazing WaterFire

WaterFire with a Gondolier and  Downtown Providence in the Background

Hangin' Out

We’re just hanging out and relaxing today at a campground in the Berkshires.  We are in a wooded spot with lots of pretty leaves, and we are watching them fall.  Autumn will be over before we know it.  It’s a little cooler today, and not as sunny, but we don’t mind.  It has been a good day to catch up on sleep and a few chores.

Tomorrow we head for Providence, Rhode Island, to visit with Jane and the Caporelli clan.  Jane is flying up from Miami, and her mother and most of her brothers and sisters live in Rhode Island.  We may need today’s rest to survive what is sure to be a jam-packed, fun, extended weekend.

Happy Anniversary To Us

Tim and I are celebrating our second wedding anniversary today.  Being married to Tim is the best thing that ever happened to me, and I am so grateful that he is willing to put up with all of my foibles.  Who would have thought that Tim and I would be traveling around the United States in an RV with a cat on our second anniversary?  Certainly not us, but I can’t think of a better way to celebrate.

Thearaputic Riding Academy Against a Colorful Mountainside

A Beautiful Vermont Country Road

Our drive today took us through southern Vermont and one of my favorite picture postcard villages, Newfane.  It’s as charming as I remembered, but we only took time to snap a few photos.  We were on our way south to the Berkshires of western Massachusetts.

Courthouse in Newfane

The Steeples of Newfane

We again encountered damage from Hurricane Irene during our travels.  Our planned journey across the Mohawk Trail in northern Massachusetts was derailed because most of the highway was closed due to road damage.  We were only able to sample a taste of the Mohawk Trail from Greenfield to Shelburne Falls, where we stopped at a wonderful organic market for supplies.

The alternate route, however, was lovely, and it took us south and west along several beautiful scenic byways where we continued to see more and more fall foliage.

Lovely Lake in Massachusetts

Ducks a l'Lake

An Industrial Revolution

Our last stop in Maine was Kennebunk and Kennebunkport.  The Kennebunks are charming New England towns with incredible architecture, and both were bustling today in anticipation of the holiday weekend.  Of course, the most famous resident of Kennebunkport is George Bush, and we made the obligatory drive by the Bush compound on our tour of Ocean Avenue.



The Wedding Cake House in Kennebunk



Greek Revival in Kennebunkport



How About A Carriage Ride?



The Coast Along Ocean Avenue



Stretches On the Rocks

Before we made our way to New Hampshire and Vermont, I wanted to visit Lowell National Historical Park in Lowell, Massachusetts, so we made a slight detour to the south.  Lowell has been on my radar since 1978, when it became a unit of the National Park Service, but I had never managed a visit.  I persuaded Tim that we should go, and we are both so glad that we did.

Lowell National Historical Park tells the story of the American Industrial Revolution through exhibits and canal and trolley tours at various buildings and sites throughout the city.  I had always known that Lowell was an important mill town, but I did not realize that Lowell was America’s first industrial city.



Tim, Trolley and Train



Sarah At the Trolley Stop

Lowell’s location at the falls of the Merrimack River was key to its industrial development as the waterpower was harnessed to run the machines of textile mills.  A system of canals was built to power even more mills, and by 1850 ten huge mill complexes employed more than 10,000 people.

The park interprets not only the rise and fall of the city’s textile mills, but also the human history of mill life as well.  Mill girls, who came from the farms of New England to work in the mills, lived in company-owned boardinghouses, and one of the houses has been reconstructed with rooms furnished in the style of the 1850s.  This building also tells the story of the immigrant mill workers, who gradually replaced the mill girls after the Civil War.



Boott Mills Boardinghouse

My favorite exhibit, however, was at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum, where we saw a 1910s weaving room with operating looms.  Cloth is still being woven today, and items produced here are offered for sale.  The Boott Cotton Mill is a fabulous brick building built in 1836.  I love mill buildings, and this is a great one.


Boott Mills



Wonderful Mill Architecture



Weave Room At Boott Mills



Operating Looms at Boott Mills



Cloth Is Still Being Produced

The National Park Service has partnered with the City of Lowell to preserve the city’s industrial heritage, and I was amazed to find out that approximately 80 percent of the square footage of the city’s mill buildings has been adaptively reused.  The new goal is 90 percent.  The loft spaces and condominiums created in these buildings must be amazing.

Ranger Lowell Has Joined Our Happy Family

Tim and His Laptop Kat