Pennsylvania

Second and last try at doing this blog, we are up in the Poconos in Pennsylvannia and the internet is not so great.

We left Massachusetts two days ago and travelled through Connecticut and New York State to finally arrive into Pennsylvannia. We have climbed up to over 1000 feet in elevation and a lot of the trees have lost their leaves. I chose this area specially to do some research on Ron's great grandfather who came from Ireland here in 1852 and then moved onto Canada in 1882 to work for the CP Rail.



Our travels here took us through downtown Hartford Connecticut, now that was a little nail biting, and then we crossed both the Hudson and Delaware rivers.

Yesterday, not knowing quite where to start with the research we headed off to the community that I had learned from historical census, however one community here leads into the next, sometimes it is hard to know where one ends and the new one begins. We found a genealogy center that will be open on Monday so that will be great.

Just in driving around we came across St. Patricks cemetry and stopped to take a look, found nothing but the two caretakers were very informative. The town below the graves, is Blakely and Jessup where William Cadden used to live.



I had also known that William had been hurt in a mine accident at the Grassy Island Shaft and had mentioned it to one of the fellows, he said well look across the valley, there is Grassy Island.
He said it was named so as it used to be the only grassy open spot around.



We went over and got a little closer look, nothing there anymore, I am surprised that there is hardly any sign of all the old mines.



In the afternoon, after tiring of research we took in another college football game, Lackawana vs Alfred State. It was a little lopsided and started to drizzle just at the end.

Today we are off to a mining museum in Scranton, it is supposed to depict the life of the european that came to the area for work.

Plymouth

Our last day in Mass. and we have to get in Plymouth, the skies are clear but they are warning of some rain this afternoon.

Plymouth was quiet except for a few school buses, we were able to park in a parking lot close to down town.

Right behind the car park was the first burial ground for the Pilgrims.

The Howland House is the oldest still standing home that a Pilgrim actually lived.

Ron checks out the nice looking ride.


The Pilgrims chose this spot for their settlement as there was fresh water, their first homes were built along this stream.

In the park is the monument for the Pilgrim women.



We find the rock and knew that it was not going to be big so were not surprised, can you see the crack in it, at one time the rock was split so that a part of it could be displayed at city hall but after some thought it was put back together.

The decendants of the Mayflower society is a very big organization and here is the building they operate out of.

The Mayflower itself.(or a replica of it that is)

The rock is well guarded from souvenier thiefs.

Up on the hill is a very large monument for the forefathers.

Plymouth did have a very good museum regarding the Pilgrims and we spent some time there.

We were about to head off to Duxbury to see the Myles Standish monument but the skies opened up and you could not see driving down the road so we had to opt not to view that one, to bad, I was looking forward to that. Oh well next time.

Second day in Boston

Okay.....okay....okay...perhaps today was not a walk in the park but if anyone needs to know absolutely anything about the USS Constitution, I know it.

Yes, yes, yes.....we spent six and a half hours at the Charlestown Naval Yard , we visited first the USS Constitution Visitor Center, then we did a guided tour of three decks of the USS Consitution and to finish it off we went to the USS Constitution Museum.

I know when it was built, what wars it fought in, what battles it won, how thick the walls are and even what kind of oak used......I also know this information will soon be filed. It was however a wonderfully beautiful warm day and I enjoyed some of my time on the bench in the sun.

Here she is the USS Constitution, the oldest commissioned warship afloat, nick-named Old Ironsides.

Second deck was the gun deck, did you know tomorrow she turns 213 years old, they are having big celebrations.



There was one other ship in port the USS Cassin Young was in drydock.

After our tour of duty at the naval yard we climbed bunker hill to see the monument and the man above was looking after me, the monument itself was closed for renovations and I did not have to climb the 294 steps to the top.........hurrah.....however we did manage to do both floors at the Bunkerhill Museum across the street.

After three advil even the my benches started to feel good.

This is all on the Freedom Trail in Boston and it is a great way to find yourself around as the path seen below is so easy to follow.

Oh...yes we rounded out the day with a visit to the Boston Garden.



with a statue of Bobby Orr.

We then took a very crowded subway home, had to stand all the way, I just thought it was cute how everyone waits for the trains, I think everyone brings their book.

Boston Day 1

Our day in Boston was a success, everything went off so smoothly.
From the rv park we had about a 45 minute drive to the Qunincy Adams substation where we parked the truck. Now this was a first for Ron, his first subway ride. With the help of a wonderful gentleman we managed to purchase our tickets, good price, it cost 4 dollars each to go return to Boston and 7 dollars to park the truck for the day.
I had prepaid trolly tour tickets so once we got off the underground we just had to wait at the bus stop for our ride, and here it comes.

This trolley took us to the main depot where we boarded our tour trolley, it was a hop on hop off whenever you want tour but we decided to ride the whole route and then see where we wanted to get off to explore.

Along the ride we went to Fenway Park, they are still bragging up the Red Sox wins from 2004 and 2007.

We finally did get off the trolley on Beacon Hill and walked the old streets down to the Boston Commons where we found our lunch spot. Cheers....it was fun to see and the food was good but Tanya I did the Bahstan Clam Chowda and it was wonderful.

Across the road was the public garden and we strolled through on our way to the Boston Commons.

Tanya had told us to take a swan boat ride on Swan Pond but the boats were all put away for the season but I did find the two resident swans, we were told their names were Romeo and Juliet, sorry I can not tell you which one is which.

Crossed the road into the Boston Commons, always seems funny to see so much green area in the middle of a large city.

From the Commons we decided to walk the Freedom Trail which is a three mile walk amongst all the historical buildings.

The State Capital buildings border the commons. We stopped in at the Old Granary Graveyard to see the grave stones of some very popular people such as Paul Revere, John Hancock, and even Mother(Mary) Goose.

Down the street we come across Ben Franklin at the Old City Hall, Ben's parents were also buried at the Granary Graveyard.

Here is part of the Irish Famine Memorial, the seagulls were using the statues for rests.

We took a tour of the old State House, where just outside the front doors the Boston Massacre took place. It looks so out of place amongst all the new skyscrapers.

Down to Little Italy and we come across Paul Revere's house, did you know that he had 8 children with his first wife and 8 with his second wife, and after his long ride he stayed away from home for over a year as he was hunted for his participation of the revolution, can you imagine his poor second wife with all those kids.

Little Italy is very quaint and quiet, very narrow cobble stone streets.

On into the northern part of the city and we find a statue of Paul Revere himself.

Through the courtyard we could see the steeple of the North Church where the lanterns were hung for the countryside to see which way the British were coming, one light meant by land and two lights meant by sea.

We went into the church, the whole area is like a museum to the revolution.

Our trolly ticket is good for two consecutive days so we are going back tomorrow to do a few things we could not get to today.

Lexington to Concord

Step back in time with us today.

The date April 19, 1775, the american colonists got news that the British were going to parade with 700 men from Boston to Concord to gather ammunitions that the minutemen having been gathering.

Paul Revere and William Dawes leave Boston on horseback in the dead of night to alarm the countryside that the British are coming.

The lantern from the North Church in Boston alerted the minutemen to which direction the Red Coats would go.

The minutemen scrambled to Lexington to make a stand against the British army and gathered at the Battle green right downtown of the village.

They all gathered at the Buckman Tavern right across the street to decide what to do.


The British arrive, 700 against some 80 colonists, no one knows who took the first shot but it was the fatal shot to start the Revolutionary War. 8 colonists and 1 Red Coat die before the leaders get things settled down and the colonists step aside.

The Red Coats continue down the Battle Road toward Concord, 18 miles from Boston to Concord, all the while the word is getting out that the British are coming.

Paul Revere did not make it all the way to Concord, he was captured about halfway from Lexington to Concord, here they took away his horse and detained him for some time. However a Doctor whom he had recruited along the way did escape and hurried onto Concord to give the warning.

Here is the spot Paul Revere made it to.

Along the way the British marched proudly by the Hartwell Tavern.

Colors were pretty today.

When the British arrived in Concord they were ordered to search everyhouse and take any guns or ammunition. Meanwhile more and more colonists were gathering on the North Ridge above the town.

When the British got to the North Bridge the minutemen met them on the bridge with orders not to shoot until the British shoot first and that did not take long. By now there were over 1500 colonists and more were arriving from all around, the British start to retreat but the colonist give chase. By the time they got back to Merian corner there are over 4000 colonist and a bloody battle ensues along the Battle road. The Brits are joined by 1000 more troops in Lexington but still they are no match to the colonists and are driven right back to Boston, and life in America was never the same.

The Emmerson house was just 500 feet from the north bridge and they watched the fighting from their windows, what an ugly scene that must have been.

As you can tell we had a wonderful day and I learned lots.