Mayflower II

K and AJ in front of the Mayflower II

During our trip to Plymouth last summer, the Mayflower II was out of commission. Some of the
wood had rotted, and the ship was in need of repair. I was disappointed, but I still held hope that could get out there to see it before we left New England.

When Timo took H and S on a trip recently, my opportunity to visit the replica of the famous vessel arose. Working around my kids' activities, we planned a day trip out to see the ship and to show my mother (who was visiting) parts of Plymouth.

I was somewhat apprehensive about the trip since I was not sure how A would handle that much time in the car, but she did beautifully. We made it out to Plymouth by about lunch time, and we headed to the Mayflower II after eating.

The ship is unbelievably small for having to hold 102 passengers. I could see maybe eight families fitting in there and still getting in each other's way. I cannot imagine how they handled the 66-day voyage and the three months afterwards while waiting for all of the houses to be completed. It gave me a new appreciation for the sacrifices the pilgrims made for a cause in which they so deeply believed.

The shallop they had brought over had been recreated as well, and it was floating next to the Mayflower II to give us an idea of what that would have looked like. I learned they had dismantled it and stored it below deck with the 102 passengers and animals. In fact, some people slept in the pieces, making use of every space they had down there.

I am thrilled that I had the opportunity to visit this fabulous piece of history and share it with my mom,  K, and AJ. (A slept through the whole thing, but I figured that she would not remember it, anyway.) Seeing the historical places in New England really helps bring to life the people and places I would otherwise only know through books.

Maple Days

Yesterday, we took the kids to Old Sturbridge Village to experience their Maple Days events. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate, and it was too cold for the sap to flow. However, we did still learn a little about the sugaring process and how maple products were used in the 1830s.

The first stop once we arrived was a small house where a man showed us how they would boil down the sap and pour it into a mold for the sugar and liquid syrup to separate. While there, we got to taste some maple sugar candy. K really enjoyed it, but AJ refused a piece.

Next, we walked over to the sugaring camp, where they were boiling melted snow over an open fire since the sap was not running. The man working there had put a wooden spile into a nearby maple tree, but nothing was coming out. He explained that the tree keeps the water down in the roots when the temperature dips below freezing. Once it warms up a bit, the tree sends the water up to the crown of the tree. This is what makes the sap flow perfectly for maple syrup. Once the weather warms up, the tree doesn't need to send the water back down to the roots at night anymore. Then the sap available turns bitter and useless to anyone but the tree.

Once we left the camp, we walked to the farm where they were demonstrating how the people in the 1830s used maple sugar in their baking. Saturday is "Bake Day" so they don't have to bake on the sabbath. Maple sugar can be used with a one-to-one ratio, and it doesn't leave a maple aftertaste. The ladies in the kitchen explained how to tell if the oven is the right temperature for the various baked goods. They stick their arms in the hot oven and start to count. When the temperature gets too hot to bear, they stop counting. That is what they call their "pie count".  Everyone has his/her own pie count, and the best way to learn is by someone testing the oven right before you. Then you stick your arm in and start to count. Whatever number you stop at is your own pie count, and you know that is what to aim for when baking without a thermometer in the oven. I found that fascinating.

After leaving the warm kitchen, we headed out to the barn, where we were privileged to see two calves. One was a little more than a week old, but the other had been born the night before. Both of them were so cute, and their fur looked wonderfully silky.

People were starting to get hungry, so we ambled over to the tavern for a meal, pausing at the carding mill, grist mill, and saw mill on the way. After lunch, K wanted to make a craft. She had saved her money to pay for it herself, so she made a punch tin ornament, and Timo took the boys to the indoor kids place to play. H had been looking forward to playing there since we left the house, so I know he enjoyed himself.

K hammering a pattern in her tin ornament

Once K was finished with her ornament, she wanted to design her own decoration on a tin tray. Then, we joined the boys. I heard that they would be milking one of the cows, and I wanted to witness that. I learned a lot about cattle and milking during this event, and I have already had a chance to share some of the knowledge with others.

K's pattern

Watching the milking of the cow

After the milking, it was time to go. S had fallen asleep in Timo's arms, and we needed to get home.

Although I did not really get to witness a true sugar camp, I did learn a lot, and I hope the kids did, too. I will miss the educational opportunities of OSV after we move.

A Journey to the Past

My sister's visit prompted me to plan a field trip to Old Sturbridge Village. This living history museum is set up to bring to life an American town set in the 1830s. Most of the buildings are actual structures from that time in history that have been relocated to the museum. I was surprised at this because I thought they would all be more recently constructed to represent what the buildings might have looked like at that time, much like what we saw at Plimoth Plantation.

When we arrived, the children immediately wanted to visit the children's area, called Kidstory. This is an indoor version of the village, where kids can "farm", dress up in period clothing, cook, shop, and "wash" clothes. I finally had to drag them away from it so we could see the rest of the place.

H working on his crops

Farmer S

K serving a customer root beer

K working at the general store

AJ cooking

Once we moved on, we walked by a small house, a Quaker meetinghouse, a barn, and some sheep. Then we arrived at a place where a lady was washing wool yarn and preparing it to be dyed. There were several colors of yarn hanging up to dry that had been previously processed, and the colors were amazingly earthy and natural. A nearby building showed what they used to arrive at each color, and there was a display showing various types of yarn and how they were processed. There was also a lady at a spinning wheel spinning some of the raw wool into yarn. Upstairs was a display about quilting, and the kids enjoyed playing with plastic squares and triangles to design their own quilt squares.

H in the Quaker Meetinghouse

H in a barn

K and AJ with the lady washing yarn to dye

The beautiful colors of dyed wool

Spinning

Weaving

AJ designing a quilt

One of the display quilts

The chair where the lady of the house would have done her knitting and mending

A cute little doll's bed

At this time, I took S down to sit on a bench and eat some lunch. The others soon joined us, and we ate in the shade while looking out across the common. When we finished, we started toward the schoolhouse. I pushed the stroller while everyone else rode a horse-drawn trolley. The kids told me one of the horse's names is Jim.

Upon arriving at the schoolhouse, we stepped inside where a lady was explaining the building, the school, and the requirements for the teachers at that time. One thing that stuck out was that the teachers did not have to have much training, and they usually ranged from 15 to 25 years old. The literacy rate at that time was about 90%, whereas it is now around 75%. S was getting fussy, so I stepped out with him. K and AJ wanted to experience a "lesson", so they stayed inside until the "class" started. They could choose from reading, math, or spelling, and they chose math. The questions were oral word problems, and my kids aced them. The actual math was very simple, and I wished they asked them more challenging questions. K was disappointed that she did not get to use a quill pen, but at least she could write on the slate.

S at a desk in the schoolhouse

A well-used desk top

K practicing her letters on a slate

AJ peaking out of the schoolhouse window

After their lesson was over, they came outside and played with the schoolhouse toys -- jump ropes and a pair of stilts. The stilts were a bit broken and therefore very difficult to use. My sister, Jaime, helped my kids walk on them, but no one could do it solo.

H walking on stilts with Auntie Jaime

AJ walking on stilts with Auntie Jaime

 From the schoolhouse, I stepped over to look at the pottery making building. As they only fire up the kiln twice a year, it was full of unfired pottery. After that, we hurried back to where the musket demonstration was supposed to take place.

The kiln

Pottery waiting to be fired

We arrived at the musket demonstration just in time for the guy to fire off the final round. He showed us how to load a musket and explained why the muskets of that period were so dangerous to shoot. The barrel was formed out of a sheet of metal and welded on the bottom. If that weld failed, the shooter could lose life or limb.

Musket man

The kids wanted to try out the town pump next, so we followed them over where they took turn pumping and playing in the cool, refreshing water. From there, we headed to the bake shop and store, where H convinced me to buy a Colonial soldier costume and AJ bought a hat.

Fun at the town pump

 

 

Jaime pointed out that the craft center would be a fun stop for the kids, so we strolled in that direction. When we arrived, K, AJ, and H chose to dip candles, and Jaime took S to the nearby play area to keep him happy. H grew tired of the tedious process of dipping candles, so my niece, Edith, finished for him while I took him out to join his little brother. When they finished, K asked if she could make the sconce as well. My response? "If you pay for it." She headed back to the craft shop to complete her project, and the rest of us sat in the shade and watched the boys play.

Dipping candles

A cute little sheep

K making a sconce for the candles

A familiar cow and farmer's wife

Once K finished her sconce, we realized that she was missing her bonnet. She claimed that she had it at the well, but after retracing our steps back there and inquiring at the store, it was still MIA. At this point, we split up. Jaime and Edith took the boys to the beekeeping exhibit while K and I retraced our steps even further until we found it at the schoolhouse. Praise the Lord. We then hurried to catch up with the rest of our crew. When we arrived at the beekeeping exhibit, I realized that S had kicked off his shoe somewhere along our hurried way. We turned around and had only walked about 100 feet before someone who had found the shoe returned it to us. Another praise.

At this point, I was ready to get out of there. We made our way to the exit, paused to peruse the gift shop, stopped at the bathrooms, and headed to the car.

It was a busy, day, but I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I don't know what I would have done without Edith and Jaime. They made the trip so much easier, providing two extra sets of hands (and eyes) to help with the kiddos. I am so thankful for their visit out to see us.

My little Continental Soldier

An Author's Abode

Mark Twain's former residence.
That is the conservatory there in the lower left. 

My sister and niece, Jaime and Edith, honored me with a visit this week. Their presence prompted me to get out of the house and see what Connecticut has to offer. Today we perused Mark Twain's Hartford house. I had always thought he was from Missouri and, therefore, spent most of his life there. However, this trip taught me that he actually wrote his most famous works in Connecticut. 

The front of the house



The house measures more than 11,000 square feet in size, and much of it has been restored to at least resemble what it may have looked like when he lived there with his family. In  fact, one of his daughters was still living when it became a historical site, and she helped the original restorers put things in their proper place to most closely resemble the house when she (and the famous author) lived there.

 

We chose to tour both the servants' quarters and the main house, but no pictures were allowed in either region, so I had to commit to memory what I could and rely on publicly available photos for the rest.

 

The back of the carriage house.



 

The servants' quarters seemed fairly typical. They lacked the ornate features found in the rest of the house, but the oven and stove were top-end, and the rest of the furnishings at least gave us an idea of what it might have looked like. None of the items in this portion were original, but the oven/stove was supposed to be the same model that Samuel Clemens had bought for his staff to use.

 

Behind the main house lies the carriage house. At the time, it housed not only the carriages, but also the coachman and his family (including seven children). It seemed to be a pretty good-sized building, but it is for staff only. We therefore had to settle on viewing it only from the outside.

 

 

The Carriage House

The rest of the house was fun to see. Most of the fine art never belonged to the Clemens family, but the museum has done their best to give visitors an idea of how the house was decorated. Some of the original pieces include a mantle purchased on a trip to Scotland and their bed, an item for which Samuel Clemens evidently paid entirely too much. The second floor included a schoolroom for his three girls. I loved seeing the little desks and chairs. I could picture my own little brood sitting there learning their lessons. The top floor holds the billiard room and Mark Twain's desk. He kept his manuscripts in a piece of furniture with cubby-holes. He would take a story out, work on it until he got stuck, put it back, and grab the next one. In this manner, he finished many of his famous books.

Of course, I could not have toured the house without the assistance of Jaime. She watched S and H for me so I could listen and learn about the former home of this talented man. What a sweetheart she is.

When we were finished with the tours, we headed out to eat and then home. It was fun to have a chance to visit a new museum and explore a small portion of history with my children. I hope that AJ and K remember what they saw and learned when we study the late 1800s in history this year.


Wait, I know that girl!

Tom Sawyer?

This guy is up to something.

Not quite tall enough

Standing with Lego Mark Twain. This was the best picture I got with him.

Just Another Day in Plymouth

The kids had been begging us to visit the local splash-pad and the beach, so this morning, we decided it was best to oblige and avoid mutiny.

We chose to drive down to the splash pad simply because then we would not have to carry everything from the hotel. It was only half a mile away, but we wanted to take lawn chairs, towels, the camera bag, and extra sunscreen. This proved to be a poor choice since we were unable to find a legal parking spot in the parking lot. We parked illegally next to another car (as many cars had done), unloaded, and walked to the splash pad.

Timo took the kids into the water while I sat in the shade with our stuff and enjoyed the fresh air and peace. When the kids grew tired of the splash pad, Timo and I carried everything over to the beach, where everyone seemed to enjoy themselves even more.

Starting the sand castle



AJ building

Working hard

Enjoying the sand and water

Construction workers

Cutie

 The waves were small, and the water was shallow for a long enough distance that the kids could safely wade without worries. S especially enjoyed sitting at the edge of the water and playing in the sand. The older kids worked on a sandcastle with Timo for a while, then they decided to build a wall in front of the water to keep it from going any farther. That kept them occupied until it was time to leave.

Meanwhile, S grew tired, and he came to me to nurse and fall asleep. I put him down in the stroller and waded into the refreshing water for a while to cool off a bit. It is amazing how much cooler one is when one can merely put one's feet into the water.

Starting the wall

When the sand wall had been completed, I chose to walk back with still-sleeping S so we did not have to wake him up to put him in the car seat. K and AJ chose to walk with me, and Timo took H and most of our gear back to the car. When he arrived, he found a parking ticket waiting for him. Maybe we should have walked there after all.

When we arrived at the apartment, we ate lunch. Then K and I hurried to Burial Hill for a presentation on some of the historical figures from the Revolutionary War. We arrived a little late, but we enjoyed the speech and history lesson we received.

James Warren

James and Mercy Warren -- Apparently, Mercy was quite a gal

When the presentation was over, K and I went off on our own to explore the cemetery. We had learned that William Bradford is buried there, and we wanted to find his grave. Sure enough, we found it. He is buried next to his son of the same name. This is fortunate since they would not have known otherwise where the ex-governor of Plymouth lay since his grave was not originally marked. His son had requested to be buried next to his father. For this reason, we know where the famous Pilgrim found his final resting spot.

Gov. William Bradford's son's grave

Grave marker for William Bradford



Thomas Cushman's grave

We also found Thomas Cushman's grave, but we were unable to find William Brewster's grave. We know he is buried there somewhere, but we were hot and tired. It was time to go home. Before we left, though, we found a sign indicating where the first fort had been built. That was fun as we were able to picture it based on what we had seen at Plimoth Plantation.

This was fun to find

After we returned to the apartment, we cooled down with some ice cream, and got ready to walk to the Pilgrim Hall Museum. This museum houses some of my favorite historical displays. They do not allow pictures, so I started writing down a list of what I saw. William Brewster's sea chest, WIlliam Bradford's Bible, John Alden's Bible, Miles Standish's razor, William Bradford's standing cup, the Pierce Patent from June 1, 1621, the Bradford/Warwick Patent, Edward Winslow's chair, William Brewster's great chair, Mary Chilton's doll, Josiah Winslow's baby shoes, and William Bradford's great chair were just some of the items on display. These items were touched by the people we learn about in the history books, and they serve as a sort of time machine to bring the viewer back to that moment in time, to connect the viewer with the original owner and bring them to life in that wonderful thing we call the imagination.

K and AJ experienced the museum with the aid of a scavenger hunt check-list. The museum provided them age-appropriate lists of items to find as well as questions regarding those items. I have seen more and more museums do this sort of thing, and I think it is fantastic. It provides the children with purpose in what they are seeing, and it enriches their experience.



My sweetie pie

We stayed until the museum closed, and then we walked back to the apartment to figure out our dinner plans.We decided to walk around a little to find a restaurant, and we ended up at one that served Greek food as part of their menu. I ordered some stuffed peppers, which were delicious, but very filling. I was only able to eat half of it. I also got to sit next to my sweet AJ while we ate. Isn't he handsome?

My dinner

After dinner, we walked back to the apartment to pack up our bags so we could be ready to leave in the morning. It was a full trip, but there was still so much we did not see. The Mayflower II was not in port as it is under repair, so we might return after it does. Then, perhaps, we can finish viewing all the sites in this historic city.