Snapshots of New England Part 3

After we left Plimoth Plantation I asked if we could stop in Plymouth so that I could take photos of the replica of the Mayflower in Plymouth Harbour. I went on board last time we were here and can remember being stunned at how small this ship was. Frankly I wouldn't care to do a short trip across the English Channel on it much less cross the Atlantic!! The people who made these crossings were incredibly brave.


This is Plimoth Rock which marks the spot where the Pilgrims landed all those years ago. It is now protected by a rather splendid Greek Revival type structure and is also behind railings. I prefer it without all the modern trappings though.


For those who like a little added splendour here is the canopy that covers the Rock.



In order to take the photo of the canopy I climbed quite a long flight of steps and was rewarded when I got to the top by this wonderful statue of Massasoit the leader of the Wampanoag people.



This plaque commemorates him and reminds people of the great debt the Pilgrims owed to him and his people. Clicking on this image and the others will make it clearer.



From Plymouth we drove to Newport,Rhode Island to see a couple of the mansions. We stayed overnight in Newport and next morning bought tickets to see five of them. C said after the second one that she'd had enough. This was one of the two we visited and is called The Breakers - I really loved this house and could definitely imagine myself living in it. No interior photos were allowed so you will have to take my word that it was both stunning and comfortable inside. Both Mr and Mrs Vanderbilt's bedrooms had a chaise longue with a bookrest across it and I could imagine lazing there in the heat of a summer afternoon with a good book or some needlework.


This is the best I could do with this photo of the wonderful loggia( an outdoor room enclosed on three sides and open at the front) as it was cordoned off and I couldn't get a decent angle. The mosaic walls and ceiling were really beautiful and sitting out here on a steamer chair or in a big rattan plantation chair sipping a cocktail must have been a real pleasure........



.....especially with this view of the sea in front of you. Again not a very good photo but it gives you an idea.


This is Rosecliffe which is prettier outside than The Breakers but nothing like as nice inside. The reason I really wanted to see this place is because Cole Porter spent several summers here and wrote some of his famous songs during his stays. I love Cole Porter's music and it was fun to think that I was walking in rooms and gardens where he'd once walked.


This is a close-up of the fountain in the front garden of Rosecliffe.


These colourful rowing boats were in Rye harbour.



We spent a day at Deerfield Fair and among the craft exhibits was this great hooked rug.............


..........and this one that was so intricate and seems to have won not only a richly deserved blue riband but also another award - best in category maybe?


One of the attractions at Deerfield was the high wire act called the Wallendas - I took this photo but didn't watch much as I really dislike watching high wire acts in case they fall. The Wallendas work without a safety net and have had one or two fatal accidents in the past.


I thought these vegetable animals were fun:)


One of my favoirite stores is LL Bean and here I am standing beside the famous boot outside the flagship store in Freeport, Maine.


A comment on the last post by Alchemillamolly asked me where I would go in New England if it was my first visit - the answer without any doubt is Maine, in particular Down East Maine and Acadia National Park. I love the coastline of this state, it is spectacularly beautiful.


Both the above photos were taken in the evening near York, Maine.


Nubble Lighthouse which stands on an island about 200 yards off Cape Neddick Point near York.


Almost dark and time to end my selection of snapshots of New England.

Snapshots of New England Part 2

Well, this is not quite 'tomorrow' but I'm afraid that life got rather hectic so this is the first chance I've had to do Part 2. The photo above is of Sagamore Creek at the mouth of the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth. A lot of the local places have names taken from the language of the original local Native American tribes and I really like these names even though some are difficult to pronounce - it took me several visits to finally be able to say Piscataqua properly:) I gather that the word 'sagamore' referred to the chief of the area and Piscataqua is from the Abenaki language and means roughly 'where the river divides into 2 or 3 branches and one must decide which one to follow'. This is when you are travelling inland from the coast. The Piscataqua is an impressive river, the third fastest flowing river in the world and full of treacherous currents that can catch even experienced sailors unaware.


This little building on a wooden jetty on Sagamore Creek is decorated with the tails of marlin - it's an original idea!


Yours truly at the entrance to Plimoth Plantation in Massachusetts.


I'm really more interested in the lives and culture of the Wampanoag people than the settlers to be honest but the photographs I took were mostly rather poor, partly because the sun was very bright and in the wrong direction and partly because I couldn't get a good view because of all the people. As a result there are far fewer to show you than I would have liked. Above is a Wampanoag house which is called a wetuash - it is a framework of wood covered with birch bark and cattail reed mats.


I didn't get chance to ask what this was but it seemed to be an outdoor living area, there was a fire at one side and the women were cooking and doing various crafts and household tasks. There was a party of high school students on the site and this bascially meant that nobody else got much of a look in either here or on the English Village site.


This is a mishoon(dugout canoe)which is made by burning and scraping an oak, pine or chestnut log. This must have been hard work especially on an oak log which is extremely hard and doesn't burn easily.


A small Wampanoag boy - I love this photo:)


Two of the women with a baby, she was the same age as Kaitlyn and gave me a lovely big smile when I spoke to her. The two photographs with children in are deliberately not showing their faces in spite of the fact that both were delightful.



The fort, built in 1622, which stands at the top of the English Village. This isn't the original of course, Plimoth Plantation is a replica and the original village stood where the modern town of Plymouth now is.


The view from the upper storey of the fort looking down over the village to the sea.



The upper floor of the fort showing the cannon that would be used in case of attack.


The lower part of the fort also doubled as the church!!



One of the window shutters in the fort - the play of light and shadow appealed to me on this photo.


A bread oven at the back of one of the houses.


The interior of one of the houses which were not as sparsely furnished as you might expect. Many of the better off colonists had furniture shipped out from England.


Some of the colonists busy constructing a new building.


I love these pewter dishes and the colours of the earthenware. I have quite a few pieces of replica pottery myself, some bought here in England and some brought back from Plimoth.


Two of the colonists - they make an attractive couple don't they?



Another interior with a lovely baby's high chair and also showing how carpets were used to cover tables rather than floors in the 17th century.


More lovely pottery and wooden plates etc - to me there's something very satisfying about these handmade items. They are simple and practical but still beautiful.



Presumably he's popped in to see whether dinner is ready yet:)



A lovely horn lantern - I can't imagine that it gave a very good light really but it looks nice.


A wood fired kiln............



......and clicking on this photo will tell you more about it than I can.

If you've soldiered on to this point then congratulations! That's enough culture for one day though so more in Part 3 which will be the final push for the finishing line:)

Snapshots of New England Part 1

I'm not going to give a blow by blow account of my holiday in New England but just try and give a general flavour of this lovely area of the US. I've been going there now for over 25 years and in fact my daughter,now aged 27, took her first steps in my friends' house. It's an area I love and feel very much at home in. Above is a typical New England church, in this case Rye Congregational Church. These white churches with their pointed steeples are everywhere in New England.


This house is in a coastal town called New Castle and I photographed it because it has a widow's walk perched on top of the roof. Mariner's wives would watch for the return of their husband's ships from these vantage points. The sea took the lives of many sailors and the widows would then keep a look out in the vain hope that their man would eventually return against all the odds - hence the name of widow's walk.


I'm always surprised when Americans say they have no real history or old buildings, this is not the case at all, America has a fascinating history and many interesting old buildings one of which is in the above photograph. If you click on it you will be able to read the date on the front. 1676 sounds pretty old to me! The area around Portsmouth, New Hampshire, which included New Castle and Rye, was originally settled in the early 1620s and this would have been one of the earliest homes. It's a private home and of course will have been altered and maybe added to over the years but the basic house is still there.
It needs to be remembered also that American history didn't begin with the colonists, the Native American peoples were there for many hundreds, if not thousands, of years before the settlers turned up and I'm pretty sure that there is archaeological evidence for their cultures too.


Looking down on the town of Portsmouth,NH with the inevitable white church spire visible. This is a tidal inlet but I can't remember exactly where we were!


I love visiting the local Farmers Market when I'm staying with C, if only I could have bought a selection of these wonderful gourds and brought them home! I never seem to see anything like this in the UK.


Almost every house has pots of chrysanthemums standing outside -they are so beautiful and smell wonderful too, I'm afraid I always cringe when I hear or see them called 'mums, such an ugly word for these lovely flowers.



I would have bought this wreath too if I could have got it home:)


The historic area of Strawberry Bank in Portsmouth is well worth a visit,it is a whole historic neighbourhood that has been preserved and almost all the buildings are on their original foundations. Many are open and are furnished to show different periods of history and different levels of society.My own favourites were the WW2 store and the Shapiro house which is presented as the 20th century home of a Russian-Jewish family.


There are interesting period gardens with some of the houses as well including a great Victory garden with the WW2 store though for some reason I don't seem to have taken a photo of that one.


All the flowers that were still blooming attracted a lot of insects. I really like this particular photo.


I'm fairly sure that this is a Monarch butterfly, we don't get them in UK so I'm by no means certain.


Among the things for children were little fairy houses all around the gardens, some of them were really pretty and I'm thinking of making one in my own garden at some point.


A lot of the fairy houses were quite hard to spot and some were more elaborate than others but this was the one I liked best. Time for me to climb the little wooden stairs now so I'll do the second part tomorrow.