Park Unit 108: John Adams National Historic Park

Our last day in the Boston area started early since we wanted to get the Adams National Historic Park before they opened. You can visit the park only by guided tour and they sell out early. In fact, there was quite a crowd waiting by the time the doors opened. We were first in line, of course :-)



We boarded a trolley that took us first to John Adams birthplace and home for his early years. This reminded me a lot of Williamsburg and the tour guide brought the time period to life very well. This stop also had the house that John Adams lived in when he married Abigail and was the birthplace of John Quincy Adams.




 

We then boarded the trolley again and visited  the Old House at Peace Field which was a fancier house that the Adams lived in later in life. We ended at the Stone Library where the books of many generations of Adams have been located.


All in all, this was a wonderful experience of early American history - including both lifestyle and politics.

Park Units 105, 106, 107: Longfellow House, JFK Birthplace, and Olmstead National Historic Sites

We started our early this morning and drove to the Longfellow House just outside Boston city. According to the National Park Website Longfellow House - Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site preserves the home of Henry W. Longfellow, one of the world’s foremost 19th century poets. The house also served as headquarters for General George Washington during the Siege of Boston, July 1775 - April 1776. In addition to its rich history, the site offers unique opportunities to explore 19th century literature and arts. 

It's tucked into a residential neighborhood with a charming garden outside the house. We took a one hour tour which was nice because it took us through every room, and gave us a good overview of why he was important as a writer and the historical context of his writings - who he knew and the political environment of the time.

JFK's Childhood Bedroom

John F. Kennedy National Historic Site

Next we drove to John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site where we did a guided tour of the house in which he grew up. This focus a lot on the family values, activities, and what life was like during the time period that JFK grew up. 

After this, we drove to the Frederick Law Olmstead National Historic Site. According to the NPS website: Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903) is recognized as the founder of American landscape architecture and the nation's foremost parkmaker. Olmsted moved his home to suburban Boston in 1883 and established the world's first full-scale professional office for the practice of landscape design. During the next century, his sons and successors perpetuated Olmsted's design ideals, philosophy, and influence.We especially enjoyed this visit because we had read the biography of Olmstead and knew a lot about his life and influence. The surprise of this site was how much we learned about the architectural processes of the time!

Rolls of Architectural Drawings that need to be archived

Park Unit 104: Boston African-American National Site

We continued our exploration of Boston this morning by walking up to Bunker Hill Monument, which is another location in Boston National Historic Park. Like so many of the national park units, it brought history to life and it was fascinating imagining the time period and events. We declined the opportunity to walk up the monument, but enjoyed the views.

We then took the ferry back to the historic downtown area and stopped into Fanueil Fall Visitor's Center. We had a wonderful chat with two of the rangers about our plan to visit all the park units. When they found out that Catherine was a teacher, they bestowed every bit of swag they had, including lesson plan materials, buttons, stickers, pamphlets, pins. Talking to the rangers is always one of the highlights of our travels.

The Great Hall - Boston National Historic Park

Next we went upstairs to the Great Hall. There was a guide giving a lecture about the time period which we listened to, then spent a little while exploring the architecture and imagining the historical events.

We then took off on the Black Heritage Trail of the Boston African American National Historic Site. On the way we got to see the site of the first public school in the United States which had this wonderful mural in the sidewalk.

The Trail starts at the Robert Gould Shaw 54th Massachusetts Regiment Memorial at the far end of Boston Common. It's very impressive and we were delighted to walk around the other side of the memorial and see the sculpture by Saint Gaudens that we had just seen at the Saint Gaudens park unit. It was great to have these two sites tie together so well and we certainly appreciated the sculpture much more because of our travels!

Robert Gould Shaw 54th Massachusetts Regiment Memorial with Saint Gaudens Statue

We continued on the trail, visiting the George Middleton House and then the John J. Phillips School. According to the National Park Service website it was built between 1823 and 1825. The architecture of this building is typical of 19^th century Boston schools. The building was first used by the English High School, but it was converted to a grammar school in 1844. The grammar school was named after the first mayor of Boston, John Phillips, who was the father of famed abolitionist Wendell Phillips. It also represents a long history of segregation and the fight of African American families to enroll their children in the best schools in town. When Boston schools were finally integrated in 1855, by an act of the Massachusetts legislature, the Phillips School became one of the first integrated school in Boston. 

By now the August heat was becoming unbearable so we went back to Boston Common and relaxed for a while, enjoying watching the people, including seeing a man playing a Chinese instrument, and who we believe was Kyrie Irving with his daughter.

We decided to spend the rest of the afternoon at the Boston Aquarium which was a wonderful break from the heat. The exhibits were great, we did an imax movie, and we enjoyed feeling like kids exploring all the wonderful sights.
We then left to go get some dinner. It was Jason's birthday and we were celebrating by going to the Boston Opera House to see Book of Mormon. We didn't have much time for dinner so we went to a casual place for salads and sandwiches. We still sang happy birthday to Jason of course!

The Boston Opera House was over-the-top gaudy and amazing at the same time. Beautiful restoration of the early 20th century architecture. And the show was excellent! It was a great ending to a terrific day!



 

Boston Opera House

Park Unit 101, 102, 103 Saint Gaudens NHS, Boston National Historic Park, & Boston Harbor Islands NRA

Our busy day began with breakfast at Denny's - our favorite road trip eating place - then we went to Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site in New Hampshire. According to the NPS website: Augustus Saint-Gaudens (1848-1907), created over 150 works of art, from exquisitely carved cameos to heroic-size public monuments. Works such as the "Standing Lincoln" monument and the Shaw Memorial, continue to inspire people today and his design for the 1907 Twenty Dollar Gold Piece, is considered America's most beautiful coin.

We were pleasantly surprised by how beautiful this site was, and how moving and impressive Saint-Gaudens sculptures are. The art work is displayed in intimate garden enclosures around the property and feels like a sculpture garden. The landscaping is beautiful, with flowers everywhere. We were also surprised by the fact that many of these sculptures and statues are very recognizable, but we didn't know anything about Saint-Gaudens. This visit was a perfect blend of learning new things and enjoying impressive art in a beautiful setting.

Shaw Memorial by Saint-Gaudens

We next drove to Boston, found our hotel and parked the car. We are staying close to the Charlestown Navy Yard so we started our tour of Boston National Historic Park there at the USS constitution and museum. This is the start of the Freedom Trail which we walked over the bridge and into downtown Boston. The next stop was the Cops Hill Burying Ground which was actually fascinating. We studied the gravestones' decor, linguistic style, and thought about the burial practices of that time period.

Cops Hill Burying Ground

 Next on the stop was the Old North Church and then the Paul Revere House. We were disappointed with the price that each location was charging and the need to pay at each stop. This really limits these historic sites to the economically advantaged.

Paul Revere House

 Next, we veered off the trail to go to the ferry docks. We took the 4:00 boat to Spectacle Island in the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area. The ride was 30 minutes and we got excellent views of the harbor and the islands. When we got to the island we only had a short time until the last boat of the day so we got our park stamp and explored some of the exhibits about how the islands have changed over the years and the conservation efforts that continue. We then took the ferry back, enjoying the beautiful late day sun over the water. The weather has been hot and sticky but the breeze was wonderful.

Approaching Spectacle Island

View of Boston from Spectacle Island Ferry

We spent the evening in Quincy Market, shopping and eating dinner and then took the Charlestown Ferry back to the Charlestown Navy Yard. The sun had just set so we had lovely views of the harbor lights and warm breezes. For $3.50 each way, this ferry is a hidden gem!

Park Unit 100 Marsh, Billings, Rockefeller National Historical Park

We left Acadia this morning, and stopped to get our final park stamp at the visitor's center on the way off the island. We drove 6 hours to Vermont to visit the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historic Park. This park tells the story of the three men who owned this land who were very influential in the land conservation movement. The park operates in partnership with The Woodstock Foundation, Inc. and the adjacent Billings Farm & Museum, a working dairy farm and a museum of agricultural and rural life.

We started out visiting the farm house and had a few wonderful docents who gave us information about the "modern" home that this was in 1890. It was fascinating to see what the cutting edge technology was at the time, such as running hot water and floor heating vents. I really enjoyed look at stereoscopic pictures that they had to look at.

We visited the cow barn, sheep, goats, and horses and took a look at the heirloom garden. We also spent some time in the Carriage Barn Museum which was very well done in teaching about the farming tools, techniques, and lifestyle of the time period. There was also an exhibit of modern quilts that was beautiful!

In the evening we had a delightful time exploring Woodstock, Vermont and eating dinner at Bentley's. It is a charming town!

Park Unit 99 Acadia NP Day 3

We started our morning with a carriage ride on the Carriage Roads in Acadia. We left from Wildwood Stables with two guides and another family in our carriage. The tour was designed to highlight the bridges built by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in the 1920s through 1930s. We stopped at three different bridges along the way and was able to get out an explore one of them. The trails were lovely and for the first half of the tour we were alone on the trails.

After our two hour ride, we went to Astercou Inn for lunch. The tour guide recommended this as having the best popovers so we had to compare them to the ones we had yesterday! We ate on the back deck, overlooking a charming harbor with lots of sailboats.

After lunch, we drove back to Bar Harbor to catch our 2:00 Oli Trolley tour. This was really a small bus outfitted to look like a trolley and Bob, our tour guide was very good. We learned a lot of new facts and he had good stories to tell. Our first stop was Thunder Hole, a granite crevice along the shore that makes a noise like thunder when the water fills in and leaves. There were large granite rocks along the jagged shore. We also made a quick run the gift shop to get the park stamp.

We continued to Jordan Pond, where we had lunch yesterday, but today we went down by the lake and took a look at another one of the Rockefeller bridges. It was interesting to imagine the time period and the wealthy landowners using this beautiful area for their vacation pursuits.

Our final stop on the tour was at the top of Cadillac mountain. We learned a bit more about the area and geography and got our park stamp while we were at the top. The views coming up and down the mountain were stunning.

When we got back to Bar Harbor, we quickly got a park stamp at the Village Green, then we drove to Southwest Harbor on the west side of the island that we had not been to yet. We ate at one of the cute restaurants in town and then drove to the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse. By now it was almost sunset so Jason found a spot called Pretty Marsh on the west coast of Acadia for us to watch the sunset.

We climbed down to the beach and with a dozen other people, we silently watched the magnificent colors change as the sun set. It was the best that a national park can offer. Reverence, beauty, peace, community. A perfect ending to our day.

Park Unit 99 Acadia NP Day 2

We started out this morning at the Hull Cove Visitor's Center where we got oriented and picked up maps. We drove to downtown Bar Harbor for our morning sail on the 151' Windjammer Schooner. It was a sunny, warm, calm morning and perfect for touring the harbor islands. We helped raise the sails (it took three people on each halyard!) and spent 2 hours going around the islands. We got to see seals, harbor porpoises and a huge, amazing sunfish. A wonderful trip!
























 

After our sail, we went into town to a quilt shop to visit a friend of the family who gave us great suggestions for places to visit. On her advice we went to the restaurant at Jordan Pond in Acadia to have amazing popovers with our lunch, overlooking the gardens and lawn around the pond. We also had good views of the Bubble Mountains.

 Next we drove up to the crest of Cadillac Mountain and took one of the trails around the top. The views were incredible, and the granite outcroppings so interesting. It was windy and cool and felt very refreshing in August!

We then drove further on the loop road to Sieur de Monts which has a small visitor's center and houses the Wild Gardens of Acadia. This is a charming trail organized by the type of habitat (field, bog, seashore) with the plants that are typical for that habitat, all labeled. We enjoyed learning the names of many of the plants we've seen so far in the park.

We left the park and returned to Bar Harbor for dinner a fun tapas restaurant. The weather was so perfect restaurant front was open and we could enjoy the happenings on the square. We also stopped at the National Park Visitor's Center, a fabulous shop that sells flavored oils and vinegars, a country store, toy store, and ice cream. It was a fabulous day and we went back to our hotel exhausted!