New England 2013: Massachusetts

We are now in the cradle of liberty.  In Lexington we took a trolley tour with Pat, a wonderful guide who prattled on for an hour and a half about Paul Revere (Dawes and Prescott are not remembered as much because Longfellow chose the one whose name rhymed easily), the call that “the regulars are coming” (not “the British are coming”—everyone was a British citizen) the Minutemen, and the shot heard round the world in Lexington (no one ever knew which side fired the first shot), and the REAL shot heard round the world in Concord (where for the first time, the order was given to fire on the royal soldiers. 

 

At the North Bridge in Concord, the colonists sent the British regulars back to Boston, suffering sniper fire along the way.

The Old Manse was the Emerson home where Ralph Waldo spent time with his grandparents.  It later became Nathanial Hawthorne’s first home after his marriage.  It also overlooked the North Bridge battle, so Rev. William Emerson’s wife and children were hiding while the preacher fought in the battle.

 
First Parish in Lexington Unitarian where in 1773, citizens met and agreed to the Lexington Pledge "We shall be ready to sacrifice our estates and everything dear, yea, and life itself in support of the common cause."

The Minutemen received some pay to train and carry with them their musket and ammunition and three days rations everywhere they went so they would be ready in a minute.  The famous statue shows him with one hand on his plow and the other with his musket.

 Walden Pond is 1 ½ miles from Concord.  Henry David Thoreau built his little cabin and lived there for two years, two months, and two days as an experiment in living simply.  “I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.”  

 

 

As we walked around Walden Pond, I told Don how much I enjoyed teaching “Civil Disobedience” at Concordia.  Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. both read Thoreau and were inspired by Thoreau’s willingness to go to jail rather than pay tax to a government that allowed slavery.

 

 

 

 On Sunday we walked the Freedom Trail in old Boston.

 We attended services at Old North Church in Boston where the signal was given to Paul Revere "two if by sea" that the British regulars were moving toward Concord.  It was a privilege to worship in this old Episcopal church and hear their new pastor's first sermon--a meaningful one.  "When were you saved?  Can you tell about that moment?" Answer:  It was the same Good Friday afternoon when you and all of us were saved.  The 10^th leper who gave thanks was really recognizing that Jesus had made him whole, saved, not just healed.  She is going to be a good pastor.

 

Paul Revere’s home is the oldest existing house in Boston.

A bell that Revere cast.

 

The cemeteries in this oldest part of Boston have graves dating to the 1600’s.  Since the headstones have been moved around a few times, paths created, and even cemetery walls moved, the stones no longer correspond with the bones beneath.

 

Faneuil Hall was one of the meeting places where colonists met and discussed their growing frustration with British rule.  One test to ferret out traitors was to ask what the weather vane was atop Faneuil Hall.  If the man didn’t know it was a grasshopper, he was not a true Bostonian.

 

 The Old State House was the site of the Boston Massacre and where Sam Adams, John Hancock, John Adams and others talked about self-governance for the colonies and revolting against the crown.

 It was exciting to follow how the early patriots moved from being loyal to the crown to wanting to govern themselves.  It was awe-inspiring to realize how zealous they were about justice and fairness as they argued about the colonies relationship with England.  It was sobering to realize how much they risked.  We saw various buildings where the citizens met to debate the issues.  We saw the churches where preachers encouraged the patriots, and where later, their successors denounced slavery and encouraged Massachusetts to be the first state to abolish it.

 

We left the city for the charming port town of Plymouth and a lovely campground under the pines.  Don is not happy that there are too many trees to get his satellite dish in, but I think the sunset made up for that.

Plymouth Rock moved around town a few times, got chipped away, and cracked wide open before it was finally settled into its protective memorial on the beach just above sea level. 

 

 

The Mayflower II was built in England to match all that is known about the original ship, and it sailed to Plymouth in 1957 entirely by sail, no modern assistance.  In 1620 the 102 passengers lived in the hold with a few chickens, sheep, goats and pigs to start farming in the New World.  They seldom had light, since fire is the greatest danger in a wooden ship.  The voyage was delayed in fall with the passengers aboard; then after a two month voyage, they arrived in the lee of Cape Cod in November.  They still had to live on board while they built small houses, one by one.

 

Plimouth Plantation is a wonderful living museum in Plymouth.  Native people work in the Wampanoag home-site, dressed authentically, explaining how they lived in the 1600’s and how the native people continue today to preserve their heritage. 

 

The Pilgrim village is as authentic as possible with the role players staying in character as they work around their homes and answer questions.  Many of us have visited 19^th century living museums, but 1627 is a whole different life.  These settlers had to stay for seven years in the village working to send salted cod and other products back to England in return for their passage to the “New” England.  After that time they were given land to work for themselves instead of for the investors.  It was fascinating to hear the women defend the dirt floors as no problem and to vehemently declare that it was enough to wash hands and face and maybe a bit of a sponge bath now and then all winter, but never wash your hair!  If it is greasy, the lice won’t come. 

 

 

 

 

The natives and the colonists distrusted each other, but the English made a treaty with the Wampanoag to be allies in case of outside attack.  The Wampanoag had already been weakened by English diseases brought by earlier explorers and traders.  The first Thanksgiving was not the way we picture it.  Stereotypes of the appearance of both groups are not accurate.  The settlers did receive advice and corn seed from the Wampanoag, and they had a good harvest the first full year there.  The men shot many fowl, and the natives heard that the English were celebrating, so they arrived to share the feast time, bringing five deer and their families.  They held skill contests together and shared food.