The Shot Heard 'Round the World

Our time in Boston and Massachusetts is coming to an end. Our first trip to Massachusetts has been interesting, but not necessarily 'interesting' in a good, likable way. We didn't get to see all the historical sites we wanted to see because they are difficult to find for someone new to the area. Parking wasn't much of a problem in Boston because they have paid parking lots scattered throughout the downtown area. You just have to find them. (It's the same situation in Washington, D.C.; plenty of parking if you know where to look.) But when we went to Quincy, MA, a suburb of Boston and home of John Adams (2nd U.S. president) and his son, John Quincy Adams, (6th U.S. president), there was no parking to be found. All we could do was drive around and see the few things we could find. A tour is available for the two homes belonging to these men, but you'd have to be able to find parking. The best tip that we could give someone wanting to tour the Boston area is to sign-up with an organized tour group where someone in charge knows where the historical sites are and knows how to navigate all the areas.

The last historical site we visited was in Concord, Massachusetts, where the Battle of Lexington and Concord was fought. This battle is tied to the Old North Church in Boston -- "one if by land, two if by sea" was to warn the citizens of Lexington and Concord that "the British are coming." The lanterns were hung in the church on April 18, 1775, and the battle ensued on April 19, 1775, in Concord.

British General Gage sent troops to Concord to seize ammunition and guns that his intel told him were being stockpiled by colonists. The colonists didn't like that idea so they prepared to defend themselves and their property. General Gage ordered troops to take control of the two bridges in town: the South Bridge and the North Bridge (those are some well-thought out, clever names 😏). The current North Bridge is a recent restoration of the last bridge built on the site in 1956. The 1956 bridge was the fifth bridge to occupy the spot since the battle in 1775. The 1755 bridge was taken down in 1788.

When the British first deployed at the North Bridge, they were positioned on the west side of the river. This is the side where the Minute Man statue now stands. The colonial militia, with over 400 men, occupied the high ground overlooking the bridge.

Sometime after 9:00 a.m. the militiamen, believing the town was being set on fire, marched down upon the bridge. Hopelessly outnumbered by the advancing militia, the British soldiers pulled back to the east side of the bridge, where the 1836 obelisk now stands, and hastily organized for defense. When the shots were fired, the British were on the east side and the colonists were on the west side. The first gun shot is now known as the 'shot heard 'round the world' and was the beginning of the Revolutionary War. (all info is taken from https://www.nps.gov/mima/north-bridge-questions.htm)

We were really grateful to see this spot. And, for our LDS friends, we also did a session in the Boston temple. 

The next leg of our journey will be to begin heading to the west coast.

Boston Temple                                                                                   Civil War Monument in Concord

The Concord River

The area where the Revolutionary war started

The Old Manse was built in 1770 and belonged to Reverend William Emerson, grandfather of Ralph Waldo Emerson. The Manse overlooks the Concord River and sits right by the 1775 battlefield so inhabitants would have had front row seats to the battle. Not really a ticket most people would be interested in purchasing. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne both lived in the Manse.

Bewitching Sites

We have now gone to both Salem and Plymouth, Massachusetts. Plymouth was very nice; we preferred it to Salem. Plymouth has the obligatory old buildings from the 1800's and, while there isn't much left from the Pilgrims, what is available to see was really interesting. We went to a Pilgrim museum where there were quite a few artifacts from the early 1600's, including a crib that belonged to Peregrine White, who was the first baby boy born in 1620 on the Mayflower in the Massachusetts harbor and the first English child born to the Pilgrims in America. Sandy's daughter-in-law, Ines, is a direct descendant of Peregrine White so it was especially significant to us to see that cradle since we already knew about him because of Ines.

We also were able to see a piece of Plymouth Rock (it's not the full rock since pieces have been removed and are displayed in museums) where the Pilgrims allegedly first stepped when they touched land. That claim about stepping on this specific rock wasn't made until over 100 years after the Pilgrims arrived so it's difficult to say that the story is accurate, but the rock has been there for a long time and certainly had its fair share of foot traffic over the centuries. We were also finally able to get a decent shot of the Atlantic Ocean. It's not like the Pacific Ocean where you can just drive down the coast. We have been driving right by it several times, but couldn't see it because of trees or buildings. We would still like to be able to drive the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, but that may have to be in the lower states like New Jersey, the Carolinas, or Florida, where there might be more open beach available.

Plymouth is a really nice area with the ocean breeze coming off the coast. There are street signs and maps on corners to let you know where you are and to see where you can go. We can't say the same about Salem. We were excited to see Salem, but it was a little bit disappointing. Salem was confusing and the historical sites were not easy to find. We ended up stopping someone on the street to help us find our way around. We did find the visitors center and the Commons, which has a lot of shopping, but our experience in Salem was that it was catering more to tourists than to actual history. There are a few historical sites and we did find an old graveyard that dated back to the 1600's, but it didn't have the charm that Plymouth offers. And getting to Salem is a traffic nightmare while getting to Plymouth was fairly easy.

However, our trip to Salem was completely worth it because we stopped to eat at the Scratch Kitchen, a corner cafe that we just stumbled on and decided to give it a try. The waitress, Deborah, a woman in her early 60's (we know that because she told us), is a new friend. Yes, we are well aware of how funny it is that the two of us, who don't like socializing, keep making new friends on our road trips. But, truthfully, one of the best parts of traveling is meeting complete strangers and finding out how much we have in common with them.

We began talking to Deborah because she was telling us that the owner of the cafe recently lost 100 pounds and has really worked to come up with recipes that don't include added sugar; the ingredients in the menu items are as farm-to-table as he can get. We told Deborah that eating healthy is a way of life for us. She stated that her sister lives in North Carolina and suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and is overweight. Sandy mentioned that she also has rheumatoid arthritis and that she manages it through her diet and without medication. We also shared with her our weight loss story which took us into a wonderful conversation with Deborah that made us glad we had gone to Salem for the day. When we left Scratch Kitchen we each gave Deborah a big hug and she said she was so glad that she met us. She was going to call her sister and tell her about us. It was such a great experience.

We have also been able to visit the JFK Presidential Library during our time in Boston and we got another stamp for our presidential passport.🙋 The library sits over Dorchester Bay. It is also incredibly windy. We asked if it's always that windy in Boston and the man who welcomed us into the library said that the bay is always windy. It was so windy that it blew us backwards a few times just walking from the parking lot to the library. We thought we were going to topple over.

We've also included pictures from a Target in the area. We love it because it's two story with the store on the second level and a parking garage underneath it. There is an elevator available to take you and your shopping cart to the garage level OR you can put it on the special cart escalator and watch it ride down. 😁

Here's the best part:  PICTURES!!!

The first group of pictures are from Plymouth.

 Hello, Atlantic Ocean. We've been waiting our entire lives to meet you. 💖

Plymouth Rock and the monument that surrounds it.

Love this Target

From Salem, Massachusetts

The Bewitched statue for the TV series starring Elizabeth Montgomery. A few episodes were filmed in Salem.

Nathaniel Hawthorne, American Novelist, born in Salem in 1804

The JFK Presidential Library

Part of the Berlin Wall

Dorchester Bay