Aug 31, 2024 – Hingham, MA
Our drive to Hingham, MA, and Wompatuck State Park was smooth until we got to the Boston area. There we hit traffic tie-ups in the northern suburbs and the tunnels. For once, though, we pretty much breezed through the Braintree split which is pretty much always a problem.
The need to do laundry was a priority so after setting up in the Wompatuck campground, we immediately headed to a laundromat. Bad news. The place was dirty, many of the machines were broken and their payment machine wouldn’t accept our credit card. Ugh!
Happily, the Linden Ponds community, where Bill’s sister, Ellen, and her husband, Wayne, live, has its own free laundromat that was available and spectacularly clean. Laundry problem solved and we’d take advantage of that facility the next day. We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting and then joined Ellen and Wayne for dinner in one of their community’s dining rooms. We see each other most weeks during a family Zoom but it’s still a poor substitute for face-to-face.
Sept 1, 2024 – Hingham, MA
So, this morning we returned to Linden Ponds and used their laundry. Ahh, fresh, clean clothes!
The four of us then piled into their car and visited the Eustis Estate in the upscale community of Milton. Built beginning in 1878, it was designed by New England architect William Ralph Emerson for newlyweds W.E.C. and Edith Eustis and is widely recognized as a tour de force of Queen Anne design. The building is constructed of the many colors of granite found in the Hingham area as well as brick, wood for the dormers and tile for the roofs. The granite blocks are uncoursed in most areas interspersed with geometric patterns. Overall, the effect is a wonderful, kind of storybook appearance.
The very finest artisans of the Boston and other areas designed the interior and it is amazing as the photos that follow will attest. The architectural interior details are as they would have first appeared. Most of the furnishings, however, are period appropriate but not the originals. An exception is the dining room, which is original.
A nice feature is that visitors are free to wander most of the rooms on the first and second floors with only some of the rooms roped off. Docents clearly were anxious to interact with visitors and answer questions.
That evening we went out for dinner at Burtons Grill & Bar in Hingham, one of our favorite restaurants. Not only do they have great food but most of their dishes are or can be made gluten free and they have a complete gluten free menu. Delicious!
Sept 2, 2024 – Hingham, MA
This morning, along with Ellen, we headed for the Plimoth Patuxet Museums. (Note: That’s the way they spell it; not Plymouth and not Patuxent.) The museum is actually a not-for-profit complex of living history museums that seek to teach visitors about the history of the site of the oldest English settlement in New England.
We started at the Historic Patuxet Homesite museum, traditional home of the indigenous Patuxet people. Step one was to enter their wetu, a bark-covered longhouse type structure, that they used for cold weather living. There a docent told us something of their culture, their somewhat nomadic way of life and their seasonal activities.
Next was an absolutely huge dugout canoe. Then we were informed that some of their dugouts would have been very much larger, holding up to 40 people and capable of long coastal voyages. They were made from huge hardwood trees from the then virgin forests. There are simply no trees large enough today to create a reproduction that size.
And then there was Shirley, a favorite of the docents. Shirley is of the Patuxet community and, at age 80-something, holds court at the museum on days that it suits her. She was resplendent in her hand tanned deerskin outfit which was accessorized with an impressive collection of wampum and turquoise jewelry. She was happy to talk and we enjoyed a few minutes of conversation with her.
The 17th-Century English Village section of the museum was a reproduction of the Plimoth settlement as it would have appeared near the end of the seven year contract they had with those who financed the venture. It was a complete living museum with structures, fortifications and gardens. There were docents in nearly every structure.
After that tour we drove downtown to see the Mayflower II. It is a reproduction of the original, at least as best they can guess because there are no detailed records of the Mayflower’s original design. It was interesting to us as experienced sailors. But it mainly documented what it must have been like to have 102 souls living for 62 days and nights on an extremely crowded area below deck.
Then, of course, we had to walk over to Plymouth Rock. It’s kind of amusing to have a rather modest rock ensconced beneath an elegant granite canopy. In fact, no one knows that the Pilgrims actually disembarked onto this rock. And the rock has been moved multiple times and broken in half during one of those moves. Nevertheless, it remains sacred in the minds of the country and is visited by thousands.
That evening we had dinner at a Japanese restaurant.
Sept 3, 2024 – Hingham, MA
We took much of the day to drive up to visit Sandy’s cousin in the Marblehead area. That evening we had dinner with Ellen & Wayne at Linden Ponds.