Back Where I Come From

I have mentioned the Genesee Country Village and Museum several times in this blog and coming soon the Burns family will be living there! For those of you who don’t know, the Museum is a 19th-century living history museum covering more than 600 acres in Mumford, NY (a few miles from our hometown). Our family has always been close to the Museum since the first building donated there, the Pioneer Cabin, came from Burns family property. When I was little, it was my dream to live in the Village and over the last couple of years the Museum has started a program that brings my dreams to life!

Last spring I discovered that they offer the Pioneer House Experience where you can experience what life was really like for a pioneer family in the Genesee Country during the early 1800s. After getting all of my family on board, we sent in our application and were accepted for the weekend of September 9-11. Last weekend we all headed up for our outfitting and training. The first stop was the tailor’s where we all got to try on our garb. I brought my camera (but conveniently forgot the battery) so alas I can’t provide pictures. The boys looked dapper in their white pants and suspenders and Mom and I were the quintessential housewives with mismatching skirts and jackets. Dad however got the biggest laugh because not only did his pants have some weird trap door on the front but they were several sizes too big and the seat of them drooped down practically to his knees! It was hysterical to see.

Then we headed over to learn how to rope our own beds. It was actually a pretty neat process. Among other things, we are responsible for filling our own straw ticks and roping the bed. I have a feeling us children will be on the floor though since the trundle bed is only about 4 foot long! We then sat with “Aunt Marie” who will be our guide for the weekend and went over all that we will be encountering and they made it very clear that this is hard work and definitely not a vacation. I was already looking forward to this experience but hearing about all the stuff we get to do made me even more energized. We were raised in a more… rugged manner I guess you could say but being thrust back into the 19^th century will definitely present some challenges. However, I am confident in us Burns’. We’re going to make our ancestral home proud!

Weir Farm and Upper Delaware

I made a quick stop at Hammonnasset Beach before I left the campground and then headed out. I guess I didn’t realize how close I was to New York City but it dawned on me when I hit heavy traffic on my way out of Connecticut. It wasn’t too slow but definitely heavy. One thing I found really odd about Connecticut was that their roads were small! One expressway I was on even had signs restricting the size of vehicles because the roads were narrow. Also there were a lot of trees so they seemed small and cramped. I headed off the main roads on my way to the Weir Farm National Historic Site. The roads up to it were also small and tree lined but very curvy. Weir Farm commemorates the life and work of J. Alden Weir, the American impressionist painter and member of the Cos Cob Art Colony. It was a very scenic spot and I spent time walking the wooded trails and enjoying the quaint farm buildings. There was a short hike out to a pond which I really liked. Another trail led off to a “waterfall” which was inflated marketing at its best because I didn't find more than a trickle. Weir Farm is the only NPS site in CT and although I couldn’t go inside any of the buildings I still very much enjoyed the quiet, peaceful atmosphere. Leaving the Weir Farm, I made my way into New York to finish off the last portion of the Delaware River. I drove the Lower and Middle Delaware on my Memorial Day trip and for some reason didn’t finish out the Upper Part. It traveled from Port Jervis to Hancock, NY. Because it was a Tuesday afternoon there wasn’t much traffic at all and I had the rural highway to myself. I went to the Zane Grey Museum. It is located in the building which was home for the prolific western author between 1914 and 1918. It is in a really quiet spot across the Roebling Bridge and one of the prettiest places I’ve been. I had no idea Zane Grey was from PA and his house was decorated in a distinctly Southwestern motif which I found really unique since its in the Northeast. I then explored the Roebling Bridge. John Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct on the D&H Canal later became the Roebling Bridge.

Roebling is actually famous for his wire rope suspension bridge designs, in particular, the design of the Brooklyn Bridge. Roebling's Delaware Aqueduct is the oldest existing wire suspension bridge in the United States. But there are no wires you say! They are actually covered and protected from the elements to preserve them. It was probably the most interesting bridge I’ve ever seen. It’s just crazy how boats used to go across it and now it’s used for land traffic. I really liked this spot. After all that, it was time for me to head home. A great end to a great July 4th weekend!

New Bedford and Touro Synagogue

After leaving the Cape, I made my way to New Bedford, MA to see the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park. New Bedford was the mid 19th century’s preeminent whaling port and for a time “the richest city in the world.” The area around the visitor center is quite scenic with quaint cobblestone streets. The Visitor Center is a new building and has a bunch of great information. My favorite part though was getting a new keychain that says America’s National Parks and has a compass on it! I usually limit myself to only buying postcards but I could not pass up this keychain. On the self guided tour of the town I saw The Seamen's Bethel. The Seamen's Bethel was immortalized as the "Whaleman's Chapel" by Herman Melville in his classic novel Moby-Dick. I then made my way down to the Working Waterfront. Since it was July 4^th it was pretty deserted. There’s a couple NPS signs that tell the story of New Bedford but I didn’t wander the waterfront for very long because certain sections of it do not look…nice. I Whaling is a unique industry and completely foreign to me so it was really neat to learn about the rise and fall of it. My next stop was another NPS site in RI. The Touro Synagogue National Historic Site is the site of is America's oldest synagogue. Because it was late and I had been driving on empty I didn’t spend much time. Jack got a little confused with directions so I was taking pictures of the county courthouse before I realized that it wasn’t what I wanted. I grabbed a parking spot with an expired meter and made my way over to the synagogue which is by a very busy intersection. I snapped a few pics and went back to my car before I got a parking ticket. Finally I was on the road to my campsite for the night at Hammonasset Beach State Park. I wasn’t a big fan of the campground because it was so open. I like being in trees and not in a grassy field. I did manage to get a shower although the shower facilities are quite spartan. They are outdoors with just a curtain and there is no bench to put your dry clothes or towel on. I ended up jerry rigging a hammock out of my towel to hold my stuff. Then there was no on/off for the water, you had to press a button and the water would stream out for about 6 seconds like an automatic sink. It was ridiculous. But the sunset was pretty.

Cape Cod

I had planned to spend July 4^th on Cape Cod National Seashore so I got up bright and early to head over to the shore. Because there is one main route into and out of the Cape I decided to take a scenic route on the way in. I traveled the Old Kings Highway Scenic Byway from Sandwich to East Brewster on Route 6A. Pretty much just drove through a bunch of small towns but it was nice. I decided to stick with only NPS sites on the Cape so my first stop was in Eastham at Fort Hill. There was no fort there but there was an old Captains house with a trail that wound around to a nice view of the marsh and through the reeds. The arch in the above photo is made out of whale bone.I arrived at the Salt Pond Visitor Center right when it opened at 9am and snagged some postcards. I wanted to check out these two lighthouses that were a few miles down the road but when I got there the beach parking lot was already full! I thought that was so crazy for 9am but I guess it was July 4^th. I was not to be thwarted though and found a singled parking spot with a 30 minute limit next to the 3 Sisters Lighthouse. This site marked the only station in the U.S. designated by three towers. Due to erosion, the lighthouses are now a quarter mile away from their original location. It was kind of odd to see lighthouses surrounded by trees. I took the walking path down to the Nauset Light. This light has also been moved due to erosion but only about 400 feet from its original location. I thought it was really odd that there were people living in the keeper’s house because the lighthouse is a tourist spot but I found a really interesting story that explains it: In 1998, Mary Daubenspeck, who had owned the keeper's house since 1955, agreed to donate it to the National Park Service with the right to live in it for 25 years. It was agreed that the house would be moved from its original location, then only 23 feet from the edge of the cliff, to a new location near the relocated tower. Another fun fact: The lighthouse is the logo for Cape Cod Potato Chips.

As time was running out, I quickly popped over to the beach to get a glimpse of the ocean. It was a very nice beach and I took a minute to dip my toes in but, mindful of my parking limit, I headed back to my car. (If you look close you can see that someone spelled out Happy July 4th in the sand in the photo below)I really didn’t want to leave Cape Cod without enjoying a beach so I stopped at Marconi Beach in Wellfleet. It was deserted compared to Nauset Beach. I enjoyed a good book and watched some surfers and had a great time. I didn’t swim though because waves scare me. I stopped at the Marconi Station site on the way out which is where the first telegraphic message was transmitted in 1903 via spark gap transmitter.

Next up was a really out of the way site. The Atwood-Higgins House is one of the oldest in the region and was built in 1730. I never would have thought that parts of Cape Cod were rural but this house is definitely off the beaten path. I really enjoyed it.

I continued on to the Truro-Highland Lighthouse. It was kind of odd because you had to walk through a golf course to access it. Like most lighthouses this one has been moved back away from the eroding cliff but there was a walkway out to where the lighthouse used to stand. I was gazing at the ocean far below and enjoying the view when all of a sudden I see someone running on the beach below. It was a deserted stretch of sand since it was at the base of a huge cliff so I wondered where this man had come from. At first glance I thought he was wearing a really small bathing suit but it turns out he was actually naked!! Let freedom ring ;)I stopped at the Pilgrim Heights parking area to get a little hiking in. When I emerged from the trees I came across this monster:I have never seen a bird that big up close and I did a double take before I realized it was real. This definitely made this stop worth it.My last stop on the Cape was Race Point Beach in Provincetown. The road into it goes through beech and oak forest and the Province Lands dunes which I thought was pretty interesting. This beach was neat because it was so calm. The other beaches I had been to were full of surfers but this beach was calm as a lake.

It was already 2:00 and I wanted to get off the Cape before holiday traffic hit so I jumped on Route 6 and left the Cape.