OLD STURBRIDGE VILLAGE

Old Sturbridge Village (OSV) in Sturbridge, MA has got to be one of my favorite outings on our trip.  Of course, it is hard to pick a favorite!  The day was beautiful, blue sky, perfect weather!  All the buildings are actual buildings from the 1830s and had been moved to this setting and reconstructed.

The barn (left) is connected to the house (right) - we saw lots of these types of house/barns in New England.

Love this quilt!

I would love to have a doll bed like this.

These are reproduction quilts.

One of my favorite views at OSV.

Wall paper in the above house - I love it!

Covered bridge.

Workers in period costumes.  I want to make a dress like hers.

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed this day and wished my 1st grandson could have been there with us.  He would have really enjoyed it!

We are now on our way home and will be there in 3 days.  It will be good to get home again!  We had a fabulous trip!!

CAPE COD

Tuesday we drove out to Cape Cod and went to the National Seashore where we saw the lighthouse below as well as other lighthouses.

We also saw this memorial to the pilgrims in Providence.  The weather has been gorgeous for most of our trip and you can see the blue sky in these pictures.

I went into an antique shop and saw some quilts and quilt tops.  The border on this quilt top is the exact same fabric that I have some of (in my Gone to Texas quilt).  I was really surprised,  because I wasn't sure that the fabric I had was really a reproduction.  I think I got it from the scrap bin at one of my favorite quilt shops and it didn't have any selvedge on it.

I love this dresser scarf or tablecloth, I didn't open it up to see exactly what it was.

This quilt has the same cheddar polka dot as the border above - exactly like the piece I got!

I found a quilt shop in Sturgridge, MA and got a few things.  No pictures of the inside, but it was a shop just crammed with good stuff!

That's it for today.  I am at a shop getting the oil changed in the truck and it just got finished.  Thanks for all the nice comments!

PLYMOUTH CONTINUED

Yesterday while in Plymouth, I had to go to Burial Hill where the early pilgrims had been buried since 1620.  I don't know why, but it does fascinate me.  Just a couple pictures of that.

The cemetery is on a hill and I took this picture of the two church steeples from there.  The stone church was built in 1892, but is the oldest continually active congregation, having started in 1620 with the pilgrims.  The white steeple is the church that was started in 1802 by the people who did not agree when the original church changed to a Unitarianism church.

Across the street from the white church is the nation's oldest wooden courthouse, built in 1749 on the site of the earlier county house from which the affairs of Plymouth Colony were managed before it became part of Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1692.

I will have a couple more days of "travelogue" and then we go home!

PLYMOUTH

Yesterday we went to Plymouth, MA and it was awesome!  I couldn't get over that it was 1620 that the pilgrims landed there!  We had to go see the Mayflower II!  It is a reproduction of the original Mayflower - that is as close as they could figure it had been, as there were no plans for it or pictures.  I can't imagine spending 66 days on this small ship with 102 passengers in the area below deck which was meant for shipping.

Mayflower II

 We also went to the Pilgrim Hall Museum.  Again, no pictures could be taken, but I did buy a postcard of one item that was very special.  This is a postcard picture of the actual sampler made by Loara Standish, the daughter of Myles and Barbara Standish, around 1640!  The sampler is amazing and it is wonderful that it is still in existence and permanently on display at this museum.  They also had a wicker baby cradle that was brought over on the Mayflower!

And, of course, Plymouth Rock!

The computer isn't cooperating very well, so I will try to post this and continue with another post later.

LEAVES ARE CHANGING

As you can see, the leaves are starting to change.  We will  miss the most colorful part of the season as we will be leaving for home at the end of this week.

Some colorful leaves in the campground we were staying at.

More leaves and rocks around the pond.

Do you want to catch a frog?

There are nets available to catch frogs with - they must be released after catching.

In my September 22 post, I neglected to tell you something about Louisa May Alcott's home.  Inside the house there were 3 quilts made by her mother!  They had to be at least 150 years old and were in very good condition!  One was pink and brown squares with lighter solid panels separating panels of squares.  One was a flying geese quilt and the third one was white with large blue triangles.  I wish I could have gotten pictures of them.  But I just found pictures of the inside of their home here!  I didn't see the quilts in any of these pictures, however.  Click on Panoramas for a much better look.

MORE HISTORY

Yesterday we drove to Quincy, MA to see the Adams National Historical Park, which was one of the top things on my list to do.  We took the 2 hour tour which included the nation's two oldest presidential birthplaces, which stand on their original foundations, as well as the Old House at Peace Field and the Stone Library.   Unfortunately, we were unable to take pictures inside the homes.  The tour was AAA+ excellent!  If you ever get the chance to go there, be sure to do it!  I am definitely going to watch the HBO movie "John Adams" again when we get home and read the book that I have.

These first 5 pictures were taken with my iPhone.

Birthplace of John Quincy Adams (6th president).

Birthplace of John Adams (2nd president) and where he grew up.

Stone Library built to hold the Adams'  family extensive book collection.

 BTW, the floor of the library is Italian (I think) tile in the Ohio star pattern.  One square has a deliberate mistake right near the door going into the library.  One of the flying geese of one star is backward.

The Old House where John and Abigail Adams retired to.

After the tour, we drove into downtown Boston to walk on the Freedom Trail, but it was a logistic nightmare and even our GPS couldn't get us to the right location, let alone find the parking area.  There were some special events going on, including a bicycle race, and that, combined with street signs lacking, made it impossible, so we had to leave.

We decided to make a stop in Lowell, MA to go to the New England Quilt Museum.  Again, no pictures were allowed to be taken, which was a big disappointment.  There were some amazing quilt, including a Dear Jane quilt, a quilt by Barbara Brackman, one by Carol Doak, and some lovely antique quilts.

New England Quilt Museum

Our truck parked on the stone cobbled street with the museum in the background.

We were exhausted by the time we got back to the camper around 4:30 PM.   We had tried to figure out how to get downtown on a bus or subway, but came to the conclusion that the buses didn't run very often on Saturday, etc. etc.  We are used to driving places and really like that we can go when we want to and not have to wait for a bus or subway.  Even though we missed the Freedom Trail, I was pretty happy with our day.  We're not finished with Massachusetts yet, so after a travel day, we will see more sites!

CONCORD

I love to visit historic sites and yesterday was the day for that.  We didn't have time to see it all - that would take several days to a few weeks - but we saw some highlights.

We took a tour of Orchard House, where Louisa May Alcott grew up.  The tour was very interesting and 80% of the furnishings were original to the family.  We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside the home.  I really makes me want to read more about her life.  The only book of hers that I have read is  Little Women.  And of course, I've seen the movie numerous times.  The movie that came out around 1950 is one of the movies that we were allowed to go to and we saw it at a drive-in theatre!

The house where Little Women was written.

Louisa May Alcott's Home

 Next was the Minute Man National Historic Park, which is a wonderful park covering the opening battle of the revolutionary war which took place on April 18, 1775.  It is hard to imagine what it must have been like back then, but it was wonderful seeing some of the original locations and buildings.

Minute Man Statute at the North Bridge where the battle took place.

North Bridge

Stone wall near North Bridge (I love the stone walls)

Then, we went to Boxborough, MA to visit the Quilted Crow Quilt Shop!  I didn't take pictures inside the shop so I am linking you to their web site here.   They have pictures of the inside of their shop on the web site.  It is a lovely shop with LOTS of fabric, wool, etc, etc.

I didn't buy very much;  fat 8ths, FQs and 2 pieces of wool.

The day was beautiful and if you are wondering, the leaves are starting to change.  I'll try to get some pictures today.  There are so many things (colorful trees, houses, barns, churches) that I see as we are driving down the road that I want to take pictures of, but there is no place to stop.  The roads are 2 lanes with no shoulders and you can't just stop to take pictures.  Or, we are on the freeway going 55 mph and can't stop.

Today we are going to Quincy and Boston!