Not a Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On Anymore

By Jeff Burns

In the mid- 1700s, an offshoot of Quakerism arrived in the American colonies.  Members called their faith the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearance.  Outsiders called them the “Shaking Quakers” or Shakers, because their religious ecstasy was often expressed physically through dance.  Eventually led by Mother Ann Lee, who was later revealed as the second coming of Christ herself, the sect developed dozens of small communities that all practiced communalism, pacificism, and celibacy.  They were ahead of their time by believing in the equality of the sexes and races, and they were often innovators and early adopters of agricultural and technological  developments, supporting their communities by selling fruits, vegetables, foods, furniture, and crafts.  At Shaker-ism’s peak in the mid 19^th century, there were about 6,000 believers. Today, there is only one active community, Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village in Maine, with four members, and Shaker furniture and crafts are highly prized for their aesthetics of simplicity and functional beauty, and several Shaker villages are now village museums.

My first Shaker village was Canterbury in New Hampshire (http://www.shakers.org/). Canterbury Shaker Village was created as an historic site in 1969, and visitors can see 25 restored original Shaker buildings, 4 reconstructed Shaker buildings, and 694 acres of forests, fields, gardens, nature trails, and mill ponds.  The exhibits are very interesting and informative, and you can choose to take a tour or see it on your own.  Be sure to stop at the restaurant for lunch as well, and the gift shop has a great selection of book, crafts, and gifts to choose from.

Dormitory at Canterbury.  Shakers lived communally in shared rooms, with men on one side of the building and women on the other. 

School at Canterbury.  Even though Shakers practice celibacy, they accepted pregnant women and widows with children, along with orphans.  At 21, children are given a choice to either remain in the community as Shakers or to “secede” and leave the community.

The Guest House, just outside the community for family visitors and others who had business with the community.  They stayed here and met with Shakers here so that they wouldn’t contaminate the community with sin from the outside world.

Hancock Shaker Village is in western Massachusetts, and it became a historic farm village in 1959. It’s a little more interactive than Canterbury, with tours as well as interpreters demonstrating Shaker community life. You can see demonstrations of farming, blacksmithing, weaving, baking, woodworking, and oval box-making. Be sure to check out the unique round barn also. 

 The round barn interior

Shaker Village Museums are a great way to spend a day.  If you find yourself near one, be sure to check it out.  Here’s a site that lists locations: http://www.shakerworkshops.com/catalog/directory-of-shaker-villages-and-museums.php.

Salem Massachusetts: Don’t Get Spooked (Unless You Want)

By Jeff Burns

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I visited Salem Massachusetts for the day.  Of course, I have seen the episodes of “Bewitched” (There is a statue in town  of actress Elizabeth Montgomery as witch Samantha Stevens.), and I knew Salem was the only city in America with an official witch (Laurie Cabot, proclaimed so by Governor Michael Dukakis in the 1970s).  I’ve also read several books about the Salem Witch Trials of the 1690s, and there are a couple of titles on my “to-read” list as I write this blog. While vacationing in Massachusetts, I knew that I had to see for myself whether I’d find the historic or the cheesy.

 

Long story short:  I found both. Let’s get the cheesy out of the way first. Yes, there are numerous psychics, tarot readers, and self-proclaimed witches who have set up shop, many along Pickering Wharf, a quaint and picturesque shopping and dining area.  (Cabot herself opened the first such shop in the early 1970s but has recently retired.) There are also haunted houses and “witches’ dungeons”  where live and wax figures frighten tourists.   Then, there’s the Salem Witch Museum, which probably attracts most tourists to Salem.  Located in a former church on Salem Common, the museum purports to present the story of the hysteria and trials.  The sanctuary has been converted into a theater-in-the-rectangle for the presentation.  Above the visitors’ heads, there are 10 or so 3D scenes recreating elements of the story with mannequins, narration, and sound and lighting effects.  While much of the history is sound, you get the sense that the melodramatic (one scene depicts the devil) script hasn’t changed in fifty years.  When the show is over, visitors go to a small exhibit area for a superficial docent talk about witchcraft trials and then the gift shop which has a decent selection of books and an extensive collection of every cheesy witch and magic related item of merchandise imaginable.  Honestly, I’m not sure if I can recommend the Salem Witch Museum; I kind of wish we had used that time elsewhere.

At Pickering Wharf

For example, we could have visited the House of Seven Gables, the 17^th century museum that inspired Nathaniel Hawthorne’s work by the same name.  It’s one of many house tours in Salem, representing different eras in Salem’s long history. The Phillips House dates to the 1800s. You might also see the Pickering House or the Ropes Mansion, just to name a few.  There are also guided and self-guided walking tours available, focusing on the trials, Hawthorne, ghosts and spirits, and other facets of Salem’s history.

 

If you’re interested in maritime history, be sure to go to the National Park Service Visitors Center for great information.  You can visit the Customs House, and Salem also boasts the New England Pirate Museum.

The highlight of our day in Salem, however, was the Peabody Essex Museum, which we didn’t even know existed.  The Peabody Essex is a fantastic art and cultural history museum that got its start in the collections of objects brought home by Salem’s sea captains and sailors who sailed the world.  The collection of Asian, African, and Native American artifacts is amazing. Asian export art is a key part of the exhibits, and visitors can see the result of the meeting of East and West.  There is much to see, and a visitor can easily spend hours here.  The PEM also oversees 22 of the historic houses and structures open for visits in Salem.


We only saw a small bit of Salem, but we definitely fell under its spell and hope to get back there someday.

Quincy Massachusetts: Home of America’s First Family

By Jeff Burns

Before recent biographies like David McCullough’s classic and the brilliant HBO series based on it, John Adams was often overlooked in the pantheon of America’s founding fathers, maybe not in the top tier alongside Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin.  However, his stock has risen, so to speak, and he has assumed his rightful place.  While he had no direct role in the fighting of the American Revolution or the actions of the Sons of Liberty leading up to the war, his devotion to the principles of independence was crucial. If that was the whole story, it would be enough of a legacy, but there is much more that makes John Adams so fascinating.  His marriage to Abigail is one of the greatest marriages in American history.  He is the patriarch of one of America’s most prominent families of scholars, diplomats, and public servants.  Unfortunately, he and his son, John Quincy, also share the misfortune of having miserable presidencies that sometimes overshadow their greater non-presidential accomplishments.  The Adams family story is one of the greatest stories of American history.

In Quincy Massachusetts, visitors can learn that history.  Quincy is a short distance from Boston. On our recent stay in Boston, my wife and I took the convenient commuter train to downtown Quincy. The Adams National Historic Site Visitors Center is a very short walk from the train station. At the Visitor Center, there is a great video and gift shop.  It is here that visitors can purchase tour tickets and catch the bus for the visits to the three Adams family homes.  

The first stop is the birthplace of John Adams, purchased by his father in 1720.  Adams lived there until he married Abigail in 1764.

Just a few yards away is Adams’ second home, built around 1665, the birthplace of John Quincy and the family home during the Revolutionary years. 

After an informative tour of both homes, it’s back on the bus for a few  minutes’ trip to Peacefield, built in 1731 and purchased by Adams in 1787. The estate was the Adams family home until 1927 and became a national historic site in 1947.
 

The house is amazing. The history is practically palpable, but the gardens and the stone library are amazing features as well.

Upon their return to the Visitors’ Center, visitors should walk across the street to the United First Parish Church, built by the Adams family.  The family worshipped there, and both sets of presidents and first ladies are entombed in its crypt.  The church is not under the control of the National Park Service, but church volunteers conduct tours and answer questions for a small donation.

For lovers of American history, a day in Quincy is a must when visiting Massachusetts.

New Bedford Massachusetts: the City That Once Lit the Country

By Jeff Burns
 

Until the discovery of kerosene in the mid-19^th century, Americans had burned whale oil for heat and for light for many years.  Native Americans on the east coast had routinely butchered beach whales for centuries before white settlers arrived in Massachusetts.  English colonists developed a thriving whaling industry, and New Englanders set sail on voyages to the north Pacific that took them away from home and family for years.  The city of New Bedford was a center of the industry.
 

The place to start is the New Bedford National Whaling Historic Park.  There are a couple of small exhibits and extremely helpful people there who can answer your questions.

  

From there, go to the New Bedford Whaling Museum. At the museum, you can see everything from whale skeletons to an actual whaling ship.  The museum has great exhibits showcasing  the whaling industry and the lives of the sailors, their families, and the men who profited most from the trade and made New Bedford one of the wealthiest communities in the country.
 

Across the street from the museum, take a short walk to the Seaman’s Bethel, a small church that was attended by sailors and captains before and after their long, dangerous voyages.  The dangers of whaling are highlighted by the many memorial plaques marking the deaths and disappearances of crewmen over the years.  Herman Melville attended this chapel (You can sit in his pew.) and set a famous chapter of Moby Dick in this very chapel.  Very friendly volunteers are on hand to answer questions.

New Bedford was important in antebellum American history for another reason; it was a center of the abolitionist movement.  It was one of the major final destinations of the Underground Railroad, and Frederick Douglass lived there for years.  In fact, Douglass met abolitionist firebrand William Lloyd Garrison in New Bedford, and the famed 54^th Massachusetts Infantry, the black regiment immortalized in the movie “Glory”, recruited there.  A recently completed mural near the museum honors this history. The National Park office has information as well.
 

New Bedford also boasts museums dedicated to glass, firefighting, art, and the Portuguese immigrants who settled in the area.
 

Visit Massachusetts: Spend the Day in Plymouth

By Jeff Burns

Plymouth Rock

Just a short drive from Boston, you’ll find Plymouth, the site where 102 Separatists and others disembarked from the Mayflower to establish the colony of Massachusetts.  After a hard winter and much assistance from the local Wampanoag people, the colonists survived and celebrated a Thanksgiving feast.  Today, tourists flock to Plymouth to enjoy a beautiful New England town and to soak up a lot of American history.

Mayflower II

You have to start from the beginning, with the Mayflower II, a full size replica of the original ship.  At just 106 feet long, it’s difficult to imagine that the voyage was possible, but knowing that it did happen, you’re left with a greater respect for the settlers.  Visitors can board and examine the entire ship. Costumed historic interpreters are on hand to answer questions and demonstrate life on board .  Nearby, you can see Plymouth Rock, the legendary landing spot.  It’s actually a part of the original boulder that was identified in 1715 as “the” rock, moved from its original location.  There are no contemporary mentions of a rock, and historians have long cast doubt on the story, but it’s without doubt a part of the story of Plymouth.  Across the street from the rock is the original burying ground, located on Coles Hill, where you’ll also find a statue of Massasoit, the Wampanoag chief who befriended the Pilgrims and encouraged Squanto and Samoset to help them. 

The Pilgrim Hall Museum is one of the oldest public museums in the U.S., founded in 1824.  It houses the largest collection of Pilgrim-era artifacts in the country. 

Just a couple of miles out of town is Plimoth Plantation. Step into life in the 17^th century as you tour a Wampanoag Indian village and the adjacent English village.  Costumed interpreters demonstrate life and answer questions from visitors.  It’s a fully functional village, and the villagers go about their daily chores.  They welcome you into their homes which represent a spectrum of experiences. There are also non-costumed interpreters who share their expertise.  We had an interesting conversation with an herbalist who was preparing various remedies. You could easily spend a whole day here.

Aside from all the history, Plymouth is a beautiful seaside village, and it’s definitely on our list of places worthy of a return.

Visit Massachusetts: Day Trip to Lowell

By Jeff Burns

The state of Massachusetts has so much history you can virtually set out in any direction from Boston and embark on an adventure into the past.  While visiting Boston, my wife and I took a day trip to Lowell, a textile manufacturing center established in the early 19^th century by Francis Cabot Lowell.  For a hundred years, Lowell represented the American industrial revolution.  “King Cotton” was shipped from the South to mills and factories in New England to be made into cloth for the country.  Lowell also represents the social history of the United States.  The first workers were Massachusetts farm girls recruited with the lure of a life off the farm.  As Irish and German immigrants arrived in large numbers in the 1840s, they found jobs in the factories.  In the late 1800s, the new immigrants arrived from southern and eastern Europe and then Portugal.  As the work force changed the character of the city changed as well, and Lowell became very diverse.  Then, the textile industry in Lowell came to an end in 1929 when the Great Depression turned Lowell into a ghost town.  In 1978, the Lowell National Historical Park was created for the purpose of rehabilitating over 100 downtown buildings and preserving the city’s unique past.  While the textile industry is no longer much of an employer, Lowell has bounced back, thanks to tourism and the universities and hospitals in the area.

We started at the Boott Cotton Mills, one of the original mill buildings that has 88 power looms in operation, and you get a slight sense of what work was like.  The auditory experience alone is incredible; the sound is deafening.  From there, the visitor goes through interesting interactive exhibits that explain the story of Lowell.  The introductory film is a must-see, one of the best museum films I’ve seen. It is a thorough and entertaining account of the disagreement between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton about the economic path the United States should take.  It’s a video I would love to use with my students, but it is not for sale unfortunately.  The exhibit’s docent was a retired teacher who was extremely knowledgeable and engaging.

A short walk away is the Mill Girls & Immigrants Exhibit.  There, you can see how the Lowell girls lived in their boardinghouses.  One of the really interesting displays is a representation of the typical meals prepared for the girls by the house mothers; the hard working girls consumed huge meals.  You can also see what the girls did in their leisure time.

From the mills, you may want to visit the American Textile History Museum and the New England Quilt Museum.  The latter was a must-see for my wife, a quilter.  The New England Quilt Museum had a couple of great exhibits for history lovers.  One was an exhibit of modern quilts inspired by Civil War quilts and fabrics.  The other exhibit was of authentic Civil War quilts.

Art lover?  James Whistler’s birthplace in Lowell is open to the public. His father was in charge of the mills’ railroad system at the time of his birth.  Literature buff?  Jack Kerouac was a Lowell native, and you can connect with the author of On the Road in the Kerouac Commemorative Park on Bridge Street.

Whatever your interests, there’s plenty to see in Lowell.