Ontario: House of Commons Tour -- in FRENCH!

The downside to not planning in advance is sometimes you end up wanting to do something, but it is already booked. This was the case with touring the temporary home for the House of Commons. 

Last summer we toured the Senate in English. Due to an extensive construction project on Parliament Hill both the House of Commons and the Senate have been relocated. The Senate is inside the former beaux art train station. It is magnificent.

The House decided to stay closer to their offices and enclosed a courtyard, then had their furniture moved. It is a creative solution. I wonder how noisy it is when construction work is happening. We toured on August 3, which is a Civic Holiday unique to Ontario. In other words, the lawmakers were not at work.

My French is okay. Having learned French in Belgium where they say septante and nonante instead of soixante-dix and quatre-vinght-dix (yes, classic French turns their numbers into equations: sixty+10=70, and 4x20+10=90), any time a number is spoken I stop to figure it out.

Don just went along for the fun and didn't even try to understand any of it.

Parliament was built in 1865. Those in power sit on one side, those not in power are on the other side. Everything happens in the two state languages of French and English (well, except for this tour which we were told would only be in French unless there was something important to say such as don't take a picture of this). Things can be translated into other languages if requested. Canada has over 50 indigenous languages.

Green is the official color, which is inspired by Britain.

The brass bar at the door is to bar the monarch, or his representative the Governor General, from entering. This is in contrast to the Senate where King Charles is allowed to enter.

The prime minister of Canada is the third in power in Canada, behind the monarch and head of the Senate. I think.

Parliament is responsible for decisions that affect all of Canada, such as international commerce and defense, as opposed to provincial government that focuses on the more local issues of education, etc. Again, I think.

Sammy, our guide, tried to explain how laws are made in Canada. Here is where I gave up trying.

I will say the forty minute tour flew by and I'm glad we went on it, if for no other reason than it gave us a chance to see the temporary quarters.

Conference room

This book, located in the Room of Rembrance,
advances a page every day.
There are books honoring soldiers from every war
Canada has participated in.

Ontario: Indigenous Tour

Bytown Museum celebrates Colonel By Day annually. I'd love to fill this post with information about Colonel By that I learned at the museum. Best as I've gleaned, he was the leader of the early European settlers back when Ottawa was a measly lumber town. The town was named for him, Bytown, and he has earned his place in the white history books.

This post, though, is about the Indigenous walking tour led by Jaime Morse, founder of Indigenous Walks. Jaime started these walks when her children were little as a way to teach them about their cultural history, and how they can see themselves. Jamie is Nehiway/Michif from Alberta, Canada. She offers these talks for a fee. We were lucky August 3rd was a free tour day. If you are in Ottawa, I recommend seeking her out.

First off she made it clear that we were standing on unceded, un-surrendered Indigenous land. No one was conquered here. No treaty took play.

Before it was Bytown, the area surrounding the Ottawa River was a thriving community where canal paths crossed, and people gathered from different tribes. There were many nations represented. They traveled through waterfalls and rapids to end up at this resting place called Pimisi Station, pimisi means eel, and animal Indigenous people used every part of for medicine, skins, food, etc. In those days the area was full of forests. By cutting down the trees, the eels were effected.

Jaime taught us about canoes. You never show a canoe without its paddles. Canoes were built from different trees: ash for its ribs, birch bark for the outside, spruce to wrap around, and black sap made from animal brains to make it waterproof. 

There are still Indigenous tribes, but they are not in Ottawa.

During the War of 1812 Indigenous people fought on the side of the British, which is the main reason the British won. If not, Canada would have been part of the United States. They fought for their sovereignty. To this day, many Indigenous people do not want to be called Canadians. There are 800 reserved lands held by the government to parse out to the tribes. Some have 50 people, others have thousands. These are called communities. "Reservations" is a term used in the United States.

Inside Chateau Laurier we saw some First Nations art.

We ended the tour on this warm day in front of the statue of Joseph Brent, a Mohawk. His statue shows how he dressed in a combination of Indigenous and Western styles. He knew many dignitaries on both sides and became a conduit between them. He is wearing puffy sleeves, but a bag made out of tanned hide and a traditional blanket.

From here the group returned to the start to see the dedication of the Celtic Cross which is acknowledging the Indigenous heroes who helped the Irish in the early days of their living in Bytown. 

Ontario: Diefenbunker

Diefenbunker (pronounced DEE-fen-bun-ker), Canada's Cold War museum, is a time capsule of what could-have-been, but did not become. Thank God!

When I looked at the website there were lots of tickets available for tours. Unsure of our exact plans, I did not buy them in advance. For $19.50 CAD ($15 USD) we could enter, or for a few dollars more we could enter and have a one-hour tour. It was a thirty-second no brainer to upgrade to the tour. 

The line to buy the ticket in person was a little slow. People were giving up and buying tickets online. I was about to do so, too, when the man behind us, Alex, said the tours were sold out for the day. 

There goes that plan.

When it was our time to buy tickets I innocently asked about a tour. Braden, the ticket seller, asked how many in our party. I answered, two, plus our new friend behind us. Braden was also the 1:30 pm tour guide. He agreed to add us to his group. 

We had a little time to wander around the first floor of the museum. It was eerie walking through the hallways. The rooms had 1960s furniture and technology. In some ways the furniture reminded me of working for a non-profit in the 1990s. 

One of the rooms described the Cold War as a war of propaganda. Wow! That hit home! The Cold War lasted from the end of World War II until the fall of the Berlin Wall (1945-1991).

I saw a quote that also hit home: As Canadians we like to think of ourselves as peaceful rule followers, often in contrast to our neighbors to the South. The Cold War frequently highlighted our distances. 

As do current events, one could add.

We saw the medical and psych wards. They look like something out of a horror movie.

Around the bend we met Chuck, and 80-year-old Navy veteran who was stationed here for a while. When he is not volunteering at Diefenbunker, he swims three kilometer races. I could have spent hours interviewing him, but our tour was coming up in ten minutes.

The bunker is also home to an exhibit educating the public about the DEW line. The Distant Early Warning line, or DEW for short, was carved out as a way to be able to communicate threats quicker. That sounds innocuous. The arctic RADAR stations designed to detect enemy ballistic missiles were built on Indigenous lands forcing people to relocate, and making the water toxic. It destroyed people and cultures. It was only in use from 1955 to 1957.

~~~

It was time for our tour. We were supposed to be 24, but Braden let another ten people (including us) join. True to his word, he was an excellent tour guide. His voice carried. He kept us engaged and together. He later said he is going to school to be an elementary school teacher. His skills shone.

Diefenbunker was built to maintain 530 workers for thirty days in the event of a nuclear blast. There was a strict list that included government officials, military personnel, and civilians needed to help them survive (secretaries, doctors, nurses, chefs, etc.). No exceptions were made to that list, not even to include the wife of the Prime Minster as we learned later on the tour.

In the late 1950s Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker realized there was a growing concern of nuclear war. If that happened, life would be obliterated. Many countries were creating these bunkers to be able to sustain life. The official name was the Central Emergency Government Headquarters (CEGGQ), later it became the Canadian Forces Station Carp (CFS Carp). Diefenbunker was the derogatory name the liberals, his political enemies, gave it when it was being built. Of the names, it is the one the most fun to say and became the name of the museum. 

It was commissioned in 1959 in the height of the Cold War for $22 million CAD ($200 million CAD in today's dollars). The closest they ever came to needing it was during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, which was (thankfully) averted. Decommissioned in 1994, three years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and reopened in 1998 as a museum.

At its lowest, it is 75 feet below ground. Most everything in it still works, though Braden pointed out the water fountains and most bathrooms are no longer functional.

We entered the one-ton steel entrance door. In the case of a nuclear blast, the first stop would be to take a decontamination shower before joining everyone else. Those words spoken so soon after the freeing of Auschwitz must have given some the shivers. They would shuck everything they were wearing and toss it down a chute into an underground lead-lined box where it would be burnt. Everything. Wedding rings, included. The only exception was eyewear since contact lenses were not a thing, and seeing was key. After the shower, your level of radiation was checked using a Geiger counter.

The facility had confinement rooms, and a morgue that was never used.

The medical center gives off horror movie vibes.

The facility had enough oil to run for six months, but only enough food for thirty days. Unlike some other countries, they did not have the ability to grow food. They knew their bunker was less than every other country, but figured 30 days would be enough since 24 days after the blast in Hiroshima the toxic levels had lowered enough.

The facility was designed using earthquake measures, such as not having flat surfaces on the tops of their cabinets, and putting cages around lightbulbs. They figured the blast from a missile would be akin to that of an earthquake.

There were 78 toilets.

Of the 535 people, only 110 were women. Diefenbaker only had one woman in his cabinet. Trudeau had a 50/50 split.

The bunker relied on underground well water, which in 2002 was deemed to have too much lead in it to be drinkable.

Throughout the museum, you can see how technology evolved from the late 1950s through to the early 1990s when it was decommissioned. From teletype to desktop computers. Throughout its history it housed 20-100 military personnel, but was never used in an emergency.

The bunker was able to be built so quickly because it was built at sea level, with an artificial manmade hill built on top of it. They chose the site in Carp because it is an hour outside Ottawa (the capital of Canada), and because it was the site of a quarry that had been excavated. Instead of digging down, they filled in what was missing. It only took 18 months to build the 100,000 square foot facility. It was not a well-kept secret.

When there are 535 people living in tight quarters, you learn to live in shifts. There was no life outside of the bunker. You worked for eight hours, slept for eight hours, and had eight hours a day for leisure. You only had one meal a day, an MRE (Meals, Ready-to-Eat) each.

Unlike in the United States, the Prime Minister is not also in charge of the military. In Canada, that role belongs to the second in command, the Governor General.

The museum starts on the ground floor where most people would have slept.
Down one floor is the war room where the government personnel did their job. Note the ash trays ... smoking was very much allowed in these rooms. Cigarettes would become currency.

The Prime Minister would sit at one end of the table. The Governor General at the other. Real decisions would have been made at this table. On one wall is a clock identifying seven time zones--6 for Canada (including Newfoundland's half hour time zone), and Universal Central Time, which we refer to as GMT. Life was on GMT in the bunker. In reality, it would not have mattered since the world outside the bunker would have ceased to exist.

The giant TVs on the walls brought many of us back to our youth. They were how people communicated between rooms inside the bunker, not to watch what was on TV outside the bunker.

The Minister of National Defense wanted their own bunker at NORAD in North Bay. They had phone lines to connect the two bunkers.

We saw the Prime Minister's suite with his one-person cot. His wife did not make the cut. Diefenbaker swore he would never go underground and leave his wife behind. Deputy Prime Minister Donald offered to leave his wife behind and take his place in the event of a blast. At the time he was the Finance Minister. Diefenbaker famously did not get along with President John F. Kennedy, so that might have been part of his decision.

In 1962 there were 15 cabinet members on the list, plus five people per cabinet member. 

Oddly there is a tiny room with a telephone people could use to call their loved ones outside the bunker. It was mostly used by military personnel who maintained the space, never after a nuclear blast.

As we waited for the tour I met a man from the former Soviet Union. I wonder what he thought of the museum. He did way he never went to something similar in Russia. Then again, I never went to anything like it in the United States. It would have been interesting to hear his take afterwards. Canadian and American propaganda was anti USSR, and I'm sure he grew up with anti-American and Canadian propaganda. 

In addition to the bunker, there was a series of transmitter sites from Carp to Pennsylvania to be able to communicate with the President of the United States. There was red phone, now in storage, for the Prime Minister to use.

In 1977 the current Prime Minster, Pierre Trudeau, visited Diefenbunker to see where the military spending was going. He cut their budget in half. At the time there was a detente, and relations were being normalized. 

The cafeteria has not changed much. There is a recreation room with pool tables, and darts to keep entertained. You ate your one meal a day during your recreation time. When it was a military base they had a chef visiting daily from Carp. The food was so good it was rated the second best military base food, the top ratings going to the one in Quebec that also served poutine.

Alcohol was prohibited, but they have found dozens of beer and rum bottles hidden in the walls and ceiling. They had "thrills gum" to mask the smell of alcohol.

We saw the vault where they would have moved the gold into for safe keeping, and the cold storage that could have doubled as a morgue.  

They figured they were three hours away if Russia sent a missile. Three hours of mass chaos as plans were put into place.

Diefenbunker was busier than usual that day. They cap at 500 visitors for safety. I can't imagine that many people inside at once, especially not to live with for thirty solid days!

New Jersey: Trenton's Quakers--Choose a Side!

In honor of our nation's 250th anniversary, Trenton celebrated Heritage Week. My impression was that Heritage Week was supposed to do what Patriots Week has done for years: celebrate hyper-local Revolutionary War history. Therefore it is not surprising that some of the topics are repeats. As much as I have complained about just how cold it always is during Patriots Week, this year I complained about just how hot it was during Heritage Week.

Fred at the Friends Meeting House in Trenton offered his talk Quaker--Choose a Side! four times during Heritage Week. I signed up for the last one at 2 pm on Tuesday. I failed to factor in how hard it would be to find parking in downtown Trenton. I'm glad to see life in Trenton.

Fred focused his talk on the Quakers who were influential in the era leading up to the Revolutionary War and during the war.

Quakers famously do not fight. However, as war is taking place literally in front of your home, or church, it is hard to stay neutral. Men were forced to either fight in the war, or pay to send someone in his place, which presents different ethical issues.

Let's get back to Fred's talk.

In 1640, 23 year old George Fox started the Quakers in England. They do not have worship leaders. Everyone in the congregation is encouraged to speak.

The next generation included William Penn Jr. who purchased lands in both East and West Jersey. Whenever people bring this up, it sounds so confusing because in the 21st century the debate is the North vs. South Jersey with Central Jersey tossed in to complicate the conversation. It is also confusing because they were united in 1702, 74 years before the Battle of Trenton.

William Penn Jr. was a Quaker, as was his friend Mahlon Stacy. In 1685 Stacy built his mill on the Assinpink Creek, thus forming Trenton. He was our first settler. He sold his land to William Trent Jr. back when Trenton was called Falls, NJ. I never heard about the earlier name for Trenton.

The Quakers have what are called Worship Groups, which are Preparative Meetings, Once a month they have a business meeting called Monthly Meetings. They meet four times a year in Quarterly Meetings with more Quakers. Annually the Quakers from several states gather in what is called Yearly Meetings. In the 19th century a group broke off from the traditional Quakers to become missionaries and travel internationally to spread the movement.

In 1739 the local Quakers built the Meeting House where we were talking on that hot afternoon. Before that they met in people's homes. By 1700 the locals were saying "we need a meeting house." 

In December 1776 James Pemberton (a leading Quaker in Trenton) wrote a letter to his brother, James Pemberton, in Philadelphia asking for advice about how to handle the uprising in Trenton as the Hessians moved in and took over people's homes. His brother's advice, dated December 20, 1776 (five days before the Battle of Trenton) was "don't fight." 

The Quakers have always been anti-violence. 

James was arrested in 1777 along with 40 other Philadelphia Quakers and restrained in Virginia. Seven or eight months later they were released without a trial.

John Dickenson, brother of Philemon Dickenson wrote to General George Washington before the battle of Trenton. They had been writing letters long before the war to say "we need independence, but we won't fight for it." 

Of the 56 delegates to the Second Constitutional Congress John Dickenson and Robert Livingston refused to sign the Declaration of Independence. Dickenson, a Quaker, felt reconciliation with Britain was still possible.

Another neat tidbit I learned from Fred's talk was that Stacy Potts was Mahlon Stacy's great-grandson. To many, that means nothing. But as a local history buff, I know that Mahlon Stacy founded Trenton in the 17th century, and over a hundred years later his great-grandson housed Colonel Rall, the head of the Hessians. The name Stacy jumped from being a last name to being a first name and is not a coincidence.

Isaac Collins, a Quaker printer, began in Philadelphia before moving to Burlington to start his business. He printed the Gazette, New Jersey's first newspaper. He paid a fee to send someone to fight in the war. He was excommunicated from the Quakers for ten years until he apologized and was let back into the meeting. He died in Burlington, and is buried behind the building we were in. He famously printed Sarah Grubb's journal in Trenton in 1795, and the 18 pence bill. He died in 1817. 

By 1830, the Quakers retreated from politics.

I was the only person at the talk. I hope Fred did not feel it was a waste of time. I know I left with a couple of new pieces of information making the Battle of Trenton puzzle in head a bit more complete. 

New Jersey: Trenton's Historic Churches Pivotal in Revolutionary War

This walk during Trenton's Heritage Week was a great companion to last year's Patriot's Week tour of Revolutionary Churches that was pivotal during the Revolutionary War. Today's tour started with Downtown Trenton before moving to St. Michael's Church were we all petered out from the heat. The plan had been to continue to First Presbyterian Church of Trenton and The Friends Meeting House, but with temperatures near 100 degrees, our group of eight each said "next time."

Harry from the Kiwanis Club handed us a faux parchment map from the era. It shows where the key buildings were during the Revolutionary War era, superimposed on a map of what the roads look like today.

Harry started off by saying the tour was meant for walking not for talking. Pierre, another one of our walkers, guided us to shade whenever it was time to do some talking. Every bit helped.

Standing in front of the bank on the corner of Warren and State Streets, Harry said this was where the French Arms Tavern was built in 1730 by John Dagworthy. In the beginning it was a large house with a stable that could house a dozen horses. The tavern was our US capitol for one month in the early days of our nation. George Washington ate here when he was in town.

We walked down Warren Street towards the Delaware River and paused at the former Blazing Star Tavern. Unlike the French Arms Tavern, this is still mostly standing. It has had many iterations during its life, including being a car repair shop in the 1970s. Until I stepped across the street and really looked at the building, I never noticed its shape. It still retains the look of an old tavern. The rear door says "Blazing Star." This is where Rev. John Rosbrugh was leaving when the Presbyterian minister was bayonetted to death, making him the first clergyman to die in the Revolutionary War. The Hessians were told to "take no prisoners," so when he crossed their path, he was murdered. 

The Presbyterians had a bad reputation in those days because they were part of the religious groups who left England in order to worship God the way they wanted to (vs. being forced to be good Anglicans). 

The Hessians decided to winter in Trenton. Meanwhile, their wives and families were staying closer to New Brunswick. The soldiers took over homes in Trenton, forcing the locals to move into the Barracks that were built during the French and Indian War between 1753 and 1760.

Harry explained the roots of our Revolutionary War date back to 1640 to 1650 when England fought their own Civil War when King Henry VII broke from the pope and formed his own church barely 15 years after Martin Luther (in 1533) broke from Catholicism barely a hundred years before that. The Bible was translated into English. The King James version of the bible had not yet been written. The Congregationalists were the first group to break free from the Anglicans. They became the Puritans who became the Presbyterians. The Quakers are another subset.

The English Civil War was bloody. It drained their resources (in simplest forms). 

The Hessians were brought to Trenton to train the soldiers.

Washington and some others replaced churches with lodges to teach morals and ethics. Everyone had to believe in God the watchmaker, God of entitlement, etc., but not the same God as the one worshiped by the Anglicans.

Pierre was on our tour. Pierre is an expert geologist. He reminds me of Keith from Newlin Grist Mill as both gentlemen see something in nature that looks ordinary, until they patiently explain it to us so we, too, can see what they see. In this case, it was the rocks used to build a wall next to the (Old) Barracks. Some of the fortuitous rocks are local, some were pre-used, others were shiny, or rounded (meaning they came out of the river), and further down are marble grave stones. Once seen, it is hard to unsee.

We admired the Statehouse and were encouraged to take a tour. The gold dome was regilded in 1999 through a school project. Once inside, check out the marble room.

For the second time in a couple of weeks, I heard about Daniel Coxe. His taking away land from people was a spark for the start of the Revolutionary War that was never covered in history class.

Harry offered us cold water, a bathroom, and air conditioning inside St. Michael's Church. We walked through the historic graveyard past Declaration of Independence signer David Brearley's grave. The church was on the path of the December 1776 First Battle of Trenton

All of these talks are helping to solidify in my head what happened during the Revolution. I've heard similar versions of the battles. This tour was the first time I heard that not only were locals displaced from their homes (which likely led to the third amendment prohibiting this), but the locals then needed a place to stay so they moved into the (Old) Barracks.

During Larry's cemetery tour I learned the part time soldiers were full-time farmers who had to walk to where they were stationed, and had to provide their own arms. Their wives and children had to take over the farms in their absence. 

Well, that puts a sharper focus on the events of the era.

The Battle Monument in Trenton was built to be the same height as Bowman's Tower in Bucks County, PA. Bowman's Tower was built that height so they could see the smoke from the ferries that signaled military action. From there, they could see ferries as far south as Burlington.

Washington stayed with his friend Alexander Douglass when he was in Trenton, rather than staying at the Eagle Tavern. The Douglass House has been moved a few times, but in its day it was close to the action. Mr. Douglass was a quartermaster, the man who supplied what was needed.  

The story of our Revolutionary War at its core is the story of the growth of religion. That is something that most definitely was not taught in my public school days.

New York: NYC Peace Museum

Wandering around New York City's Finance District we stumbled upon this bicycle:

As it was covered in fake flowers and attached to a street sign, it caught our attention.

On the front is a sign:

PEACE

Peace Museum NY

The world's smallest mobile museum

PEACE MUSEUM NY on Facebook @peacebike #peacebike on Instagram

Looking at the bright bicycle I couldn't help but think this is as good a symbol of peace in New York City as anything else. We haven't earned the right to have a brick and mortar museum dedicated to peace since it is fleeting and doesn't sit still. Nor is it very large.

New Jersey: Trenton Walks tour of Cadwalader Park

In June 2024 Becky and Tim started Trenton Walks as a way to better get to know our capital city. This was their 77th walk. Over 1,100 people have participated on these walks, walking a combination of 2,336 miles, or from Trenton, NJ to a small town in Nevada.

My first walk with them was their fiftieth: From City Hall to the State House.

Last summer I went on their Cadwalader Park to Stacy Park walk.

During Patriots Week I joined the Ten Crucial Days walk. It snowed!

In March, I attended their South Trenton Redevelopment walk led by Mercer County Executive Dan Benson.

Also in March was the Trenton Architectural Tour around the State House.

More recently I went on their Bordentown walk, and Don and I joined them for Two Bridges, Two States walk on our anniversary.

Talking to Becky I decided to move my travel posts to PillsburyTravel.blogspot.com in order to make it easier to direct friends and strangers to our travels.

Tonight's walk's focus was on cross country running. Though Becky and Tim have not stated this, I suspect it is more interesting for them if they come up with new twists to the walks. They are both insatiably curious about life. They like to bring in local experts to guide the walks.

Coach Jordan was our expert. In addition to other roles, he is one of three cross country coaches at Trenton Central High School. He wants to encourage more people to run and walk in Cadwalader Park. He is on the team of people creating a 5k cross country loop within the 100 acre historic park.

Cadwalader Park is the last great urban park designed by famous American landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted in 1888. All three Olmsteds were involved with the design including his stepson John Charles Olmsted and his son Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.

As with his other parks (New York City's Central Park being perhaps the most famous), this park was designed with intentionality from the trees chosen, to the paths, to the placement of groves, ponds, meadows, and streams. Walking through the park it is hard to believe it is only 100 acres. It feels much larger.

Towards the end of our tour, Jordan brought out a map showing Olmsted's original intention before funding cuts stopped progress in 1892. There is a clear path where the cross country trail was to be. We learned there are two different styles of cross country courses: European and American.

European cross country came about first. It was started in the United Kingdom in the late 1800s, about the time the park was being built. It is more challenging, highly technical, a point to point course on trails using natural sight lines.

American style, by contrast, is faster, more open, and less technical. They rely on longer loops looking more like a track. It came about post World War II, I wonder if the soldiers learned about it during the war and brought it to the United States adding their own twists.

There should be a 2:1 ratio of uphills to downhills. Ouch! They are designed to be taxing even for the most experienced runners, but also fun! Jordan described it as a "roller coaster" style.

Cross country differs from track running in that cross country takes place on softer surfaces, such as grass, instead of pavement. The hills are a big difference, too.

Cadwalader Park is embracing this sport. From 1920-1999 they used to host races. These picked up again in 2024. The city has been filling in gaping holes and trying to make the course more runner-friendly. For races they use washable paint to paint arrow, and bring in flags identifying straight (blue), left turn (red), or right turn (yellow). There are hopes of adding permanent markings so others see the course. To me it just looks like mowed grass.

The city is sponsoring fun runs, walks, and runs every Wednesday in July and August. They want to build up a community of people who will use it and care for it. In addition to the cross country loop, there is a paved walking look, walking along the D&R Canal, and plenty of parking. 

I slacked off on taking pictures.

Massachusetts: Louisa May Alcott's Home in Concord

Before our trip I had no idea in addition to the Revolutionary battle, Concord, Massachusetts was home to Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Henry David Thoreau. 

Nor did I know that they all knew each other. 

Small town. Same time period.

After decades of moving every couple of years, in September 1857 Bronson Alcott bought Orchard House in Concord, MA and made it the family home for him, his wife, and their four daughters for the next twenty years.

When purchased their home was "fit for pigs." Sitting on 20 acres of apple orchards, and helped by Thoreau, the home transformed into what we see it today. There were actually two house on the property that were joined together for the large family.

Louisa May Alcott wrote "Little Women" in this house. She based the characters of Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy on her sisters, Anna (Meg), Beth, and May (Amy), as well as herself as Jo, making them younger than she and her sisters were when they moved to Concord. Sadly, Louisa's real-life sister Beth died in 1858, just before they moved into the house.

One big difference was that instead of their father fighting in the Civil War, she served as a nurse in the war. Her father was too old to fight. 

Louisa's parents supported her desire to write. They built a desk in her bedroom. Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures, but I studied it longingly on the house tour. It is a semi circle attached to a post. There are pictures of it on their website. It is small, but she did not need to fit a computer on it, only paper, a pen, and an inkwell.

Her parents also supported her younger sister's desire to become an artist, as did Louisa. Louisa paid for May to travel to Europe to learn from the masters.

Liberty guided us inside the home. Though we started as the only people on the last tour of the day, we were joined by a family of six (including a daughter of about seven who asked the most insightful questions), and a gay couple who breezed through the house alone even though we were told to stay together.

Walking through the giftshop we entered the kitchen. Liberty tells us 80% of the home is original to the Alcott family. Along the tour, the little girl identifies many of the object not from the family (clothing, and perhaps some toys). The stove was also not original.

The home opened as a museum in 1911. The family had moved out in 1877. A family friend lived there for ten years, then it was abandoned. A woman set up a fund in 1911 to turn it into a museum. 

In the dining room we see a beam representing where the two houses were joined. The girls put on theatrical performances here, written by Louisa. They used the back stairs to sneak upstairs to change costumes. Some of the costumes are still on display.

The walls are covered in artwork by May (who most of us translate into Amy). An hour could be given just to studying how her talent evolved.

Anna and her husband were married in the parlor. The invitations were sent out in secret the morning of the wedding. Her wedding dress is on the bed where Louisa slept after Anna moved out.

May died soon after giving birth to Louisa May. The older Louisa May raised the younger, whom they called Lulu, for nine years until her death when she was sent to live with her father. Lulu lived until 1975 when she passed away at the age of 96. She visited the museum later in life.

A piece of Louisa May Alcott trivia: she taught herself to be ambidextrous so she could write twice as fast. She wrote for 12-14 hours each day. After serving in the Civil War, she wrote "Little Women" in this house, earning herself $5 million in her lifetime. She never married so she could retain her money.

Another piece of trivia, she grew her hair to her ankles. Unfortunately it was cut off when she had typhoid in an attempt to cure her. She wore wigs and caps the rest of her life. She died at age 55 from mercury poisoning.

Bronston, her father, built a school on the property: the Concord School of Philosophy. For years he taught children and had to move every few years. Here he taught up to 30 adults per lesson in his parlor before shifting to the other building when he was 80 years old.

Louisa and her father died on the same day in 1886. Her at the age of 55, him at 88.

As we left we noticed drawings on plexiglass covering the walls. For many years these drawings by May were hidden under the wallpaper. They were discovered following a 1980s era article referencing them. The drawings have faded over time, so what they could identify, they copied onto the plexiglass. Yes, May's parents allowed her to draw on the walls, so long as they were done well.

Massachusetts: Concord's North Bridge

Our tour of the battlefields of Lexington and Concord ended in the middle: at Concord's North Bridge. The bridge was so small, we barely noticed it as we crossed it on our way uphill. After pausing to talk to John, the local Thinking Citizen, we went into the brick home at the top.

By the time the British army reached Concord on April 19, 1775 the Colonials grew to 400 men, including some Black slaves, to protect the North Bridge.

From the movie we gathered that Major John Buttrick is famous for saying "Fire! For God's sake!" as a way of starting the battle. More militia join the minute men of Lexington to protect the stash of arms and ammunition. This was a battle of British citizens fighting the British army, as they were all British subjects at this time.

The arms stayed hidden. 

The North Bridge

In the main room we met Caitlin, a National Park employee sketching a British soldier's uniform. In addition to working in Concord, she is a Revolutionary War reenactor. Her dream is to have a uniform as precise as the one in the glass case. She has been following the semiquincentennial one battle at a time as it moves from last year's battle in Lexington to Washington Crossing the Delaware and beyond. Last year she "fought" at the battle of Princeton (the January 3, 1777 battle) by moving a cannon for the patriot's around the battlefield. Her hat flew off and she spent much time chasing after it, something people told her added realism to the event. I suspect she'll return next January as that is the BIG year. I should go, even though it is always so cold that day and I suspect parking is a mess. It is close to home, but not that close.

Don had reached his limit of the Battle of Lexington and Concord as I was absorbing the details and matching them with lessons I have learned at Red Bank National Park (NJ) and other sites. We time traveled a hundred years to our next to our next stop: Louise May Alcott's home.

Massachusetts: Minute Man National Park

We continued our tour of Lexington and Concord, in a geographic order, but not in the correct timeline. Minute Man National Park is where the final battle took place on April 19, 1775. We already visited the Lexington Green (where the day started), but had not yet been to the North Bridge (where the biggest battle took place in-between). 

The highlight of this stop is a movie describing what happened that day. Rather than simply showing a movie, the space is set up to look like a home. There is a doorway where a soldier stands talking to an invisible person at the table. There are two more screens, one at the top showing an evolving timeline, and another screen showing more scenes to the right.

Also in the museum are musket balls and other archaeological finds. 

I did not bring my notebook, and even worse I nodded off in the comfort of the voices on the hard wooden bench. A shame since this is the part of the story that most likely contains my relative Noah Wiswall who walked 28 miles from Newton, MA at the age of 76 to see what his boys were up to. He was shot in the hand, wrapped it up with his handkerchief and went home where he lived for another decade. 

We walked the long way back to the car following the path where the soldiers, possibly including Noah, hid in ambush while waiting for the British soldiers. The British soldiers were exhausted, and the Patriot reinforcements were ready to exact revenge. By the end of the night (more than twelve hours after the morning's first battle, and about 20 hours after their day began in Boston) the British have 73 dead, and 174 wounded soldiers. The Colonials have 49 dead, and 41 wounded. 

War has begun and will continue for EIGHT years.

Love the shout out
to archaeologists!

Massachusetts: Battle of Lexington Tour

Dashing up to the Green in Lexington, we met up with the 11 am tour of the Battle of Lexington. The morning escaped from us. By the time we made it to Lexington the tour had already left with one couple and someone shadowing the costumed narrator. Mary had already begun her spiel, had warned the couple that her 45 minute tours often go over an hour. I expressed my apologies and explained I was really excited to take the tour because I recently discovered at the age of 76 my ancestor, Noah Wiswall, fought in the battle.

Mary gave us a brief history of the Revolutionary War up until that point. It was still the early days. For decades Lexington and Concord had a rivalry over where the Revolutionary War started. The British soldiers were walking through Lexington on their way to Concord when the first shots were fired.

The history of the war starts more than a decade before the April 19, 1775 battle to the French and Indian War of 1763 when the British defeated the French and acquired more land than they had the resources to properly tend. They decided to levy taxes on the colonists to help pay for their new expenses, after all the British citizens back in England had to pay taxes. Thus became the background to the war cry: No Taxation without Representation.

Prior to 1763 there was a strong relationship on the two sides of the Atlantic. Good trading. Positive feelings overall in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was made up of Pilgrims and Puritans who moved across the ocean to get away from the King. They had no great affection for England, but was still amicable.

Church was mandatory. The religion was Congregationalist, which is worship led by the congregation (vs. led by a pastor). It is very grassroots. The congregation meets as a whole to discuss issues pertaining to the town. 

When Britain imposed tariffs on the colonists they were offended. These mostly impacted the merchant class, including wealthy John Hancock and poor merchant Samuel Adams who formed a strange alliance over the taxes.

Due to the riots and protests of 1768, Britain brough troops to Massachusetts to maintain peace. Two years later, in 1770, the Boston Massacre, a riot that got out of control, took place. Five people were killed. The men who killed them were acquitted due to self-defense. Sam Adams created propaganda that it was larger than that to rile up colonists in other parts, "they were victims of cruel soldiers." The Customs House was renamed Butchers Hall.

In December 1773 the Boston Tea Party took place.

In January 1774 word reaches Britain. The Boston Harbor is closed, which creates hardships. A military governor is installed. More troops are sent in. Town Hall Meetings are abolished. 

All that happens in Boston. Here, in the middle of the countryside, life is moving normally. Thirty percent of the people are anti-British. Thirty percent are loyal to the king. And forty percent are just getting on with life. 

Editorializing here: many parallels can be drawn to today.

Barracks are formed. Locals start to stash supplies pilfered from the British. British General Gage learned of this collection and planned to march 700 troops from Boston to Lexington under the cloak of darkness. They would leave Boston at 10 pm on April 18, 1775, march 17 to 18 miles miles, and arrive in Concord at 2 am. That's coordinating hundreds of men to walk at a four and a half-mile an hour pace over barely existing roads carrying everything they need without pausing to eat or go to the bathroom, and to do so quietly so no one notices along the way.

Fear not, the Colonists had spies and spread the word. Paul Revere and William Dawes rode from Boston spreading the word.  In those days, Boston was barely connected to the mainland at a place called "Boston Neck," a designation that no longer exists because Boston has been built up and there are many ways to get to Lexington from Beantown. Suddenly the words "one if by land, two if by sea" to describe the hanging of the lanterns in the window of the North Church made sense -- there was only way way the troops could arrive either by land or by sea.

Two lanterns are hung, signally the troops will row across Boston Harbor and not take the Boston Neck route.

Dawes pretends to be drunk as he rides his horse through the British guards. They let him through. Revere takes the shorter route. They meet up in Lexington at midnight ahead of the British troops.

At no point would Paul Revere have shouted "The British Are Coming," because they were all British.

Revere knocked on the doors of those he knew to be on the side of the Patriots and warned them to send the militia to Concord because a thousand or two thousand British troops were on their way.

Hancock and Adams were hiding in Lexington. Revere roused them and warned of the incoming troops. As they were the face of the conflict, their lives were in danger. Captain Parker is waken up and told to send troops to the Green to make a statement: We are the militia. We have a right to be here. We knew you were coming!

At 1 am, Captain Parker and his men stand at the ready. He is not completely convinced they are coming. 

A note about the differences between the terms: Militia and Minutemen. The militia are all able-bodied men, they are volunteers. Minutemen are the elite fighting force, younger, with better weapons, training, and are paid. At the time, Lexington did not have any minutemen because they were too cheap to pay them.

Mary judges her sources on whether or not they refer to the soldiers as minutemen or militia. President US Grant in 1875 referred to the Lexington militia as minutemen, from that point on they were misrepresented.

The Green today is a wide open space in the middle of town. There is a giant
flagpole in the center with a flag that is allowed to fly 24 hours a day (with a light on it), one of only seven major sites nationwide to have this designation. By the way, Concord is not one of the other sites. There are also a few monuments.

Back in 1775 the town's meetinghouse would have stood in the center. It was expanded over the years from the original 1692 meetinghouse in 1713, and 1794. In 1846 the meetinghouse burned to the ground and was replaced across the street. The meetinghouse had to be large enough to fit everyone in it since participation was mandatory.

The belfry was also in the square. It used to be on top of the hill, but was moved when the farmer started charging the town to rent his space. After the Revolutionary War, it was moved back up the hill. The belfry was too heavy to be on top of the original meetinghouse.

Back to Captain Parker and the militia. At 4:30 am the scout says 800 British soldiers are on their way. He lines up his 60-80 men (the original muster book is lost to history). It is purely a symbolic act. All of the men are exhausted. It is starting to get light out (so much for being through there and onto Concord by 2 am). Townspeople along the route participate in some trash talking. The militia hide on the other side of the Green, behind then then-standing meetinghouse. British Maj. John Pitcairn brings 250 men onto the Green. Both he and Patriot Captain Parker try to figure out how they can get out of this mess. After ten or fifteen minutes Captain Parker tells the militia to go home.

Suddenly a short is fired. Historians still cannot agree on where the shot came from. People are watching. It is unlikely that the highly trained British army would fire without an order to do so. In the end, there are eight dead colonists, ten wounded, and one British soldier grazed with a bullet.

Mary shows us a monument with Cap. Parker's purported words: Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon. But if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.

She finds the last part unlikely.

Sam Adams declares: What a glorious day for America! The poor merchant was looking for a spark to start the war.

The dead were hastily buried so the British would not take them when they returned to Boston. Women and children hid in the woods. There was a general fear that the soldiers would set fire to Lexington upon their return.

There was a bigger battle in Concord. The soldiers did not find the ammunition that they were told was buried there, so they headed back to Boston.

During their retread a battle referred to as Parker's Revenge took place on what is now the border of Lincoln and Lexington. by this point more men arrived from neighboring towns, including my relative, Noah Wiswall, who walked alone 28 miles from the farm in Newton, MA to "see what the boys were doing," the boys being his sons. The group grew in size and exacted revenge for the eight lives lost earlier in the day.

In 1799 this monument was erected. It is the oldest War Memorial in the United States.

Seven local men were killed on the morning of April 19, 1775. An eighth man, Ashaal Porter, of Woburn, MA was a merchant in the wrong place at the wrong time. His descendants believe the shot that killed him was the one that started the war.

We walked over to Ye Olde Burial Ground. The tour of the burial ground alone could take over an hour. The oldest identifiable grave dates to 1690, of a person from obvious wealth. The impoverished did not have burial stones. Most of the stones are made from slate, which does not wear away. On the way out Mary pointed out ones with upgrades to gravel that wore out to the extent you can't see who is buried there.

The tombstones from the late 1600s to mid-1700s have creepy sketches on them. Afterwards they contain more consoling images of willow trees.

In the mid-1800s they dug up the area to install pipes. The did not note who was buried where, so when they replaced the stones they organized them by family -- which is not how they would have been buried originally, leaving space for people to picnic. I've heard from other old burial grounds that people used to do that in the 19th century.

The seven "minutemen" who had been put in unmarked graves were relocated to this cemetery. 

The tour finished by a statue with the names of all of the militia who fought in the Battle of Lexington. Noah's name is not on the list.

We finished in time for the other couple to take the trolley tour to Concord. Since we had a car, were hungry, and limited time, we opted to drive. We caught the start of the next group tour.

Lexington Green is also called Lexington Commons, and is now called Lexington Battle Green. Every town used to have a Green, common area in the center of town. Most lost theirs because it was prime real estate. Lexington kept theirs because of the significance of the battle. The space was owned in common by all and used as a pasture for farm animals. 

There were five major buildings surrounding the Green in 1775, three still stand. They are called "witness buildings." 

I love that term.

We left the next group and had lunch before heading to Minute Man National Park, the site of Parker's Revenge.