When last we left off, we were so-long-and-farewell-ing our way out of Vermont so that we could travel back in time to visit 17th century Massachusetts. J/k, j/k. Hahaha. Obviously, there was no flux capacitor involved, so actual time travel wasn't in the cards. BUT, did we fully submerse ourselves in the early colonial times of the Puritans/Pilgrims? Well, kind of. Hahaha. If I had to take a survey amongst the children of whether or not we overdid it on the museum front with this summer's road trip, I would wager that 4 out of 5 kids would say that YES, yes we did. Lol.
Our first stop was Salem. You know, home of the infamous Salem witch trials. We got there in the early evening and decided it would be in our best interest NOT to force everyone to commence with the touristing and we chilled at the hotel for basically the rest of the day/night. {Important side note -- it was here in Salem that Isaac discovered the best part of the trip (in his humble opinion, obviously): our hotel room had a smart TV that was set up with YouTube. Talk about a dream come true, amiright?? Hahaha.}
The following morning, we headed out for our scheduled tour of the Salem Witch Museum and thus began the history education era of our trip. Haha. {Another non sequitur side note -- the girls were beyond hyped to play "Town of Salem" (the game) while we were IN the town of Salem (the city). Lol.} Unfortunately, it was already so hot outside by mid-morning (when we arrived for our designated time slot) that I just knew an indoor museum was all we'd be able to handle before hitting the road for Plymouth that afternoon. Womp womp. I had grand plans to do a full-on tour of the city while we were there, but I've decided that Fall is probably the best time to visit Salem -- for multiple reasons. Hahaha.
Some examples of 17th century New England clothing for boys and girls.
I quite liked this quote above the entrance to the museum:
"It would be wiser to direct our ridicule and reproaches to the delusions of our own times than to those of a previous age; and it becomes us to treat with charity and mercy the failings of our predecessors, at least until we have ceased to imitate and repeat them. -- Charles W. Upham, Salem Witchcraft, 1867
One of the tableaus during the witch trials presentation. {As yet another side note -- the (rather dark and foreboding) presentation part of the tour freaked Isaac out, thus providing him with a low to complement his Smart TV high. Salem was a real one-stop shop for him in that sense. Hahaha.}
A list of victims of the Salem witchcraft hysteria on the floor in the center of the room.
(Check-in time on Isaac's hair progression. Hahaha.)
Fear + Trigger = Scapegoat
It's safe to say that the gift shop was the high point for Isaac. 😬
Once we had finished with the museum, we made a token attempt to find the Hocus Pocus houses before hitting the road once again, but there was enough crankiness and irritability permeating the car that we decided it would be better to cut our losses and head on down to Plymouth instead. In a repeat of our arrival in Salem, once we got to our new destination late that afternoon, no one was in the mood for "doing" anything so we spent the rest of the day chilling with no real agenda. It was probably for the best, considering everyone was hot and tired and the following day would be jam-packed with "doing" all morning long.
Unfortunately, we got a later start the next morning than I would have liked, and it was another scorcher. While part of the Plimoth Patuxet Museums was indoors, there was quite a bit outside as well and let's just say I vote that the word "hangry" should be extended to also cover the state of irritability caused by being hot. Lots of hanger was happening all around during the last few days of the trip. 😬
Isaac and that hair, though.
(The Mayflower)
One section of the "outside" portion was an Historic Patuxet Homesite where you could learn about the Indigenous heritage of the area.
(LOL)
These Patuxet canoes totally reminded me of Cajun pirogues.
(Jane wearing a sweatshirt in 80* heat like what?)
On the other side of the museum site was a recreation of a 17th-century English village for wandering through, but by this point in the afternoon it was decidedly too hot to linger longer in the Great Outdoors and the kids were basically done. Except for Grace, that is, who was excited about the goats in one of the enclosures (very on brand) and more than willing to humor me for all the photo ops I tried to make happen. 😆
(Pretending to cook like someone from the 1600s.)
(How cute is that little cradle?)
Checking out the goats...
(lol)
Grace really does get the biggest kick out of goats for some reason.
There may be only one child in this picture, but the mood is representative as a whole for Things 3, 4, 5, and 6 (ie Sophie, Jane, Alex, & Isaac) at this point in our day.
(The goat pictures are all courtesy of Grace. In case anyone was wondering. 😜)
(The hair. 😳)
Grace was unsurprisingly the last kid standing.
By this point, hunger was competing with the hot, and the hangry level was enough to force a quick sit-down for a meal at the cafe on-site. Thus rejuvenated, we made one last power-through of the museum before skedaddling to our final location.
Examples of Thanksgiving Dinners throughout the years were displayed under these glass cases. I wish I would have taken more photos! It was interesting to see what kinds of things have changed through the ages and what kinds of things have remained the same.
An actual Mayflower replica...
...and an inexplicable Mayflower replica using an ox dressed like a pilgrim. Hahaha.
Okay -- we're in the home stretch now! Our final stop on this tour of the 17th-century was a visit to Plymouth Rock and a walk through the Mayflower II. The rock was...underwhelming, but such a piece of history that we couldn't NOT stop and take some pictures. Lol. Requisite pictures taken, we moved on to the Mayflower replica and discovered just how little space there was for the passengers on board.
(I honestly do not understand how Jane continued to sport the sweatshirt.)
(Isaac living his best Pilgrim-boy-haircut life.)
(I can't remember if Alex was simply trying to imitate the downtrodden-ness of the child on display here or if he was just in a bad mood. Hahaha.)
(And I totally didn't realize that Grace was copying the display -- using Isaac as her footrest -- until I uploaded this picture to the post. 😂😂😂)
The Rock is housed in the pavilion that Isaac is striding towards.
And there you have it -- Plymouth Rock. (Allegedly.)
And there you have it! With those missions accomplished -- and everyone totally worn out -- it was time to hit the road yet again and travel forward in time to experience that era of conspicuous consumption known as the Gilded Age. Stay tuned for a recap of our Newport, RI adventure.
No comments:
Post a Comment