The first time I went to New England I flew into Logan Airport in Boston as part of a January mid-term mini semester which had taken me to Great Britain with a group from Bethany College. When I returned to Kennedy Airport I decided to extend my travels on my own by flying to Boston to visit a friend from high school who was a sophomore at Boston University. I spent 3 or 4 days in the city and got the feel of New England, as opposed to Old England where I had just visited. I liked “the vibe” of the city, even in winter during a blizzard that was blowing so hard that it was almost impossible to walk on Commonwealth Avenue. Of course at this point in my life I can’t count the number of trips I have made to Boston nor can I recount all the places to eat, things to do, or memories I treasure about the city. I am not a baseball fan, but a trip to Fenway Park has to be on the agenda when one visits Boston — it is Boston. I feel the same way about a trip to the North End and a visit to a good Italian restaurant. Unfortunately I no longer remember the name of the restaurant, but like all good Italian restaurants in the North End you went up a steep staircase to get to the tables. That is part of the dining experience in the North End. The particular restaurant of which I have such fond memories was one where my daughter and I ate a few years ago – we walked there and it was on a square overlooking a cobbled street busy with pedestrians visiting small bakeries and shops. It really doesn’t matter where you eat, rely upon the current reviews of good restaurants, they come and go, but the flavors and feel of the North End remain. Some things, however, don’t remain, even in Boston. The demise of Durgin Park, an iconic restaurant in the vicinity of Faneuil Hall brought an end to an era and an end to one of the fun things to do when visiting Boston. Boston Landmark Durgin-Park Is Closing – Eater Boston I still have the memories though. They can’t take those away from me.
Of course there is more to Massachusetts than good food and baseball. Boston is full of art and music and many other adventures, like just spending an afternoon people watching at the Boston Common. BTW, my all time favorite sculpture array — Mama Duck and her ducklings –can be found there. In 2020 upon the death of Ruth Bader Ginsberg the sculpture was appropriately attired in neck collars in honor of the Justice’s fashion statement, and of course the duck family was duly masked in deference to the pandemic restrictions. This photo was grabbed from the internet and is, I believe, in the public domain. Anyway, it is a neat picture that evokes the best of Boston.
You can’t limit Massachusetts to Boston, however. It is a great state to visit. I have taken the ferry to Martha’s Vineyard, flown on the Cape Air puddle jumpers to Nantucket, and spent time on the Cape. I would not even consider returning to Cape Cod now in the summer, although in the summer of 1979 we did rent a cottage with Harold’s sister and his brother and wife in Falmouth. That vacation was my last summer visit to the Cape, choosing instead to visit in the Fall, Winter, or Spring before the height of the tourist season due to huge crowds and horrendous traffic. I did have a delightful October visit to Chatham, at the elbow of Cape Cod. It was work related and we stayed at a lovely old hotel right in the town. My most vivid memory of that stay was a placque we saw by the harbor which in my memory had a quote by Thoreau who was alleged to have stood by the ocean in Chatham and said, “Here one can truly turn one’s back on America.” I have never been able to find any confirmation or citation for that quote, but look at a map and you can see that in many respects Chatham is truly the “edge of America.”
What has brought me more frequently to southeastern Massachusetts is trips to the Plymouth area. My husband’s maternal grandparents worked at the Hornblower estate in Plymouth before it was converted into Plimouth Plantation, a historical recreation of the original settlement. Plimoth Plantation – Wikipedia As a boy my husband spent large portions of his summers traveling with his parents and siblings to Manomet Beach where they would rent a big old house on the cliffs overlooking the beach. Unfortunately Manomet has become an enclave of the very wealthy and private access is strictly enforced. However this You Tube video does give you a sense of the place which was in the early 60’s an obscure destination for a Maine family’s summer vacation. Manomet Beach: Plymouth, Massachusetts – YouTube The ties to Plymouth from his youth brought us back to Plymouth as my daughter was growing up. Our first Thanksgiving there was in the 1980’s when my daughter was 7 or 8 years old. We had a “traditional” Thanksgiving dinner at the Plymouth Plantation. It was a bit of a tourist trap thing — BUT my daughter turned out to love the mussels which were served as a main course because there was no turkey at the first Thanksgiving, as we learned. Then in 2009 we rented a nice house overlooking Priscilla Beach and had a foggy but cozy Thanksgiving with our daughter who flew in from Seattle and my husband’s mother and his brother and family. That year we did have turkey and a nice time by the ocean.
As will be revealed in the next entry, I moved to Rhode Island shortly after my first visit to Massachusetts and became a resident New Englander. Once in Providence I made many visits to the Cape and to Boston and never tired of the “dirty waters.” I guess it would make sense to close out with a musical tribute to Boston. THE STANDELLS- “DIRTY WATER”(LYRICS) – YouTube
Memories - A Second Chance at Happiness 