Witches, Pilgrims and American History

We’ve been augmenting our home schooling lessons with some significant field trips that emphasize our nation’s history. We sailed straight into 1692 as we anchored in Salem, home of the House of the Seven Gables and strolled among witches and ghosts seeing the Salem Witch Museum and this nice town. Emily learned about our sad history where 14 women and 5 men were put to death just for being different or on unfounded accusations. This hysteria of the day imprisoned more than 150 people and overflowed into Boston.

From there, we splurged and docked at Constitution marina for two nights to see the sights in Boston. We managed to put our 50 foot boat into a 52 foot spot between two other boats with no damage to either the boats or the captains’ ego. Our slip was within sight of Old Ironsides that we toured and learned of this great ship and its contributions to our independence and freedom. We walked much of the Freedom Trail and also enjoyed lunch at Faneuil Hall/Quincy Market. We did take a guided tour which included the Old North Church, Paul Reveres’ House, the Old State House and site of the Boston Massacre, the Boston Common swan boats and much more. It was nice to see a busy city, but we were glad to unplug and move on.

Further south, we traveled still further back into history as we entered Plymouth harbor and the 1621 fall that saw the first harvest celebration with the Wampanoag natives. We launched our dingy and tied up right next to the Mayflower II (a replica that first sailed in the year Kim and I were born). After touring the little ship that brought 102 of the first settlers to America, we all felt a little better about the relative cushy life aboard our little ship. We took the local bus to the Plimoth[sic] Plantation and learned about life 400 years ago from present-day native Wampanoag and actors portraying the original pilgrims and their way of life.

We also attended church in Plymouth and had my cousin Pat and her husband Jeff out to the boat for a fish dinner. Pat, whose stomach gets queasy at the sight of a boat, showed great bravery as they boarded my tipsy dingy for the trip to the mother ship. They came bearing fine wine from the winery at which their daughter now works, an extra copy of the last Harry Potter book, and big hugs for all. The dinner made by Kim was enjoyed and Pat even survived a trip in darkness back to shore.

We have since moved to Cape Cod and had a nice visit with my Uncle Joe and Aunt Sally and we all spent the first night on land since we left the dock in early July. It was nice taking baths and using a toilet that does not have to be pumped. Kim did some laundry since our boat washer/dryer died (did I mention a cushy life?) and we have a part now on order. Their hospitality and generosity is unmatched and Emily dearly loves them both.

We plan to stay put here until the washing machine is fixed unless a storm now down off Puerto Rico decides to visit and encourage us to move to a safer spot. Cruising friends that we met this summer are planning to visit here and Emily is being tempted by the nearby beaches of white sand. We are looking at the calendar and returning to the CT dock by the end of the month may be too challenging for this wandering family. We'll see, Dear reader, we'll see...

Tom