May 28, 2015 Longfellow, JFK, Olmsted, Samuel Adams
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| Inside the Longfellow House |
Longfellow House – Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site was an interesting site. Parking was tough in the area. Metered parking was available, but Harvard graduation was going on. Luckily, we were able to find a meter. Apparently if you want to risk it, parking tickets are $20. The house is available only by tour. Tours are free and last 45 minutes to an hour. The gardens outside of the home are very lovely. The home as a ton of history. The home was built in 1759 for John Vassall, a merchant and ardent loyalist. The Vassals’ were forced to flee to England in 1774. In July 1775, General George Washington came along to command the Continental Army. Then in 1791, Andrew Craigie (and his wife), the nation’s first Apothecary General, bought the house and expanded the home. The home became known as “Castle Craigie”; however the lavish living caused the couple to become into debt. Once Mr. Craigie passed the wife began to take in boarders. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a young Harvard professor and up-and-coming poet began renting rooms at the home in 1837. Longfellow married into a wealthy family which bought the home as a wedding gift to the new couple.
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| JFK NHS |
The John Fitzgerald Kennedy National Historic Site was our next destination. Free parking was available near the home. There was a 20 minute video that talked about the Kennedy family and audio tours for the home. All items in the home are original to the home. The home is the birthplace of JFK.
Our last National Park site for the state of Massachusetts was Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site. The home is known as Fairsted. Olmsted is considered one of the nation’s greatest landscape architect. Some of his more known sites include the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, the U.S. Capitol Grounds, New York’s Central Park and Boston’s Emerald Necklace. There was a seven minute video, which was informative. Parking was available at the site.
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| Samuel Adams Tour |
Nearby was Samuel Adams. We went on a tour, which was free (but they ask for a $2 donation that is distributed to local charities). The tour was quite short (45 minutes – 1 hour). Parking is tough and apparently tours usually fill up fast, but we were able to nab the last parking space and get on the next available tour time. The tour guides were quite funny. If you sit at the end of the far end of the table you will be sure to get plenty of beer to sample. They send a pitcher down each side of the table. You get to keep the glass that you use for the samples. Three samples were passed around.
Using my IHG reward points, we were able to book a $400 room in Cambridge (for free using my points), but decided we had had enough of Boston and headed home. We were able to cancel the room and keep all my points. We ended up staying at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel & Suites East Greenbush in Rensselaer, NY. We stayed at the same hotel back in 2012, I think it had some updates since that time, regardless we had a good stay.
May 29, 2015 Homeward Bound
The drive home was uneventful. We stopped at Seneca Falls to visit the Women’s Rights National Historical Park. We had visited this park back in 2012, but I really wanted to collect the trading cards the site had. The displays were recently updated. Also, stopped by the Anchor Bar for Mike to get some chicken wings from the original Buffalo Wings location.
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