Even though Bob and I were only on day five of our two week journey through New England, I was constantly looking at our itinerary, concerned that we would run out of time before we finished everything on it. We had a nice full day ahead of us, but this was the first day that we cut a few things out for the sake of expediency. Being a Sunday on July 8, 2012, it also limited us from doing a few things as fully as I’d have liked. But of course I’ve learned from experience that you can’t have everything on these journeys. The day would go surprisingly well, especially considered that it began in the house where Lizzie Borden’s parents had been murdered.
Unmolested by any supposed spirits that inhabited the house, I showered in the community bathroom in the three-story home in Fall River, Massachusetts. Unfortunately it wasn’t quite early enough as Bob and I ended up being the last served for breakfast. Since the dining room table wasn’t big enough to accommodate everyone, we went in shifts. Although the sausage, eggs, and johnnycakes (similar to what the Borden’s ate on the morning of the murders) were good, there wasn’t enough for everyone so we got the short end of the stick.
Still a little hungry, we headed out about 9pm, quickly passed into our second state of the trip, my 31st state overall, and arrived into Newport, Rhode Island, by 9:30am. We had four objectives here after our first cuts occurred by skipping the Mansion Experience tour, Hammersmith Farms (where JFK held his wedding reception and a childhood home of Jackie), and the White Horse Tavern (possibly the country’s oldest saloon). The first place we visited was the Common Burying Ground.
Here was buried William Ellery, a representative of Rhode Island and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. We didn’t have much to go on here, and eventually we asked a groundskeeper to direct us. Also here was James Franklin, the older brother of Benjamin. We didn’t ever find him though.
Grave of Declaration of Independence signer William Ellery
A better look at the top of the grave
The second objective in Newport was to visit the Tennis Hall of Fame. Actually this was Bob’s objective as part of his quest to visit all of the major sports Hall of Fames in the country. I have little interest in professional tennis, so opted to sit this one out. However, when I got out of the car to take his photo in front of it, there was a guy dressed as a giant tennis ball that proved to irresistible to not get a photo with. A second good – very good – thing that came out of this visit was the caricature that Bob got inside which provided me hours of amusement for the duration of the trip. While he was inside, I walked over to a Stop & Shop to use the restroom and check out a New England grocery store.
Bob gets ready to enter tennis world
Penn and Feller 2
The fabulous, fabulous caricature. As Bob said, “It’s like looking in a mirror.”
The third goal proved to be a total bust. Although I never watched it, I was looking forward to seeing the mansion location from the TV series Dark Shadows. However, having never seen it, I was no help in picking out the location, and our GPS really was even less house. In the end, we had our photos take in front of the wrong location. Oh well.
I’m sure this lovely buiding was good for something, but it wasn’t the one used in Dark Shadows
Our final business in Newport was to attend the 11am mass at St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church. Neither Bob nor I are Catholic, but this was where John F. and Jackie Kennedy were married in 1953. We didn’t say for the entire service, just long enough to hear the homily from the barely-audible priest about the thorn in Paul’s side. Bob and I would analyze this later. You can see my chronicle of this location in my JFK posting found here.
After church, we backtracked a little bit and then headed straight up north about 20 miles to Bristol. There was another Hall of Fame here, this one even less interesting to me: the America’s Cup. This was located inside the Herreshoff Marine Museum. If you’re as out of the loop as I am, you’ll need me to tell you that the America’s Cup is awarding for sailing competition. I was happy to stay in the car and listen to Muse on the iPod.
Bob explores the fascinating world of America’s Cup
We then sailed on up to the state’s capital city of Providence. Having had a weak breakfast, I was looking forward to eating at a great restaurant featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. Unfortunately, this wasn’t it. This one, known as Loui’s Restaurant, was featured on the episode Family Style, but that was meaningless in this joint. To date this has been the worst of the DD&D experiences. The busboy was horrible, no one was friendly, the silverware was dirty, and the featured item – Barbecued Chicken Cheese Ravioli – didn’t appear to have any chicken in it! I think Chef Boyardee is every bit as tasty as this one was. On the bright side, Bob loved the lemonade.
DD&D #38: Loui’s Family Restaurant in Providence, Rhode Island
Bob and I ready to tackle this mess
For once, my face looks more appealing than the meal
There was another important cemetery elsewhere in Providence, the North Burying Ground. Here was buried Stephen Hopkins, who had been a Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and more importantly, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His grave was relatively easy to find, however the grave of Samuel E. Lewis, a Medal of Honor recipient from the Civil War, was not – especially without any real clues. In the end, I spotted him with a discerning eye and pure chance. I caught a glimpse of his grave far off the road from the moving car that Bob was driving.
The grave of Declaration of Independence signer Stephen Hopkins
I knew that I was going to have to sacrifice at least one of my seven desired state capitol tours. Since it was Sunday during our Providence visit, this was the one. I had to settle for a photo of the building erected in 1904 from the outside. Even though Rhode Island is the smallest state in the union, its capitol building has the fourth largest self-supporting marble dome, just after St. Peter’s Basilica, the Minnesota State Capitol, and the Taj Mahal. This capitol also served as the faux U.S. Capitol as seen in the 1997 movie Amistad.
Providence, Rhode Island: My second State Capitol visit of 2012, my 23rd overall
Locked out. One out of seven wouldn’t be so bad.
Before leaving on this trip, I had checked out a fun website called Roadside America, and made some notes on possible interesting things to see. We were going to try to see one in Providence – the world’s largest bug (or so it’s called), but we sadly had to nix this along with the George M. Cohen birthplace because there was some sort of street festival going on that stymied every attempt our GPS made to get us to these locations. But never fear, there will be more roadside attractions in our future.
Oh, speaking of… here’s one now! We were already almost done with our sites in Rhode Island (see above notes about Rhode Island being the smallest state), but we made a couple of pit stops to check out Roadside America attractions as we headed toward Connecticut.
The first was a cute and simple one: a giant Mr. Potato Head located in front of the Hasbro Headquarters in Pawtucket. We had to skip another one, the Historic Modern Diner, also located in town because they had closed at 2pm. From here we headed to Westerly, where we found yet another Roadside America attraction. This one was a very simple bench located in in Wilcox Park. What made it special was that it had been dedicated after her appearance on This Is Your Life to Ruth Buzzi, who had been born in Westerly. If you’ve seen Laugh-In, you wouldn’t ask why… and you’ll also understand the photo at the top of this posting. The thirtysomethings who took our photo had no idea why… or who Ruth Buzzi was… or what Laugh-In was. I weep for the future. This was our final impression of Rhode Island.
Mr. Potato head in Pawtucket. He’s on the right. This one is more official than the Disney version found here.
The Ruth Buzzi Bench in Westerly. It reads: This bench presented to the town of Westerly, RI, in honor of Ruth Buzzi – Glady Ormphby. This Is Your Life, Nov. 23, 1970.
We crossed into Connecticut, my 32nd state, at about 4:20pm. The next two places were sites that were on my list and had not come from Roadside America. They had come from Mystic Pizza, a film with which I was only marginally familiar. Either way, I liked the idea of checking out a film location – AND I liked the idea of eating pizza. But sadly, you couldn’t do both in the same city. Although the Mystic Pizza parlor seen in the film was inspired by the real Mystic Pizza in Mystic, CT, the movie location was actually an entirely different building a town over in Stonington. We started at the fake one, which matched up perfectly.
Mystic Pizza – as seen in the movie of the same name
The Mystic Pizza location today, now with an angled wall
Then we went over to Mystic to eat. I must say that the chicken gorgonzola pizza blew away the lunch that we had had at Loui’s. There had been nothing actually filmed here, but it was still adorned with posters and photos from the movie. And again, I reiterate, the pizza was outstanding. We grabbed a magnet and headed out around 6pm.
The real Mystic Pizza in Mystic, Connecticut
A few little slices of heaven
Poster inside the restaurant
With bellies full of pizza, we headed to the only place that made sense: another graveyard. This one was the Norwich Town Cemetery located in Norwich, CT. Here was buried Samuel Huntington, who had signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Articles of Confederation – in addition to being the 7th President of the Continental Congress.
Grave of Samuel Huntington, signer of the Declaration of Independence and President of the Continental Congress
Even though we were still full, there was work to be done via a visit to the final Hard Rock Cafe of the trip, my second one of the year, 42nd overall. This one was located in the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Ledyard, Connecticut, on the Mashantucket Pequot Indian Reservation. Obviously neither Bob nor I were up for much food, but I didn’t have much problem with finishing my Fresh Apple Cobbler. After checking out some of the memorabilia and getting photos, we headed out around 8:30. We had considered staying in the casino, despite the pit boss who was rude to Bob when he asked him where a house phone was located, but they ended up being too expensive.
My second Hard Rock of the year, 42nd total
The entrance from the casino side
Bob and I stop for a quick jam
The impressive ambiance of the Foxwoods Hard Rock
Proving my location on stage
Dessert and snacks following the Mystic Pizza quite nicely
Shirt worn by George Harrison on his 1976 world tour
Cheap Trick’s Rick Neilsen used this guitar from his personal collection on tour. The drums above have been signed by Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos.
In the end, we headed about eight miles back to Norwich and found a nice room in the Comfort Suites. That meant we’d be having a better breakfast in the morning.
The 2012 New England trip will continue…
I remember my father lifting me on to his shoulders so that I could see above the crowd that had assembled to see Ruth Buzzi presented with the bench. Laugh-In was the biggest thing on TV ( as I remember anyway). The day was warm and sunny.
Matthew Verbinnen
November 19th, 2013