Rhode Island and the Start of Connecticut
Tuesday, October 2nd, 2012
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. Read the rest of this entry »
Bob and I found ourselves in Natick, Massachusetts on the morning of Saturday, July 7, 2012. We had driven to this city to escape the high prices of motels in the Boston area, but most of our business that morning would be on Boston outskirt town of Cambridge, home of Harvard University. After a hearty breakfast of eggs and sausages, we left Natick a bit before 9am and arrived at the Mount Auburn Cemetery (which we had scoped out the night before) by 9:30. This was a neat cemetery with a convenient search kiosk. Although most of the more notable names were on the cemetery map, there were a few that Bob had added to the list that we had to locate using the kiosk. So I handled that part. 
Although Bob and I had been tooling around various part of Massachusetts, mostly just outside of Boston, and even occasionally inside of Boston, I really hadn’t gotten the feeling of experiencing the real heartbeat of Boston. That was rectified on Friday, July 6, 2012. Looking back, it is amazing how full this day actually was. It began when we woke up in Braintree and started as early as possible. The Adams National Historic Site didn’t open until 9am, so that was the best that we could do. 
Thursday, July 5, was the second day of the two-weeklong road trip that Bob and I were taking. It was a good day overall, although just a bit grave-heavy, so please have tolerance. Checking out graves of the famous appeals to me for a few reasons. The first and most obvious is to simply pay my respects to someone whose work I like or admire. If rule number one doesn’t apply to someone who has achieved some other fame or notoriety, see rule number two… which is the checklist/scavenger hunt aspect of it. And finally, I legitimately enjoy the detective work sometimes involved in tracking down a headstone based on various clues that we pick up in advance. So although it is easier to just go to the main office of the cemetery and ask for directions, a lot of times I enjoy it more when we have to scour the cemetery to find it. So while I have no objection to the stereotype of the grave-hunter to be somewhat morbid, I wanted to lay out the facts as I see them.