History woven into your Massachusetts vacation

History is woven throughout Massachusetts, and to this day remains one of the state’s top tourism selling points. From Revolutionary War battlefields to tea parties to a legendary baseball stadium, some of America’s most well-known and celebrated milestones took place in the Bay State.

But while many visitors to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts stick to the greater Boston area or Cape Cod, there is another destination about 40 minutes north that has long been an important part of the region’s very fabric – literally.

The City of Lowell has produced its fair share of historical milestones, as well as game-changing figures of import from artists, writers and actresses to politicians and athletes. But Lowell was and remains a mill town, embracing its role in American progress by way of the Industrial Revolution.

The city was a pioneer of the textile industry during the 1800s, producing and developing technology that brought about major changes in American manufacturing. Along with that innovation also came key advances in the labor, immigrant and women’s rights movements.

In the ensuing century, the health of the once thriving mills ebbed and flowed much like the canals flowing nearby. Today, much of the city’s industrial history enjoys attention of developers, residents and visitors alike. Mills are being repurposed or refurbished and historically significant sites dot the downtown.

The centerpiece is the Lowell National Historical Park, located downtown amidst the old mill buildings and canal system.

Guided tours inside and outside give an in-depth and surprisingly interesting look at how enterprising individuals harnessed nature to turn cotton into textile and drive American industry. History, engineering and the environment all come together in an intriguing narrative, complemented by exhibits, canal boat tours and a working era trolley, and hands-on activities, crafts and events for children and families.

Perhaps the most memorable stop, other than the bright yellow trolley ride along the canals, is the working mill floor inside the park’s Boott Cotton Mills museum. Looms clack and clang all around visitors, with gears and machinery spinning from floor to ceiling. Check out the old timecard punch machine and then imagine the workers slipping and dodging in between the looms. The noise captures the attention as much as the final product. The restored machinery is in working order and produces thread, which can be shown to you by one of the staff dressed in era-garb. In fact, the gift shop sells towels made by the onsite restored looms.

Outside, the park weaves itself through the downtown, with canal walks and pathways marked by signage describing significant historical information. A walk along the canals, or behind the museum along the Merrimack River, provides a modern look at just how interwoven mill life was with nature and the rest of the city. Trolley tracks cross main streets and machinery and water control stations still stand as landmarks.

A Lowell day trip is easy during any stay in the Commonwealth, and the city has lodging, food and entertainment options, many of which continue the mill city theme.

Take the city’s minor league baseball team, the aptly named Lowell Spinners. This Boston Red Sox affiliate is a good, affordable take, especially for families, with almost nightly game promotions and activities at the riverside stadium, Lelacheur Park.

Going hand-in-hand with the immigrant workers who have helped fuel the city’s industry, Lowell enjoys a brilliant tapestry of diverse cultures and artists. Famous Lowellian, writer Jack Kerouac, has a park in his honor. The city is also home to the Whistler House Museum of Art, the birthplace of American artist James McNeill Whistler. Summer concerts echo from Boarding House Park, and the Lowell Folk Festival (July 29 – 31) is internationally known for its performers, food, activities and music.

Summer of 2016 gives vacationers plenty of added reason to visit not just Lowell National Historical Park, but any of America’s National Parks. On Aug. 25, the National Park Service turns 100 years old. From Yosemite to Yellowstone to Acadia to Lowell, the National Park Service touches every state and preserves natural and historical treasures that appeal to all interests and ages. The NPS’s Find Your Park initiative, running since last year, incorporates online and social media to bring stories and images of the diverse array of experiences to be had at America’s national parks.

It can be cost effective, too. Many parks are free, but for those that aren’t, from Aug. 25 through Aug. 28, all national parks will not charge admission in recognition of the centennial. Or, if you have a fourth-grade child, admission to any national park is free all year thanks to the Every Kid in a Park Program (more info at www.nps.gov).

Lowell is a gritty town, which drives home the scrappy, industrial beginnings woven through its eclectic offerings.

This article appeared in the Wicked Local weekly papers Wherever It Takes column for July, 2016 - and also in Destinations Travel Magazine, July, 2016 edition 

It’s worth getting to know ancient Rome

 

Two thousand years ago, Rome reached to the ends of the known world, amalgamating its conquered peoples, cultures and traditions into the greatest empire history has even seen. Even under dictatorial rule, they laid the foundation for modern democracy, art, food and an Academy Award for Russell Crowe. 

And then it all crumbled. Through a combination of disease, religious turmoil, political infighting and constant barrage attacks from those nasty barbarians, the Empire disintegrated. Power in Europe shifted to other shores, leaving Rome abandoned to its own squalor and forgotten for years.

 

Modern day Rome has bounced back, of course, built around the stunning remains of its once great empire. You can’t spend a few days exploring this magnificent city without literally bumping into or stepping over its historical treasures.

 

But to fully experience Rome, you need to look a little closer, listen to your audio guide just a little more attentively. The stories behind the ruins bring them to life and make them so much more than just piles of rocks. If you listen and read in addition to look, some of the fascinating intricacies of this ancient city and its people materialize.

 

One of my favorite sites in Rome is the sprawling Forum. It is a history lesson you don’t want to fall asleep during. Every visitor truly gets a sense of how the Empire revolved around these few acres, and their religion and government flowed from each doorstep. You literally get to walk the streets once walked by the titans of early civilization. Columns, arches, temples and pulpits still stand, beckoning you to touch and feel. Interesting snippets of information hide among every fallen pillar and worn statue.

 

Take, for example, the story of the Vestal Virgins. In ancient Rome, young women called were recruited at an early age to tend an everlasting flame. They were revered by all, lounged in their own luxury box at the Coliseum and given a nice severance package after 30 years of celibacy and service to the Empire. But a vow of celibacy was not the easiest thing to adhere to. The punishment for breaking the vow? The impure Vestal Virgin was led out of town, given some food and lamp oil and buried alive. Permanently.

 

Nearby the Forum, the Coliseum beckons with the promise of action, intrigue and maybe a decapitation or two. Although worn and broken, this iconic arena remains one of the world’s most enigmatic sites.

 

For a traveler, it is an invaluable and efficient stop because it provides a multitude of enticing details about ancient Roman society, from the games and battles that took place to the architecture and technology used to bring it all to life.

 

For example, my Coliseum audio guide revealed some insight into the Roman calendar - not the months and days, but their work week, or lack thereof. Romans had around 170 holidays or festival days throughout the year, leaving plenty of opportunities to attend events at the Coliseum.

 

Then there is the Coliseum itself. Walking from level to level, the grandeur – although dulled and worn by time – is explicitly evident. The structure rises all around you, engulfing you in ancient aura. The decorations and people dance to life in your imagination, and you can almost hear oohs and ahhs raining down from the nosebleeds seats.

 

The Forum and Coliseum are just two of a seemingly endless array of worthwhile sites scattered across Rome. I recommend climbing to the top of Palatine Hill for a splendid view or to the summit of the Victor Emmanuel Monument, where there is a cozy café. From each vantage point, Rome’s once golden majesty shimmers into vision. This city changed the world and then went away, but in the process leaving an indelible mark on history.

 

There are stories and lessons around every corner, on every plaque and in every ear bud attached to an audio tour. Some are well-known and others less so. But woven together they tell an epic tale of rise, rule and ruin. Armed with just a modicum of this eclectic information instantly elevates any Roman vacation.

 

But of course it is impossible to consume the entire civilization in one trip. That is why a stop at the Trevi Fountain is a must. Toss in a coin over your shoulder and legend says you’ll be destined to return to Rome in the future.

 

 

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Rewriting history in Jamestown, Virginia

Visiting the colonial village that birthed America and gave root to our national traditions would be an appropriate way to celebrate this holiday season. But Plimouth Plantation is the wrong destination, according to many in the Commonwealth – the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Guide Joe Dona began his tour at Virginia’s Historic Jamestowne by asking if anyone in the group came from Massachusetts. He tipped his cap to them and their state’s place in colonial history, but promptly cleared up a few common misconceptions.

In 1607 – thirteen years before the Pilgrims arrived off the coast of Cape Cod – Captain John Smith and his cadre of British settlers stepped onto Virginia soil and established Jamestown. Twenty miles up the river from Jamestown, at a settlement known as Berkeley Plantation, a religious ceremony was held for thanks and good fortune in 1619 – two years before the Pilgrims’ famed Thanksgiving feast.

But before controversy and competition pervaded his tour, Dona engaged the entire group by beginning the tale of Jamestown, set amongst the sun-drenched coastline of the James River and the ever-changing grounds of England’s first permanent settlement in America. Jamestown’s story, debated for four hundred years amidst purportedly lost evidence, became fodder for one of America’s most dynamic tourist attractions.

Similar to Massachusetts, the main attractions in this region of Virginia take advantage of the rich history. Within a few minutes drive of Jamestown is Colonial Williamsburg, a Revolutionary America village that recreates the days before independence was declared. Nearby Yorktown is the site of one of George Washington’s most famous battles.

Jamestown differs in that its history is still being written, and rewritten.

There are two main sites to choose from. Jamestown Settlement, a living history museum and settlement recreation, is reminiscent of Plimouth Plantation. It is a family-friendly stop filled with reenactments, demonstrations and recreations of the ships that transported the settlers across the Atlantic.

But it is the adjacent Historic Jamestowne, located on an island at the actual site where the original town and fort stood, that allows visitors to actually watch the unveiling of American history.

Run jointly by the National Park Service and Preservation Virginia, Historic Jamestowne is a working archaeological dig site. Archaeologists dig most days, except Sunday. In winter, the park is open but work typically moves inside to examine the multitude of artifacts they continuously pull from Jamestown’s history-rich earth.

In the one-acre the park occupies, archaeologists have discovered more than two million artifacts. And visitors have access to the best of it.

Stroll the grounds here and walk past roped off but easily visible excavated plots where stratified dirt gives way to small purple flags marking recent discoveries. Working archaeologists will engage onlookers, eager to discuss their work.

The site’s archaeology tour, led by experts like Dona, is perhaps the best way to dig down into the fascinating story behind the Jamestown colony. The history of the actual settlement, which includes starvation, war with the native inhabitants and even cannibalism, is one of survival.

Dona’s tour captures it all, stopping at a recreated section of fort wall and barracks, the battlement and a flagpole sunk at the same spot where the original one stood. The tour also makes its way over a graveyard where settlers are still buried. As with many of the finds at Historic Jamestowne, diggers re-covered the graves after research was concluded, reverently marking the dead with simple black crosses. Only one body, a young boy, was exhumed and identified by connecting his arrow wound to seventeenth century documents.

The guide climbed into several active dig sites, including a subterranean cooking area. Here Dona explained several of the artifacts found and did not shy away from the most eerie one: human remains of a young girl that researchers believe was being used as a food source for the starving settlers. The skull and a bone fragment of “Jane,” as they have named her, can be seen in the park’s on-site museum called the Archaearium. A relatively recent discovery, she represents a dark portion of the fort’s past that raised more questions than answers.

Digging was halted at Jamestown for much of the Twentieth Century when experts believed erosion had long since washed away any remnants of John Smith’s original fort. However, as Dona discussed throughout his tour, that all changed when Dr. William M. Kelso took over the site in the early 1990s. Dr. Kelso unearthed a series of postholes that ultimately led to discovering the original fort, debunking the erosion claim and laying the foundation for the ongoing future discoveries, such as “Jane.”
Though the archaeology tour is confined to the original fort, worthwhile sites spread across the entire island.

Next to the original fort are a series of building remains running in rows. Well-placed information placards tell the story of how Jamestown survived near extinction to grow into a bustling river port.

A five-mile Island Loop Drive curves through forest and over marshland. The island even has its own working glasshouse, built in the style of the seventeenth century, near the ruins of an old glass furnace. Artisans in era garb demonstrate their craft for modern visitors, creating glass pieces reminiscent of those made 400 years ago.

The sites in and around Jamestown have evolved right along with their ever-changing history. Like its fellow early colonial settlement in Plymouth, Massachusetts, Jamestown works daily to keep history alive and well.

But while some in the two Commonwealths still debate which colonial settlement holds more historical significance, Dona made sure to end his tour with one final fact. The body of Captain Bartholomew Gosnold, a Jamestown settler who explored the Atlantic seaboard, was recently discovered at Historic Jamestowne. On his explorations, Gosnold gave Cape Cod its name and dubbed the island off its coast Martha’s Vineyard, after his own daughter Martha.

As Dona said, “you can’t get away from Virginia, folks.”