The USS Constitution is America’s oldest commissioned Naval ship, and as such follows protocols like raising the flag each morning and lowering it each evening. This ritual is accompanied by a cannon shot. We discovered they do this at 8 am. It sounds (and feels) just like a lightning strike hitting close—the kind that rattles the windows. We were very excited to hear it though. I remember from our last visit, they only use a quarter charge of gunpowder.
After a leisurely breakfast at the Pilgrim House, we stopped by the Trinity Church graveyard for a few minutes to view more headstones. We stumbled onto another Keith headstone, from Aberdeen (David thinks it might be his immigrant ancestor); some immigrants from Ireland and England of course, and one sad story about a man who arrived in Rhode Island from North Carolina for his health, but died just a few days after arrival.
(by Grace) We left Branford and headed North on Route 1 to travel along the seashore. We stopped at a little cemetery (of course) along the way in Guilford or Madison and checked out a few headstones. We found the first grave, laid in 1688, a young boy of six. We know it was the first because we read it on the stone. There are many, many old graveyards in these towns. We’ve not stopped for every one, but it has been tempting.
Today was mostly a driving day, through the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts and down to the southern coast of Connecticut – but what a beautiful drive! It’s no surprise why rich New Yorkers like Martha Stewart want to live up here.We started the day in Bennington, VT with a visit to the huge monument commemorating the Revolution’s Battle of Bennington. Turns out the battle was actually fought a bit west of here in New York, but they were fighting over storage houses actually in Bennington. It was a decisive battle that eventually led to the defeat of Gen. Burgoyne. We also popped our heads into the Covered Bridge Museum and the Old Bennington Cemetery, where poet Robert Frost is buried. His epitaph says “I had a lover’s quarrel with the world”. His poem, “Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening” has always been one of my favorites.
(by Grace) We slept in this morning and took our time packing up. At 9:00 David phoned Kristi Mattingly, his genealogy buddy. We haven’t looked it up to make certain the connection, but we believe she is his fourth cousin once removed. Her father descended from George Washington Lovrien as well. She’s the one who pointed us to his gravesite and old homestead site. We enjoyed a nice long visit with her and her husband Kevin in their home on top of the world near Washington Vermont. The view from their front lawn is stunning. It’s a summer/weekend house—they teach at a boarding school in New Jersey I believe she said. I was charmed by their retriever, Grady. She is such a friendly dog!
“Gravehunting on Friday the 13th” Today was David’s big genealogy day, spent in eastern Vermont. The first stop was East Topsham, where my 3rd-great-grandfather George Washington Lovrien is buried in a small family plot that was not as easy to find as we thought. It is right off the highway but it is only visible for just a second as you drive past. There are only about 15 gravestones here: George W. and several members of the Bixby family (George’s in-laws). After George died at age 32, his widow Sophia and most of her children moved out to Iowa. We also stopped by the farm that was once George and Sophia’s.
It rained all night last night and cooled down into the upper 40’s. After a huge, wonderful, cooked-to-order breakfast at the Woodstock Inn (included with the room), we spent the entire day exploring the White Mountains.
Be sure and click on the small photos on the left at the beginning of each Honeymoon entry to view the daily slideshows… especially this one: spectacular!
(by Grace) We left Portsmouth first thing in the morning, heading northwest towards Salisbury, NH in hopes of locating Samuel Lovrien, David’s Revolutionary War ancestor. The drive was scenic as we began entering the foothills of the White Mountains.
(by Grace) Portsmouth, NH: Today we thought we would take a whale watch excursion, so we began by checking out local sites on the web. Our guide book said the season went to October… and it does, but it appears just to Columbus Day. We did locate a place near Bath, ME that said it’s last tour was today, so we headed off in that direction. We called them when we reached Portland and learned they decided Sunday was the last day. So, we hung around Portland.We located a narrow gauge railway still in operation. Volunteers restore old cars and engines, and run them down a short piece of track for tourists. The track runs along Back Bay, so we had nice scenery to look at.
We spent most of Sunday traveling, so I’m counting today as Day 1 of the honeymoon. On Day Zero, we got a call at 6:30am that our car to the airport had been rear-ended, so we had to wake Stephanie up and ask her to drive us to the airport. By the time we flew to Boston, rented our car and drove up to our first hotel in Concord it was dinner time. We had a great Italian dinner, and got a pleasant surprise when we heard one of the songs we picked for the wedding reception playing in the background (Frank Sinatra – Taking A Chance On Love). Then we went back to the hotel – Grace took a hot bath and I turned on the end of the Cowboys game. Bad choice on my part it turns out. The busy weekend finally caught up with us and we both crashed.
Faster Than I Look 