New England Review

Autumn in New England

Because of the lack of  WI-FI that we have had at some of our recent campgrounds, quite some time has passed since I last wrote. Meantime, we've continued our travels and are now in Rhode Island, with plans to journey on to Connecticut tomorrow. We've seen some things and places we really liked. Here's a sample.

• Daniel Webster birthplace--a small log cabin site with a great docent and tons of information about Webster.
• Calvin Coolidge homestead--This little park has the entire small village where the former president grew up, restored and full of information about him. While vice president and then president, he used to come home whenever possible and help his father during haying season
  
                                             Boyhood home of President Calvin Coolidge
•  Roger Williams Memorial: Americans owe a lot to the founder of Rhode Island and his radical (now perfectly accepted and constitutional) ideas regarding church, state, and freedom.
•  John Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum--We arrived at 9 am and were chased out at 5 pm--an amazing place, very interactive and full of information & attractions.
• Billings-Marsh-Rockefeller National Historic Park--3 families owned this glorious mansion and farm--all of them nature lovers and unexpectedly influential in the conservation and preservation movements of today. 
  
                   The Home Farm at the Billings-Marsh-Rockefeller National Historic Park
  
  
•  Visited Joseph Smith birthplace, more for the interest of our Latter Day Saints Friends than for our own. .While we don't share the same belief system, this was one of the best kept and best landscaped little parks we've visited.
  
• Plymouth Rock--the whole town of Plymouth, actually, especially the Pilgrim Museum and the rock itself (which has become rather small over the years but is still impressive).
  
                                Headquarters for the Mayflower Descendants in Plymouth
• Cape Cod--we genuinely fell in love with it, especially the Cape Cod National Seashore, set aside at the urging of President Kennedy, who loved the area, too.
•  A visit with Hollie and Aaron Schaub, former parishioners at the Lutheran Church of Guam--We have had such a nice time exchanging dinners and visits with them and their now four children.
•  Yesterday, we went to Salem, MA, which was probably not the right timing, as the whole town is full of seances, psychics, Satanic practitioners, and macabre decorations during the run up to Halloween, not exactly our favorite things. Hope folks realize what they're fooling around with there!
• We've enjoyed our weekly worship experiences. One Sunday it was a Calvary Bible church, others were Assembly of God, LCMS, Queechee Community Church with a Reformed heritage and others. We miss our own former congregation at Peace in Holbrook, but have found most of the churches we've attended very friendly and welcoming. 

We'll be hoping for better internet service at the next few parks. We look forward to visiting Cristel, Ben, and Barnabas Boedecker for the first few days of November--so good to see people we love.