Summer in New England

July 1-6, 2021 -  Cape Ann RV Park

Mercedes Unimog - interesting!

Well after two 8-hour nights of a steady downpour, the tenting Colombs decided to pull up stakes (literally - tents, canopies, tarp floors, etc.) and head home to Glens Falls. I give them credit for all that they did in spite of the weather. They were happily surprised to discover that the park manager credited them for the 2 nights - nice touch. Of course, we are blessed to be in a tiny home on wheels so other than the loud, constant plopping of rain on the metal roof, we are good to go. 

Today, the 4th of July, we went for a Sunday drive to Manchester-by-the Sea and worked our way up the Essex County Scenic Route to do some exploring. We learned that the town of Manchester was renamed in the 1980’s to avoid confusion with Manchester, NH, which is not by the sea. 

Beautiful landscapes too…

  

Who knew that there is a waterfront Medieval castle on this coast? The Hammond (as in Hammond organ) Castle was a pleasant surprise and we stopped for a self guided tour. It was built in 1926-29 by inventor John Hays Hammond, Jr. for his bride as a residence and laboratory.

 HAMMOND CASTLE MUSEUM

MAIN ENTRANCE TO THE UPPER HALL - There was a guest book to be signed and a fireplace to keep the guests warm before Hillman, the butler, took them down the spiral stairs to the Lower Hall with artifacts of Homer’s Odyssey on display.

They would then enter the Great Hall. It is here that he has his very large and intricate organ and pipe chambers in the towers. In all, there are, 8,200 pipes. While it took Hammond and several professionals 10 years to build it, he never learned to play it. Several of the pipe structures were fake and made for decorative purposes. This room soon became a recording studio.

 

In the Courtyard was a pool which would have been the village’s water supply. Hammond had the water died green to give an appearance of shallowness, when it was actually an 8 1/2 foot deep swimming pool which he dove into from the windows above!

The Invention Room exhibits a list of his patents totaling 436. When Hammond died in 1965, he was the country’s 6th most prolific inventor.

Natalie Hammond Room has a permanent fixture of the family tree. The Hammond family was traced back to Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor of the 9th century.

The Dining Room has a 15th century narrow table where it is a German tradition to sit on one side of the table looking out at the ocean.

This room contains one of Hammond’s most infamous objects, the altar panel depicting the Martyrdom of St. Romanus who was executed in the year of 303 for encouraging Christians to cease making sacrifices to Roman gods, as was required under Roman law. Prior to his execution, they cut out his tongue as punishment for his crimes. Hammond loved to tell this story as his guests ate their juicy red beef entree.

PANTRY

LIBRARY 

 

We continued on our scenic route and stopped in Rockport to check out the places Ed Touchette had told us about that might buy some of Rich’s cards to sell. Ed and Rich grew up next to each other on Gilmore Street in Whitehall. He is 6 years younger than Rich, but Tres’s father actually car pooled with Ed’s father to work in Albany for the state. We visited him at his large colonial home with beautiful gardens in Gloucester. 

They reminisced about those days and the thing that Ed remembered most was Rich’s pink convertible ‘57 Chevy! From there the conversation went on for about an hour of catching up. Ed has lived here for 40 years and is a renowned artist himself. Unfortunately, he is debilitated with a very swollen foot due to arthritis. He cannot stand on it to paint which is his preference. He suggested a number of places in Rockport that might sell Rich’s blank inside notecards. So we located the places and made some sales at the Bullseye Book Store and The Cottage on Bearskin Neck. One of the owners there has a daughter, Catie, who married my nephew, Johannes. We had a nice visit with her. 

 

July 8 -10, 2021 - We drove the 4 hours to Raymond, Maine to spend a couple of days with my kids and grandkids. I got my first Sea-Doo ride with my daughter at the helm.

She was doing loop-di-loops, and wave jumping at 44 mph while I hung on for dear life! I thought I was going to hurl, die and lose my glasses all at once… She loved every minute of it and her laughter was a pitch higher than my screaming!

July 12, 2021

Rich’s Birthday picnic/pool party at Perry’s - 5 of the 6 grandkids pictured. 

July 13, 2021 - Today seemed like the perfect day (70’s, no rain, nothing on the calendar) to go to the Norman Rockwell Museum. The display downstairs is all of the Post magazine covers that he did as well as benches to sit on while watching a looped video of his life.

 

On the entry floor, one side of the building is all traditional Rockwell art displayed beautifully with full printed descriptions.

The other side is currently themed Enchantment featuring artists from Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and many more.

This rubber “mask” was 2 ft wide and 3 ft high! Eerie!

 

Next trip is to Tin Box RV Park, North Hudson, NY - the “hub” of the Adirondacks.

Tata for now…