Springfield Armory National Historic Site...

The Original

...Massachusetts, the site in Springfield was selected...
..by George Washington, after he was elected...
...to be dedicated to make this a site number one...
...used and continued to put the US in the manufacture of gun(s).

It started in 1777, and was closed in 1968,
a "glorious" past would be put behind us, as fate.
It started with muskets, and ended with the M14,
with 1903 a prime year, and the M1 in between.


Civil War rifles



The M1 Garrand, 4.5 million made
I carried one everywhere in Navy boot camp-1958

A look at the grounds

Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site...

The Site as it looks now, reconstructed-click

..Massachusetts, back about sixteen hundred fifty-one,
when the Scots at the Battle of Worcester had not won;
8000 Scottish Prisoners of War all were deported to work indentured labor,
one of them Peter Grant, I'm told is my ancestor, he was a good neighbor.

So not only Africans came over this way,
that how things were back in the day;
at this site they worked cutting wood for the furnace to blast,
melting the ore so things could be cast.

The 'mill' that housed the forges-click

The furnace where the ore was melted down-click

A forge with bellows-there were several-click

Quniebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor...

Along the Quinebaug

Learning history can be fun, when it's done out of doors,
while wandering along these two rivers shores,
so let's take the car, it's too far to walk,
we'll take a drive - to hell with the clock.

There are dam sites scattered all along the banks,
and places where Revolutionary soldiers came, of all ranks,
here is New England the history is rich,
and it's nice to preserve the rivers, instead of just having a ditch!

A trail along the Quinebaug

The two rivers combine

Shetucket River near the Occum Dam - click

Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site....

The main building

...Massachusetts, Mr. Olmsted was a designer of parks,
landscape architecture was unknown, before his many larks,
he designed park both large and small,
Central Park in New York City, was the largest of all.

He and his sons designed the Capitol grounds,
the Jefferson Memorial, and the Mall, he sure made the rounds,
even the White House lawns, so proper and trim,
all these among others, we all owe to him.


another view of Fairstead, his house




Central Park, NYC



Cape Cod National Seashore...

A nice stretch of beach and dunes.

Patti Page wrote and sang the song "Old Cape Cod", thank her.

If you're fond of sand dunes and salty air
Quaint little villages here and there
You're sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod
(Cape Cod, that old Cape Cod)

If you like the taste of a lobster stew
Served by a window with an ocean view
You're sure to fall in love with old Cape Cod

There's nothing more to add, well there is more to the song.



A walkway through the dunes



The grass protects the dunes from wind erosion.