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Historic Williamsburg and Jamestown

08/23/2012
Posted by Maria Amelia in ,

A horse and buggy is a wonderful way to get your bearings before a full day of walking the streets!

Sunday was a great day. I woke up before the family and decided to take a walk around the restoration before the crowds arrived. Rest assured, there are no crowds at 7:00AM. It wasn’t until about 7:30AM that the occasional jogger or  dog owner strolled by. I was able to take photos galore of anything that caught my eye without having to jockey for room or wait for tourists to pass.

Gratefully this tavern is not haunted. There are plenty of dining options right on site!

I was back at the Brick House Tavern Shop by 8:15AM at which point the family started to stir. My hubby was at the Raleigh Tavern Bakery with one of the girls at 9AM, making them the first customers of the day, and brought back apple turnovers for the ladies, and a buttermilk biscuit with ham for himself. Everything was delicious and small but more than sufficient, which made me feel less guilty after eating mine.

One of the many colonial stores operating in the restoration. Items are produced as they would have been in those times.

We took a final walk around the restoration, stopping here and there to photograph the buildings that he and two of the girls had visited the night before on the haunted tavern tour. At 11AM we checked out and were on our way to Jamestown. The haunted tavern tour is great fun for the stout of heart. I wish he had not told me that the building next to ours is purportedly haunted as it put a crimp in my slumber. This painting kept me up until at last I passed out.

I’m sure he was perfectly nice back in the day.

That said, the Williamsburg restoration is a great way to teach your kids (and personally learn) American history. It is several blocks long and wide, with all kinds of activities and and “hands-on” opportunities to appreciate what life was like. And beware if you are not with the cause! This would be your fate!

Join the cause or be labeled refractory and be tarred and feathered!

After leaving Williamsburg we moved on to the Jamestown Settlement.

The Jamestown Settlement proudly displaying its British flag.

Quite sincerely, of all the places run by the National Park Service that I have visited, this is now my favorite. Up until this point my favorite National Park had been the site of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Though not the largest National Park that we have been to, it won a special place in my heart for being the location of the first history lesson that I can remember from my grammar school days. Roanoke may have been the first colony… but Jamestown is the first successful English colony having been founded in 1607.

A view of the grounds of the Jamestown Settlement. From here you can see a portion of the church as well as excavations underway.

There is a sad quality to Roanoke, but a joyful one for me in Jamestown. To visit the site where Captain John Smith and Pocahontas made American history and to remember my 2nd grade lessons (and Pocahontas costume) brought me joy. It was striking to stand next to reincarnations of the palisades the colonists built, and impressive to see what their size actually was. I am happy that my girls are now able to distinguish the reality of life in this small settlement as opposed to the Disney version in the movie Pocahontas.

Statue of Captain John Smith, Governor of Virginia, facing the beautiful James River.

The girls couldn’t help but hold her hand. From the wear on her hands there is no doubt as many other girls had done the same.

It was fascinating to see the position of the colony between the James River, the marshes and the woods. It is incredible to think that upon arriving these men and women did not have a home in which to rest in but just more work and trees to fell to create a ring of wood that might protect them from what lied beyond the swamp and river. The museum complementing the location put history into perspective, but walking on the grounds where they created their new life, built their church and set the groundwork for freedom was surreal.

This is a view of the insides of the palisades as they were built by the settlers. The pegs on the walls were intended to hold pikes for protection.

A recreation of how a structure would have been built in the settlement in the early 1600s.

We spent longer than we had intended to there. It was easy to lose track of time there. But we left at 1:00 and made it to the Wright Brothers Memorial Bridge by 3:30, including a stop for lunch. We were so happy that there was no traffic on Route NC 158. Last year we got slammed in traffic there at about the same time of day, but it was a Saturday.

A Sunday check-in on OBX (that’s the Outer Banks) is a welcome thing!

More to come!

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Family Vacation: First Stop Colonial Williamsburg

08/22/2012
Posted by Maria Amelia in ,

You may have noticed a lack of activity in the blog over the last couple of weeks. That was because it was vacation time! This year we went to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, with a great stop at the beginning.

We left home a little later than we’d hoped – 8:00AM – but it was a decent hour. The girls were troopers and got up before 7am. The hubby packed the car and off we went. We brought a number of videos with themes for this year’s car ride, namely the Lord of the Rings and Star Wars (all but episode 2). On the first day the girls only watched The Return of the Sith because we spend most of our time singing and talking. That is pretty amazing for a 10 hour drive!

It was a great ride to Virginia full of interesting little finds. On our way through Maryland we learned that St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, whom I had grow up learning so much about, had lived and worked there. And in an eerie twist of fate, having had to scrap our plans to visit Lourdes, France this summer, we also learned that there was a shrine dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes right off this route! So as luck would have it, we did get to visit Lourdes this year after all.

The only set back on our drive was Interstate 95 from Maryland to Richmond. The traffic was quite heavy and slow for some inexplicable reason as there were no accidents or construction. Along the way we noted that we passed the Romney campaign motorcade headed in the opposite direction which we thought might be the cause of the traffic, but we were wrong. Ah yes! There was one additional disappointment. We had planned to visit La Tienda in Williamsburg, VA, one of our favorite purveyors of imported Spanish food, alas we arrived in the area 10 minutes after closing. Next year!

We always add an extra night to our family vacations to enable us to take the girls to visit some historical site. This year we decided to stay within the actual restoration of Colonial Williamsburg. Instead of staying at one of the local hotels, we decided to book one of the restored  historical homes right on site. We were sent to the Brick House Tavern Shop site, the location of a shop in 1760. What was once the store is now the living room, the back room is the main bedroom and the upper floor has two double beds. It is small just as many buildings from that time are, but large as compared to a regular hotel room. And it was all ours, opening onto one of the streets of the restoration and around the corner from a lifetime of learning.

There are pros and cons to staying in a restored colonial home. Representing the cons, it is not cheap and for the price they are not as luxurious as perhaps one of the rooms at its sister site, the Williamsburg Inn for the same price. However, for the pros, you can use the Williamsburg Inn’s facilities as you are guests of the larger hotel. Besides… it was darn cool to stay in one of these old homes and made it possible for the girls to really appreciate what life was like in those days. If you don’t mind not having a state of the art bathroom or technology, you will love it! We did.

We needed to rest from our long drive  before but…

Please clean our room. We’re hitting the road again.

More tomorrow!

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Visiting the Grand Canyon

07/12/2012
Posted by Maria Amelia in ,

We were headquartered at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, but that was the “side trip” part of the voyage as far as we were concerned. (Ah the Bellagio. That warrants its own post which I will write another time.) The reason for our trip was one of my life’s dreams – a visit to the Grand Canyon. That was why we made the trip. I’d had a difficult time with some minor but draining health issues which were finally resolved at the beginning of this year. I had made myself and the family a promise that if all went well we would visit the canyon, and so mid-February we did just that.

There are many ways to visit the Grand Canyon. I learned this as we did our research prior to making the trip. In truth, the only limitations – considerable limitations – are how much money you are willing to spend and how much time you have. You can take a tour bus, a helicopter, a private tour guide with a tricked out vehicle… the sky is, well, not even the sky is a limit. But we wanted to do it our way. Taking a tour bus or even being with a private tour guide seemed a little stifling. I like to stop every three seconds to take photos and this can annoy even the best chauffeur. Plus, having three girls, two under the age of 10 still with somewhat small bladders, we need to make the occasional stop or two, if you get my drift. Bearing all this in mind we decided to drive ourselves in our own rental car to the western rim of the Grand Canyon. We decided to visit the Grand Canyon West at the Skywalk managed by the Hualapai nation. In essence, we were leaving the United States of America and traveling to a surreal series of viewing platforms, built by interestingly enough a Chinese company, and managed by this famous Native American tribe. Yes, it was surreal and very worth the trip.

It took a while to get to the turnoff for the final road to the Grand Canyon West (GCW). We’d read that from this point on it was approximately a 20 mile off road drive. Easy peasy. “Nice flat roads with no pavement”, I thought. <Insert hysterical laughter here.> About the only true part of that statement is “roads” and “no pavement”.

It wasn’t a bad drive by any means, but it was a tiring drive. The road was composed of dirt, small rocks, and dirt, with many, many turns and dirt - uphill all the way. The GCW is at an elevation of about 4,800 feet so by the time you travel from Las Vegas to the rim you will have gone up approximately 2,600 feet in elevation. It is a 3.5 hour drive approximately from LV to GCW, but about the last 45 minutes of it you are traveling at 15 mph on a winding, uphill, dirt road. 15 MPH! And heaven forbid you get stuck behind a truck, a slow moving vehicle or a line of cars. The road is barely one way in each direction, dirt (did I mention that?) and full of blind turns. By far the most tiring part of the drive are those last 20 miles. But once you are there…

Tears literally came to my eyes as we turned out of the last ravine where the canyon started to unfold before us. I can’t explain what it looks like. It is impossible in its enormity. It was foreign to my East Coast, European and Caribbean trained eyes. I couldn’t fit it into any corner of my brain. It couldn’t even join the place where all the mountains I had seen where filed away. I’d crossed the Alps in a plane and summited Pike’s Peak, but this was breathtaking. It was also very dry. By the time we had been directed where to park the car (the Hualapai run the GCW viewing areas diligently and you are not able to just wander around) our car was literally covered in red dirt and our skin was so dry that we could feel our hands stretching when we bent our fingers. I could feel my skin! We had brought water with us, quite a number of bottles, but were still feeling dry.

The way the GCW “works” is like this. First you pull up to the main compound. This is where you park and decide how you will see the Canyon. Will you take a helicopter? Not for us, no thanks. Will you go to the Skywalk at the second set of buildings? Yes, please. And if you would like lunch you will need to pay extra to go to the third stop where the cafe is located. Yes, the Hualapai are wise because once you are up there you want to stay… and to stay you will pay. (Heh.) But is it worth it? YES!

So if you have decided to visit the viewing areas and cafe, including the Skywalk, you board a bus.

You don’t drive yourself. This was a little disappointing to me since I like to make my own decisions. But when you get up there and you see how close you are to the rim, you don’t really want to drive yourself. At least I would not. And you hope and pray that your bus driver is safe and careful.

The Skywalk itself defies explanation. If you look at the image above you will see a building with a large terrace protruding from it. This is a horse shoe shaped terrace which extends over the Grand Canyon. The floor is see through. When you walk out on it and look down, you see the Canyon floor. It is frightening and amazing all at once. And before you walk out on it you must place cloth booties over your shoes (like in an operating room) to preserve and keep the surface from scratching. You are not allowed to take photos out on the Skywalk… but you can purchase photos taken by their photographers. Did I mention the Hualapai are very intelligent?

If you would like to spend some time at the GCW there is a lot to see and learn. There are demonstrations and Hualapai tour guides who will teach you all about their culture and the land.

But seeing the canyon is what it is all about and makes all the driving and time spent getting there and back well worth it. While I was there all I could hear in my head was the music of Aaron Copland. Something about the music he composed captures the landscape so vividly. But it was not his “Rodeo”, “Billy the Kid”, “Salón México¨ or ¨Tender Land¨ that resounded in my ears as I looked out on it. Oddly it was his “Fanfare for the Common Man”. The Grand Canyon is so majestic and so humbling that only the grandest and most melancholy of orchestral compositions can do it justice. Visit it, if you can. Make it happen. You will realize how beautiful this country is and how blessed we all are. And listen…

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Fanfare

03/19/2012
Posted by Maria Amelia in , ,

Before his music became identified with the Olympics, or with an ad campaign for beef, I love Aaron Copland. Before I could listen to it and not have to block out the voice of Bob Costas, or the image of a branding iron searing a steak, I used to lie on the floor of my parents living room with headphones on and eyes closed, and listen to Fanfare for the Common Man and Rodeo. Even then I’d get a lump in my throat. Even then I could appreciate how beautiful it was, and how gifted Copland was… and how fortunate I was that he wrote any of it.

I think I’ve mentioned before that I can’t listen to some music like a “normal” person. I always have to attach emotion to it. I always have to feel it. It’s wonderful in a way, and awful in others. I always wind up enjoying the music, but not before spoiling it with a bit of a bawl. But, what happens when I listen to music that I love is that I wonder how the composer must have felt when he wrote it. Some composers, at least on paper, seem so cerebral to me. But even the most cerebral of those have to have felt something as they wrote their pieces. This brings me back full circle to Aaron Copland. How was he able to capture this feeling of America that I identify with, that I craved to find? I’m jealous of him for it. It goes beyond the pervasive cowboy on his horse. It brings the mountains to life. It encapsulates the sky and the plains. It makes you feel the spirit of this land. It does so, to me, not in the way of Gershwin’s (beautiful, inspiring) machinery and modern age. Copland does so through simplicity and grandiose, broad strokes.

Last month I was lucky enough to finally see the West as I had imagined when listening to the music of Copland. I fulfilled one of the dreams of my life, to see the Grand Canyon and the desert around it. And as I rounded the last bend on the Hualapai Nation road that took me the west rim, and as the Canyon unfolded before me after one final turn through a smaller one, I heard the timpani of the opening movement of Fanfare for the Common Man in my head and in my heart. And I cried.

 

 

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Wordless Wednesday: Signs of Summer

08/17/2011
Posted by Maria Amelia in , , ,

It’s a nautical term people.

 

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I was not compensated to write this post. I am simply remembering good times.

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Signs of Summer: Chatham Style

08/16/2011
Posted by Maria Amelia in , , , ,

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If you don’t know Cape Cod, or haven’t been to Chatham, it is a beautiful place. Chatham’s main street itself is beautiful, bright and bustling. Most of the tourists that visit are polite north-easterners seemingly largely from Massachusetts, and many are from Boston by all appearances. The least laid back of the tourists are from New York City (I can say it because I’m from there) but they are in the minority. I can’t tell you how many times the locals have said to us “but you don’t seem like you’re from New York”. I always took it as a compliment. But I digress.

One of the things the hubby and I enjoyed about the Cape the most were the pretty signs people hung both on the businesses and on their homes. Many people name their homes there, presumably with names that are meaningful to them. Some are beach, water or vacation themed, but most are decipherable only to the owners and their loved ones. In fact, we like this practice so much we had a sign made at the Chatham Sign Shop (40 Kent Place) for our own house, and have been asked about it many times by our neighbors. We have had it up on our house now over 6 years and it is as colorful as the day we put it up.

As unique as the house signs are, the business signs are beautiful. Most seem to be made in the same high gloss style, and others are different. But to me, all reflect the owners and their businesses well. And so, this week I am starting a little series which I would like to call “Signs of Summer: Chatham Style.” Today I leave you with Buffy’s Ice Cream Shop (456 Main Street) our favorite homemade ice cream parlor in town. I can still see my little girls sitting on the old little bench outside dripping ice cream down their hands and clothing – added work for me for sure, but a wonderful memory nonetheless.

Enjoy!

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I was not compensated to write this post. I am simply remembering good times.

 

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Grant’s Tomb

08/11/2011
Posted by Maria Amelia in , , ,

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I learned about Ulysses S. Grant in grammar school like any other US kid. I knew he was the Commanding General of the North during the Civil War, and that he later became President of the United States of America. Other than such details as where the peace treaty was signed, how he accepted General Robert E. Lee’s surrender and some details of his presidency, those are all the facts I knew about him in my youth.

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Those and one other – he is buried in New York City.

I can’t tell you how many times I passed the monument bearing Ulysses S. Grant’s final resting place in my life. I remember my father asking my sister and I in a sing-songy voice “Whooo’s buried theeeeeeeere?” each and every time we passed it. My sister and I would reply “President Grant.” I also recall my father always promising to take us there one day, but since each time we passed it we were either in a rush to get somewhere or tired and on our way home, we just never got around to it. He did always tell us that it was a beautiful building and it certainly did look like it from the window, despite the depressed surroundings of the late 70′s and early 80′s.

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It wasn’t until I married the hubby that I learned more about Ulysses S. Grant the man. And it wasn’t until last week that I visited his tomb. Today, to me, he strikes me as a sad and noble figure. He may not have been as poetic a soul as I would like to think, and I am aware of some of his more notable shortcomings now- not the stuff that you teach 4th graders necessarily – but I am still sad when I think of him, even with his successes. But the tomb is fitting tribute to a man with great achievements and great struggles.

We decided to visit his tomb on the way back from our visit to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. (You can read about that here http://www.mommylogue.com/2011/08/an-intrepid-visit/) The truth is that it had been on our radar ever since we started actively visiting National Park Service sites. Of all the states and major cities playing host to National Park Service sites, NYC has very few, with Grant’s Tomb being one of less than ten. It took us two years to get around to it, but we did it.

The building is magnificently beautiful, and only in slight disrepair despite the current state of our economy. The grounds were beautiful and safe. There was one Park Ranger on duty in the building when we arrived, but we encountered three others during our time there. When we first arrived that building was all but empty, but within 10 minutes one camp bus arrived and then a tour bus. There was no doubt in my mind after that day that this monument is busy and visited, and I am happy for it. Growing up it always looked somewhat abandoned, but today it is not.

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Two features surprised me. The first were the sarcophagi. I did not expect to see them; I’d anticipated a marker on a marble wall. Instead there were two beautiful wooden sarcophagi bearing the President’s and his wife’s remains on the bottom floor, which could be viewed from above. Visiting below I saw that the circular walls surrounding them bore the busts of his most important Civil War generals. When I first saw the sarcophagi I thought they reminded me of that of Napoleon in Les Invalides. We learned later that they were actually designed as imitations. I am glad for that. What is also notable about the burial site is that his wife is buried with him. My husband pointed it out surprised and I didn’t understand why. I thought all US Presidents were buried with their wives. We had just visited FDR’s home the month before where he had been buried with Eleanor. (You can read about that here http://www.mommylogue.com/2011/07/springwood/) But apparently, President Grant was the first US President to have been buried with his wife and it was at his request.

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The second surprise to me was the overlook. When the hubby asked where he might be able to get his National Park Service Passport stamp, the Ranger on the site explained that we would need to cross the street and take the stairs to the side of the overlook, also a part of the monument and park. I have watched many overlooks (no pun intended) over the Hudson River disintegrate throughout the years, so I expected a run down shelter at best. What we found was a beautiful cement and wooden structure. Sure enough following the stairs around the overlook we found the National Park Service office which also housed a mini education center (and a very clean bathroom!).

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After so many times seeing it as a child, it was well worth the visit.

 

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Wordless Wednesday: Some Sarcophagi

08/10/2011
Posted by Maria Amelia in , , ,

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Do you know what famous person’s (and spouse’s) mortal remains lie here? Find out later today!

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An Intrepid Visit

08/09/2011
Posted by Maria Amelia in , , ,

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I was born and raised in the City of New York. I’ve driven down the West Side Highway a couple million times in my life (perhaps I exaggerate a tad) and passed the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum (the Intrepid) about half as many times. But until last week I never actually visited the Intrepid. For as many times as I’ve passed it, gazing out at it from the front passenger side window of my car and thinking to myself “Gee I’d like to visit that” I’ve come up with multiple reasons why it would be impractical. It’s too hot, it’s too crowded, it’s too touristy, it will take too long, parking is difficult, parking is prohibitive… blah blah blah. But last Friday as we found ourselves approaching the GWB (that’s the George Washington Bridge for you out-of-towners) “sans” children, I said to the hubby “How would you like to visit the Intrepid?” He replied “Yes!”

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I knew he’d say yes, of course. The man can’t resist a historical monument of any kind. He is a huge history buff, majoring in it at NYU (that’s New York University for you out-of-towners) even though he planned to study dentistry. And so instead of taking a walk in the Village (that’s Greenwich Village to you… oh never mind), we headed to the aircraft carrier.

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Three things surprised me upon arriving there. The first was “The Growler” – the resident submarine. It was an amazing experience visiting it and I had no idea what to expect once on it. For starters, I was surprised to see signs cautioning people not to enter it if they were not in good health. Visitors were also required to pass through a hatch (one of the doors separating the compartments on a sub) under the supervision of a staff member. If you couldn’t make it through the hatch above ground, you would not be visiting the sub. I passed through the hatch easily but I was uneasy about “good health” part, not that I am in poor health. I just wondered why they made an issue of it. It turns out that if you are claustrophobic you could really “freak out” in a submarine under water. The Growler is not submerged, but it is in the water. You become very aware of that as you stand inside it and hear the water outside. Yes, you hear it. And if you stand still you can sense the submarine’s movement.

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So what did I learn about submarines? Submarines of this class, presumably attack class, are small. Despite being long (over 300 feet) it felt short. Secondly, they are really really narrow. Super narrow. Super it-will-make-you-claustrophobic-even-if-you’ve-never-been-claustrophobic-before narrow. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t have an anxiety attack nor did I become claustrophobic. It is perfectly safe and I knew that all along. However, having only seen submarines in the movies, I was surprised how tight the accommodations are, how small the bunks are, how tiny the break areas are, and how brave the men who work in them are.  I went in expecting The Hunt for Red October and came out thinking Bumble Bee Tuna. The only thing that did make me claustrophobic was the line of people ahead of and behind me. You move at the mercy of those ahead. However, I loved the visit, and I would do it again.

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The second thing that surprised me about the Intrepid was how large an aircraft carrier is. I certainly knew it was large just from seeing it so many times, but it wasn’t until I was in the Hangar Deck, the deck where they stored the planes, that I really understood it. The carrier itself is full of planes within the Hangar and on the Flight deck as well. There are other outstanding displays like helicopters and model space capsules. (Actually on the pier itself next to the carrier is a Concorde jet!) There is also a very large children’s activity area with many interactive displays.

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However, the third and most surprising thing of all is that I became a little “verklempt” as I walked around the ship – a little choked  up, a little emotional. While there we were able to see a multi-sensory movie detailing what it was like to live on the Intrepid during the Second World War while under a kamikaze attack. And as the stereos blasted around us, and multiple screens showed photos and videos of the attacks while smoke poured out of simulated cargo boxes around us, I cried a bit. I imagined what it must have been like to be a kid from NY finding himself on board a carrier in the middle of the Pacific and wondering if he would live past the next 10 minutes. What struck home to me was that the narrative in Kamikaze: Day of Darkness, Day of Light was “told” in part by the Fire Marshall on board the ship whose job it was to see to it that any fires on deck were extinguished. He was struck and killed by a kamikaze jet while extinguishing the fire that the another kamikaze had caused.

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My hubby and I plan to return with our three girls one day soon. Perhaps the film mentioned above is a little hard for the younger two, but it is appropriate for the oldest. There are so many hands-on activities, simulators, and scientific learning zones for them that they will not miss a thing. And the view on the flight deck is extraordinary. The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum does not glorify war nor denigrate the enemy. It is intended to teach adults and children about what life aboard these vessels is like, the sacrifices made for our freedom and the extraordinary advances in science that enabled such feats of engineering.

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In hindsight I was silly to put off this visit. It is easy to find parking in an adjacent lot, and there is always public transportation. It is not expensive and there is a wonderful walkway over the highway to lead you there. Finally, if you pick a weekday perhaps a bit off tourist season, it will not be crowded at all.

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I will post more photos in the days to come. Scout’s honor!

 

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Grey Towers

07/26/2011
Posted by Maria Amelia in , , ,

I have traveled a bit in my life, and I say this with a sense of gratitude and humility. I’ve just been lucky. Aside from some of the places I have mentioned in other posts, I’ve visited Milano, Lake Como, Paris, Mont St. Michel and Munich. They are all breathtakingly beautiful and full of overwhelming history. But this past weekend, I feel fortunate to say, I visited one of the most innocently beautiful, natural and man made corners of the world, right here in the United States, just over the border in Pennsylvania. This weekend we visited Grey Towers.

We had no ideas what it was. We’d only seen signs for it on the highway. But after a nice lunch with the girls we decided to take a look… just for a few minutes… on our way home. We stayed for over an hour. I could have stayed longer.

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Once the home of Gifford Pinchot, a past Governor of the beautiful state of Pennsylvania respected for his role in the modern conservation movement of the United States, Grey Towers emerges slowly from its green shroud at the top of its mountain in Milford. As we walked up the gravel path signs cautioned us that the road was steep and uneven at points, but that glimpse of the large stone building at the top intrigued us – and we pressed on. It wasn’t a difficult walk for us and the reward was incredible. At first all we could see was a stone facade and a portion of a tower to the right. Slowly the mansion unfurled, as though large green curtains had been drawn to reveal a life sized stage. As the details came into focus I was stunned. It was surreal, quiet and breathtaking.

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I didn’t expect to see what appeared to be a fountain before and below the mansion. I later learned this was meant to simulate a “moat”. Nor did I expect to find a gazebo, the “finger bowl” where guests would pass dishes to each other at outdoor dinners by floating them to each other, the “Letter Box” a stone salt box of an office building, or my personal favorite, the “Bait Box”. It was as though I had walked into an Edward Gorey book of illustrations in full color, without the grim statuary. We didn’t even tour the interior of the home. It wasn’t necessary. I believed what was accomplished with the exterior would overshadow whatever treasures the rooms held. I stand by that statement.

If I’ve ever appreciated that which this country offers, I appreciate it more. I’ve mentioned how wonderful the Department of the Interior’s National Park Service work is. Now I add to it the Department of Agriculture’s National Forest Service. Grey Towers might be a forest tamed respectfully around a home. But it was I that felt tamed and awed by it.

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The Bait Box Patio View - Copywrite Mommylogue.com

Vines on Pergola - Copywrite Mommylogue.com

The Pergola and Finger Bowl - Copywrite Mommylogue.com

 

Turkey Statue - Copywrite Mommylogue.com

Outdoor Urn - Copywrite Mommylogue.com

Time Capsule - Copywrite Mommylogue.com

I took many more photos, but will leave you with these for now. I’m sure I will be posting more over time. I hope to take even more. I hope to visit again.

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For more information on Grey Towers Visit:

United States Forest Service Grey Towers Site: http://www.fs.fed.us/wo/gt/index.shtml

 

 

 

 

 

 

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