Rollin’ Rivards: Canoe River Campground

Canoe River Campground - Mansfield, MA

Mansfield, Massachusetts is a suburb of Boston. We wanted to visit both Boston and Cape Cod, so this campground would be well located for both locations.

USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, is a three-masted wooden-hulled heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She is the world's oldest ship still afloat. She was launched in 1797, one of six original frigates authorized for construction by the Naval Act of 1794 and the third constructed. The name "Constitution" was among ten names submitted to President George Washington by Secretary of War Timothy Pickering in March of 1795 for the frigates that were to be constructed.

Constitution is most noted for her actions during the War of 1812 against the United Kingdom, when she captured numerous merchant ships and defeated five smaller British warships. The battle with Guerriere earned her the nickname "Old Ironsides" and public adoration that has repeatedly saved her from scrapping. She continued to serve as flagship in the Mediterranean and African squadrons, and she circled the world in the 1840s. During the American Civil War, she served as a training ship for the United States Naval Academy. She carried American artwork and industrial displays to the Paris Exposition of 1878.

Constitution was retired from active service in 1881 and served as a receiving ship until being designated a museum ship in 1907. In 1934, she completed a three-year, 90-port tour of the nation. She sailed under her own power for her 200th birthday in 1997, and again in August 2012 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of her victory over Guerriere.

As she is a fully commissioned Navy ship, her crew of 75 officers and sailors participate in ceremonies while keeping her open to visitors year-round and providing free tours. The officers and crew are all active-duty Navy personnel, and the assignment is considered to be special duty.

Side note- we were very surprised how young the crew was, so we chatted with several of them. We heard from several that they were recruited straight out of boot camp for the assignment. These assignments are coveted positions and are considered to be an honor, so we found it highly odd they were given to brand new recruits. It seemed more fitting to give the assignment to someone at the end of career service, rather than the start of one. These kids have zero concept of what it is like to actually serve in the Navy.

Dry Dock 1, Charlestown Navy Yard

Before dry docks came into use in the late 15^th century in England, the only way to service a ship’s hull was to “careen” it—heave it over on its side, still floating, or laying in the mud at low tide. It was difficult and time-consuming and put great strain on the hull. The answer was the dry dock. The concept is simple: float the vessel into a three-sided basin, then close the seaward end and remove all the water. The vessel settles on a cradle, its hull accessible. To undock: re-flood the basin, open the seaward end and float the vessel out.

Brewer Fountain

The 22-foot-tall, 15,000-pound bronze fountain, cast in Paris, was a gift to the city by Gardner Brewer. It began to function for the first time on June 3, 1868. It is one of several casts of the original, featured at the 1855 Paris World Fair.

Robert Gould Shaw and the 54th Regiment Memorial

The Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54^th Regiment Memorial commemorates one of the first African American regiments of the Civil War. Although African Americans served in both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, Northern racist sentiments kept African Americans from taking up arms for the United States in the early years of the Civil War. However, a clause in Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation allowed for the raising of Black regiments. Governor John Andrew soon created the Massachusetts 54^th Volunteer Infantry. He chose Robert Gould Shaw, the son of wealthy abolitionists, to serve as its colonel.

The 54th Regiment was the basis of the movie "Glory".

Massachusetts State House was completed in January 1798 at a cost of $133,333- which was five times more than was budgeted. It is one of the oldest state capitols still in use.

The tall white pillar marks the tomb of John Hancock (1737-1793) President of the Second Continental Congress and Congress of the Confederation, first Governor of Massachusetts, and the first person to sign the declaration of Independence.

A Boston selectman and representative to the Massachusetts General Court, his colonial trade business naturally disposed him to resist the Stamp Act. As later taxation acts were enacted, Hancock’s shipping practices became more evasive, smuggling goods. In 1768, his sloop Liberty was impounded by British customs officials, causing a riot among Bostonians expecting the goods on board.

Originally only a financier of the growing rebellion, on the 4^th anniversary of the Boston Massacre, he gave a speech condemning the British. His boycott of tea imported by the British East India Company eventually led to the Boston Tea Party.

In 1775, he was elected the third President of the Second Continental Congress, where he would serve for 2 years. On of his first acts was to commission George Washington commander -in-chief of the Continental Army. John Hancock was the only individual to sign the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 with the other 55 signatures coming on August 2.

Paul Revere (1734 –1818) was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, Sons of Liberty member, and Patriot and Founding Father. He is best known for his midnight ride to alert the colonial militia in April 1775 to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord, as dramatized in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1861 poem, "Paul Revere's Ride". He was also one of the Ring Leaders of the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773.

At age 41, Revere was a prosperous, established and prominent Boston silversmith. He had helped organize an intelligence and alarm system to keep watch on the British military. Revere later served as a Massachusetts militia officer.

Following the war, Revere returned to his silversmith trade. He used the profits from his expanding business to finance his work in iron casting, bronze bell and cannon casting, and the forging of copper bolts and spikes. In 1800, he became the first American to successfully roll copper into sheets for use as sheathing on naval vessels.

Samuel Adams (1722 – 1803) was an American statesman, political philosopher, and a Founding Father of the United States. He was a politician in colonial Massachusetts, a leader of the movement that became the American Revolution, and one of the architects of the principles of American republicanism that shaped the political culture of the United States. He was a second cousin to his fellow Founding Father, President John Adams.

Adams was born in Boston, brought up in a religious and politically active family. A graduate of Harvard College, he was an unsuccessful businessman and tax collector before concentrating on politics. He was an influential official of the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Boston Town Meeting in the 1760s, and he became a part of a movement opposed to the British Parliament's efforts to tax the British American colonies without their consent. His 1768 Massachusetts Circular Letter calling for colonial non-cooperation prompted the occupation of Boston by British soldiers, eventually resulting in the Boston Massacre of 1770. Adams and his colleagues devised a committee of correspondence system in 1772 to help coordinate resistance to what he saw as the British government's attempts to violate the British Constitution at the expense of the colonies, which linked like-minded Patriots throughout the Thirteen Colonies. Continued resistance to British policy resulted in the 1773 Boston Tea Party and the coming of the American Revolution. Adams was actively involved with colonial newspapers publishing accounts of colonial sentiment over British colonial rule, which were fundamental in uniting the colonies.

Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in 1774, at which time Adams attended the Continental Congress in Philadelphia which was convened to coordinate a colonial response. He helped guide Congress towards issuing the Continental Association in 1774 and the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and he helped draft the Articles of Confederation and the Massachusetts Constitution. Adams returned to Massachusetts after the American Revolution, where he served in the state senate and was eventually elected governor.

Early 17th century headstones, there are three different renditions of the light of the person being snuffed out. Looking close at the headstones you can see a skeleton pinching out the flame on the candle. We saw several macabre versions of this concept in this cemetery. We had never seen this before. It is a form of "memento mori" to remind people of their own mortality and fate awaiting them- "you too will end up this way."

William Dawes Jr. (1745 –1799) was one of several men who in April 1775 alerted colonial minutemen in Massachusetts of the approach of British army troops prior to the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the outset of the American Revolution. For some years, Paul Revere had the most renown for his ride of warning of this event, but he was not alone during the famous ride.

We were curious about the significance of leaving coins on graves, so we looked it up. We are getting very good at googling these days. A penny means you visited. A nickel means you and the deceased veteran trained at boot camp together. A dime means you and the deceased veteran served together in some capacity. A quarter is very significant because it means that you were there when that veteran died. It made us chuckle when we saw quarters on the graves.

Benjamin Franklin (1706 –1790) was an American polymath (a polymath is one who knows a lot about many different subjects. I had to look it up. I guess I am not a polymath....) who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Among the leading intellectuals of his time, Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, a drafter and signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, and the first United States Postmaster General.

As a scientist, he was a major figure in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his studies of electricity, and for charting and naming the current still known as the Gulf Stream. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among others. He founded many civic organizations, including the Library Company, Philadelphia's first fire department, and the University of Pennsylvania. Franklin earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity, and as an author and spokesman in London for several colonies. As the first United States ambassador to France, he exemplified the emerging American nation. Franklin was foundational in defining the American ethos as a marriage of the practical values of thrift, hard work, education, community spirit, self-governing institutions, and opposition to authoritarianism both political and religious, with the scientific and tolerant values of the Enlightenment. Franklin has been called "the most accomplished American of his age and the most influential in inventing the type of society America would become."

Franklin became a successful newspaper editor and printer in Philadelphia, the leading city in the colonies, publishing the Pennsylvania Gazette at age 23. He became wealthy publishing this and Poor Richard's Almanack, which he wrote under the pseudonym "Richard Saunders". After 1767, he was associated with the Pennsylvania Chronicle, a newspaper that was known for its revolutionary sentiments and criticisms of the policies of the British Parliament and the Crown.

He pioneered and was the first president of the Academy and College of Philadelphia, which opened in 1751 and later became the University of Pennsylvania. He organized and was the first secretary of the American Philosophical Society and was elected president in 1769. Franklin became a national hero in America as an agent for several colonies when he spearheaded an effort in London to have the Parliament of Great Britain repeal the unpopular Stamp Act. An accomplished diplomat, he was widely admired among the French as American minister to Paris and was a major figure in the development of positive Franco–American relations. His efforts proved vital for the American Revolution in securing French aid.

He was promoted to deputy postmaster-general for the British colonies on August 10, 1753, having been Philadelphia postmaster for many years, and this enabled him to set up the first national communications network. He was active in community affairs and colonial and state politics, as well as national and international affairs. From 1785 to 1788, he served as governor of Pennsylvania. He initially owned and dealt in slaves but, by the late 1750s, he began arguing against slavery, became an abolitionist, and promoted education and the integration of African Americans into U.S. society.

His life and legacy of scientific and political achievement, and his status as one of America's most influential Founding Fathers, have seen Franklin honored more than two centuries after his death on the $100 bill, warships, and the names of many towns, counties, educational institutions, and corporations, as well as numerous cultural references and with a portrait in the Oval Office. Over his lifetime, Franklin wrote or received more than 30,000 letters and other documents, known as The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, published by the American Philosophical Society and Yale University.

Josiah Quincy III (1772 –1864) was an American educator and political figure. He was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1805–1813), mayor of Boston (1823–1828), and President of Harvard University (1829–1845). The historic Quincy Market in downtown Boston is named in his honor.

When the old buildings no longer serve their original purpose, they are modified for other uses. This simply gorgeous, stately city hall building is now a restaurant. For some reason, we found this pretty funny.

Old South Meeting House was the largest building in colonial Boston and the stage for some of the most dramatic events leading up to the American Revolution.

Built as a Puritan meeting house in 1729, Old South Meeting House stands today as one of the nation’s most important colonial sites, one of the country’s first public historic conservation efforts, and one of the earliest museums of American history.

During the colonial period, members of Old South’s congregation included African-American poet Phillis Wheatley who published a book in 1773 while she was enslaved; patriot leaders Samuel Adams and William Otis; William Dawes, who rode with Paul Revere to Lexington in 1775; and the young Benjamin Franklin and his family.

Old South became the center for massive public protest meetings against British actions in colonial Boston from 1768-75. Patriots and Loyalists alike met to argue and inform, to protest the impressment of sailors into the King’s navy, and to commemorate the bloody Boston Massacre of 1770. Yet it was the series of meetings that culminated on December 16, 1773 that sealed Old South’s fate as one of this country’s most significant buildings. On that day, over 5,000 men crowded into the meeting house to hotly debate the controversial tea tax. When the final attempt at compromise failed, Samuel Adams gave the signal that started the Boston Tea Party. The Sons of Liberty led the way to Griffin’s Wharf, where they dumped 342 chests of tea into the frigid harbor.

The old corner bookstore is Boston's oldest commercial building. It is renowned for its place in American Literary History, as home to the 19th Century Publishing giant Ticknor and Fields. From 1832 until 1865, they produced dozens of great American authors and their works. Now it houses a Chipotle restaurant.

Old State House was the seat of power in colonial Boston. Built in 1713, the Old State House was where the royal Governor and his advisers served as direct representatives of the Kings rule. Outside of this building was where British soldiers opened fire on a crowd of unarmed protestors in the incident known as the Boston Massacre.

Rowe's Wharf gate is the gate for ferries in the Boston Harbor.

South Station is the largest railroad station and intercity bus terminal in Greater Boston. The historic station building was constructed in 1899 to replace the downtown terminals of several railroads. Today, it serves as a major intermodal domestic transportation hub, with service to the Greater Boston region and the Midwestern and Northeastern United States.

The National Monument to the Forefathers, formerly known as the Pilgrim Monument, commemorates the Mayflower Pilgrims. Dedicated in 1889, it honors their ideals as later generally embraced by the United States. It is thought to be the world's largest solid granite monument.

The original concept dates to around 1820, with actual planning beginning in 1850. The cornerstone was laid August 2, 1859 by the Grand Lodge of Masons in Massachusetts. The monument was completed in 1888, and was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies in 1889.

Plymouth Rock is assumed to be the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. The Pilgrims did not refer to Plymouth Rock in any of their writings; the first known written reference to the rock dates to 1715 when it was described in the town boundary records as "a great rock. The first documented claim that Plymouth Rock was the landing place of the Pilgrims was made by 94-year-old Thomas Faunce in 1741, 121 years after the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth. During the rock's many journeys throughout the town of Plymouth, numerous pieces were taken, bought, and sold. Today approximately a third of the rock remains. Some documents indicate that tourists or souvenir hunters chipped it down, although no pieces have been noticeably removed since 1880. Today there are pieces in Pilgrim Hall Museum and in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. The Granite canopy was built over Plymouth Rock in 1920 where it is housed and protected. It is estimated that the original rock weighed 20,000 pounds.

Mayflower II is a reproduction of the 17th-century ship Mayflower, celebrated for transporting the Pilgrims to the New World in 1620. The reproduction was built in Devon, England during 1955–1956. The work drew upon reconstructed ship blueprints held by the American museum, along with hand construction by English shipbuilders using traditional methods. Mayflower II was sailed from Plymouth, Devon in 1957.

We were able to capture this stunning sunset over Plymouth Harbor. It looked like the sky was on fire.

Pilgrim Mother Statue was a gift from the Daughters of the American Revolution for the 1921 Tercentenary Celebration. For the Daughters of the American Revolution, 1920 meant honoring this time of female triumph and Plymouth’s 300th Anniversary Celebration with a nod to the Mayflower women, whose numbers were decimated that first winter in Pawtuxet. More than half of the Pilgrims died during their first winter, with only 5 adult female survivors by spring time. Life for these women was very hard. The pilgrims believed women were inferior to men and were to be subservient to the men. A widow was granted many more rights than a married woman. People were quick to remarry after the death of a spouse just for basic survival.

William Bradford, one of the Mayflower Pilgrims, became leader of the Plymouth Colony when the original leader, John Carver, died during the first winter in Plymouth. William Bradford was an English Puritan, originally from the West Riding of Yorkshire, who later moved to Leiden in Holland, and then in 1620 migrated to the Plymouth Colony on the Mayflower. He was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact and went on to serve as Governor of the Plymouth Colony intermittently for about thirty years between 1621 and 1657.

Various churches in Plymouth have endured throughout the years giving us valuable insight to the lives from the past.

A monument to the Mayflower passengers that were lost after arriving in Plymouth. Over half died during their first winter in the New World. It was a brutal winter with little shelter from the weather, food was limited and disease was rampant.

Plymouth City Hall, nothing spectacular about the building, but the view at sunset was fantastic.

Lisa and Karma enjoyed their walk on a Cape Cod Beach. Beaches are Karma's favorite place to take walks. He gets so excited and loves to play in the water. Luckily, we are often alone on our walks and he gets to play off leash.

We saw several kite boarders while we walked on the beach.

We spotted a seal looking over Lisa's shoulder. The seal popped up many times trying to get a good look at us, but we had a hard time capturing a good picture of it. It really seemed curious about us being there. I am not sure if it was us or Karma that sparked its interest. Karma seemed oblivious to the seal.

Lisa enjoying her walk on the beach.

Nauset Light, is the most famous and photographed lighthouse on Cape Cod, is located within the Cape Cod National Coast. It is an important part of Easthams cultural and maritime history. Nauset Light is helping private fleets and uses of small sailing boats that sail near the coast it is also important to note that the lighthouse is no longer under the auspices of the United States Coast Guard.

In 1836, concerned Eastham residents petitioned the Boston Marine Society to recommend to the United States Congress the construction of the Nauset Lights, because of the many shipwrecks regularly occurring off shore. In response, the Congress granted $10.000 to build suitable lighthouses in Eastham, in order to provide a light halfway along the eastern coast of Cape Cod. The contract was awarded to Winslow Lewis, and soon enough three fifteen feet high masonry towers were built, in a straight line along the crest of the cliffs, painted white but with black lantern decks. They earned their nickname, the “Three Sisters” because when looked at from afar, they looked like black hatted women dressed in white.

The following was written by Henry David Thoreau in 1865:
“This light house, known to mariners as the Cape Cod or Highland Light,
is one of our “primary sea-coast lights,” and is usually the first seen by
those approaching the entrance of Massachusetts Bay from Europe.”

We had a nice walk on Race Point Beach all to ourselves.

The Mayflower Compact, originally titled Agreement Between the Settlers of New Plymouth, was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the male passengers of the Mayflower, consisting of separatist Puritans, adventurers, and tradesmen. The Puritans were fleeing from religious persecution by King James I of England.

The Mayflower Compact was signed aboard ship on November 21, 1620. Signing the covenant were 41 of the ship's 101 passengers; the Mayflower was anchored in Provincetown Harbor in Cape Cod.

The Pilgrim Monument in Provincetown, Massachusetts, was built between 1907 and 1910 to commemorate the first landfall of the Pilgrims in 1620 and the signing of the Mayflower Compact in Provincetown Harbor. This 252-foot-71⁄2-inch-tall campanile is the tallest all-granite structure in the United States and is part of the Provincetown Historic District.

Going to sea to look for whales!!!

We took a whale watching tour. The tour guide was a marine biologist that worked on the whale watching boats on the weekends for over 30 years. All of the pictures are of the same whale and she had an abundance of information about this particular whale. We were kind of doubtful until she let us know that the bottom of the fluke is like a finger print and no 2 whales are the same. The biologists that track these whales know them intimately. We were surprised at the amount of information she knew about this one whale.

This is one of the tuna boats on the National Geographic TV Show "Wicked Tuna". We watch the show and have followed these boats and their crews over the years. There was a store on the harbor that sold merchandise from the various crews on the show.

Lisa is sporting the windblown look today. The winds were so strong and COLD!! We had been warned that the temps were typically about 20 degrees cooler at sea than on the land in this area. They were not exaggerating. It was cold.

The Cape Ann Light Station on Thacher Island, off Cape Ann in Rockport, Massachusetts, is nationally significant as the last light station to be established under colonial rule and the first station in the United States to mark a navigational hazard rather than a harbor entrance. The current pair of lighthouses were built in 1861. They were both equipped with first order Fresnel lenses, which stood approximately 10 feet high and weighed several tons. Mark has studied all about these Fresnel lenses, so he is our lighthouse expert.

When these lights were built, there was no way to produce a flashing light and, occasionally mariners would confuse one light for another with disastrous results. The only way to create a distinction was to build more than one light. Gradually as it became possible to create flashes with a revolving lens system, the multiple lights were discontinued.

Eastern Point Light is a historic lighthouse on Cape Ann, in northeastern Massachusetts. It is known as the oldest seaport in America. The harbor has supported fishermen, whalers, and traders since 1616.

The lighthouse was originally planned in 1829 and was erected by 1832.

In 1880, the lighthouse was occupied by American landscape painter Winslow Homer. It was automated by September 1985.

The Ten Pound Island Light, built in 1881, is a historic lighthouse in Gloucester Harbor in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

The tower is the only surviving part of a more extensive light station, which included a keeper's house and an oil house. The island additionally hosted a federal fish hatchery and a Coast Guard air (seaplane) station; only ruins survive.