Marion's Blog

PEI Ancestors and heading west - Road Trip 2012

 We spent three nights on Prince Edward Island. The first two were in the Capital, Charlottetown and the last was in a B&B in Kensington.

While we were browsing in Charlottetown we talked to a shop owner who told us a cruise ship was coming in the next day. Apparently they get about 35 cruise ships a year. Before we left Charlottetown on Wednesday morning we drove by the wharf where we had dinner our first night. As you can see the cruise ship dwarfs the restaurant.

We drove west on the Island to the towns of Hunter River and Hazel Grove. The plots marked "Heirs of E.C, Bagnall" in Hazel Grove on the map below would have been where my Great Grandfather and Great Grandmother lived before they moved west with their family.

 My Great Great grand parents are buried in this cemetery.

 Prince Edward Island is verdant green with startlingly red soil.

And of course it is the setting for the book Anne of Green Gables.

A lot of the restaurants and sites weren't open yet. They only open during the tourist season of July and August. We had a hard time finding a resaurant that was open for us to have dinner Wednesday night but finally found one and had a great dinner. We saw a couple of foxes as we were searching.

On Thursday morning we left Prince Edward island and headed west. We spent Thursday night in Grand Falls (Grand-Sault). The falls in the middle of town were Niagra like. During the summer you can zip line right over the gorge!

We spent the night in a lodge a few miles outside of town. We were able to take a hike around the lake. Unfortunately their German restaurant wasn't open yet.

Friday morning we left the Province of New Brunswick and headed into Quebec.

Road Trip 2012 - From Maine to Prince Edward Island

As I write this on Wednesday morning, May 23 we are starting week three of our road trip. We spent last Saturday night in Bucksport, Maine, just south of Bangor. Bucksport is at the mouth of the Penobscot River.

We had our best restaurant meal of the trip so far right across the street from our hotel. Duke had steak and lobster and I had giant scallops. Mmmmmmmm.

Before this trip I had never heard of Fiddleheads. They are a local delicacy, the curled tops of ferns, and are only available in the spring. I really want to taste them  I thought I was going to in Bucksport. They were the vegetable of the day and the waitress said they only had one order left. But by the time she put my order in they were sold out for the night.

We crossed the border into Canada at Vanceboro, Maine. We must look harmless because the Canadian border patrol guy let us through after just a couple of questions. He didn't even ask us our names or look at our passports.

We spent Sunday night in Fredericton,  the capital of New Brunswick. The weather the last few days has been fantastic. As we wandered around Fredericton on Sunday the temperature was 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

From Fredericton we drove down along the Bay of Fundy. We were in St John as the tide was turning. We saw the eddies in the water as the water was changing its direction of flow.

The last few days we have seen millions of dandelions. The fields are yellow with them.

The Confederation Bridge from New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island opened in 1996. It is 13 kilometers long. The toll of $44.25 is only collected as you leave the island.

My Grandmother Marion Bagnall Gibson was born on Prince Edward Island and I have always wanted to visit here. We spent our first two nights here in Charlottetown, the capital. We are staying in a B&B and have been able to walk everywhere. The first night we had lobster and PEI mussels on the wharf. They were great!

Tuesday morning we did some research in the provincial archives which are on the top floor of this building. We located exactly where my Grandmothers family lived and where some of the family is buried. We also found out more about the original Samuel Bagnall who came to Philadelphia from England. He was a loyalist and ended up here in Prince Edward Island after the revolution.

 

 Today we are headed out to explore the countryside.

New England - Our Road Trip 2012

As we left Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Wednesday morning we were beginning week three of our 2012 summer road trip. We spent Wednesday night in Groton, Connecticut. The Naval Submarine Base in New London is just up the road from where we stayed. There is a museum next to the base and we go to go  onto the first nuclear powered submarine, The Nautilus. The Nautilus is the first vessel to complete a submerged transit beneath the North Pole on August 3, 1958.

Just getting to go onto a submarine was very cool, but seeing the extremely cramped quarters and imagining the pride the sailors who served there must have had was a great experience.

 Foxwood and Mehegan Sun, the two biggest Casinos in the U.S. are near Groton too. Of course we had to check them out. I especially liked Mohegan Sun it was beautiful.

 On Thursday we headed towards Boston. First we stopped at the capital of Rhode Island to visit the capital building. I learned that the official name of the state of Rhode Island is the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

 From Providence we went to Quincy Massachusetts. I have always wanted to see where John and Abigail Adams, and John Quincy Adams lived. The Adams National Historic Park includes the houses where they were born and the house where they lived in later years. I read and really enjoyed biographies of both Adams presidents and also of Abigail. They are probably my two favorite presidents.

Four generations of Adams lived in the Old House at Peacefield. The last Adams to live there was Brooks Adams, great grandson of John Adams who lived there until 1927 when the houses were turned into a historical park. As a result the houses contain the furniture, paintings and other stuff used by all the Adams. It was amazing to see the desk that Adams used to write the Massachusetts Constitution and all the other things that figured so prominently in our history.

On top of that we had two fantastic guides. Their knowledge and passion about what they were showing us actually brought tears to my eyes as I thought about what this great family did for our Country. If you haven't read John McCullough's biography of Adams or watched the movie you should!

The tour of hte Adams houses and the fantastic library built to house their books were absolute highlights of the trip.

 

This is the Old House at Peacefield

Our Passionate and knowledgeable tour guide of the house.

The library is the building on the left.

 We spent Thursday night with my brother and his wife near Boston. They have a new outdoor pizza ovena and my brother made us really delicious pizza for dinner. It was a wonderful treat to get to spend some time with them and visit with them at their house. On Friday morning Charlie went ot work and Annie took us for a hike in a beautiful park near their house.

Friday morning we went to the New Hampshire state capital in Concord. There was a school group touring when we were there so we learned a lot. The New Hampshire House of Representatives is the largest in the country. They have 400 representatives. When the guide told the fourth graders that the representatives are each paid $100 per year there was a gasp of shock!

Friday night we spent with our friends Marc and Christina who have just moved to White River Junction Vermont. It was fun to visit with them and we got to see the outside of the house they just bought. They don't actually close on it until July.

Saturday we visited another state capital, this time Montpelier, Vermont. It was small but beautiful. Montpelier has the smallest population of any state capital, only about 8,000 people.

Last night we spent the night in Bucksport Maine, A beautiful town right on the coast. We had a fantastic seafood dinner. As soon as i post this blog we are headed up the road into Canada.

Road Trip 2012 - Pennsylvania

Duke and I are on a six week road trip through the U.S. and Canada. In my last post I was doing family history research in Cumberland, Maryland. From Cumberland we went to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. It rained all day. I can see why the countryside is so lush and green.

As soon as we checked in to our hotel in the center of Gettysburg we drove out to the Gettysburg National Historic Park.

When we got there we decided first to take the tour of the Eisenhower National Historic Site. The only way to visit the site is to take the bus that leaves from Gettysburg. This is the farm that President and Mrs Eisenhower owned during and after his Presidency. Even though it was raining we explored the farm and the barns. We also toured the house. The Eisenhowers bought the farm in 1950. It looks just like it did when they lived there. It was fun to see a part of history that Duke and I remember.

 

After the tour of the Eisenhower Farm we explored the Gettysburg Museum and saw the film about the battle. The tickets also included the Gettysburg Cyclorama. I had no idea what a cyclorama is. It turns out that back in the late 1800s before the days of movies, painters sometimes created these life size depictions of a famous event and sell tickets to view it. The Cyclorama is a painting of Picket's Charge 377 feet by 42 feet painted by Paul Philippoteaux. It was painted in one year and completed in 1884.

It is displayed on the wall of a special  very large round room. As part of viewing it you watch a special sound and light show. It is difficult to tell where the trees and guns in the foreground end and the painting begins. The effect is absolutely stunning!

 

The devastation and lives lost at Gettysburg is stunning. There were almost 8,000 killed and 27,000 wounded. The battle had the largest number of casualties of any battle in the civil war.

On Tuesday we left Gettysburg and headed east. My Banta ancestors who we looked for outside of Lexington, Kentucky lived in the area east of Gettysburg before they moved to Kentucky. We searched out the Low Dutch cemetery where some of them are buried. We also took a  picture of the house they lived in starting in about 1747.

We made a short stop in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to check out the Pennsylvania State Capital.

 

 Our next stop was Bethlehem Pennsylvania. For me Bethlehem conjures up visions of rusting steal mills and pollution. But it turns out that Bethlehem is a very pretty town. We had a nice dinner down town and visited a beautiful new casino that sits on the river where a steal mill used ot be.

The best part of our trip to Bethlehem though was the private tour we were given by a friend of my daughter. Just Born makes Peeps, Mike and Ikes, and Hot Tamales. We got to see how they are made and packaged. It was fascinating! and we got samples!

Road Trip - From Nashville, Tennessee to Cumberland, Maryland

Duke and I left Reno May 2 on a six week U.S. road trip. From Nashville we headed north into Kentucky. The countryside is beautiful, lots of spring green and wildflowers. Every day we stop for a road side picnic.

After lunch Friday we took a tour of the Makers Mark Distillery.

My Low Dutch Banta ancestors were some of the first settlers near Harrodsburg, Kentucky. We visited the old meeting house and cemetery they used.

We spent Friday night in Lexington, Kentucky. On Saturday we drove to Athens, Ohio. Ohio University is in Athens. We came into town about 2 in the afternoon. We immediately noticed student parties in every yard. We started counting the partiers and in about 5 minutes counted 65 partying kids as we were driving along. I Googled Ohio University and Party and discovered that the school is rated the number one party school in the country!

We were staying in Athens to go to a concert Saturday night at the Fur Peace Ranch. Yorma Kaukonen is a guitarist best known for his work with Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. We have seen him perform a couple of times and have always wanted to attend a concert at his guitar school - The Fur Peace Ranch. So Saturday night we went to a fantastic concert by the California Guitar Trio. It was a fantastic concert and the venue which only holds about 200 people was wonderful too.

From Athens we drove to Cumberland Maryland, another town where some of my ancestors lived. This time it was the Erbs and the Musslemans. We explored the area where they lived and Monday morning I did some research at the Genealogical Society. Duke was very patient. A couple of the people reading this may be interested in the results. I did find a couple of things. I will write it up soon.

It has been a great trip. If you would like to see all of our pictures they are on Flickr here.