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The one thing you notice about New England towns and place
names is that they are somehow very familiar. Many of the
places are named from the original towns, villages and hamlets
and counties from old England, some from France and others
left over from the Native American names. The major city of
Boston is, in fact, originally a small town in Lincolnshire,
England, and the little Old London speaks for itself.
Plymouth Plantation
102 pilgrims made the original trip in the 16th century from
Plymouth, England in a sea worthy vessel called the Mayfair.
They set up camp just a few miles from where they actually
landed, in a village called Plymouth Plantation. It is still
a working representation of how life was back then. The village
was originally a wilderness and they began to hack away at
the woods to cut the trees and build houses. Many did not
survive that first harsh winter on the ship. From those 50
that survived the Mayflower the pioneer spirit still lives
on.
Boston
As Oliver Wendle-Holmes wrote, Boston is the hub of the universe.
Boston is the place where the pioneer spirit of the Pilgrim
settlers has been challenged again and again. New York may
be more dynamic, LA more quirky and San Francisco more beautiful,
but no city has as big a past as it does a present and as
much tradition as innovation. Some call it the intellectual
cradle of America and there's only one way to keep up with
Boston and that's to hit the ground running.
Boston's later history saw huge waves of immigration. The
Irish became prominent in politics, culminating in their favourite
son, JFK, becoming president, but another nationality
to flood Boston during these times was the Italians. Today
the North End as it is known, is the Italian district,
and it oozes character.
Education is a way of life in New England. There are over
60 colleges and universities in the Boston area and 250,000
people come here to study every year. 4 of its universities,
Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth and Brown are all part
of the prestigious ivy league. There are some serious college
rivalries and nothing stirs it up like a football game. College
football in America is huge. The games are broadcast live
on TV and as many as 30,000 people come to support their local
college team.
Harvard in Boston city is probably the most famous
University. It's been the set for many films and has educated
many of America's most powerful people. Like 'Oxbridge' in
England, if you can get in here, you're going to be set for
life, which is a good thing because it costs a fortune to
go here. Harvard has no shortage of superstitions and folklore.
Legend has it that if you rub the big toe of the statue of
college founder John Harvard you'll have years of good
luck. It's also known as the statue with 3 lies, because there
are 3 problems with it, one, that it's not actually John Harvard,
it's a student, two he was the benefactor and not the founder,
and the university was founded in 1636, not 1638 as the plaque
claims.
As far as the nightlife in Boston goes, you have a lot to
choose from but you cannot go wrong if you hit an Irish
pub. The Irish took such a firm hold of the city, that
it's now the most Irish city in America. Remember that do
hit the barrel you sadly need to be over 21 in the USA and
will need proof of age.
The Freedom Trail, amazing parks and gardens, art and science
museums and nearby historic towns of Plymouth, Gloucester
and Salem make Boston a quaint and beautiful city
to visit.
Boston Massacre
The story of the city of Boston is a tale full of attitude
and rebellion. In front of the Royal State House was
the scene of a bloody massacre when colonialist soldiers opened
fire on innocent people, which heralded the start of the American
Revolution against British rule. It was the famous massacre
that really ignited the people toward revolt and encouraged
them to get rid of English rule forever.
By 1773 the tensions here had grown considerably, the English
had lifted all of the taxes except for one on tea,
which completely outraged the colonialists who decided that
they were not going to unload the cargo. At night they secretly
dressed up as local Indians, boarded the boat and dumped
all of the tea overboard. This became known as the famous
Boston Tea Party.
The English became incensed and they decided to put an end
to this kind of behaviour, but what they didn't bargain for,
was war. April 19th, 1775 was the day the first shot of the
revolutionary war was fired. Paul Revere rode from
Boston to Lexington, screaming 'the regulars are coming, the
regulars are coming'. This allowed the men some time to assemble
before they were met by 700 British soldiers. At some point
a shot rang out, nobody knows who or why, but this became
known as the shot heard round the world.
The war lasted for years before Boston and the colonies gained
full independence. 4th July is know as Independence day and
is celebrated as a public holiday by American throughout the
world. On this date in 1776, a group of brave American colonists
took a bold stepwhen the Second Continental Congress voted
to adopt Thomas Jefferson's revolutionary document, the Declaration
of Independence.
New Haven
New Haven is a small, but prominent town, known mainly as
the home to Yale university, but it also harbours a
tiny establishment which has had a huge impact not only on
America, but on the world, it's the place that invented the
hamburger.
Danbury
Danbury is the home of an all American institution - Harley
Davidson motorcycles. The Marcus Dairy has for
over 30 years bikers been the meeting point for bikers who
gather here religiously every Sunday morning. It started out
small, but by the mid 80's over 1000 bikers would collect
here and so the Dairy decided to make it official and they
created a bike show called Super Sunday. Now, up to 15,000
bikers hang out at the dairy on Sunday mornings. There are
stalls here selling everything from brand new, state of the
art Harleys, to Harley Davidson toilet seats and machine guns,
and you can meet plenty of Hell's Angels. Biking isn't just
big in New England, all across the US, over 6 million bikers
cruise the highways each year and half a million of those
own Harleys.
New Hampshire
Portsmouth and Strawbery Banke in the state of
New Hampshire are fantastic beach resorts. The cities of
Manchester and Concord are worth a visit for art
lovers and city goers, and Lake Winnipesaukee is famed
for its great water sports and the White Mountain National
Park for its forest hiking and camping. North Conway
boasts a range of outdoor activities and the Franconia
Notch State Park also offers great scenery. You can drive
on the Kancamagus Highway from Lincoln to Conway for
an outdoor nature experience from inside your car.
Maine
Maine is famed for its food like lobster and hamburgers
and its fantastic beach resorts. Portland is the main
centre of Maine, but heading East you can explore some lovely
beach towns like Camden, Boothbay Harbor, Bar Harbor and
Blue Hill. Outdoor activities from beachcombing to
hiking and mountain adventures are key to the Maine experience,
with beautiful lakes and the Acadia National Park situated
to the North of the state.
Connecticut
Connecticut's jewels include Nook Farm, the house of
author Mark Twain in Hartford, great universities like
New Haven and Yale and maritime history and
development. Picturesque scenery can be explored in the old
towns of Essex, Old Lyme, Ivoryton and the Litchfield
Hills in the north-west.
Newport - Rhode island
Newport is the main place to visit with great seaside beaches
and palace mansions and a base to explore other island like
Block Island.
Belleview Rd is basically Rhode Island's millionaire
mile. Newport in the 19th Century was definitely the playground
for all of the shipping and steel and coal magnates in the
country and they were all here, the Fischers, the Astors,
the Vandebildts. They were incredibly wealth and they
built 'summer cottages' which were actually glorious mansions.
All of these mansions look out over the sea. Of all of the
splendid and famous Newport mansions the best to visit is
Vanderbildts house, who were at one time America's
wealthiest family. The Vanderbildts pretty much epitomised
the American dream. Cornelius Vanderbildt started out with
100$ borrowed from his mum, her entire life savings, and turned
it into $100 million from buying one ferry, then several ferries
and eventually he owned the New York Central Railroad.
One thing Newport is famous for is sailing. Newport
was the setting for the America's Cup for 135 years and it's
so synonymous with sailing that if you mention Newport to
anyone in New England you may as well be saying yacht.
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