Plimouth Plantation -Worth a Visit?

HI. I%26#39;m heading to Boston this summer for a few days. I%26#39;m a history buff, so Plimouth Plantation sounds interesting. Any comments?

Their web site looks interesting...but I%26#39;ve discovered that even Hell could have a good looking website.

Any other historical spots I shouldn%26#39;t miss (Freedom Trail is already on my list; so is Concord)?

Plimouth Plantation -Worth a Visit?

Plimouth Plantation is fun for kids. You go and there%26#39;s a big parking lot but soon you find yourself among these interesting little wooden houses with funny straw-thatched roofs. The smell of burning wood in fires permeates the place. There%26#39;s a Native American tent to explore and all these little Pilgrim houses with actors playing roles. You can ask them questions and they%26#39;ll respond in an odd quasi-British accent that%26#39;s supposedly the way the early colonists spoke.

Some might say it%26#39;s corny, but it%26#39;s all in your outlook. If you want to enjoy it, there%26#39;s plenty to enjoy, including a lovely view of the blue Atlantic from the property. If you have a few dollars and a day to spend, it%26#39;s not terrible. There%26#39;s also Old Sturbridge Village, which is out in Sturbridge, but I don%26#39;t have as much experience going out there.

Plymouth Harbor is a few miles away and there you%26#39;ll find Plymouth Rock (not impressive at all) but also a replica of the Mayflower, which is neat (I thought). Here again, you%26#39;ll find actors talking about the arduous journey.

Plymouth has a nice town square and plenty of nice seafood restaurants to enjoy---or if you%26#39;re adventurous, you can drive to Scituate and enjoy the excellent restaurants on the coast in Scituate Harbor. Scituate and Cohasset are nice little towns with gorgeous beaches, homes, and restaurants. If you make it to Scituate, visit next door Cohasset and try driving Jerusalem Road. Gorgeous homes and seaviews.

I don%26#39;t know what type of history most interests you. The Navy Yard in Charlestown has some interesting naval history as does Battleship Cove in Fall River, which is home to a few warships that are fun to explore. If you go to Concord and Lexington, be sure to make a pitstop at Walden Pond...

Plimouth Plantation -Worth a Visit?

Yes, Plimouth Plantation will be interesting and fun to go to, you should definitely, for a fact try to get to the Mayflower %26amp; Plimouth Rock too while you%26#39;re there. I%26#39;m glad you%26#39;re going to see as much as the Freedom Trail as you can and Concord will be really interesting for you.

As the previous poster suggested the Freedom Trail has the USS Constitution that you%26#39;ll really like as well as their Museum they have in the Navy Yard; don%26#39;t forget to stop in. Also, try to get to the Bunker Hill Monument and the Warren Tavern? It%26#39;s the oldest tavern in Massachusetts, you can read about it here. I think it%26#39;s really something to see and to be in, you can read about it here:

www.warrentavern.com

On one of your days you should see if you can get to Quincy. It%26#39;s where two Presidents were born. John Adams and his son, John Quincy Adams. Go to one of these sites to see how much you%26#39;d see here:

www.discoverquincy.com

www.quincy.ma.us

There%26#39;s SO much history in New England! You%26#39;re going to be very busy! From downtown Boston throughout Massachusetts and all our other states here. For instance, there%26#39;s Portsmouth, NH. You could visit the NH forum and ask away there because they have Strawbery Banke%26#39;s and Prescott Park that are pretty fascinating.

Step over the threshold of history to life in New Hampshire%26#39;s oldest seacoast neighborhood. Experience life from the late 1600s to the 1950s in this neighborhood known as Puddle Dock. The site, known today as Strawbery Banke Museum, offers a glimpse into the everyday lives of everyday people who called this area home for nearly four centuries.

Named by the first settlers in 1630 for the profusion of wild berries found on the shores of the Piscataqua River, Strawbery Banke is rich with history: George Washington, Daniel Webster, John Paul Jones and John Hancock were all guests on this site.

www.strawberybanke.org

Enjoy Boston %26amp; New England!

If you go to all those things you%26#39;ll need a few years, not a few days!

: -- )

For the Freedom Trail, buy one of the very informative %26amp; abt $8 booklets, abt 5 x 7';, cream color, which I think are sold at stop #1 on Boston Common. There is a small booklet, leaflet, etc shop there with bathrooms. Do not mess with cars in Boston--park outside city %26amp; take the T.

If you do the Freedom Trail, a cheap %26amp; fun way to get to Old Ironsides is using the Ferry to go across the harbor; you get on it near the Aquarium. Have a warm jacket. Great view of city as you ';sail'; to Charlestown. Visit the T%26#39;s website for particulars. T is the nickname for the rapid transit system. Freedom Trail is great because you see the modern city as well as the mostly 18C sites which are all mixed in. Before you go, fool around on the Web a lot so you have a good feel for the layout etc of the downtown. V. gd Nat%26#39;l Pk Svs book shop with bathrooms etc just across st. from site of Boston Massacre.

Plimoth Plantation is terrific if you are interested in sociology---the sociology of actors dressed up as 17th C people hellbent on staying in character while hundreds of visitors every day try to get them to break character! It%26#39;s also v. good if you like post %26amp; beam construction, other medieval technologies, pottery techniques, farm plants, etc %26amp; want to see some in use up close. The actors will explain it all to you very well--they are quite knowledgeable as long as you keep your discussion ca. 1627. If you go on a damp drizzly day it gives you a feel for what life was like back then--not very comfortable in those little dirt floor houses. But then it wasn%26#39;t so comfy on wet days back home in Engl either. Excellent gift/book shop, bathrooms, OK restaurant up at visitor center.

If you go there, don%26#39;t miss the Wampanoag village--staffed by Wampanoag who are not re-enacting--they don%26#39;t have to pretend to be Wamp., they are--but they dress in 17th C Wamp. garb %26amp; explain assorted technologies, foods etc. If you saw the Colonial House PBS series, you saw these folks--very interesting to talk with %26amp; they don%26#39;t have to go through the pretense of being in 17th C character so you get to talk abt current Native affairs too. I brought teen Girl Scouts last year %26amp; it%26#39;s a great eye opener for kids.

21st C ';downtown'; Plymouth is it%26#39;s own place--has been a bit down except for touristy waterfront (one of the shops on Main St used to have tombstones in the front windows---that%26#39;s what they sold!)---it%26#39;s the county seat so has lunch places aimed at courthouse crowd, quite reasonable. Recent housing boom in nearby area will probably yuppie up the joint so get there while it%26#39;s still got a little character of its own.

If you like baseball, Fenway Park has inexpensive tours of the ballpark--no talking about players; it%26#39;s about the park---a great way to get inside %26amp; see the place. You%26#39;re not likely to be able to buy tickets for a game so this is how you%26#39;ll get in! One of our GS is a huge Sox fan so we had to make the pilgrimage---actually it was very good.

Concord is a suburban town with historic sites %26amp; wait till you see the traffic patterns. My oldest was married there last Sept; inlaws from St Louis %26amp; friends from CO--nothing but complaints for 3 days about getting lost on winding roads. Mid- %26amp; Westerners are all used to grids it seems. If you rent a kayak/canoe nearby you can paddle under the rude bridge instead of just walking on it. Ranger talks there, too. Have a great time!