Epistlestomom

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We finally met up with Anna in the evening and decided to go for Italian food. She said that even if you make a reservation in a Boston restaurant you should be prepared to wait as much as an hour past that time to be seated. She had selected a restaurant in the little Italy neighborhood in the North End, not far from Revere's house and the North Church. That meant walking another two miles or so to dinner, and then two more miles back to Boston Common. I'm going to say it was probably eight miles total for the day.

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On Sunday, Anna got a car from ZipCar, a subscription-based car-borrowing website. You just look on the internet for a car's location, reserve it, and then when you want it -- for an hour or more-- you use your magnetic strip membership card to unlock the doors. The key is permanently fastened to the dashboard.

We drove up to Concord, the destination of Paul Revere's ride, which is about 16 miles away. We stopped at a battlefield site just a few miles before Concord. The Feds had closed it, but it's hard to keep people out of a field without fences. This was the site of a serious butt-kicking by the Minutemen who outnumbered the British by 4,000 to 800. We thought there was an odd comparison between the colonists who wanted independence, and the modern-day citizens who weren't willing for the government to keep them away from public property. And we weren't alone!

The little village of Concord was full of tourists as it was Columbus Day and a lot of people had the day off, or were out of work due to the government furlough. The fall colors here were fantastic, even though almost every tree in Boston was still green. We took a stroll through a Concord neighborhood -- the 100-, 200- and 250-year old homes were impressive in both preservation and architecture.

We drove on to the Old North Bridge where quite a few people had ignored the National Park signs saying the area was closed. I felt like such a rebel! The original bridge was torn down shortly after the battle, and has been rebuilt several times over the past 230-some years. There is a large monument here with the Minuteman figure so familiar to me and my high school classmates. One verse of the Ralph Waldo Emerson poem is engraved beneath.

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,

Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,

Here once the embattled farmers stood

And fired the shot heard round the world.

From Concord we drove to Salem where the infamous witch trials and hangings occurred. It's quite obvious that the town of Salem wants to capitalize on its gruesome history, but during the month of October interest in witches is piqued. The town is full of tourists and locals alike, many in Halloween, period or witch-related costumes. An actress in full witch garb, looking very much like a statue, would come to life for a donation, and would present the gifter with a clue, but I've no idea what the clue was for.

Not far from the Nat'l Park Service seafaring exhibit is the old burying ground and a memorial to the 12 or so men and women who were hanged or "pressed to death" for the suspected crime of practicing witchcraft. Large slabs of granite protrude like chair seats from the low rock wall with each name, method of death and the day the sentence was carried out. Interestingly enough, the accusations and persecutions of witchcraft were halted shortly after the governor returned from an extended absence to find his wife as one of the accused. He disbanded the council, and that was that.

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Photos

Fall colors
Fall colors near the Concord battle site.

The Minuteman memorial
The Minuteman Memorial at the Old North Bridge

Witch
A "living" statue of a witch. For a donation, she would come to life and present a clue.