Thomas Edison’s victrola. Thomas Edison National Historical Park. West Orange, New Jersey
Violin from the John & Priscilla Alden house in Duxbury, Ma. circa 1600’s.
https://citysonnet.wordpress.com/2018/12/01/december-colors-and-letters-photo-a-day-challenge/
Comments Off on Photo A Day Challenge: Start With ‘V’…
Tagged antiques, history, instruments, John & Priscilla Alden, Massachusetts, music, New England, New Jersey, photo a day, photo a day challenge, Photographs, Pilgrims, Thomas Edison
I’m doing ‘photo a day’ weekly instead of daily. Here’s the challenge for the week of July 1 – 7.
1 – Welcome July 2 – Fun 3 – Start with N (map of Newark, NJ from 1800’s) 4 – Hat 5 – Sunshine 6 – Sky 7 – Seven (windows in the John & Priscilla Alden house in MA).
https://citysonnet.wordpress.com/2018/07/01/july-photo-a-day-challenge/
Comments Off on Photo A Day Challenge (or week)…
Tagged boats, children, clothing, harbor, John & Priscilla Alden, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, New England, photo a day, photo a day challenge, Photographs, Pilgrims, Plymouth, MA, sky, sunrise, windows
My wall calendar picture on the left was taken at the Thomas Edison National Historic Park in West Orange, New Jersey when I visited it a year ago. CLICK HERE to find out more about it.
My desk calendar picture on the right is one of the windows in the John & Priscilla homestead in Duxbury, MA. I visited there last October… CLICK HERE to find out more about it.
Comments Off on March Calendar Pictures …
Tagged ancestors, architecture, calendar pictures, history, houses, John & Priscilla Alden, Massachusetts, museums, New England, New Jersey, Photographs, Thomas Edison
There is much to be thankful for again this year. Family. Health. Friends. And this year added to the list … ancestors.
If you follow my blog you may know that we recently learned that we are descended from Pilgrims, John & Priscilla Alden and Miles Standish. It had always been family legend that we came on that first voyage of the Mayflower but now we have documented proof. My daughter, Deb, our friend Dawn and I headed to Plymouth, MA to learn more about our ancestors.
I am so grateful to Deb for delving diligently into our ancestry… without her (and Dawn’s help also) we wouldn’t know even half of what we know now. But how did we get into this, who was the person who prompted this adventure into our family tree, who do we have to thank for this.
It would have be my maternal grandmother Albra Mae Flewelling Littlefield Grant Baird, who is the person who also brought Martha’s Vineyard into our lives. Thank you grandma.
My grandmother, Albra Mae Flewellyn Littlefield Grant Baird, was born in Maine. She was widowed twice, her third husband, Arthur Baird Sr was a Vineyarder who was left to raise two sons and a daughter after his first wife died. My grandmother and my mother Maude went to live on Martha’s Vineyard in Oak Bluffs and thus began our connection and love of the Vineyard.
I am thankful for all who visit this blog and my photo blog www.throughjerseyeyes.com
Happy Thanksgiving.
Comments Off on Thanksgiving 2015 …
Tagged ancestors, holidays, John & Priscilla Alden, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, New England, Photographs, Thanksgiving
Part 3 of our trip into the past to visit our ancestors .. the Myles Standish Burial Ground and the John & Priscilla Alden House.
Our first stop in the charming and historic town of Duxbury, Massachusetts was the Myles Standish Burial Ground, the oldest maintained cemetery in the United States.
It’s not a large cemetery, only 1.5 acres. It is the resting place of several of the original Mayflower Pilgrims including our ancestors, Myles Standish and John & Priscilla Alden. I felt a kind of peacefulness as I meandered around. I felt respectful and humbled, it moved me more than I anticipated.
The John and Priscilla Alden grave site
Second stop in Duxbury… the Alden House Historic Site… CLICK HERE
We arrived at the house only to find out that tours had stopped at the end of September so unfortunately we weren’t going to be able to go inside the house !
We wandered around and took some pictures but of course it wasn’t like being inside.
As we were leaving we noticed two cars in front of the administration office so decided to walk over and say hello. We were SO glad we did. Not only were the two young women pleasant and smiley and full of information but… they said they’d give us a tour even though the house was closed. Golly, wow. So off we went… back into the past into the house of our ancestors John & Priscilla Alden. I don’t know what they a actually looked like but I like this painting of them. He was 21 and she 18 when they married. They had 10 children.
Our tour guide (Trish) was terrific, she peppered historical facts with humorous family stories. Why wasn’t history like this when I went to school… it was all about names and dates and not about people’s lives and adventures.
For instance the reason for wall paper and newspaper on the walls in this small closet, or as they called it, a clothes press. The walls were covered with newspaper to protect clothing from getting snagged or caught on the rough walls. Later on someone covered the newspaper with wall paper. I believe our guide said the newspapers were from the time of the War of 1812.
We did some quick gift shopping and Deb joined the AKA (Aldin Kindred of America) while we were there. We hated to leave but we alas we had to come back to the 21st century.
:) :) :)
This concludes part 3 of our trip and I thought this was going to be the last installment… but no, there’s a bit of ‘this n that’ still to come !!
(pictures are mine and Deb’s)
Comments Off on Plymouth, MA – Standish and Alden …
Tagged ancestors, architecture, cemeteries, decor, history, houses, John & Priscilla Alden, Massachusetts, Miles Standish, New England, Photographs