Guess Who's Coming to (Thanksgiving) Dinner?

The First Thanksgiving

Interested in spicing up the conversation at your Thanksgiving Dinner? Plimoth Plantation is sending Edward Winslow and Hobbamock to spend Thanksgiving with an anonymous winner of its auction on Ebay. The auction winner, a Cape Cod resident, will be hosting employees of Plimoth Plantation portraying Edward

Winslow, the former Governor of the Plymoth Colony and Hobbamock, a representative of the Wampanoag Indian tribe, for Thanksgiving. The winning bid was for $5,000. The Daily News Tribune of Waltham has their version of the story by Edward S. Colby here.

I thought this was a good idea from the people at Plimoth Plantation. This is kind of a variation of the old question: if you could meet an historic figure from the past, would would it be? A very difficult question to answer, but I'm going to answer a variation of the question. What if I could just choose my dinner companions?

In choosing dinner companions I would be naturally be looking for famous people from the past that I admire and who led interesting lives. I would also choose people who were famous for their intelligence, wit and after-dinner conversation.

Narrowing it down to just three, my choices would be: Sir Richard Francis Burton (1821-1890), Samuel Clemens (1835-1910) and Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965). First enjoying dinner and then spending an evening listening to the conversation of these three gentlemen, maybe while they played Billiards and smoked cigars, would certainly be a night to remember.

Christopher Columbus Sails the Ocean Blue

Sailing for the New World

On October 12, 1492 Christopher Columbus, having sailed across the Atlantic Ocean with three small ships from Spain, found himself off the coast of a "New World". Returning to Spain with news of his discovery, Columbus was able to convince his benefactors King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to pay for an even larger fleet of ships to further explore what he believed was China and the Far East. In all Columbus led four expeditions to the New World. Each trip was less successful than the last and at one point Columbus returned to Spain in chains.

The former "Admiral of the Oceans" died believing that he had found a route to Cathay, rather than his actual discovery of the islands of the Caribbean. Columbus, who was actually an excellent navigator, grossly underestimated the size and circumference of the globe. (It is a myth that geographers of the time thought that the world was flat and were unaware that the Earth is a sphere).

For many years Christopher Columbus was hailed as a great explorer and the "Discoverer of America". Columbus Day was declared a national holiday and Italian-Americans took pride in his common nationality. But in recent years his reputation has suffered greatly. He has been blamed for all of the ills that fell upon the people native to the America's with the coming of Europeans to the New World. He has also been blamed for introducing the slave trade to the Western Hemisphere, with all of the pain and death that caused.

To blame Christopher Columbus for the sins committed after his death by others is unfair I believe. It was only a matter of time until the New World was re-discovered and came to the attention of the European powers. Instead of the intrepid navigator from Genoa, Italy sailing with a Spanish fleet , it might have been an Englishman or a Frenchman who found himself off the coast of "Newfoundland" or "Florida" and who then claimed the land for his sovereign. From there what course history might have taken no one knows. (At least one of the great "sins" that the Europeans are blamed for - the introduction of foreign diseases - would have taken place at some point in time no matter what else happened).

Just as we acknowledge and give credit to the other European adventurers for the trips of exploration that they made, we can at least give Christopher Columbus credit for one of the most historic events of the last 500+ years - the re-discovery of the New World by an explorer from the Old World.

The Mohawk Trail

"Hail to the Sunrise"
Mohawk Park
Charlemont, Mass.

Historically the Mohawks were one of the five original Native American tribes who made up the Iroquois Confederacy or Nation. The Mohawks were the eastern most of the Iroquois tribes living in what was to become upstate New York.

Over the thousands of years that Native Americans resided in what is now New England and New York numerous hunting and trading trails were made through this largely forested region. Europeans naturally made use of these trials when they first started exploring and then establishing their own settlements.

The original Mohawk Trail was a well established trail that led from the lands of the Mohawk to the banks of the Connecticut River has it passed through Massachusetts. This footpath was used for access to the hunting and fishing grounds and for the trading and warfare that went on between the five tribes that lived in the area. With the mass migrations of Europeans into New York and Massachusetts in the 1600's the tribal lands of the Native Americans shrank. More and more European settlements were established which led to the building of roads that often built over and followed the old Native American trails.

With the advent of the automobile in the early 1900's, America began its love affair with the car and the roadway. One of the earliest major highways built for the automobile in Massachusetts was Route 2 which stretches east to west from Cambridge to the New York border. The westernmost portion of the state highway covers some of the same ground as the old Mohawk Trail.

On October 22, 1914 the Massachusetts legislature designated that portion of Route 2 that runs from the Connecticut river to the New York border, a 63 mile section, to be a "scenic tourist route". Commonly referred to as the Mohawk Trail, it continues to be a popular tourist route and attraction, especially in the foliage season.

Bennington Battle Day

Bennington Battle Monument
15 Monument Cir
Bennington, Vt. 05201

Also this weekend (August 15-17) Bennington, Vermont celebrates its annual Battle Day Celebrations. This commemorates the Battle of Bennington which took place on August 16, 1777. The battle actually took place in the village of Walloomsac, New York which is several miles from here, but the military stores the British and Hessian soldiers were seeking were being held in Bennington. The only Revolutionary War battle to actually take place in what is now the State of Vermont took place in Hubbardton, Vermont.

The Battle of Bennington was part of a greater campaign by British Major General John Burgoyne to divide New England from the rest of the colonies by force of arms. Burgoyne's mixed force of British, Hessian (German), Canadian and Loyalists, along with some Native American allies, had proceeded down from Canada and were now making their way down the Hudson River valley. After some initial victories at Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point the British forces were now facing shortages of food and munitions. A expeditionary force of some 650 soldiers led by Hessian Lt. Col. Friedrich Baum set off for Bennington to secure more supplies.

Col. Baum's men were soundly defeated in battle by Colonial militia under the command of Brigadier General John Stark of New Hampshire. A British relief force was also repulsed by Gen. Stark and his men, who were aided by Col. Seth Warner and his Green Mountain Boys. These two losses, along with the lack of supplies, helped doom Gen. Burgoyne's campaign which ended with the surrender of him and his men at Saratoga, New York.

The Town of Bennington is marking its Battle Day Celebrations with the Bennington Fire Departments 40th annual Parade on Saturday August 17. Battle reenactments are being sponsored by Vermonts Living History Association. Museums and other organizations in the area are also hosting special events.

Fort at #4 - Charlestown, New Hampshire

Fort at #4
267 Springfield Rd.
Rte. 11
Charlestown, N. H. 03603

The Fort at #4, in Charlestown, New Hampshire is a living history museum featuring a rebuilt 1740 palisade-style timber fort. Situated overlooking the Connecticut River the Fort was, at the time it was built, strategically located to protect the Massachusetts and later the New Hampshire frontier.

Prior to and during King Georges War (1744-1748) and the French and Indian War (1754 -1763), settlers in this area were subject to raids from both French and/or Indian war parties. Building and keeping the fort manned was considered very important in keeping northern Massachusetts towns safe from attack. This was also a way station for colonial and British troops on their way back and forth from the Forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point in the later stages of the French and Indian War.

Captain Robert Rogers of Roger's Rangers fame is also associated with the Fort at #4. After conducting his successful raid on the Abenaki Indians settlement at St. Francis, Canada Rogers and his men faced a hazardous excursion. Having suffered only light casualties during the actual raid, the Rangers then had to travel through miles of dense forest while being pursued by the French and Native American tribesmen. Many of the Rangers were killed, wounded or captured during the pursuit. Finally arriving at the safety of the Fort at #4 the worn out surviving Rangers were met with much needed food and drink. The Rangers under Lt. John Stark also were responsible for building a military road between the fort and Crown Point in New York.

During the Revolutionary War the now deserted and dilapidated Fort was used by General John Stark again as a rallying point for Colonial soldiers.

The present day Fort was built in the 196o's in the town of Charlestown, New Hampshire. The Fort at #4 is owned by a non-profit organization operating as a Living History Museum and often hosting both French and Indian and Rev War reenactors. It is open to the public for the rest of the Summer and into the Fall, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. It closes for the season in November and reopens in May.

Grand Opening of the Edmund Fowle House

Edmund Fowle House
28 Marshall St.
Watertown, Mass.

The Historical Society of Watertown celebrated the Grand Opening of the Edmund Fowle house on Saturday (May 17). The Society has recently completed an extensive and very expensive restoration of the property, which had deteriorated to the point where it was no longer considered safe for occupancy. A number of local dignitaries along with members of various Colonial Militia units, including the Sudbury Militia, were in attendance to help with the opening ceremonies.

The Fowle house, built in 1772, in addition to its age and its beautiful architecture is also significant for its history. Committees from the Provincial Congress met here in 1775 and 1776. It was also an important meeting place after General Washington accepted command of the Continental Army and began conducting the siege of Boston. On July 19, 1776 a international treaty - the Watertown Treaty - was signed here between the Governors of the State of Massachusetts Bay and delegates from the St. Johns and the Micmac tribes from Nova Scotia, Canada.

The Historical Society, the Massachusetts legislature (which contributed $700,000), the many individuals and groups who donated time and effort and ultimately the Massachusetts taxpayer, are to be commended for restoring this important piece of history.

The Edmund Fowle house is owned and operated by the Historical Society of Watertown. Visiting hours for the house and its museum is 1-4 p.m. on every third Sunday during the summer months. Admission is $5.00 for adults, Senior Citizens and children under 12 are admitted for $3.00.