MASSECHUSETTS - 1992

On Tuesday, August 25, we booked ahead for two nights at the Day's Inn in Hyannis after our breakfast in Kittery and we followed US Highway 1 southward along the coast through New Hampshire to Massachusetts.

The Following Maps Are Available:
1. the map of our trip East for the total picture,
2. a map of New Hampshire for the coastal route via Hwy 1 to our destinations,
3. the map of Massachusetts for a general perspective, and
4. a map with Plymouth and Cape Cod for the best map of our destinations.

On the way to Hyannis, Massachusetts, we drove to Plymouth where we located the "Plymouth Rock" which had been mentioned in stories by the Pilgrims. The upper portion weighing many tons, had been removed in 1774 to a safe location at the liberty pole square in front of the meeting-house before its move to the Pilgrim Hall Museum. In 1859, the Pilgrim Society laid the cornerstone for a canopy over the base of the Rock on the wharf. The protective canopy itself was finished in 1867. In 1880, the Pilgrim Society moved the top of the Rock from its location inside the fancy iron fence in front of Pilgrim Hall Museum and reunited it to the base of the Rock under the Canopy. It was at this time that the date "1620" was cut into the Rock. That is the "official" tale which was passed down through the generations of descendants. In the harbour floats a replica of the Mayflower with its the solid oak timbers and tarred hemp rigging, wood and horn lanterns and hand-colored maps, which have all been carefully recreated to give visitors a sense of what the original 17th-century vessel was like. Visitors may wish to look at the Map of Plymouth showing the locations of the rock and the ship.

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We found a McDonalds in a mall in Hyannis which had a lobster roll special with coffee for lunch (US$10), after which we took a scenic train trip to the Cape Cod Canal. We also enjoyed much of the Hyannis Harbour Walk before and after dinner at the Hungry Mariner Restaurant, Barnstable, near the Days Inn Motel. After a free continental breakfast on Wednesday morning, August 26, we drove to a Cranberry Bog in Truro and then took the (US$11) Provincetown Trolley Tour including the Race Point Information Centre which we had visited earlier. [At the Provincetown Heritage Museum, one of the displays was the "Rose Dorothea", the world's largest indoor model of a fishing schooner.] Scallop rolls (US$18) in Provincetown made an excellent lunch. The following photos show the cranberry bog trail, Race Point beach and the Provincetown harbour.

We decided to eat at the Pancake House (US$15) and do some shopping at Febine's Basement across from the Day's Inn before reserving a stay at another Days Inn and travelling on the lengthy return route into New Hampshire.