Fra_Diavolo

Another Daniel Williams' original!. Can't say I share your affection for the NY to DC Amtrak route, but I'll keep my eyes open next time. Thanks for an eye-opening report!

annhig

Thanks for the fascinating albeit brief TR, Daniel; I always enjoy reading your informative and sometimes quirky posts. I was particularly interested in what you had to say about the train journey from DC to NYC as that is a stretch that I did myself back in 2019, and sad to say I didn't notice the delights that you mention. Perhaps I should do it again. I liked your state capitol tour too - of course it is on a completely different scale but recent [ish] events have made me very happy that I spent my first day in the US on my 2019 trip touring its big brother in DC. Being able to visualise the place where it was all happening on Jan 6 made it all so much more real somehow.

Fascinating detail about the Shaker village and Concord too - i felt I was almost there with you. Thanks for posting and for the photos too.

thursdaysd

I'm also interested in your comments on the DC-NYC route. I have done North Carolina to DC and back on Amtrak multiple times (almost always arriving late because of freight priority in Virginia), but for NC to NYC I have always flown as it's such a long day by train.

I was also interested in your Shaker visit. I've visited the Moravian site in Winston Salem several times (https://www.oldsalem.org/ ) but not a Shaker village. The village in Kentucky featured in the murder mystery "Wormwood" by Susan Wittig Albert.

Daniel_Williams

Dfrostnh—Thanks for letting me know what the winter Shakers were all about and again for the suggestion of Concord. And indeed, I do like to walk, at times at length, especially when exploring somewhere new.

schmerl—You’re most welcome!

fradiavolo, Annhig— Nice to see your names as always giving my posts a read. And not to suggest that the DC to NY ride is pretty as a whole, but it does have its scenic moments (Chesapeake Bay estuaries and boathouse row stand out) and more so has memories for me, having lived in Baltimore and the DC area a long time ago, as well as having used the train many times to go to PHL and NYP.

Annhig— Quirky, huh? I resemble that comment! 😊 Glad you enjoyed the pictures and report.

Daniel_Williams

Thursdaysd— Thanks for reading. Nice thing in the northeast corridor things *tend* to (not always) run more on-time. Thanks also for the old Salem mention, a place I’d like to check out.

dfrostnh—Regarding the Pierce Manse, I wanted to add that while it was the only home the Pierce’s owned, the guide said it was only their home for 6 years. Regardless, the guides were history lovers, interesting and informed, making the visit worthwhile and making me think from a different angle about some of the tensions that were simmering pre-Civil War.

auntgrapes

Daniel, enjoyed this report very much.I always read your reports as as they are usually off the beaten track and with cool insight.
Yes, visit CT…the statehouse in Hartford is beautiful. The CT landscape is varied and there is much to see and do.
If you do plan a visit, announce early so we can offer advice.
Thank you for sharing your adventures.

TDudette

What everyone wrote, Daniel_Williams. What's next?

dfrostnh

Yes but I don't remember whether it was you or VT who asked to visit and after reading Daniel's review of Concord, I wonder why I didn't include something in Concord when you visited.

Daniel_Williams

auntgrapes—Thanks for reading this post and others; your post made my morning! And I will come here definitely if I have questions if planning a CT getaway.
tdudette—I’m really not sure where I’m going next. Which ties into your other question as it’s hard to plan—this trip even I only set up a few days before as I wanted to be satisfied things were arranged so my parents (Dad needs help these days with basic things) were getting the right amount of aid once I left.

Vttraveler

dfrost--I didn't ask to go to the Canterbury Village although I am sure I encouraged annhig to visit it when she was in New England. My husband and I had gone there about 8 to 10 years ago and really enjoyed it. We have been interested in the Shakers for many years. We've gone to the bigger museum villages at Canterbury, Pittsfield, MA (Hancock), Sabbathday Lake (ME) and Pleasant hill KY and also to many other smaller museums.

Daniel, I enjoyed your trip report. I have added the Pierce Manse to our list of things to see in the Concord area. We already want to go to the Daniel Webster birthplace and the Robert Frost Farm and would like to re-visit The Fells estate.

Up until the July floods here I would have encouraged you to add the VT statehouse to your list and to visit Montpelier. Sadly, this is not a good destination right now. The city is still dealing with the major damage caused by the floods.

annhig

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Lol, very much Daniel. I suppose that "quirky" sprang to mind particularly when I thought about your lockdown TR of a bus./train journey to meet a friend on the other side of a fence. I can't remember the exact details but that struck me as definitely deserving of the quirky label.

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I've no idea either, Frosty, but I very much enjoyed the things we did and wouldn't have changed a thing. [My phone reminds me that we first met IRL almost 5 years to the day, on September 1st 2018, when I met you and VT on the deck at Burlington. And not an ax murderer in sight! ]

VT - if anyone was doing any suggesting of things to do it will have been you, not me.

gomiki

Daniel, I, too, am a fan of your reports on travel by train. You write so well and I feel I am there seeing what you are seeing. I am looking forward to your next adventure!

Daniel_Williams

Vttraveler— Montpelier, like Concord and Burlington, is a stop on the Boston-Montreal bus route, so I saw the town this past Thursday. Closer to Montreal, I’ve always thought it would make for a nice long weekend getaway. I thought I would see more damage—appearances can be deceiving but looks like much progress has been made with the cleanup.
gomiki— Thank you for your comments!

oldemalloy

Daniel, I enjoyed reading this TR as you always bring out the little gems we often miss. The Acela goes right by my summer house in CT. I wave to it sometimes and it often will toot to the kids near the beach by a trestle where it tends to slow a bit.
We will have to plan a short trip up to Concord soon. Thanks for the report.

Daniel_Williams

oldemalloy—How lovely to have a summer house in that stretch of Connecticut! I appreciate your comments as always! 😊

One thing I thought was neat that I forgot to mention that you see on the town flag is the Concord coaches. The Abbot-Downing company was based in Concord that made these popular 19th century horse-drawn coaches—an image of one at the Pierce Manse prompted me to inquire more. I had no idea the NH state capital was known for such a thing!

dfrostnh

Daniel, if you do Facebook you can visit the pages of the Abbot-downing Society. It was fun for me as a looked thru to see if there was mention of a coach I sometimes see in parades but can't remember who owns it. My husband says it's owned by Andover NH Lions Club. You might enjoy this 1960s gem on youTube. The Highway Hotel is long gone and elm tree at Daniel Webster birthplace is probably gone, too.

and tying it back to Shaker Village, I read that on coach eoute was between Canterbury and Enfield NH Shaker Villages. The trip took all day and stopped for lunch.
you might know more about Concord than I do! Thanks for prompting me to do some research.

Daniel_Williams

dfrostnh—Thanks for the reference to Abbot-Downing Facebook site and the video. Interesting to listen to the fellow whose hobby it was to collect stagecoaches and to learn of their use by the Shakers.

Thanks to this recent trip to Concord, I helped my trivia team win at the pub in Canada this week, with one of the questions being: which religious organization did Mary Baker Eddy found? The answer to which I wouldn’t have known had I not passed by her house in Concord the week before.

annhig

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I doubt I would have known the answer to that question Daniel except that when I was a child i had an aunt who was a christian scientist and when we went to visit I filled my time by reading her monthly Christian Science magazine.

I didn't know she came from Concord though so perhaps that'll come in useful in another pub quiz!

dfrostnh

Future Concord Coach display https://www.concordmonitor.com/conco...ch-nh-52004398

you should be able to read article

annhig

Thanks, Frosty. Interesting. And a very pretty coach!