Sunday. What to do?

Well actually there was stuff to do. First of all there was sports. Both the local baseball team was in the playoffs and the local football team was playing as well. Both on national television. I also hadn't seen Arlene in a couple of days so we wanted to get together. Nothing special, perhaps a bite to eat, a local foliage trip and or a tour of the Royall House in my home town. Originally  built in 1637 by Governor John Winthrop and later purchased by Issac Royal Sr. More on this in a moment.

We went out to lunch and took a ride to the other side of town to the Mystic lakes. Mystic in name only though it is a lovely spot. We were going to check out the foliage though I knew it wouldn't be great. There are still many trees that are green. I took some pictures but they are not my best and it was overcast but pleasant. We had about 40 minutes to kill before the next tour began. Just as we were leaving the lakes the sun broke through.

In the end we made it back in time to watch the Patriots come from behind and win their game with 5 seconds left. This was followed by a come from behind win by the Red Sox. They tied a 5 to 1 game in the 8th inning and won it in the 9th. What a day of sports!

Now the Royall House. Issac Royall Sr. purchased the farm house, slave house and 500 acre plantation in 1732. He doubled it's width and adds  2 floors to make the house you see today.

I see this house nearly every day on my way to work. There's a park right behind it that my mother took me to when I was a little kid. I went to grammar school 2 blocks up the street, but I had only been there once, when I was in grammar school. Anyway by the time we got there, about 10 minutes, the sky was a bright blue.

You enter the Slave Quarters, the oldest existing one in the northern United States, to pay. There are display cases with artifacts from the era. Dinner plates, wine glasses, utensils especially a fork which was considered a novelty at the time. Wine and rum bottles and so on. I took pictures of these. Some you can read the little placards explaining the item others you can't. They allowed me to take pictures in here, at least nobody stopped me but they wouldn't allow pictures in the house. I never had a chance to find out why. I still found it very interesting. Slaves were brought from Africa to Antigua where they worked harvesting and processing sugar cane which was brought back here to make rum. Rum was what was drunk on voyages on the Atlantic as they had little ways to take fresh water with them. This area was also noted for it's ship building because of the rivers access to the sea.


Issac Royall Sr. made his fortune in Antigua and came back to New England and bought the plantation. He died in 1739 and his son, Issac Royall Jr. inherited the place. He lived a lavish life, as he brought his slaves, estimated at 27, until 1775. Though he was sympathetic to the revolutionary cause, even giving money, he was also a Torrie. He fled back to England and never came back. He was a founding member of Harvard. The story goes on but this is a blog not a history test.

This house was the headquarters for General John Stark until the British evacuated Boston. George Washington was here, allegedly to interrogate a captured British soldier. His aide lived here for 2 years, 1782-84.

Fortunately this house has been preserved and it is in remarkably good shape. Here are some interior shot from the Royal House website.

  

 

 

Here are the rest of the pictures.

I've been wrestling with my computer all day. I started from scratch and supposedly brought everything back to it's original first bought condition. Then there were hours of downloads. 138 to be exact. Then the re-starting and having the computer install all the down loads. Then writing this. Now it's time to publish. Good night, good morning. good afternoon.

I'm outta here.