My grandmother died in 2004, and to honor her and work on her family history, my mother and I decided to take a trip to Maine. With our hotel in Bangor, we decided to take a day trip to Bar Harbor, where our ancestor Job Stanwood was an early settler. As we approached Bar Harbor we both exclaimed, “we’re HOME!” We canceled our Bangor hotel and stayed the rest of our trip in Bar Harbor. The next year I brought Ed to see my “home away from home,” and have always wished I could live here.

This afternoon we made the six plus hour trip from Rowley, MA to Bar Harbor, and I was just as enthralled with the view as I was the first time Mom and I visited in 2004. I haven’t been back since my mom died five years ago, so it was a bit emotional coming to our special place without her, but it feels sooooooo good to be HOME!

Yesterday was quite an adventure! We took the subway to Braintree, MA, only to find that the trains to Plymouth had been canceled about 3 month ago. So, we decided to rent a car (had planned to do so that evening anyway) and drove to Plymouth. Had hoped to see the home of Jabez Howland, son of John Howland, my pilgrim ancestor. (I’m quite proud of the fact that MY ancestor fell out of the Mayflower and was pulled back in – what a goof ball!) Would have been nice if the tours of the house were still going, but they’d already stopped for the day by the time we arrived.

This morning we set off for Ipswich and Rowley, Massachusetts, neighboring towns where my colonial ancestor Humphrey Bradstreet resided. Humphrey emigrated from England to the U.S. in 1634 and shortly thereafter was granted land in what became the town of Ipswich, Massachusetts.

The farm is thought to the be the oldest farm in the U.S. The Bradstreets originally farmed onions, but this venture was changed to cows when the “onion maggots” ruined the crops. The Bradstreet farm remained in the family from 1635 to 2007, when it purchased by the town of Rowley, Massachusetts. The current barn on the property was constructed about 1774, and the house about 1850.

Much to my delight, the town is seeking to sell the home and barn along with seven acres to someone interested in farming. While not practical for us to purchase, it provided great discussion for us today – quite a fantasy, envisioning a move to Massachusetts to live on my ancestor’s farm! Ed suggested we become potato farmers and also have a winery. I don’t think we could support our family farming potatoes, but hey, fantasies don’t have to make sense!

In addition to the Bradstreet farm, the town also owns a second Bradstreet property, called the Platt-Bradstreet home, which currently houses the historical society.

The Platt Bradstreet home contains many ancient Bradstreet relics, along with other items owned by other early Rowley settlers. Of particular interest to me, of course, were the items from Bradstreet family members. Thankfully, I’d made an appointment with the historical society and Ed & I had our own private tour of both Bradstreet properties.

Nathaniel is not my ancestor, but a family member who served in the revolutionary war and also lived on the Bradstreet farm. Many of the items found at the Platt Bradstreet home had been moved from the Bradstreet farm.

This “pie safe” was originally utilized to store baked pies. It is now used to house the planes and other tools that were originally owned by the Bradstreet family. Both the pie safe as well as the planes were moved to the Platt Bradstreet home from the Bradstreet farm.

Standing on the ground where my 10th great grandfather lived, and where my 9th great grandfather was likely born, was quite overwhelming. I wanted to take in every detail, and spent a lot of time looking at the landscape, the trees, focusing on what my Bradstreet ancestors saw when they looked outside their windows. As fabulous as it was to simply be on their land and in their barn and homes, even more impressive was seeing the Bradstreet coat of arms.

Lastly, we visited the “Old Burial Ground” in Rowley, and saw the gravestone of my 9th Great Grandfather, Capt. Moses Bradstreet, who has the oldest stone in the cemetery (buried 1690).

The above video only hints at the massive crowds that flooded Boston in preparation for the Bruin’s parade today. Why did they have to choose THIS month to take back the Stanley cup?? We left our hotel at 8:30 a.m., giving us plenty of time to get to New England Historic and Genealogical Society (NEHGS) by 9 a.m. It’s one of my favorite libraries with six floors filled with books, microfilm, microfiche and periodicals on New England families. It’s a genealogists dream!

I digress. Getting back to our trip to NEHGS, we knew we were in for trouble when we attempted to get on the subway this morning. It was full of rowdy, happy Bruins fans anxious get downtown for the parade and celebrations. After we were finally able to board, we discovered the train let us out on the wrong side of town; normally it would be fine, but the streets were closed off. We hopped in a taxi (was miraculous to find one empty), but the driver wasn’t terribly familiar with the area. (How is that????) He got us somewhat closer to where we needed to go, but in the end it didn’t matter. We had to continue to walk through throngs of people forming solid walls, trying to find where the streets reopened. Poor Ed was ready to give up, but I was not. Since NEHGS is closed tomorrow and Monday, it was my last chance to go to the library. I made it there by 12:30, four hours after we left the hotel! Oh well, better late than never, right?

I spent a good part of the afternoon looking at fabulous books on the town of Farmington (Farmington Historical Society’s Pilgrimage series), which will be our last stop in Maine next week. There were photographs of ancient homes and biographies of the families who lived there. Hopefully some of these homes are still standing.

I spent the last hour sifting through microfilms of old newspapers and probate records. Unfortunately for cousin Clarke, I was (again!) unable to locate the documents he hoped for. However, I did stumble upon Lincoln county Maine probate records, and was able to FINALLY see the microfilmed original of Job Stanwood’s probate.

Tomorrow we’re off to Plymouth for some sight seeing. Will be great to see the town of Mayflower ancestors!

After tons of planning and preparing for visits to multiple libraries and other repositories of ancient genealogical (and other!) records, WE’RE HERE IN NEW ENGLAND!!! I absolutely LOVE the East coast, and would love to spend time here even if it wasn’t the region that my colonial ancestors lived!

Our trip has been rather interesting, starting with take off. Due to weather in Chicago where we had a layover, our flight out of San Diego was delayed. By the time we touched down in Boston, it was 2:30 a.m. We made it to our hotel about 4 a.m. on Thursday the 16th. Needless to say, we didn’t get the early start we’d wanted that day. I had quite a list of items to search for at the Massachusetts Archives and unfortunately didn’t quite get to them all. First on the list were items I’d promised to my wonderful cousin Clarke. However, the War of 1812 and Revolutionary Muster records were not to be found for Lemuel and Benjamin Bursley.

Moving on to my Stanwoods and Bradstreets, I had a little more luck.

Dr. Humphrey Bradstreet was my 8th great grandfather, very prominent in the Newbury, Massachusetts area. I was thrilled to find several records of his care and treatment of patients.

At the end of the day, Ed came back to the Archives to escort me to the subway. (I’m still a bit intimidated by the system…much prefer travel by auto. However, we learned last time we were here that cars in Boston can be quite challenging!) Here is a view of Boston from the University of Massachusetts, next to the Massachusetts Archives.