The type of small yet historically or culturally significant National Park site that is in almost every state. This being the only NPS site in New Hampshire with the exception of the Appalachian Trail it gets a little more attention locally than it might otherwise. The park celebrates the life of Augustus Saint-Gaudens a renowned american sculptor if the 19th century. The site preserves his home and has copies of some of his most important works.
There is a rotating art exhibition in a building behind the visitor center. The grounds adjacent to the visitor center have sculpture and gardens that make a pleasant stroll.
There is a sculptor in residence and a nice grassy area bordered by a steep ravine. My favorite activity is during the summer on Sunday afternoons there is a concert series.
A weekend roadtrip to Burlington, Vermont leaving from our home base in New Hampshire. Next stop was at Green Mountain Coffee in Waterbury, Vermont. There is a coffee shop and café but the big attraction is the huge variet of K-cup coffee types on sale. If you are a coffee drinker and use the Keurig type machine there will be a flavor to your liking here.
From coffee to ice cream; our next stop was Ben & Jerry’s a famous ice cream manufacturer here in the states who got their start in Vermont. There are long lines in the summer and fall for their factory tour and ice cream bar.
If you think you want to skip the tour you can get the same ice cream in any number of dipping shops in the area without the crowds. Our hotel for the night was the Days Inn in Colchester, Burlington.
The Church Street Market Place in downtown Burlington is a pedestrian only street lined with shops, cafés and restaurants.
During the next two days we ate at the restaurants Church & Main and Halvorson’s Upstreet Café. Both establishments had great food and great people watching. Halvorson’s had outdoor seating on the street that reminded me of European café culture.
I will list just some of the shops on the street that we visited. Crow Bookshop had a nice selection of both new and used books. Not that expansive but a nice little shop. Saratoga Olive Oil Company was fantastic! they had a huge selection of flavored high quality olive oils and assorted artisan salts. You get a small plate and some cut up cubes of bread and the olive oils are in dispensers so that you can sample each type. When you find one you like you can purchase a bottle of that flavor. Earth Prime Comics is a comics and SciFi shop. Bruegger’s Bagels is a great spot for breakfast with great breakfast sandwiches. A favorite store is Ten Thousand Villages. This store, one of a chain throughout the country, sells artisan craft items from third world countries that have difficulty finding a market for their goods. A good cause and some wonderful gift items.
The Echo Center for Lake Champlain is a wonderful hands on children’s museum. I will let Alex give the review “Papa, this place is awesome!” The hands on exhibits and interactive displays are great for younger children.
There are many more things to see and do in the area that we will return for such as a Cabot Creamery cheese tour and Lake Champlain cruise. A nice extension would be to cross over into New York and travel down the western shore of the lake to Fort Ticonderoga or the Lake George area.
I have to mention the restaurant we stopped at on the drive back to New Hampshire. This is one of reasons I like my Yelp app so much. We were nearing the Vermont New Hampshire border and wanted to find a place to eat. We try to avoid fast food or chain restaurants whenever possible so yelp pointed us to a Korean restaurant in Lebanon, New Hampshire. Yama turned out to be a hidden gem. Who would expect authenic korean food in rural New Hampshire, but it was fantastic. Fresh soft shelled crab and squid and bountiful noodle soup and stir fry dishes.
“Explore, Learn and Protect!” This is the moto of the National Park Service’s junior ranger program. Rita and I have been fans of the National Park system for years and were avid visitors and passport stamp collectors. When Alex started visiting parks with us we discovered the junior ranger program and found it to be a great way to get a young child interested in the history or natural splendor of the parks.
When you visit a park go directly to the visitor center and ask the ranger on duty about their junior ranger program. The ranger will give out the booklet and explain the activities needed to recieve the badge. Many parks also have the booklets available on-line so that they can be printed out before your visit. This is a good option because some of the activities involve coloring or drawing which can be done in the hotel room or at home before your visit. Most of the activities though are geared to exploration of the park you are in. You will have to look for various items or answer some questions based on park displays.
Working with your child can be great fun. We find that reading the booklet and helping Alex explore the park makes it all the more rewarding for us as well.
To get started I would suggest going to the junior ranger tag under the kids section of the National Park Service main site. There are several junior ranger badges that your child can earn with on-line programs from home!
Explore the parks with your kids and create memories that will last a lifetime.
Civil War Battlefields and Shenandoah National Park
We left our home in New Hampshire to begin a week long tour of civil war battlefields and Shenandoah National Park. After a travel stop for refueling and some Roy Rogers chicken we arrived at our first hotel Crown Plaza in Monroe, New Jersey. Our mode of travel is to have a set list of attractions that we want to see but to travel leisurely stopping when we see fit using and adjusting schedules as a place of interest takes more or less time.
After a night of restful sleep in a clean comfortable hotel we set out for Fort McHenry Natioanl Monument in Baltimore. The visitor center is a must stop and be sure to take in the short film with its impressive flag emphasis. A short walk up to the fort brought us just in time to the flag raising ceremony. We had fun with a self guided tour of the fort as Alex worked on his junior ranger booklet. The single passport cancellation station is in the visitor’s center.
We next drove to Frederick, Maryland where we had lunch at the Beijing Chinese restaurant a typical corner take out location the likes of which you will find in any American city. Monocacy National Battlefield was next on our itinerary. This is touted as the battle that saved Washington. In 1864 the Confederacy made a push into Maryland in an effort to capture the capital. Vastly outnumbered union troops were able to hold off the confederate army until reinforcements arrived. The visitor center has a nice museum describing the battle and this is where you can pick up your junior ranger materials and get your passport stamp. There are some nice walks through the battlefield but there is not much in terms of monuments or infrastructure.
Our last stop for the day was at Great Falls Park and the Billy Goat trail along the Potomac River. A pleasant place to stroll along the river in a nice wooded area.
We stayed the night after making our way to West Virginia at the Quality Hotel and Conference Center in Harpers Ferry. The White Horse Tavern attached to the hotel had wonderful meals and drinks. Try the Old Bay chicken wings as an appetizer.
We made our way the next morning to Harpers Ferry National Historic Park. We spent the day exploring the park and the preserved old town, this was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. There is a visitor center with passport cancellation station on a bluff above the town, This is where you catch a shuttle bus down into the old town where there are museums, preserved buildings and views of the river.
After a short drive to Front Royal, Virginia we ate at Joe’s Steakhouse and stayed the night at the Quality Inn Skyline Drive. In the morning we headed into Shenandoah National Park along the Skyline Drive. This park raod runs along the ridge of the mountains offering spectacular views at every turn.
The visitor center is close to the start of the drive coming down from Front Royal and is where you get your passport stamped. Keep your eyes open not only for the views but for wildlife as well. The family of bears in the video below was a welcome sight.
We traveled just a few miles on the parkway to get a flavor of it before heading to Appomattox Courthouse National Historic Park. There are several buildings on site included the reconstructed McLean house where the surrender was signed by Lee and Grant.
A 4.5 mile walking tour called the History Trail takes you to several historic areas all the while traversing quiet country fields and glens. The passport cancellation location is behind the first building on the site in the bookstore. The hotel for the night was the Winchester Travel Lodge in Winchester, Virginia.
The morning brought us back to Maryland for a visit to Antietam National Battlefield the location of the bloodiest one day battle in the history of America. We were lucky enough to see some re-enactors in full costume. Alex was thrilled to mix with the “soldiers” while wearing his union army hat.
You get your passport stamped at the visitor center, watch the introductory film and tour the exhibits. There is a wonderful driving tour through the park where you can stop at any point of interest and explore at your leisure. A wonderful park to picnic and spend the whole day.
The Weir Farm National Historic Site was our destination in the morning. This is an art centered site that is great for kids. There is an artist in residence and the kids get sketching materials to draw their own “masterpieces.” The junior ranger program is also a great deal of fun as it involves a scavenger hunt as you wonder around the grounds. Ranger Adrian was wonderful working with Alex and it is people like him that make the National Park experience so special.
Saugus Ironworks is the type of low key National Park site that we love as a family. It brings to life an era in history that most are unfamiliar with and is a great learning opportunity for young and old alike. The history lesson is presented in an idyllic park like setting with green grass, reconstructed colonial buildings and tree lined walks just minutes away from a busy suburb of Boston. A perfect place for a picnic and a great place to adopt as your local park if you live anywhere in the area.
The small park is readily assessable with a small parking area. Both parking and admission are free! Pack a picnic lunch and bring it with you as you make your first stop in the visitor center. This is the place where you get your Passport to the National Parks stamped. After getting your stamp tour the museum and take in the short film “Iron Works on the Saugus.” While in the visitor center you can arrange for a ranger led tour of the park or tour of the 17th century house on site. At times during the summer there will be blacksmith demonstrations.
History aside, take a stroll along the short nature trail find a nice spot under a tree on the beautiful grass and have a picnic lunch in quiet and serenity. This is the type of site you can explore in an hour or so but my suggestion is you spend the day and relax in this oasis in the middle of suburban sprawl.
The park is only open May to October and there is a junior ranger program available.
