Month: January 2018

On previous trips to London, we had never spent much time on the other side of the Thames. We might have popped across London Bridge to visit the Globe Theatre; or walked across the Tower Bridge and back again; or zipped across Westminster Bridge to visit the Florence Nightingale Museum; or visit the Imperial War Museum at the former Bedlam Hospital. So, during the trip in 2002, we decided to spend an entire day in Southwark, which is the area across London Bridge to the South, where the theatres, bear-baiting pits, brothels and coaching inns existed in Shakespeare’s day and the debtor’s prisons and operating theatre of St Thomas Hospital in Dickens’ day.

We took the underground to Borough Station. Marshalsea Road (named after Marshalsea Prison) was right there. Dickens’ parents were sent to Marshalsea when he was a boy. It was a debtor’s prison. Dickens used Marshalsea as the basis for the debtor’s prison in Little Dorrit. The debtor’s prisons did let people out of the prison during the day in order to go to work to repay their debt. But they also charged them for their room and board in the prison. So it could take a very long time for a family to earn their way out.

While his parents were in Marshalsea, Dickens was employed in a boot-blacking factory where the Charing Cross Rail Station is today on the other side of the Thames. That would have been a long walk for a twelve-year-old boy to make. So he mainly lived at the factory and would visit his parents once a week. Nothing is left of the prison other than a stretch of the wall that used to surround it and a plaque stating that’s where it used to be.

Heading up the Borough High Street towards London Bridge, are the remnants of several coaching inns — mainly their names and former locations. The Tabard was the inn from which Chaucer’s characters in The Canterbury Tales departed. That inn existed from the 1300s to the 1600s. When it burnt down, it was replaced by the Talbot, which was torn down in the 1800s.

Next door to where those inns were located is The George Inn, the only surviving galleried coaching inn in London. The original inn, the George and Dragon, burned down in the same fire as the Tabard and was rebuilt in 1677. That is the inn that exists today. Dickens spent some time there (in the coffee room in the middle of the ground floor) and also referred to it in Little Dorrit. In Shakespeare’s day, his plays and those of Ben Jonson and Christopher Marlowe were sometimes staged in the courtyards of coaching inns as the galleries made for great spaces from which more moneyed members of the audience could view a play.

The day we were there was lovely, warm, and not raining, so we purchased our food inside (in the former coffee room) and sat outside to eat it. Except for some cars parked in the courtyard, when looking at the inn itself, it did seem that we were transported back in time. Inside, the ceilings were low and the floor sloping and uneven.

We continued up the Borough High Street to St Thomas Street. St Thomas Hospital was first mentioned in 1215 and was named after St Thomas Beckett, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was martyred in 1173 during the time of King Henry II. Remember the story about Dick Whittington and his cat? He was a real person who, after he became Mayor of London, established a lying-in ward at St Thomas Hospital for unwed mothers in the 15^th century. The hospital was also the site of the printing of the first English Bible in 1537.

The hospital was moved to its current location across the river from Parliament in 1862. But the name of the street remained and a small piece of the hospital was left behind as well. Up in the attic of a medieval church that had been rebuilt at the end of the 17^th century, it was discovered in the 1950s that an old operating theatre from St Thomas Hospital still existed. It was created in 1822, before anesthetics or antiseptics existed and was used for operating on poor women, who would have had no other recourse to surgery other than as part of a teaching hospital.

The way into the place (which also includes an herb garret where dried opium was found among the herbs left behind when the operating theatre was rediscovered) is up some very steep, narrow turnpike stairs in a corner of the church. It is the oldest surviving operating theatre in the UK and includes a rather gruesome display of some of the surgical instruments that would have been used there.

From the Old Operating Theatre we went on to Southwark Cathedral. There are legends that the cathedral began as a nunnery in the 7^th century and/or a monastery in the 9^th century. But the first official reference to the property dates to the Doomesday Book in 1086. The oldest part of the existing building dates to 1106 with the main part of the church dating from 1220 to 1420.

William Shakespeare’s brother, Edmund, was buried in the church somewhere, but his grave is unmarked. There is a memorial to Shakespeare himself, showing him in a reclining position and holding a quill. Southwark was the parish church for Bankside and so would have been the main church for all of the actors and playwrights in the area. The church, originally named St Saviour and St Mary Overie (Overie meaning “over the river”),became a cathedral in 1905.

Not far from the cathedral, at St Mary Overie Dock on Cathedral Street, is a replica of Sir Francis Drake’s ship The Golden Hinde. This replica was built by traditional methods and sailed on a reenactment of Drake’s 1577 circumnavigation of the world. She has been used in a few films too. On this visit, there was a private children’s party onboard, so we didn’t get to go on it. Another time, perhaps.

A short walk from the ship is The Clink. This was a prison (actually two prisons — one for men and one for women) which was part of the Palace of the Bishop of Winchester from 1144 to 1780. The current museum is on the site of the original men’s prison and advertises itself as the prison after which all other prisons were named — as in the expression “thrown in the clink.” The Bishop could have a person locked up for pretty much any reason he wanted, and he did. When touring the place, I couldn’t help noticing that the majority of torture devices were designed specifically to torture women. The Bishop had a whole brothel business going on the side and sometimes used the women’s part of the prison to keep his women in line. Lovely guy.

Along Park Street, the locations of both The Rose Theatre and the original Globe Theatre can be found. The Rose has been largely excavated in the basement of a modern building. That’s because they discovered it when digging the foundations for the new building. The choice was made to preserve the theatre while still building the new structure above it. The Globe, on the other hand, is largely underneath a listed building (which means the building it is under is historic and cannot be altered). So there is a marking in the car park behind the building, showing the outline of one of the walls beneath. This is just steps from The Rose. It is also a fairly short distance from the reproduction of The Globe. So the replica is as close to the original in distance as it can be under the circumstances.

Before heading back to the hotel we stopped in at the Anchor Inn. It is right on the river and has a great terrace from which you can watch the river traffic while having a nice meal and/or a pint. People have been doing so from that location for over 800 years, although the present building has only been there since 1676 (replacing one destroyed by fire). With its proximity to the theatres, it would seem most likely that Shakespeare and his pals would have gone there for a drink and/or a meal after a long day of rehearsals or performing.

Part of our Boston trip in 2000 included a day trip to Marblehead and Salem. These two locations have ancestral ties. A sixth great-grandfather and Reynolds ancestor, named Nathaniel, was born in Marblehead in 1730 and ended up being swept off of his ship during a storm just off the coast of Marblehead in 1782. In between he led a very interesting life.

When he showed up for what was supposed to be his wedding to one woman, he didn’t take kindly to her sense of humor when she pretended that marrying him was not a big deal to her. So he left. He encountered another woman he knew on the way home and declared he would marry her instead. She agreed. They ended up having six children together — mostly in Nova Scotia, to where he had relocated when he went into being a ship’s captain for a career.

When the American Revolution came along, he was involved in an attack on Fort Cumberland which also concerned extracting families (including his own) from Nova Scotia and taking them to Maine. After that he became involved with privateering against loyalist ships. At one point he engaged with three of them at the same time. He was branded a pirate by the British and had a price of £100 on his head. But he carried on attacking and disrupting British shipping with his ship the Blackbird (and later the Hornet) throughout the Revolution — mainly around Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. I have always said that having him as an ancestor is why I never get seasick, even in very rocky seas.

A 5^th great-grandmother, was Nathaniel’s daughter, Lydia, who was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia, and married one of my Freeman ancestors, Elisha. The Freeman name came all the way down to my paternal grandmother.

Marblehead was first settled in 1629 as a fishing village. Several of the old homes from the 1700s (and even the late 1600s) still exist on narrow, crooked streets. We started out at the Abbot Hall, which houses the famous painting, The Spirit of ’76. Then we visited the harbor and Castle Rock (from which the citizens of Marblehead watched the action out at sea during the War of 1812). I can imagine my ancestor (whose body was never recovered from the sea) would have wanted to join the fray had he still been alive.

Marblehead had been an offshoot from Salem, which had been founded in 1626. Many of my ancestors, including my first colonial Freeman ancestor (Samuel, who arrived in 1630) came into the colonies through Salem. By the time the Witch Trials began in 1692, however, my ancestors seem to have moved off elsewhere. Probably a good thing. If they had been there at that time, they likely would have been involved in one way or another. But I don’t find any evidence of any ancestral name listed in any of the records regarding the Witch Trials. I’m very relieved they weren’t involved in any persecutions.

Most of the accused in the Witch Trials lived in Salem Village, which is now known as Danvers. There are several Witch Trials sites in and around Salem and Danvers. There are Witch Trial tours that will take you around and tell you the real stories about the real people involved. The Witch Museum also focuses on the history of the trials. They have a very good short film that explains what happened and exhibits including actual artifacts. The Old Burying Point cemetery has a memorial to the victims.

Right next door to the cemetery is a house that used to belong to the Peabody family. The eldest of the three sisters, Elizabeth, owned a very important and influential bookstore in Boston (the West Street Book Store) and was involved with the literary circles and educators of the day, including Bronson Alcott (Louisa May Alcott’s father) and Horace Mann. Elizabeth was one of the champions of having such a thing as kindergartens.

Elizabeth took an early interest in Nathaniel Hawthorne, which not only helped his career (especially by bringing him into the Emerson circle), but also introduced him to her sister, Sophia, who married him. Their sister, Mary, wed Horace Mann. I think it’s interesting how Elizabeth would make friends with these men who would then marry one of her sisters.

Nathaniel Hawthorne did have ties to the Salem Witch Trials and added a “w” to his name to try to distance himself from his ancestor, John Hathorne, who was one of the judges during the trials. His birthplace (he was born in 1804, the son of a ship’s captain) is in Salem, right next door to the House of Seven Gables. Both can be toured with a single ticket. His birthplace was not originally next door to the House of Seven Gables, but was moved there later, after he became a famous author.

The House of the Seven Gables was built in 1667 for a yet another ship’s captain. Hawthorne was related to the family and spent time in the house when he lived in Salem. At that time, the house had been remodeled several times and was down to three gables only. But Hawthorne was told the history of the house and shown the locations of the missing gables in the attic. He decided to write about the house as it once had been instead of as it was in his day. In the early 20^th century, the house was purchased and restored to more closely match what Hawthorne had described in his novel.

Another connection to Hawthorne is located at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site on Derby Street. He worked there at the Custom House before his writing career really took off. There are a couple lovely old houses next to the Custom House plus other houses and buildings, a wharf and a tall ship that can also be toured. Throughout the town, there are houses of various centuries that can be visited as well as a Pirates Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum. There is a trolley system that links everything.

In 1692, being accused of witchcraft meant imprisonment, most likely a trial and very likely death. In 2000, several people were living in Salem who openly referred to themselves as witches, warlocks, Druids or Wiccans. Some had shops where amulets, potions and spells could be purchased. I was much more interested in the historic and human aspects of the Witch Trials of 1692 than in the modern shops, exhibits, and such. But plenty of both can be found. Also evening “haunted” tours.

I really liked Salem a lot. It is quite a nice town with historic connections to the 17^th, 18^th and 19^th centuries. There is a lot to see and do there. Half a day was definitely not enough. Next time I go to Boston, I plan to take the ferry to Salem and stay for two or three days.

For the trip to Boston in the fall of 2000, Mom and I stayed at the Parker House Hotel (built in 1855). We chose it for its location and the fact that we could get a very good deal on the room. Boston Cream Pie, Boston Scrod, and Parker House Rolls were all created at this hotel. Such luminaries as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Nathaniel Hawthorne, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Charles Dickens all stayed at the Parker House at one time or another. John F. Kennedy announced his bid for the presidency there. When John Wilkes Booth visited his brother, Edwin, just before he assassinated Abraham Lincoln, he also stayed at the Parker House and did some target practicing nearby. It was a very nice hotel with a Victorian feel. The best thing about it was that it is right on the Freedom Trail and we could walk pretty much everywhere we wanted to go.

We covered the trail over a couple days as we wanted to make certain we saw everything we wanted to see and weren’t rushed. We started at the memorial to Robert Gould Shaw and the 54^th Massachusetts Regiment. These were the soldiers portrayed in the film “Glory”. Next, we wound our way along Boston Common and visited the Park Street Church before entering the Old Granary Cemetery. This cemetery was very close to the hotel — just across the street on the one side. Paul Revere plus his father and in-laws, Samuel Adams, the Boston Massacre victims, Ben Franklin’s parents and John Hancock were all buried there. We spent some time walking around and checking out the graves before heading over to King’s Chapel, which is across the street from the hotel on another side.

King’s Chapel is the oldest burial ground in Boston, dating back to the mid-1600s. The church was founded in 1686, although the present building was built in 1754. Many of the original Boston settlers (including some of my Reynolds ancestors) are buried there as is William Dawes (from the midnight ride). Elizabeth Pain, who is believed to have been Nathaniel Hawthorne’s model for Hester Pryne in The Scarlett Letter, is also buried there. Over the centuries, with overcrowding and not a huge concern for having people directly under the headstone bearing their name, headstones were frequently shifted around. Some are illegible. So, although I know that I have ancestors in there, I have not found their headstones and don’t have a clue as to where their remains might be. I don’t suppose it really matters. It is a very atmospheric, old cemetery and I’m just tickled to know I have family there.

Our next stop was the Old South Meeting House, which is across the street from where the Reynolds family land was originally located. The Boston Tea Party was planned here and the men who participated went directly from the meeting house to the harbor. A vial of tea and a piece of a label from one of the chests are on display, along with John Hancock’s portable writing desk and a musket from the Lexington battle. It was the largest building in Boston at the time it was built, with two levels of balconies and the pulpit at the side of the building.

That first day, we ended with the Old State House and Fanueil Hall.  The next say, we began with the Holocaust Memorial and then explored the neighborhood of the Union Oyster House, and the Green Dragon Tavern. Shortly before reaching Paul Revere’s House, we stopped in at an old shop where I purchased a sword. I was told that it was British and of the type that the Regulars would have had at Bunker Hill. The person who sold me the sword said that the colonial militia would not have had swords, other than possibly the officers.

I found Paul Revere’s house to be fascinating. It was built in 1680. The Revere’s lived there from 1770 to 1800. It was the first wooden 17^th century house in the U.S. that I had ever seen in person and was not large or grand — just an ordinary house of the time. Across a small courtyard from the house is a brick Georgian house build in 1711. This is the Pierce/Hichborn House and can also be toured. It is very different from the Revere house. We took our time at both houses, then sat for a while on a bench in the courtyard, staring at the Revere house before continuing on our way.

Between Paul Revere’s House and the Old North Church, I was stopped by a woman who asked me if her son could see the “toy” sword I was carrying (the tang, grip, pommel and button were sticking out of the plastic bag). I told her that it wasn’t a toy, but that I would show it to her and her son, although he couldn’t touch it. That seemed to satisfy them, so I pulled it from the bag and pulled the sword from the scabbard. It was and still is dull, so not too much danger of cutting anything. But I still didn’t want to take any chances. It now hangs at the bottom of the stairs down into my family room, above a Grand Union flag (which was the flag in use in the colonies at the beginning of the Revolution). I bought the flag at the Old North Church.

The Old North Church was not terribly large and was also hemmed in by several other buildings. So getting a good photo of it wasn’t easy. As with the Old South Meeting House, photographs were allowed inside. I loved the box pews. They also had a couple lanterns on display like the ones that had been waved up in the tower. But we also weren’t allowed up in the tower. We did go into one of the box pews and sat down to contemplate for a while.

Before heading across the river, we had lunch and then went up to Copp’s Hill Burying Ground. Both Militia Men and Regulars were buried there, including several from the Battle of Bunker Hill. The climb up the hill is worth it just for the view. The site originally had a windmill on it and was turned into a cemetery in the mid-1600s. It is the second oldest burying ground in Boston. Both Cotton Mather and Increase Mather, two Puritan preachers who were involved in the Salem Witch Trials, were buried there. Several free African-Americans, including Prince Hall, who began the first group of black freemasons, were buried there as well.

After Copp’s Hill, we crossed the river to tour the U.S.S. Constitution, aka “Old Ironsides”. The ship was launched in 1797 and saw service in several battles during the War of 1812. This ship is the real thing. It isn’t a reproduction. It continued to be in service until it was converted to a school ship in 1860. The last time that I am aware that it sailed was for the bicentennial of the War of 1812 in 2012. Periodically some refurbishment is needed to keep the ship seaworthy. It is now 220 years old.

I found it interesting that, other than the woman with the curious kid, nobody seemed to be bothered by me walking around with a sword sticking out of a plastic bag. Maybe they all thought that it was a toy. Not too sure that it wouldn’t cause comment now — post September 11^th. But back in September of 2000, nobody cared.

The next stop on our journey was Bunker Hill. The Regulars had retreated to Bunker Hill after the battles in Concord & Lexington back in April. But, instead of engaging with the colonial militia immediately upon arrival in Charlestown, the Regulars chose to begin a siege on Boston and wait for reinforcements there while placing their cannons on Copp’s Hill, from where they could shoot at much of the city. In June, a couple days after the reinforcements arrived, Colonel William Prescott, of the colonial militia, began fortifying Breed’s Hill, which was closer to Boston and considered by him to be more readily defensible than Bunker Hill. Prescott also positioned several men on Bunker Hill.

Since my sword was likely from that battle, I momentarily thought about brandishing it on my way up the hill. But cooler heads prevailed and I quickly decided that would not be a good idea. Just carrying it up the hill in the plastic bag was good enough.

Most of the battle took place on Breed’s Hill. That’s also where the memorial was built. There is a debate about whether or not anybody actually said, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” Even if it was said, nobody is certain who said it — Colonel William Prescott, General Israel Putnam, Colonel John Stark or Captain Richard Gridley. The Regulars ended up taking the ground, but at a loss of 1,054 casualties. The colonists suffered about 450 casualties. George Washington, on his way to Boston to take command of the Continental Army, heard about the battle while in New York City.

After leaving Bunker Hill, we took a boat from Charlestown Harbor to a pier not terribly far from the hotel, where I put my sword away before we headed for dinner at the Union Oyster House.