Tag: harvard

Fruitlands Morning Walk

On By careofmonIn LifestyleLeave a comment

This past weekend, my fiancé Jon, Mizpah my pup, and myself headed to the Fruitlands trails in Harvard MA. The Fruitlands was the site of a failed utopian society in 1843. Bronson Alcott, a transcendentalist, and father of Louisa May Alcott, moved his family to the site and sadly, the experiment failed in its first winter. They along with others were trying to live off the fruits of the land, hence the name Fruitlands. Clara Endicott Sears moved to the land in 1910 long after it had been abandoned to build herself a summer home. She restored the Fruitlands Farmhouse and started the museum. There is a museum store, a cafe, an art gallery, a visitor’s center, and a Native American heritage museum on the land. We just went to walk the trails. It was beautiful.

Fruitlands Farmhouse where the Alcott family lived in 1843
Fruitlands Farmhouse where the Alcott family lived in 1843

First stop was the farmhouse. I believe the house is a Georgian style home. The roof has very little overhang, the winnows are symmetrical with a front door in the middle, but it has two floors, and is two rooms deep. I know that old houses are a lot of work to own, but I would love to own a historic home.

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This is the Willard Farm site. The farm dates back to the early 1700s, and the Alcotts lived here in 1844. Everyone bailed on the community during the winter of 1843, and eventually sometime in 1844 the Alcotts moved back to Concord. From what I have read, Bronson was very depressed when the Fruitlands didn’t work out and his wife, Abby, actually took their 4 daughters to a cottage in a village nearby. They eventually convinced Bronson to leave the Fruitlands and go back to Concord. The house on this site burned down in 1852 and was never rebuilt.

Loved this red and yellow foliage!
Loved this red and yellow foliage!

The land where we walked also had a brick factory in the late nineteenth century. The railroad was right there going through Harvard which made transport easy. The clay & sand in the area from the glacial beach left after the last ice age gave them plenty of materials. There were bricks and foundations left behind in the area.

Remnants of brick structure
Remnants of brick structure
Foundation from the brick workers dorm
Foundation from the brick workers dorm
Foundation from the home of the brick factory owner, J.C. Richmond, 120 years ago
Foundation from the home of the brick factory owner, J.C. Richmond, 120 years ago

It was an absolutely beautiful place. I love finding these abandoned settlements and spots in New England. It feels like if you let your imagination go for a moment, you can almost hear the crackling of an outdoor fire and the clanging of pots and mugs as workers gathered to share a meal. Hitting the trails at Fruitlands costs $6 a person, and that money goes back into the site. The trails were very well marked and so were the sites along the way. Here are some more pics from the day!

It was not a cold morning, but it was overcast. I wore my Barbour over a sweater & flannel, and my Toggis were huge for keeping ticks off of me! This was my first site on my list that I created, can’t wait to check more off the list!

$6….and I got to spend the morning with my fiancé, my dog, and some history outside….priceless.

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Head of the Charles Recap from Sunday

On By careofmonIn Lifestyle, Trips1 Comment

In my experience, fall head racing is full of amazing rows in gorgeous scenery AND some really cold windy days. I started rowing the summer before my senior year of high school, and rowed in the Head of the Charles my junior and senior year of college. I volunteered at the regatta 4 years, three before the year I rowed in it, and one the year after I graduated from college. The swag for the volunteers has really improved. When I was volunteering, Charles Schwab was the big sponsor and we got long sleeve shirts, and then Nautica took over and we had fleece zip ups. Now that BNY Mellon & Brooks Brothers runs the show, the volunteer jackets are awesome soft shell fleeces. I gotta volunteer next year.

We had a bunch of former and current WPI rowers to watch. There were alumni in the master’s singles races, the Director Challenge quad races, an alumni mens 8, and then the current varsity mens in the collegiate 8. The women’s team didn’t send a boat…..I guess they are going through some restructuring, getting back to basics, and are just focusing on the spring. Kinda sad though because I remember how big a deal the Charles was. I would have been bummed to miss out.

It was really cold and windy on Sunday. My essentials for survival are below:

Barbour Jacket, crew fleece ear warmers,LLBean Flannel & Boot Socks, Woolover cashmere/cotton crewneck sweater, bean boots, & LLBean thermos
Barbour Jacket, crew fleece ear warmers,LLBean Flannel & Boot Socks, Woolover cashmere/cotton crewneck sweater, bean boots, & LLBean thermos

My Barbour was amazing at protecting me from the wind, and we filled that thermos with tomato soup, which was a life saver. It also saved us from buying clam chowder for $10, eek!

I did stop by the Brooks Brothers tent to check it out. The KJP team was there hand painting your choice of oar blade design on leather bracelets. They were cute, but I really want a painted oar bracelet custom made with the oar blade design. It might be possible, I will probably be looking into this for a Christmas/bday gift 🙂 They were all super nice just in case you follow them on instagram and have always wondered what they were like IRL. They also loved Mizpah, who doesn’t though?

In front of the Brooks Brothers tent with Mizpah. Nice single behind me huh? One of a kind!
In front of the Brooks Brothers tent with Mizpah. Nice single behind me huh? One of a kind!

Going to rowing events make me miss rowing so much. The excitement of rowing to the start, the togetherness of the struggle through the race to the finish, and then the camaraderie after the race. Its just something you can’t replicate. We hung out with some of our former coaches, got to see some alumni, and blasted the heat in the car pretty much all the way home to warm up! Here are some more pics from the day!

Harvard's Newell Boathouse...we tried to stop here once for a bathroom break and their sprinklers to keep the geese away turned on!!
Harvard’s Weld Boathouse…we tried to stop either here or the Newell once for a bathroom break and their sprinklers to keep the geese away turned on!!
Me and Miz hangin out
Me and Miz hangin out
View of Northeastern's Henderson boathouse
View of Northeastern’s Henderson boathouse, pretty much at the finish.
Henderson Boathouse, where I learned to row in 2001, and where WPI has the privilege of launching every year
Henderson Boathouse, where I learned to row in 2001, and where WPI has the privilege of launching every year
LLBean everywhere....and Miz chewing a bully stick
LLBean everywhere….and Miz chewing a bully stick
view of the Eliot Bridge, last bridge before the finish...lots of collisions here
view of the Eliot Bridge, last bridge before the finish…lots of collisions here

We did end up paying $20 to park in the Harvard Stadium lot. Without the dog, we would have parked at Alewife and taken the T in, but I don’t know how Mizpah would do with that. We brought sandwiches, water, and the tomato soup in the thermos, so we didn’t buy any food, which was awesome. It was awesome to go support alums, reminisce about past years, and hang out with some awesome crew people. If you are ever in the Boston area for this weekend, I can’t recommend coming out to the river enough. Layers though….warm layers ha. The two years I got to row in it were both choppy, cold days. One year it was so bad, they shortened the course to stay out of the choppy basin. My fiancé asked me if I would have wanted to row in the cold yesterday, and I think the answer is yes, with the cold weather and all. I hope everyone got to do some fun fall activities wherever they were this past weekend!

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