Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (08-28-18)

Well, I am kind of getting ahead of myself a bit. Before we went to Cape Breton, we spent 5 days in Halifax.  Halifax is the largest city in this area of Canada, and is where the historical records are kept for the province.  We spent 4 days combing through records.

We came up for air long enough to meet up with our friends Neil and Susan.  They live here, and we met them on our first visit here.  It was Neil that convinced us to go to Newfoundland back in 2013.

Once we had gathered all the information we could in Halifax, we left for Cape Breton. Cape Breton is an island, connected to the mainland by a causeway.

Its not a huge island, so we decided to stay at Battery Provincial Park for our entire stay. It is centrally located enough that we could reach all the places we needed to be.

It’s about 30 minutes from Port Hastings, where my father’s paternal grandparents were from, about 40 minutes from Isle Madame, where my dad’s maternal grandparents were from, and about 25 minutes from where my maternal grandmother grew up.

We really loved this park. With no reservations, we had to move sites a few times, and mostly didn’t have electric hook up, but that’s easy to do in the camper, and the park was very well kept and had great views.

As added bonuses, there were very few bugs, so we could have campfires, and there is a pair of resident bald eagles that we watched a few times.

I think we spent a total of 4 or 5 full days at the Port Hastings Historical Society. That is the area that the Kings were from, and when I said what family name I was interested in, they handed me a folder with a ton of information! I didn’t have time to digest it all so I took pictures and have been going through the information as I can.






One thing that makes it harder, is internet access. Although I have my full data allotment, Paul has nothing, so we have to share.  And Google maps is a data hog. Many public places have Wi-Fi, which helps some but it is still a challenge.

We took one full day and drove the island of Isle Madame, home to many many Samson and Boudreau families-I am related to most of the people on the island, in some way or other. We spent a few hours in the library there, and one of the guys working  there set up his computer and let me copy a “communal” family tree that was put together during a genealogy summit a few years ago.

Once we had that, we drove around the island checking out the towns and seashore. Samson Cove was very pretty.

My great grandfather Thomas Boudreau was born here on the island, in Boudreauville- there are many small towns on Cape Breton that are named for the family that lived there. I love sea glass, and it was actually really cool to find some on a beach near the town.










There are people who I correspond with who are researching the same families- so we are related in some way- and we share what information we find. I have also reached out to a few people on Ancestry DNA, sometimes to share info, sometimes just to say hi.

Leo King and I have been sharing information for a year or so now and he set me up to meet his brother Charlie, who lives on Cape Breton. Charlie and I are 2nd cousins once removed. It was very strange meeting a relative named Charlie King- that was my dad’s name.

Charlie was awesome and showed us all around, pointing out where the old settlements had been. Most were gone and the families moved on- often just down the road it seems. One challenge in doing research here is that the names of the towns have changed since the time period I am researching. My great grandfather was born in Caribou Cove- its now Port Malcolm. My great great grandfather lived in Plaster Cove- now Port Hawkesbury, and my great great great grandfather lived in Ship Harbour- now Port Hastings.  At least I feel like I have the lay of the land better now!



I got a response to a message I sent on Ancestry to a 2nd cousin who lives in Nova Scotia. The reply said “hi- I am the guy whose computer  you used the other day in the library- we are cousins??” Too funny!


The nearby town of Johnstown is where my grandmother Josephine Johnston grew up. While Isle Madame is the French/Acadian area of Cape Breton, Johnstown/Red Islands  is the Scottish area of the island.

Many of the signs are in Gaelic as well as English, including some stop signs. I have been fascinated with the differences we have found in the food and the accents on the Island. Many of the people of Isle Madame speak with a French-ish accent, and the people of Johnstown favor a Scottish one.

I remembered that the last time we were here, we missed the annual Milling Frolic by just a few days so I asked around and found out we would indeed be here for it this year!

It’s the oldest running milling frolic in Nova Scotia- 87 Years . In days gone by, people got together to “kneed “ wool cloth to shrink it. Nowadays it’s a social event, where they mill the cloth while singing in Gaelic.

They open the Sacred Heart church community center for the party. We were amazed to see hundreds of people show up for this event .

There is food served, a room where Bingo was being played, and a place for kids to do artwork.

Before all the “real singers” showed up they asked people to fill in the seats, so I got to sit while everyone else sang in Gaelic. Once the Gaelic singing was done they had a dance that lasted till 1 am. Or so we hear. We left at 10:30.

After about 10 days on the island, we were both ready to move on.

Massachusetts (07-27-18)

Our two weeks in Massachusetts were a flurry of activity.  It started the morning after we arrived, when we saw a lady sitting at our picnic table, with her back to us. We speculated that perhaps she was lost, since she had a map and was using her phone. Two seconds later I got a message from my cousin Robbin, asking if I was up.  She had been passing by the campground and decided to stop in. I had great fun catching up on all her news!

With Facebook a “thing”, many people knew we were in town and reached out. We had dinner with my brother and his wife Dawn one night, and another night we met up with an old next door neighbor, Maryellen.

Soon after we arrived, our daughter Jess flew in from CA for a few days.  She spent a couple of days with friends before being dropped off at our place so she could visit family. She hasn’t been to MA in 5 years.

We spent one awesome day at the beach with my family.

(pictured from L-R: Jess, me, my sister Deb and brother Ray)

We all love the water and had a great time playing in the waves.

On the way home we stopped at Hampton Beach, played in the arcade for a while and had an awesome dinner. (Jess in the foreground, L-R: Ray, Paul, Debbie, Richie, me)

Paul had his first of many lobsters.

.

We were lucky enough to see our son Stephen quite a bit, and even got the kids together for dinner before Jess left.  Of course, I forgot to get pictures so I had to steal the goofy one they took together.

There are 4 women I have known since I was about 4 years old. We try to get together whenever I get back to town and I managed to see them twice while we were in MA. One of them turned 60 and her daughters threw her a surprise party- a 3 hour lunch cruise on Lake Winnipesaukee.

Not only did she not know about the cruise- one of our friends came all the way from California to be there-surprise! Rita and her husband Ed just bought a teardrop camper and raced across the country to get here in time.

-From old friends to new: I had lunch- twice, with some new found relatives. The woman in the middle, Elaine, is my 2nd/3rd cousin. She was adopted and isn’t sure who her biological father is. I was the first person she ever met who was biologically related to her. Really cool! She brought her daughter Michele with her. We also had lunch with a man named Ed, who is my 3rd cousin.  We all met thru Ancestry, and exchange information when we find it.

I managed to see my aunt Tish twice while I was in town. She and I have been friends for a very long time. She was married to my uncle until he passed away in May.  Paul and I dropped by with Jess on the way to the airport- Tish and Jess hadn’t seen each other in about 10 years and had lots of catching up to do. Tish babysits for her grandkids, so all catching up takes a back seat to little kids climbing everywhere!

Just because we aren’t at the house, doesn’t mean we don’t have projects!  While we were in Massachusetts, we ordered two new things for the camper- A slide topper for the slide was first to arrive. It was a little tricky because it’s so big- 12 ft long and we had to make arrangements to get it since the delivery company couldn’t get into the campground. Paul is very happy that he doesn’t have to go on the roof to  brush the slide off every time we move!

We also had to borrow a ladder and a step stool from my brother to put it on!

Being somewhat spoiled, we also replaced the so-so Fantastic Vent with one that is thermostat controlled, and rain sensitive, so we can “set it and forget it”. If we leave for the day, and it rains, the vent will close,until it senses no moisture, then it will re-open and pull air through it again.

We don’t need it in places where we run the AC, but it comes in very handy if we have no hook-up and have to leave the cat in the camper.











Although we didn’t get there as often as I would have liked, we did get to the gym a couple of times before we left town.  This is the original gym I joined two years ago when we were in Massachusetts.

The Rest of the way to MA(07-26-18)

To be honest, this part of our trip is a bit of a blur…..I had to pull up my pictures and my credit card receipts to even remember where we were and what we did.  Mostly its because once we got to MA, we were socializing nonstop.

But first, we had to get there:


After our mini vacation we went back to work in VA, spending more than two days buried in archive records at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. We didn’t find anything interesting, but we will probably come back after we go to Nova Scotia, if we have any better leads.

Paul traces his family back to early Jamestown VA, and although we’ve been there before, we decided to take another look with that knowledge fresh in our heads. I wasn’t particularly thrilled when he decided he wanted to take the archeological tour,  but I agreed to go.

  Our guide introduced himself and let us know that years ago, the archeological tour was a mere 20 minutes long but that there was so much new and exciting information, that it now lasts more than an hour and a half.  I think I groaned out loud. He did assure us that there were no hard feelings if we wandered off before the end.









He started by explaining that by 1992, no archeological digging had been done here in many years, and none was planned.  They had long ago given up the hope of ever finding the original fort. In 1993 the park needed a new administrator, and hired Dr. William Kelso, an archeological historian.


For the next two hours he walked us around the site, while hilariously telling the story of Dr. Kelso’s impact on the park.









Dr. Kelso had some ideas on where the original fort could be and thru his persistence, convinced the VA historical society to let him dig where he thought it might be.  He was given ONE chance to find it,-with no budget, no staff, and no equipment. The first place he thought the fort was, he found nothing.







After months of pestering, they let him dig in a different area.  Still nothing. Over the course of a few years, he was allowed to dig in small areas, looking for the fort. He found a little more evidence each time as to where it could be- and finally- he found conclusive evidence- and the fort was found.  Jamestown is now one of the most prolific archeological sites in the world.

The two hours passed by incredibly fast, I was never bored, and I learned a lot.

On a serious side, he talked about the Starving Time. While trying to settle the area, the pioneers became surrounded by hostile native Americans and had to hastily build a fort.  They could not venture out to search for food, and of the more than 400 people there at the time, fewer than 70 survived.  Eventually they decided they had to leave, and go back to England.  They packed up the ships and left but before they even got out of the harbor, they ran into a fleet of supply ships, and made their way back to Jamestown.

After leaving Virginia, we stopped for one night in Maryland, making our way north pretty quickly.













 
Cunningham Falls State Park can’t handle big rigs, but was perfect for the truck camper. Quite a few times we have stayed in places that would have been a challenge, or impossible, with the trailer.











We enjoy waterfalls, so before we left, we hiked the 1.4 mile hike to the waterfall and back. It wasn’t much to write home about, but it got us out and moving for a bit.














For the most part, we have stayed off the interstates, which means it takes longer to reach our destination, but we see more interesting things along the way.
















Sometimes we’ll find an awesome pullout where we can stop and have lunch.

I will say that although the driver prefers the smaller roads, the navigator has a more challenging time, having to pay attention to potential low bridges and such.

Pennsylvania was also a “one night stop” along the way.  We did really enjoy the fireflies that night- there were tons of them.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

                                                                

And soon enough we were in Massachusetts.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

South Carolina, AKA, Vacationland (07-08-18)

There is no research we need to do in South Carolina at the moment, so we are “on vacation”. It’s the week before July 4th  and we have no reservations made.  It’s getting close enough that it was stressing me out, not having a “spot”, so we sat down with the calendar, and a map. 

\

We had decided that we’d love to go to the beach for a few days, and figured that Myrtle Beach would be fun,  but what are the odds we’d find a spot?  Armed with a list of Campgrounds, we call the first one, the one that looked the best, and were shocked to hear that they did indeed have an opening (helps to be in a truck camper!).

With that reservation taken care of, we started looking for places to stop along the way.

Facebook makes it somewhat easier to connect with people, and my cousin, who I haven’t spent time with in about 40 years, saw where we were headed, and reached out. We had a great dinner with her and her husband Jimmy at their home in South Carolina.

  

It isn’t often that we get a chance to visit a National Park that we’ve never been to before but Congaree National Park is in South Carolina.

Congaree is an old growth floodplain forest, one of the few left in this country.  As you would think, when it rains, this area, which is bordered by bluffs on both sides, fills with water.

The trees that grow here are capable of surviving in standing water. The Bald Cypress trees surround themselves with a root system called knees.  No one is really sure what their purpose is but perhaps they work as a snorkel.

There is one other creature that flourishes in the floodplain forest:

July 2 we arrived at Myrtle Beach. We’ve been here before but we have never stayed here. Our campground has just about everything you could want, and we made good use of it all over the July 4th holiday.

Their pool even boasts a Lazy River.  We didn’t spend much time in the pool, but we did check out the Lazy River during the “adults only” hour.





The ocean is what I was excited about- the weather was gorgeous and the water temperature was in the 80s! We could walk to it from our site- priceless!

I spent a lot of time in the water, and it was so warm that even Paul came in pretty often…

We realized the first day that we were ill equipped for a stay at the beach, so we hit up the stores and now own two beach 

chairs and an umbrella.

With numerous pool parties, dances and assorted contests, there was plenty to do over the holiday. There was even a parade, right outside our door.

We knew we were in the right spot when people started pulling their chairs up all along our street.

Once the parades, barbequing and dancing was done, we took our chairs and walked to the beach where we could watch all the fireworks that were being set off by the hotels along the waterfront.

We are really spoiled as far as fireworks go, so we just enjoyed the fact that we were watching from a beach, didn’t have to drive, and were wearing shorts and a t-shirts.