American Scholars: Communities in New England By: AH

This past weekend, we fled the hustle and bustle of New York City and our scholars embarked on a journey through Connecticut to Boston, Massachusetts, described by one nineteenth-century visitor as ‘the abode of all that are first in literature, culture, and civilization in America.’[1] With Long Island Sound to our right, we formed a caravan of four vans comprising twenty nations en route to our hotel in the Financial District of the city. Here, we met with Professor Don Johnson, emeritus professor of international education at NYU and resident of New Hampshire, another of the six states comprising New England (Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island)– but more on NH later!

Don was the first of New Englander of many who were ‘friends ready to receive us with open arms, though they were friends we had never known.’[2] Don led us on our first of several tours this weekend through the Beacon Hill area of the city, where we learned about the importance of the common in New England towns, the literary heritage of the city, the role of Boston and Massachusetts in women’s suffrage and the abolition of slavery, and of course the famous bar from the TV show Cheers. The evening was free for exploring the city and experiencing the cuisine of the region, including Clam Chowder and Lobster. Several of our participants patronized The Green Dragon Tavern, named after the free house where Paul Revere and others planned the infamous Boston Tea Party of 1773 which precipitated the American Revolution.

The following day saw a rather damp excursion to the Freedom Trail where the participants learnt about the Puritan influence on the region and the importance of Faneuil Hall in the history of Boston and the nation. In the afternoon we visited Harvard University in the imaginatively named Cambridge. Our guide, Daniel, told us about the many dorms, the history of the university, and the statue of three lies… where we were also advised to wash our hands after touching the statue’s shiny foot! The group also had their first photo-bomber!

We were blessed to be hosted by Mitalene Fletcher and her husband Clarke, where we learnt about the history of their home, tried cornbread for the first time, saw a shiny new Tesla automobile, and got down to some tunes – for neither the first, nor last time!

LOWELL! Our trusty wagons next conveyed us to Lowell, MA, where the group experienced the history of the American Industrial Revolution and travelled on a streetcar (named Desire) originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. After Lowell, we crossed state lines once more into New Hampshire and checked in at the ‘rustic’ Maplehurst Inn before the scholars paired off to have dinner with a local family from Deering/Hillsboro. 

After dinner [ed: and a crushing England football loss] we tried our hands (and heel and toe) at contra dancing, with traditional music originally brought over by the pilgrims from Britain. The turnout was one of the largest of recent years and by the end of the evening everyone could Do-Si-Do like the best of them. 

 Here's an example of what Contra dancing looks like.

Don and his lovely wife Jean hosted us for breakfast the following morning, followed by a short lecture and a tour of Hillsboro (a literal City Upon a Hill) including a ‘lesson’ at a traditional one-room schoolhouse.

For the most part it is as solitary where I live as on the prairies. It is as much Asia or Africa as New England. I have, as it were, my own sun and moon and stars, and a little world all to myself.[3]

Many of the group enjoyed the peaceful solitude of New Hampshire and, perhaps channeling the writer Henry David Thoreau, felt that the only ‘medicine [one] needs is a draught of morning air.’ And the sun came out, which helped!

We passed through the fifth state of our road trip, Vermont, on the drive back to the city and arrived safely on Sunday evening with a whole host of new memories and experiences which will inform the conception of the United States and its (mythic) founding region.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
                                    -- Robert Frost

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[1] Marquis of Lorne.

[2] Anthony Trollope.

[3] Henry David Thoreau.