A King's Birthplace

No trip to Atlanta would be complete without acknowledging the Civil Rights era's most prominent voice, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Having previously visited his monument in DC and the place of his assassination in Memphis, it seemed fitting that I visit the places he grew up and developed his earliest ideologies in. Enter my abbreviated visit to the MLK National Historic Site.

Tunicia and I visited here in between trying to hopefully find a dress for me to wear to a formal event I had coming up a few weeks later. While the sites themselves are free, for certain aspects, advance reservations are strongly encouraged as there are capacity limits. This was the case with Dr. King's childhood home, which we could only walk past and take photos of.

We walked very quickly through the visitor center. There you were given a very general glimpse of the way America operated in segregation and how this influenced a young King. Outside of the center was a statue of Gandhi, a major influence in the way King would approach leading others for change.

We got to go inside of the historic (and still used!) Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King attended and preached. They had one of his sermons playing in the sanctuary and visitors could go into the pews and listen.

I also got to see the tomb where Dr. King and his wife Coretta now rest. It was strange because I remember visiting when I was in high school (while Coretta was still alive) and it was a little sad to see it doubled in size. It was still a very beautiful way to honor these two American icons.

Well friends, only one or two more entries about my time (nearly two months ago) in Atlanta. I'm actually going to be back there in January so I'll be sure to visit a few more sites. In the meantime, I want to thank you for following me along on my journey, and as always, I'll see you on the next adventure.

Fun Little Excursions

This will be really brief. In both Rhode Island and Massachusetts, I got to visit places that I didn't spend enough time in to warrant their own individual posts, but were still neat little alcoves of tourism I wanted to share.

In Rhode Island, I walked through the Roger Williams National Memorial but did not visit the actual Visitor Center. It's basically a big park (I'm sure the Visitor Center is chock full of information though) and was a very peaceful patch of green in the middle of downtown Providence. I thought it was pretty.

I also walked by the First Baptist Church in America, which I sadly was not timely enough to get a tour of. The building itself is very impressive- much bigger than I thought it would be, and is all white. Whoever is asked with keeping that building gleaming sure has their work cut out for them!

In Massachusetts, Alicia and I spent a great deal of time at the Yankee Candle Company flagship store/Christmas central. We enjoyed ourselves, walking from room to room, being fake-snowed on, eating huge certainly unhealthy snacks (don't worry, healthy treats are available), dipping our own candles (there were lots of wax activities geared towards kids, but adults could have fun too obviously), and most of all, smelling candles. And lots of them. I have SUPER sensitive allergies and asthma, so I was a bit leery going into this place, but didn't react nearly as bad as I thought I would. The two stand out scents that I LOVED (seriously, doesn't someone want to give me these for a gift??) were Meyer Lemon and Cozy Sweater. Two scents that stood out as very strange and "manly" were scented as bacon and timber. Strange, but not horrible as you may think.

Phyllis' Praise Place

On my last day in Massachusetts, I visited four locations in the hours before my flight home. All on foot (well, minus the Peter Pan bus from Springfield to Boston). All lugging my suitcase around. All on just over an hour of sleep (silly me thinking I could still hang with my friends until 5 in the morning and be able to function the next day!)

Needless to say I was dead tired! But how many times will I ever be in Boston again, and see so many actual sites of American history that I'd learned about in school? (Actually, I hope I have a lot more reasons to visit Boston- I felt very comfortable there and reminded me how much I missed the hustle and bustle of a large city, no offense to Pittsburgh.) Like I said, I visited four sites, but this blog will focus on the first site: The Old South Meeting House.

Old South Meeting House

I especially wanted to see the OSMH because of its connection to Phyllis Wheatley. As the first major African-American author (before the Revolutionary War no less!) she holds a distinct place in American history. She met both Benjamin Franklin and George Washington (who had invited her to his home). The OSMH was her church. Inside there is a statue of her that tells a little bit of her story. I mean, there are other figurines and people mentioned in the church (including some humorous depictions of "beef" between some of the church members right before the Revolutionary War was in full swing), but she was my personal highlight.

Phyllis Wheatley statue in the OSMH

Three things I found interesting:
1. Whereas in the African Meeting House I learned that the ceiling was curved to help project sound in a time before microphones, this place had a sounding board- sort of a heavy flat overhang right above the pulpit that was meant to serve the same purpose. Information lying about  in the pews said that the sounding board hanging in place today was original. Meaning I am looking at the same thing Phyllis would have seen.

You can see the sounding board above the pulpit.

2. Speaking of the pews, I've never seen a church set up the way this one was. The pews were more like boxes of benches, and not all of the seats faced the front. I vaguely remember reading something about the Puritan congregation that founded the church preferring the set up that way, and that people actually had to PAY to sit in certain booths. How crazy is that!

Best view of the Pews I could get-
along with a creepy ghost looking plastic cut out of another historical figure...

3. We weren't allowed upstairs into the balcony while I was there. I'm sure there could have been a ton of neat looking aerial shots of these strange pews if we had been allowed. I'm not too concerned though, the place looked like it could use some major sprucing up, so it may not have been safe to travel up there anyway.

Best view of the balcony I could get from the front of the first floor.

Thank you again for reading my blog. Feel free to comment, leave suggestions, or ask questions. I still have more Massachusetts to account for (at LEAST three more entries) and by the time you finish reading them all, I will be wrapping up my next two states: Washington and Alaska!

See you on the next adventure!

Standing In The Footsteps of Legends

If you haven't noticed by now, my camera's USB decided to stop acting up and allowed me to upload the rest of my Massachusetts pictures! (This is where you cheer and applaud loudly!)

The very first stop I made in Massachusetts was in Boston at the Museum of African American History. About a 20 minute walk from South Station (probably a little less when you already know where you are going) it cost $5.00 to enter. The organization is essentially split between two buildings, the Abiel Smith School (the first school in the country dedicated to educating free blacks) and the African Meeting House across the street (It's the oldest extant African American church building in the nation constructed primarily by free black artisans).

Abiel Smith School

The school building was built to house the classes that were taught in the basement of the African Meeting House. Today, there are three levels of exhibits and information that mostly focus on notable African Americans from the area/ of the abolitionist movement, and of African American military service up through the Civil War. There is a 15 minute video that they show on the third floor that features a high school student reflecting on what life was like for African Americans in the city of Boston from the time the buildings were being actively used, and other commentary from African American history experts. It was a great way to pack a lot of information in a quick punch for people like me who had no desire to read every single label in each room.

No photos were allowed inside the school, but they were allowed inside the meeting house. Crystal was our park ranger/tour guide, and she walked us from the school, over to the Meeting House and talked to us about the history of the building architecturally and cultrually. I think she did a really great job, and she was very kind to take a photo of me standing in the pulpit of the Meeting House- the same pulpit where Fredrick Douglass, Maria Stuart (first woman in America to give a public lecture- I didn't know about her prior to coming to the museum), and others stood and gave speeches. It was very humbling. The floors are original to the building, and there is also one original pew left-- very tiny indeed!

Me in that awe-inspiring pulpit.

View of the Meeting House from the balcony

I think it was a very well executed and meticulously maintained museum/historic site. I actually think they could probably get away with charging a little bit more for admission, and I loved how they kept the focus on one area of black history. Often in smaller museums you run into the problem of trying to cover too much, and don't get anything really conveyed to your visitors. Or, the focus is so narrow that there isn't much to display or discuss outside of academic lectures. This museum had great balance and an enthusiastic, friendly staff.

I actually only had one complaint while I was there. Crystal, who I already said was doing an excellent job, was asked a question by one of the visitors- if the building was used as a church, why wasn't there more religious regalia built into the building, such as crosses, or stained glass. As soon as Crystal opened her mouth to answer, some random woman who was with two other visitors jumped in and began a 15 minute (no lie) monologue about the building and history- everything Crystal had already covered- and never really answered the poor man's question. I was extremely irritated by that, not only because this woman wasn't answering the question asked, but it seemed she just wanted to look like a know-it-all. Crystal was very polite and didn't interrupt- but I felt as if she had been disrespected and that my time was being wasted.

The kicker is when I returned to the museum store to get my suitcase, I was asked by the employee there what I thought, and when I told him about this rude woman, he grinned and said "That's our Director of Education". I'll tell you exactly what I told him- I don't care who she is, what she did was rude and unnecessary. How can you not have on any credentials letting your visitors know who you are, but proceed to butt in on a tour and THEN not even answer the question that provoked your interrupting to begin with? I'm sure Crystal (and other tour guides) were given ample training when they were hired-- let them do their jobs next time.

Well, I'll be posting blog entries for the next few weeks every couple of days. I'll try and rotate between Rhode Island and Massachusetts to keep it interesting. Most of my postcards are out, and I'm trying to type up a few entries a day.

Thank you so much for reading my blog, and I'll see you on the next adventure!

Cemeteries Are Hot! (Ohio)

And I mean that in the most literal sense possible.

View of the larger of two lakes at Lake View Cemetery

The last time I visited a cemetery, I completely underestimated how much walking (and beaming sun exposure) I would be subjected to. Thinking I would be better prepared this time, I packed a bag with two bottles of water, fresh fruit, and some granola and had napkins to wipe sweat away. Silly me forgot that full water bottles and fruit weigh a LOT when you are lugging them around all day, so although I wasn't as thirsty or fatigued, my shoulders were not very pleased with my decision!

But don't let my poorly thought out plan sway you from the facts- Lake View Cemetery   is absolutely beautiful. I saw some unique and ornate tombstones. Many people will come here to see the graves of Cleveland's former elite class- I'm not from Cleveland so most of the names didn't mean much to me. There were some exceptions. The John D. Rockefeller Monument (yeah, THAT Rockefeller) is right next to the Garfield Tomb. Garrett A. Morgan, famed African American inventor, is also buried at Lake View (sadly too far out of the way for me to walk to it and back to the front gate in time to catch my train to my next stop).

The Rockefeller Monument at Lake View

There is a more detailed list of who's who and where on the Lake view website, but the most ornate and prominent of these burial sites is James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States.

Garfield Memorial in Lake View

Statue of President Garfield in the main hall of the Memorial

Although the building was a bit over run with flies, you can't deny the very detailed artistry put into this building (My non-sensical mind was just waiting for a zombie Garfield to pop out with maggots and flies buzzing around him. More realistically they were just trying to escape the heat like the humans were.) As ornate as the upper levels dedicated to his life and achievements are, the actual burial room/crypt is simple and plain (in comparison). I'm sure you can make some super deep reference to the fact that no matter what we do in this lifetime, we all are but simple dust in the end- or something like that.

Compared to the upper levels, the burial chamber was extremely plain

I know this entry is getting a little long and stuffed with pictures, but there was one more major thing I saw in Lake View- the Wade Memorial Chapel.

Wade Memorial Chapel in Lake View Cemetery

Built in 1901 in honor of the industrialist Jeptha Wade (who was a founder of the cemetery), this is a very simple and elegant building. It serves as the receiving chapel for new burials- and is rented out for small weddings according to the very informative guide that was stationed there.

Center stained/painted glass window done by Louis Tiffany- son of the founder of Tiffany & Co.

The walls are covered with delicately colored glass mosaics that depict a bunch of guys rowing while some other folks look on. This was explained to me as the left side representing the creation of God's Law in the Old Testament and the fulfillment of God's Law in the New Testament on the right.I was also told that these mosaics were assembled by Tiffany Glass Company (Louis' company founded before he joined back in with Tiffany & Co. in 1902 upon his father's death) and transported to Cleveland via the Erie Canal.

Right side of the Chapel walls, representing the New Testament

That pretty much sums up my time at Lake View. I have at least two more Cleveland entries left for you, as well as a review of a neat website I found of a guy who has visited every Presidential grave. Every. Single. One. Pretty interesting if you ask me! My pictures are still on my Facebook page (feel free to thumbs up me if you like my photos or just want to be nice!), and as always, I'll see you on the next adventure!