We took a harbor cruise out of Bar Harbor today – 4 more lighthouses! During the cruise our captain arranged (likely pre-arranged) to rendezvous with a lobsterman as he was tending his traps. We got to see him pull 6 out of his trap. Our guide told us that the solo lobsterman probably tended on average 150 traps a day. That’s a lot of lobster! There are lobster traps everywhere – every harbor is dotted with their buoys.
These guys will probably be on someone’s plate in the near future!
We visited Pemaquid Point Lighthouse by land today. It’s not nearly as imposing but still pretty. Kathy stated it well when she said “from the sea you understand the context and purpose of the lighthouse and why it is there. From the land it is more about the structure itself.”
I managed to haul my carcass out the door again this morning for the second time in a row. I’ve got a number of good results but will have to process them at a later date. So much to see and do here – no time to process photos. A good problem to have!
I set the alarm for an early exploration of Rockport. It seems that in order to walk around town in the morning here it is a requirement to have at least one dog. I guess that’s what you do in the winter if you don’t drink whiskey. 😉
Motif #1, located on Bradley Wharf in the harbor town of Rockport, Massachusetts, is a replica of a former fishing shack well known to students of art and art history as “the most often-painted building in America.” The original structure was built in 1840 and destroyed in the Blizzard of 1978, but an exact replica was constructed that same year.
Enroute today from Hyannis to Rockport, Massachusetts, we made a stop in Plymouth to see the Mayflower II. We didn’t go aboard, but got some good views from the shore. We also saw the so-called “Plymouth Rock.”
I wasn’t able to determine the significance of the photographs on the side of this building but will do more research when I get home.
Update 9/19/21:
Thanks to my lovely and talented research assistant, I was able to gather the following description:
“They Also Faced The Sea” installation was designed to keep the spirit and the presence of Portuguese culture alive by Ewa Nogiec, artist, publisher of iamprovincetown.com and owner of Gallery Ehva, and Norma Holt, photographer.
The installation of five larger-than-life black and white photographs of Provincetown women of Portuguese descent, mounted on a building at the end of Fisherman’s Wharf in Provincetown Harbor, is conceived as a tribute to the Portuguese community and its fishing heritage.
Norma Holt’s photographs from Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum collection of Almeda Segura, Eva Silva, Mary Jason, Bea Cabral and Frances Raymond, are meant to represent all of the women of Provincetown who over the years have been the backbone of this vital fishing village. They came from a long line of hard-working people, immigrating mostly from the Azores and mainland Portugal. Their families fished the waters off Cape Cod for over 200 years, built a major fish packing and distribution industry and made an important contribution to the history and culture of Provincetown.
Portuguese women faced the sea in many ways: as mothers, wives, sisters, friends and family of fishermen, as cooks, laundresses, nurses, teachers and telephone operators. They kept the culture alive, sang the songs, danced the dances, buried the dead, gave birth, cooked and kept the church at the center of their lives. Above all, they were resilient through good times and bad, their strength and courage easily matching and supporting that of their male seafaring counterparts.
More information can be found here: https://www.iamprovincetown.com/PortugueseWomen/
There is a large Portuguese population in Provincetown, and this artwork commemorates the contribution of the Portuguese women to the seafaring history of the area.
Another state in the books! Beautiful country along Cape Cod, more exploring to do tomorrow.
My plans to get out and photograph on our first evening in Mystic were foiled by a chance meeting with a fellow retired banker – albeit from Florida – and her sister who lives in a condo near our hotel. We had a lovely conversation over drinks and, while I did manage to grab a few photos within close proximity to my chair on the deck, the camaraderie was more compelling than the photography! 😉
I’ll try again in the morning!
I’m caught up with my postcards but don’t expect to stay that way. We start the “New England” part of our journey today and have a lot we want to see. The good part is that we will be staying multiple nights in each location from here out, so hopefully there will be some time for processing.
The Narragansett Towers, built in 1883, are the only remaining part of the original Narragansett Pier Casino. One of the most recognizable landmarks in Narragansett, The Towers currently hosts weddings, dances, dinners, plays, and fashion shows. Its location, adjacent to Narragansett town beach, makes it an ideal venue for social events.
Scranton, Pennsylvania is known as The Electric City due to its early adoption of electric lighting in 1881. The sign is located atop the Scranton Electric Building in downtown Scranton. We spent our second night out at the Radisson Hotel, located in the former Lackawanna Railway Passenger Station. I have photos of that too, which will come later. 😉