Massachusetts - Day 19 - Saugus and points south

Sippewissett Campground, Falmouth
Wednesday, 19 September 2018

today's route

My previous campground issued a plastic card that allowed entry through a gate into the campground, and required a $10 cash deposit for the card.  I forgot to turn the card in yesterday - probably because it was raining so hard I couldn't think of anything else - so couldn't leave until 10:00 this morning when the office opened, so I could get my $10 back.

That meant it was nearly 11:00 by the time I got down to Saugus.  I've been wanting to visit the Saugus Iron Works Historical Site for days but haven't been able to work it into previous itineraries, but I didn't want to leave the northeast part of Mass. without seeing it.

now visitor center, former home of iron works boss

Turns out it was a lot of the same information I'd gotten at that iron works a while back but can't remember where.  I've got to figure out a way to retrieve information from previous posts, I'm sure there's some system people use to do this and, just as I'd expected, places are starting to run together in my memory.  That's why I wanted to do this blog - so I could retrieve that kind of information - now I just need to learn how to do that.

Anyway, there're a couple of things that are different about this iron works from the other one.  One is the age: it operated from 1646 until about 1670, seriously old in this part of the world.  It closed due to financial mismanagement, clearly not a modern invention.  The other is that they've got a sort of monument to a bunch of Scots who came to work there as indentured servants in 1650.  The Scots had been captured by Cromwell at the Battle of Dunbar and sold as indentured servants; nearly 40 of them ended up at the iron works.

These are both photos of the same plaque, one with a flash and the other without.  But both have spots where one is easier to read than the other so I'm putting both of them up in case you've got a larger screen than I do and can read them more easily.

I didn't think the bottom part had enough light so took that separately:

Can't say I've ever seen a historical plaque so full of emotion.

So, on a different note entirely, I saw that Sen. Ted Cruz is now saying that if his Democratic opponent, Beto O'Rourke, is elected that Texans won't be allowed to have barbecue any more.  Because, you see, what Texans barbecue is meat, and Beto will California-ize and tofu-up Texas so Texans won't be allowed to eat meat.  Sure.  Makes sense to me.  (I only hope it was just a campaign trail joke.)

I accidentally ended up on a toll bridge over the Mystic River into Boston and they had no toll booths to allow me to pay cash.  They had signs saying don't worry, we'll bill you using Pay By Plate.  Swell.

I managed to find a highway route that allowed me to go right through Boston without getting stuck in the Byzantine street system.  And one of the things I saw was a building for the Fortress Storage Co.  I got this photo off the internet.

That really is what it looked like.  Pretty clever, huh?

The entire day I was getting intermittent rain - sometimes nothing, sometimes actual rain, sometimes just drizzle.  Not so good for panoramic views but not too hard for driving in.

I decided to pass up the turnoff for my new campground to go into Falmouth (pronounced FAL(to rhyme with my gal Sal)-muth).  I actually found a legal parking place in town, and I stopped a man to ask about a nearby grocery store.  He was the chatty type - told me I'd like Cape Cod better than any other part of the state, told me he owned an RV for years and missed it, told me his kids used to stay at the campground I'll be in but he thought it was too hilly, and gave me good directions to a market.

I walked the dogs a bit, wondering about how there could be too many hills in the campground when I'd assumed the cape would be fairly flat.  Turns out he was right.

This campground is nothing but hills and trees.  It's a nice setting but difficult for me to get in and out of the campsites.  The first one they assigned me had the water connection too far away for me to use - and since I haven't gotten my water pump fixed yet I have to have the hookup.  So I went straight (up and down hill) back to the office and they gave me another site.

This one is fine except it's situated on a curve, and it has a large wooden patio that takes up almost half the site, so it's extremely difficult for me to get into.  The thought of coming and going every day from this site for the week I've reserved isn't an inviting one so tomorrow I'll see if they've got anything else.