Where Have I Been, And Where Am I Going

It's been a while since my last blog post. The past six weeks has been tumultuous to say the least. We still have "weather" (a euphemism for bad) in New England, and I started a new job that is quite chaotic. 

Needless to say, I haven't really been out-and-about enjoying the treasures of the North Shore. 

However, I have had dinner and lunches with friends and can now see my deck, albeit no snow, but considerable damage. 







Now that we are starting to have clearer weather and the snow has melted, it got me thinking about what I might want to do this weekend (Sunday should be nice). 

The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) has a Duane Michals photographic exhibit, called Storyteller. I do love a photo exhibit so this may be a wonderful way to spend an Easter Sunday afternoon.  

Me at Crane Beach a few years ago

But, if the weather is nice, there is always a hike on Crane Beach. The photo above was taken by a friend of mine several years ago when we went to hike the beach on my birthday in March. The dunes may be a bit wet, but it's early in the season so the price for parking should be lower, $10 instead of $25, plus there is also a photo gallery so I'm sure to get my photographic fill.

Whatever I decide to do I'm trying to keep a positive attitude now that spring has sprung on the North Shore of Massachusetts.

Visiting Manchester-by-the-Sea in Winter? Try it!

My friend Tara recently said, "We need to embrace winter." Seriously? She is right of course, it is better to just go with what has been happening this winter in New England.  I'm still surrounded by 10 feet of snow, barely seeing out my windows, so when she said we should go to Manchester by-the-sea, a charming, quintessential New England village just north of Salem, I was sceptical.

The Rail Station

The train stops right at the town so it is a short walk to the beach or just across the tracks to the town, dotted with building from the 18th and 19th century.

The mound of snow has actually melted 

A view of the village from the sea

It is crazy to go to the beach in winter? Well, Captain Dusty's ice cream shop wasn't open, but the walkways through the park the surrounds the beach was clear. The sun glistened off the snow illuminating the ice packs on the water. Actually it was quite lovely.

After spending a yummy lunch of fish tacos and white wine, we strolled around town and visited a terrific used book shop with great prices. We both picked up a book for under $10. Manchester-by-the-Sea is the start of the Cape Ann area of the Massachusetts North Shore which includes Gloucester and Rockport.

If you just want to spend a few hours, even in winter, to enjoy the North Shore coastline, Manchester-by-the-Sea is a must stop.

Great used book shop

Sun shining through

Chestnut Street: Merchants, Mansions and Memoirs.

Rainy days aren't the best for walking tours, but on this day, Chestnut Street: Merchants, Mansions and Memoirs Walking Tour seemed like a good fit. The dark clouds and slight raindrops made the stories more believable.

Hamilton, Pickering, Samuel McIntire; politicians, wealthy merchants, architects and artists built and lived in the mansions on a few blocks of Chestnut Street, away from the wharf area on Salem. The Federalists as they were known at the time, didn't want to mingle with the Polish immigrants that worked in their factories, and on their docks helping to make them wealthy. Today Hamilton Hall is used for dances, weddings, and meeting, much like it was in the 1800's. 

Alexander Hamilton was one of the creators
of the Federalist Party

Typical Federalist Architecture style

The typical Federalist style of architecture was one of Samuel McIntire's style. Many of the mansions on Chestnut Street were in this design either created by McIntire or copying his style. 

The style incorporates brick and wood, usually two rows of Palladian windows with a top row of smaller ones. Usually the servants lived on the top floor. These mansions had an upper and lower floor maid, kitchen staff, grounds keeper and laundress. Many of the families would have chauffeurs to drive them the few blocks from Chestnut Street to their offices at Derby or Pickering Wharf.

Another style consistent with McIntire is the tall fireplace stacks. Most of the mansions have several fireplaces throughout the home.

Greek-revival pillars are often used plus the detailing around the top of the pillars shows wealth; the more the detailing around windows and doors, the wealthier the owner.

Many of the houses were built as duplexes. Pickering built three homes attached to each other for his three daughters to help get them married off.

Today, the far-right house is owned by In a Pigs Eye (my neighborhood pub) manager/owner. 

Stephen Phillips home was replaced with siding. Because of this the Chestnut Street Association was formed to regulate what you could and could not do to the outside of your home. The New England Historical Society makes plaques for each of the home designating who the home was originally built by and when. 

 
Phillips Home Museum sits at the end of Chestnut Street and was donated by the Phillips heirs to the city. 

Many thanks to Jim McAllister our tour guide for the wonderful stories and historical antidotes. 

At the end of the street, a local benefactor purchased the land and built a replication of the Derby Street House.

I just love learning more and more about my new city and will continue additional posts this summer (hoping the weather gets better of course)!

One And Done...The Adventure Continues On MA North Shore

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind for me.  On Monday, March 17 I received a job offer as Senior eCommerce Marketing Manager for PetEdge, Inc., a pet grooming supplier located on the north shore of Massachusetts in Beverly.  Yea, so happy!! But...it also meant I needed to buy a car and look for a place on the north shore to move, ugh!!

By Wednesday that same week I had purchased a car, and by Friday I found an apartment in Salem (about a 10 minute commute to Beverly), for a move-in April 1.

That Sunday, March 23 (my birthday), a couple of friends (Karen and Tara) and I took a hike along Crane's Beach...guess where, yep, on the north shore.

Crane's Beach on the North Shore, MA

The beach is very popular in the summer so I like to hike it either in the winter or fall. The sand dunes provide a real workout for my legs. There is a place on the trail that you can take to the beach but it was basically a wetland since there has been such a harsh winter in Massachusetts this year.  So, unfortunately we had to stay on the trail and come out where we started. It should be clear in a couple of weeks so I'll try it again. The views are spectacular and on clear days you can see all the way up and down the shore.

After the hike, my friends and I decided to eat in Salem at In A Pigs Eye, which we soon decided would be my local pub hangout. 

We stopped by to  take a look at "my little place" from the outside. It has a lovely porch that will be terrific for entertaining in summer, or just to sit with a nice glass of wine and read a book.

I'm about half a block from the water and can't wait to get into all Salem has to offer. It is pretty crazy around October because of Halloween, but frankly I'm really looking forward to it. At least I say that now. After all the tourists I may change my mind. The great part is off-street parking. No more worrying about where to park my car.

I've had a horrible time parking in Brookline. For some reason, (I'm sure it has to do with money), Brookline instituted a ban on street parking from 2am-6am so I've had to find parking in the nearby town of Brighton and it has been hit and miss. I've already had two parking tickets in one week.

The first week of the job is just like you might expect. Every night I come home exhausted and my head is about ready to explode. I know it will take some time to get into the groove. I'm just so thankful I have a job in such a short time of looking.

Within 2 weeks of arriving in Boston I had a job, car and new place to live. Whew! My friend Jen tagged me as "one and done" and she's right. 

Now on to the new adventure up the coast!

Getting Back to the "Hood"

Coming back to Boston has been great. I'm seeing the city with a new perspective. Some things are exactly the same and others have changed somewhat, but mainly I think I've changed a bit. I spent the day getting reacquainted with my old neighborhood of Brookline, Mass. I was able to find a room/bath (albeit at outrageous rent) on a month-to-month basis which is very unusual for this area. My roommate, Marc is from West Africa and is Lebanese. He went to school in England and speaks fluent French. 

The village hasn't changed all that much but some of the shops and restaurants I used to frequent are gone or in the case of my favorite little Sunday brunch place, have changed the menu.  In other cases, it is like walking into the past and seeing the same people behind the counter and finding the same types of shopping items I always purchased, giving me a "warm and fuzzy" feel to being home.

Boston has really been slammed with snow this winter as you can see by the pics I just took today. The streets are lined with piles of snow waiting for the bright sun to hit them and start the spring thaw. They will need to wait a while longer as we are to have snow the next few days.

House across the street from my flat

Brookline is the quintessential Bostonian village just about 3 miles from the center of Boston (5 Kilometers for my European friends). The population is just over 58,000 and it was first settled in 1638.

Probably its most famous resident was John Fitzgerald Kennedy our 35th president. He was born in the house below in the second floor bedroom in 1917. 

JFK's birthplace in Brookline, MA

The other famous part of the city is the "T" as we locals call it. The trolley runs above ground outside of Boston and as the subway in the city. It is fairly efficient but can be frustrating in the winter waiting for it in the cold. 

One of the best parts of this village is the diversity. The International makeup is really special; Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Russian, just about any nationality you can think of lives in Brookline. I suspect it is due to the fact the city is centrally located to four major universities and colleges; Boston University, Boston College, Harvard and MIT and not to far away is Tufts University and Northeastern University, all great educational centers for learning in the world.

Diverse influences are seen through architecture, food and religion throughout the city. On one block you will see a catholic church next to a Buddhist center across from a Korean church and down the block is a Synagogue.

Great detail on the church steeples.

Local artists put their stamp of diversity decorating a building on Harvard Street.

The thing I will love the most is being able to see the many documentaries, foreign films and independent films at the Coolidge Corner theatre.  As a matter of fact, I'm going to see the Oscar nominated live action shorts tonight. How ironic…while the Oscars are on TV I'll be watching films.

Now all that needs to happen is for me to get a job!  I have several interviews on Monday and Tuesday so keeping my fingers crossed, I'll be working soon.  Watch this space for more updates.