The Last Rose of Summer

A red maple leaf and a pink wild beach rose cross paths this season of the equinox, like one actor pushing another actor off stage. Let’s give the rose one final bow.

Here is Thomas Moore’s, “The Last Rose of Summer” (1805):

’TIS the last rose of summer
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
To give sigh for sigh.

I’ll not leave thee, thou lone one!
To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go, sleep thou with them.
Thus kindly I scatter
Thy leaves o’er the bed,
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow,
When friendships decay,
And from Love’s shining circle
The gems drop away.
When true hearts lie withered
And fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit
This bleak world alone?

You Are Here

Lenox, in western Massachusetts, and the large stone road marker points the general direction of other towns down the roads at the crossing, but will not tell you how many miles to go. That’s your worry. The marker conveniently and most expeditiously doubles as a sundial, so that if it happens to be sunny, you may happen to tell the time. GPS units and BlackBerries are for sissies, so are precise mile markers, except for the old brownstone ones that Ben Franklin had put up you can still find along the winding road to Boston we call Route 20, but back in the day (and in many sections still) was the King’s Highway.

Put away your iPods, your cell phones that do everything but make soup. All you need to know is the motto at the upper part of the monument inscribed:

I have a lesson for all who have eyes,
And a motto for all who will learn.
Then hasten in time to be wise,
And the value of hours discern.


You can find this typical sundial motto in “The Book of Sun-dials” by Mrs. Alfred [Margaret Scott] Gatty, whose 19th century catalogue of English sundials and their mottos is available here.

A lesson on the value of hours, on a road sign with no miles. Einstein fiddled a lot with equations about time in relation to space. That was his worry. It you are standing before this marker, late for an appointment, it might be yours, too.

Never mind. Consider the value of hours, and lazily pick a direction.

Back to School Filene's Ad

This back to school ad for “Filene’s of Boston” with its call to “why limit your vacation by rushing home to shop?” reminds us of a time when big department stores were in big cities, in this case Boston. Chain stores were a thing of the future, but Hyannis, Massachusetts this end of the summer in 1940 showed the promise of things to come. Filene’s had opened a branch store on the Cape, to service vacationers and summer residents. Not wanting to wait for the customer to come to them in Boston, Filene’s went to them. It may not seem like much now with a Wal-Mart in many suburban and rural communities, but in its day was revolutionary.

Blog goes dark.

This blog goes dark today in memory of the murdered victims of 9/11.

Civilian Conservation Corps Museum

Here is the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum of Stafford Springs, Connecticut. Currently operated by the very knowledgeable curator Elliotte Draegor, the museum is openly seasonally only. Ms. Draegor hopes to keep the building open for the remainder of September, so try to see it soon.

The museum consists of one building left from the original CCC Camp Connor which stood on this spot in the Shenipsit State Forrest in the 1930s. One of many programs initiated by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to put young men to work, the CCC was perhaps the most popular, and boys and their families profited by the income and the experience. The museum contains materials and artifacts from CCC camps from all over New England.

The museum was begun by former members of the CCC, who wanted to preserve the story of their own experiences as part of the history of this Depression-era government program. Items, such as photos, scrapbooks, footlockers, clothing and tools continue to be donated by these men or their families.


Stop by this small, but worthwhile and important museum for look at the can-do spirit of another generation in the throes of economic disaster, who built many of the state and national parks we enjoy today. The Civilian Conservation Corps Museum is located on Route 190 in Stafford Springs, Connecticut. For more info, call: 860-684-3430.

Have a look at this earlier post on the 1011st CCC camp in New Hampshire.

Blog 2nd Anniversary

Today marks the 2nd anniversary of New England Travels. Thank you for the pleasure of your company.

Perkins Cove - Ogunquit, Maine

Perkins Cove, a section of Ogunquit, Maine, on a sunny and very hot summer afternoon. Both a working fishing village, and tourist attraction, the genuine scenic beauty sometimes battles head to head with the crowded and the “touristy.”

Settled in the 1640s, and formerly a part of the town of Wells, the fishing community of Ogunquit developed another identity as an artists’ colony, and now is more well known as a resort town.


Some prefer the off-season, some don’t mind the high season, but whenever you go, there’s much here to appreciate and enjoy. Climb up the wooden drawbridge and have a look around.