U.S. History

Digging Up Family History in Essex, Mass.

by Deb C February 28, 2021

For a different outdoor activity last August, my husband and I went digging up family history in Essex, Massachusetts. Actually, we went looking for ancestors in an old New England graveyard.

When my husband’s English ancestor arrived in the Colonies, he settled in the Ipswich/Essex area. He had twelve children from whom most American Clevelands are descended, including President Grover Cleveland. Another descendent was John Cleaveland, who became a minister of some renown in the 1700’s. In fact, we found a book written about him, The World of John Cleaveland. An archive of his sermons are housed at Yale University Library.

Digging Up Family History – Finding An Ancestor by Accident

Years ago, when our two boys were probably 5 and 7, we decided to go for a drive through the Ipswich area and up to Gloucester. As we often went to Cape Cod, New Hampshire, or Maine, we decided it was time to explore more of Massachusetts on a day trip.

As we were driving through Essex, we spotted an antiques shop, The Elephant’s Trunk. I used to have an antiques shop and wrote articles for antiques publications. The kids liked the elephant statue outside so they and I were happy that my husband pulled over so we could visit the shop.

As he parked the car, a little voice in the backseat said “Look, there’s my name!” My husband and I just looked at each other and asked “Where?”

Right where we pulled over there was a sign on a gate of a graveyard with the names of some of the people buried there. And yes, one of them was John Cleaveland, my son’s name. (Along the years, the first “a” in the name was dropped by many in the family.) Whew! Of all the places to pull over, and there we were unknowingly finding an ancestor. My husband knew he had ancestors in the area, but we weren’t looking for them.

Once we left the car we went into the graveyard, known as the Old Burial Ground, and wandered around looking for Rev. John Cleaveland’s grave. We found it, along with the graves of his two wives. After exploring the graveyard and taking some pictures, we headed for the antiques store. I can’t remember much about the shop, but I often told our story about stumbling across a family ancestor.

Digging Up Family History in Essex – 20 Odd Years Later

In the years since finding John Cleveland, my husband has worked on his family tree and connected with some relatives. I happened to meet a distant relative of his right in our home town who has also been working on the family tree. The relative bears a strong resemblance to one of my husband’s cousins and a slight resemblance to my husband. The genes are telling. Sometime I hope that we can get together so that they can pool their knowledge about the Cleaveland/Cleveland family tree.

So, as COVID limited our activities last summer, we hit upon revisiting Essex, and the Old Burial Ground to look for the John Cleaveland grave again. Cemeteries are one place that we can visit without worrying about social distancing.

Well, The Elephant’s Trunk is an antique shop under another name now and closed due to COVID, but we still found the graveyard easily. There’s an updated sign with the same wording as our first visit. The difference is that they left out the first “a” in Cleaveland.

Digging Up Family History in Essex: Exploring an old New England Graveyard

Peering through the gate to the Old Burial Ground, we could see a vault on the right, and a building marked “Hearse House.” The Hearse House is believed to be only one of three left in America.

We stepped through the narrow opening next to the gate and set off to find the Rev. John Cleaveland’s grave. I thought I remembered that it was one of the those with a flat bronze type plaque over it, but it is of slate and upright. It looked clean and was still readable and there was a flag signaling that he was a veteran. He was a chaplain in the Revolutionary War. Both stones had the names on the back as well as the front. Not all the stones have that.

Next to Rev. Cleaveland was a double headstone of his two wives, both named Mary. Maybe a Cleveland thing, as my husband’s grandfather’s two wives had the same name. Both remarried after the first wife passed away.

The Burial Ground was well kept and it looked as though several of the stones had been cleaned.

Back in the Colonial Era, men often married several times, as wives often died in childbirth, or perhaps worn out from caring for family and house and frequent childbearing. The gravestone above is for the three wives of John Burnham. From the dates, he seemed to remarry fairly quickly after losing a spouse. This could be beneficial to both parties, as the husband had someone to care for his motherless children, and the often widow needed a husband to provide for her and any children she might have. Women by and large didn’t own property or have resources or safety nets like there are today.

Here are some more photos of the graveyard:

Digging Up Family History in Essex: Historic Essex Walking Tour

Outside of the Old Burial Ground is a descriptive plaque, which is part of the Historic Essex Walking Tour. It includes a QR code linked to a website with more information about the history of Essex. One of the other notable things about the graveyard, not mentioned on the sign with John Cleaveland’s name, is that is the site of grave robberies in 1818. A local doctor, studying anatomy, was caught and fined for robbing eight graves. It’s said that the empty caskets were buried under the Hearse House.

But wait, there’s more:

We picked up a walking tour brochure and walked to some of the other sites close by, but all were closed, due to the Pandemic. But, you can always explore online. A website that I’ve found very helpful in learning about our ancestors is genealogy.com.

To find out more about Historic Essex and the Old Burial Ground, visit EssexWalkingTour.com and VisitEssexMA.com.

To learn more about what you can learn in graveyards and cemeteries, check out the Gravestone Girls. They give lectures and tours in New England. I attended one at the Morse Library in Natick, Mass. a couple of years ago and it was great.

This trip we were looking for Cleveland ancestors. In another blog post, I talk about looking for my Dahlquist ancestors in Cambridge, Mass.

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February 28, 2021 0 comment

Nostalgia U.S. History

A Baby Boomer’s Christmas Memories

by Deb C December 30, 2020

For this blog post, I am traveling down a Memory Lane. A Baby Boomer’s Christmas Memories are of simpler versions of how Christmas is celebrated today. There were more homemade decorations and gifts, less lights, and lower priced and less gifts in the stockings and under the tree, but the underlying love and giving spirit are comparable to today.

Christmas Traditions of Baby Boomer Days

TV Specials are a big part of a Baby Boomer’s Christmas Memories

Some of today’s traditions, such as A Charlie Brown’s Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Frosty the Snowman TV Classics, first aired when Baby Boomers believed in Santa. According to one source, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is the longest continuously running Christmas TV special. For me, it was great to be able to sit down and watch my childhood favorites with our kids. “Holly Jolly Christmas” sung by Burl Ives became a favorite song for one of them.

The songs, “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman” were both big 1950’s song hits for Gene Autry, “The Singing Cowboy.” Yes, we Baby Boomers heard them first, as well as “‘Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” and other Christmas pop/rock recordings still popular today. Debuting in 1949, Gene Autry’s version of “Rudolph” has sold over 25 million copies worldwide.

When I was sorting through my record stash, I actually found a 78 rpm record of “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” by Gene Autry and The Pinafores with Orchestral Acc. I have no recollection about why or how I have it. I don’t think it was from my parents. I do remember that they let me make crafts out of some of their 78’s. Like making a rippled bowl out of them by placing them over a can and heating them in the oven.

Sometime in the 1960’s my Mother picked up some flannel elves and reindeer figures that I’m sure were inspired by the Rudolph film. When we cleaned out her house, we divided up some of the Christmas decorations. My sister provided these photos of the elves and reindeer. The Santa is from a dollar store.

Santa with vintage elves and reindeer on 50plusses.com

photos by Sandi Regan

There are a lot of collectibles made over the years that are based on Christmas TV specials. I picked up a Rudolph ornament and one of the dog from the Grinch show. They run the gamut and you can look for your favorite characters on websites such as eBay and Etsy. I picked up a like-new “Yukon Cornelius” stocking with tags on it at a thrift store.

Original Rudolph figure makes history, again

I recently heard that the original Santa and Rudolph figures used in the Rudolph Rankin/Bass Productions TV special still exist. My Internet searches led me to learning the back story about the original story, the making of the TV classic, and what happened to the figures.

The original story was written in 1939 as a seasonal children’s book giveaway of the Montgomery Ward Department Store, a Sears rival. The brother-in-law of the author later wrote the song which became Gene Autry’s huge hit.

Image of Rudolph figure released by Profiles in History

The TV Rudolph’s nose still glows and Santa’s beard, of Yak hair, is still a snowy white. The Japanese puppets made for Rankin/Bass Productions were given to Arthur Rankin Jr.’s secretary and kept in the family until about 15 years ago. Then, after they were appraised on Antiques Roadshow for a pre-auction estimate of $8,000 – $10,000, they were sold on eBay. The buyer, the owner of the collectibles toy shop, Time and Space Toys, had them restored. They had been played with and stored in a hot attic in between family Christmases and needed some TLC. You can see some before and after images on Youtube. Unfortunately, other figures from the film deteriorated and melted due to attic conditions.

After restoring the puppets and getting publicity for saving some of the World’s most famous Christmas icons, Time and Space Toys sold them to a huge fan of the movie for over $30,000. In November, 2020, “the most famous reindeer of all” made history again as the Rudolph and Santa puppets sold for a whopping $365,000, way over their $150,000 – $200,000 estimate. That makes them amongst the most valuable items of TV memorabilia ever sold at auction. (What they mean to children of all ages is priceless.)

Profiles in History catalog – Santa and Rudolph

Profiles in History, a major auction house that specializes in Hollywood memorabilia, auctioned off Santa and Rudolph. They created a catalog just for the Rudolf auction and you can see it here. You can read their press release for the auction here.

Decorating the Live Tree

One of my first Christmas memories is of my Mother making ornaments from walnut shells. Now, you can find all kinds of ideas for crafting with walnut shells on Pinterest. Tree ornaments were made by carefully prying open the shell, gluing a toothpick inside to hold a string or ribbon, gluing the halves back together, and painting them.

Those ornaments my Mother made survived several moves, and were used for decades. I wasn’t sure what happened to them. I thought that they had gone into the dumpster when my Mother went into Assisted Living a couple of years ago. A few weeks ago I decided to pull out the one box of ornaments that I brought home from my Mother’s house. It’s a small suitcase sized clothing or suit box from Sears, with a foldover cover, perfect for storage. After poking around among the graying tissue paper wrapped ornaments, I found four of them in a small plastic bag tucked into one corner. The halves of one of them had separated. I noticed that my Mother had numbered the halves, “15” and “15.” This must have been so that she knew which ones went with which when regluing after placing the toothpick and string inside and painting them. So now I know that she made at least 15. Whatever glue, string, and paint she used has held up over 50 years. There’s no paint on the string so it’s doubtful that she repainted them.

Armed with a thimble, needle and thread and bowls of popcorn, or cranberries, my Mother and I would work on stringing them while watching movies like White Christmas or holiday specials with singers like Bing Crosby and later Andy Williams. My Mother was big on silver for the tree. She worked at making everything balance with an equal portion of the tinsel. She also carefully removed and re-packaged it for use year after year. The newer plastic tinsel that became available had no appeal in our house.

As far as ornaments, we had a couple of precious boxes of fragile glass ornaments generally made in Europe. There were a few plastic ones and a few felt ones like Rudolph and elves Made in Japan. And there were some that we kids made in school or with craft kits. One year I made plaster ones that were from a kit. You mixed up the plaster and poured it into molds. When the plaster was dry, you popped the ornaments out and painted them.

Christmas Treats

Stockings, Stocking Stuffers and Such

For many of us, there weren’t special stockings. We just picked our largest sock. Then in the 1960’s, we started to get store bought flannel stockings. Sometimes someone at the store or we would use a special paint tube to write our name on it.

It never failed that there would be ribbon candy…and that it would break into splinter like pieces. Good thing we four kids really didn’t like it. Candy canes were welcome, but we really liked anything chocolate. Mom/Santa would buy bags or boxes of M and M’s, gumdrops, foil wrapped bells, chocolate covered mints and maybe candy bars. Then she would divide up the candy, repackage it, and fill our stockings with it and small gifts like transparent tape and scissors (as we kept borrowing hers), and small games like jacks or some marbles. Sometimes there was a package of Lifesavers candy that came in a hinged type gift box that opened up to reveal rolls of candy on either side. Speaking of gifts, gift bags weren’t used. Everything was wrapped, sometimes in the Sunday Funnies newspaper, if budgets were tight. Also, my Mother cautioned us to open the presents carefully so as not to rip the paper. We saved and used it from year to year. Some patterns were very pretty and I enjoyed using them over and over again.

Fruitcake

I’ve never understood the jokes about fruitcake, because I always loved it. Sometimes we would make one, and once in a while receive one as a gift. My best “fruitcake memory” is of watching the TV special Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” which first aired in 1966. The story is from Capote’s 1930’s childhood when his parents left him with relatives. It centers around a Christmas-time ritual of making fruitcakes from scratch with his elderly cousin who is also his best friend. They used pecans poached from a neighbor’s pecan grove and bootleg whiskey . You can find the story on You Tube.

Gingerbread Houses

Now you can buy kits with premade gingerbread, frosting, and candy. Boomers would make their own gingerbread, or use graham crackers. Homemade frosting, peppermints, M and M’s, and gumdrops were mostly used for cementing the parts of the “house” and decorating.

Christmas Cookies

What’s Christmas without Christmas cookies? Especially those decorated with frosting and sugar sprinkles. Everything was made from scratch. There weren’t any pre-made waiting in the refrigerated food section of the grocery store. Dough was rolled out and aluminum cookie cutters used for stars, bells, trees, gingerbread men and Santa shaped cookies. Frosting was also made from scratch and either applied with a knife or with an aluminum cake decorating tool. Nonpareils or colored sugar sprinkles were a final touch. You can find such vintage cookie cutters and aluminum cake decoration tools on eBay and Etsy.

My first memory of Christmas cookies must have been a cookie swap. In the mid-1950’s we lived in Alexandria, Virginia as my Father was stationed there while in the Navy. We lived in an apartment complex with a large basement with laundry facilities. I remember long benches set up full of cookies and being able to choose some cookies with sprinkles. This was a huge deal for a not yet three year old.

A Boston Area Baby Boomer’s Special Christmas Memories

There were some things for Boston area Baby Boomers that were just a must-do at some point, and some of them are still available today.

Even today, local kid’s parents, or grandparents make sure that they see a Boston performance of The Nutcracker ballet.

Another Boston must was to visit Santa and “The Enchanted Village” of mechanical figures in old-fashioned dress and scenes which took up an entire floor in Downtown Boston’s Jordan Marsh store. My recollection is of holding my Mother’s hand tightly as we walked along winding ramps and being a bit overwhelmed by all the figures and decorations. After Jordan Marsh was folded into Macy’s, the village was taken on and displayed by the City of Boston at City Hall Plaza and the Hynes Convention Center. The “Village” was bought at auction by Jordan’s Furniture ( no connection to Jordan Marsh), refurbished, and since 2010 is on display at Jordan’s Avon, Mass. location during the holiday season.

If you lived in or near Framingham, Mass., the “old” Shoppers World was the place to visit at Christmas. The original mall had a large open courtyard in the middle. Twenty-four 12 foot tall wooden toy soldiers stood at attention around the courtyard, with a 24 foot tall “General” rotating on platform in the center promenade of the courtyard. Santa’s live reindeer visiting from the North Pole stayed in a pen at one end. And there were bright colored lights and Christmas trees as well as Santa himself.

There’s a Facebook group, The Old Shoppers World was better, where you can see photos and learn more about it.

While the original Shoppers World was razed and there’s a modern replacement, the toy soldiers survived. They are now placed around the city of Framingham during the Christmas season. The DPW even made additional soldiers using an original one as a pattern. The “new recruits” help spread holiday cheer even further.

Yesterday’s Christmases live on in Today’s

So, for this Baby Boomer, a trip down Christmas “Memory Lane” doesn’t have to travel far, as many things from my childhood are still part of today’s decorations and activities. You can find a lot of nostalgic and traditional holiday items on Etsy and eBay. Some things have new twists, or materials. More things are store bought, rather than handmade, and now there are sequels to some of the original Christmas TV specials, but the basic characters and premises are the same. So too is the spirit of giving.

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Here’s some courses to get you started: Start A Travel Blog

or Start A Blogging Business.

December 30, 2020 1 comment

Discounts Museums Nostalgia Travel in the United States U.S. History

Going back in time at the Norman Rockwell Museum

by Deb C October 16, 2019

The Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge provides a trip down memory lane.

Pictures by Norman Rockwell were commonplace in the lives of Baby Boomers and older generations. His images were on the magazines, like Saturday Evening Post, Boy’s Life, and Time, that our parents read and were in our doctors and dentists waiting rooms. Prints, especially those involving sports, childhood situations, or special occasions, were on our walls.

Now, they are often used on holiday cards and all kinds of decorative items.

This year, 2019, marks the 50th Anniversary of the Norman Rockwell Museum, located in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts celebrates 50 years in 2019.

Day-tripping to the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge

We had been considering a trip to the Berkshires and zeroed in on visiting the Norman Rockwell Museum. Their Woodstock to the Moon Exhibit particularly appealed to me.

On a bright sunny summer Sunday morning, we put on our sunblock and hats and headed West in our Solstice with the top down.

We learned from the Museum’s very informative website that it offers free gallery tours with admission. We aimed to be there for the 12:30 p.m. Rockwell Gallery tour. We also hoped to enjoy the Woodstock to the Moon Exhibit talk at 2:00 p.m.

We arrived with time to spare. Friendly staff directed us to the lower gallery to enjoy an exhibit of Rockwell’s magazine covers and a short video about him before the tour. The magazine covers line the walls of a the large room where the video is shown. Seeing them, it strikes you just how prolific Norman Rockwell was as well as creative. There are many favorites, that we remembered. There were many covers, especially those of presidents and head of state, that made us pause to think back on the political changes we had witnessed and Rockwell documented in his unique way.

Gallery Talks

The galleries aren’t all that big, but some how the intimacy suits the exhibits. The docents are enthusiastic. They have a store of tidbits and anecdotes about Rockwell and his life and work. They truly helped us to appreciate the little details that Rockwell put into his work. The details added humor and/or nuance to the story he was telling with paint.

During the gallery talk we learned that Rockwell found ways to best present his subjects. It took some effort with portraying Nixon, not a man with regular features. When Lyndon Johnson saw his official portrait, he said, that’s not what I look like. He pulled out a copy of Time magazine with Rockwell’s portrait of him from his desk drawer and said “This is what I look like.”

Norman Rockwell the Photographer

One of the things that the museum points out is that Rockwell was a photographer as well as an illustrator. He used photos extensively when planning his illustrations. He would enlist local residents and pose them with props and take photos. When he traveled, he took photos which he later incorporated into his work. Some of his photos and sketches are shown with finished paintings. You can see his process from concept to photos to studies to the final product.

Accessibility at the Norman Rockwell Museum

The Museum and Rockwell’s studio, which is on the grounds, are accessible. There’s an elevator between levels and all restrooms are accessible. There are manual wheelchairs for loan at no charge on a first-come first-served basis. The museum offers large print materials as well as Rockwell’s biographical summary in braille. The stairs are wide, and the exhibit space designed for easy navigation and enjoyment.

The introductory video is closed captioned. A digital tour also provides closed captioning and full text transcripts. For a fee, arrangements can be made for sign language interpreters for gallery talks.

Rockwell’s Studio part of the museum’s experience

Rockwell’s studio has been relocated to the site from Stockbridge Village. There was scaffolding around part of it and obviously work being done on it, so we didn’t visit it. The studio is open seasonally. If you wish to see it, check the website or call so you won’t be disappointed.

What you may not know about the Norman Rockwell Museum

Unlike many museums, the Norman Rockwell Museum is open 7 days a week and only closed for a few holidays.

You can visit Rockwell’s studio as well as the Museum for one admission.

Seniors 65+, Veterans, and College Students with I.D. receive a discount

Admission is free for:
Kids and Teens 18 and under.
Active military/Blue Star program free with I.D.
SNAP/EBT card holders and 3 guests.
Members.

The scenic 36-acre grounds are free to walk, sketch, and picnic.

You can wander among gardens, specimen trees, and labeled plants enhanced by views of the Berkshires, the Housatonic River, and Peter (son of Norman) Rockwell’s sculptures.

You may walk leased pets on the grounds as long as you clean up after them.

The museum’s cafe, open seasonally, offers terrace dining, or self-serve packaged food for snacks and picnicking.

The Norman Rockwell Museum has digitized its amazing collection of photographs, letters, objects, reference materials. Check out the website for information about its archives.

The museum also has collections of other illustrators, including James Montgomery Flagg (I want YOU Uncle Sam poster) and Robert Childress (Dick and Jane series).

To enhance your child’s or grandchild’s visit, the Museum has treasure hunt sheets, a children’s audio tour, a creativity center with crayons, worksheets and children’s books, and climbable sculptures on the grounds.

Final Takeaways about the Norman Rockwell Museum

The Museum presents the man and his craftmanship behind the whimsy and the storytelling.

The Museum’s website has an incredible wealth of material. We wish we had looked through it more thoroughly before we went. Spend some time scrolling through the information.

Allow plenty of time to explore the grounds and studio as well as the Museum itself. Pack a picnic lunch and walking shoes and camera if you like exploring the outdoors.

Finally, Norman Rockwell’s many many works have been apart of our lives for decades. Because of that, visiting the museum is stepping back to our younger days to remember a kinder, gentler time as well as significant people and events that shaped our lives. He is special to those in our age bracket and older which enhances your visit. Everyone in the family can enjoy the Museum, but it feeds the nostalgic souls of the older generations probably like no other.

October 16, 2019 0 comment

New experience Railroad History Travel in the United States U.S. History

Laramie Wyoming Old West – Railroads, Outlaws, Hollywood, & Woman’s Suffrage

by Deb C September 24, 2019

Tenth and final post in a series about visiting Colorado and Wyoming.

Adventure in Old West Laramie Wyoming

Sign about Laramie Wyoming's origins on 50plusses.com

In Old West Laramie Wyoming, we found a new adventure. With our historic walking tour booklet in hand, we ambled along historic Downtown Laramie and got a history lesson. We discovered that the Union Pacific Railroad was the catalyst for the founding of Laramie. The Company established a major stop there in 1868 as it was building the Transcontinental Railroad. The Overland Trail went through the area, and there was Ft. Sanders and some settlers, but nothing like a town. Once Laramie was connected to the East Coast by rail, passengers began arriving. They came to seek their fortunes, by legal or illegal means.

The Wild Frontier in Laramie Wyoming

During Laramie’s early days, some of the West’s most notorious criminals headed there. They were trying to stay one step ahead of the law. Thugs and outlaws like Butch Cassidy threatened those who came to settle down and create a new community. After about six months of rowdy and murderous behavior, the law-abiding citizens had enough. They formed a vigilante committee. Villains were captured and hung and others fled. Law and Order came to Laramie.

Old West Laramie Wyoming, Hollywood, and actor Robert Fuller

Laramie Wyoming’s colorful Old West heritage was captured and re-lived in more than 14 TV shows and movies and inspired hundreds of books. If you are a Baby Boomer, you might remember one of the TV shows was “Laramie,” set in 1870s Wyoming. It ran from 1959 to 1963 and starred John Smith and Robert Fuller. Episodes now run on Encore, MeTV and Grit.

Robert Fuller went on to feature and guest roles in several other westerns, including “Wagon Train,” “Big Valley,” and later “Walker: Texas Rangers”. When Westerns waned on TV, he gained fame in the 1970’s as Dr. Kelly Brackett on “Emergency” but his first love was acting in Westerns.

Laramie Wyoming and Robert Fuller Fandom on 50plusses.com

As of this writing, Robert Fuller is very much alive and a trim, fit rancher in his eighties. He returned to Laramie in 2017 to a “heroes welcome.” He was Grand Marshall in the Laramie Jubilee Days Parade. In July of 2019 he was back for the Laramie TV Show 60^th Anniversary Reunion which was held in conjunction with Jubilee Days. He posed for selfies and participated in meet and greets and other events.

Laramie Wyoming Jubilee Days are Adventures for Old West fans

Laramie Wyoming’s Jubilee Days are billed as Wyoming’s Hometown Celebration – Celebrating the Western lifestyle and take place mid-July. Fans gather and get in the spirit by wearing western gear of yesterday as well as today.

The week-long schedule includes a parade, music, a golf tournament, a brewfest, and even a jalapeno contest. There’s also plenty to eat, as in addition to the local restaurants, there’s a BBQ, a pancake breakfast, and a chili cookoff. There’s even a carnival to boot. A western event wouldn’t be complete without horses and cows. So yep, there’s a rodeo with steer wrestling, tie-down roping, bull riding and more.

July 10 is Wyoming Statehood Day and celebrated during Laramie’s Jubilee days and includes the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site near Laramie. The prison was built in 1872. During the turmoil of the wild west it became a symbol of law and order . For 30 years it held violent and desperate outlaws (including the notorious Butch Cassidy). The 197 acre site boasts restored historic buildings and museum exhibits including the man and the myth of Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch gang. There’s also a nature trail, special events, a picnic area, and visitor center with gift shop. It’s open year round and there are guided and self tours.

If you are a fan of the Old West it looks like Laramie, Wyoming and especially Laramie’s Jubilee Days are for you.

Legends of Laramie Walking Tour with Robert Fuller

Walking Tours Legends of Laramie on 50plusses.com — from the Laramie Tourists Guide Book

Legends of Laramie is an audio walking tour that you follow with your cell phone. At each of 16 locations you can experience stories of Old West Laramie’s pioneers, outlaws, and vigilantes. As you stand where history took place, and you can watch a video, slideshow, or panorama recreating Laramie’s colorful past as Robert Fuller provides the narration. You can download the app or scan the QR code at the location to enjoy the tour. We had limited time so we stuck to using the Historic Downtown Laramie Tour Guide. However, we did come across one of the Legends of Laramie stops. We scanned the bar code and “boom” enjoyed Robert Fuller’s evocative telling of a Wild West moment of long ago.

Laramie Wyoming's walking tour guides on 50plusses.com — The Laramie Wyoming Visitors Center has eight walking tour guides, in print and online.

Downtown Laramie Wyoming Highlights

The railroad tracks run right along the outside of Laramie Wyoming’s downtown area. When the Union Pacific Railroad’s locomotive Big Boy 4014 stopped in Laramie the crowds were huge and filled the pedestrian footbridge over the railroad tracks . A short walk brings you to the restored Laramie Depot which is now a museum and community center. Nearby is Railroad Heritage Park which features a “snow train” consisting of a wedge snow plow, steam engine, bunk car and a caboose.

Pedestrian Railroad Bridge in Laramie Wyoming on 50plusses.com — The pedestrian footbridge in Laramie Wyoming spans one of busiest rail yards in U.S.
It says “Welcome to Laramie, Wyoming.” It’s an unparalleled vantage point for watching trains as they pass through Laramie.

The Buckhorn Bar in Laramie, Wyoming on 50plusses.com — The Buckhorn Bar in Laramie, Wyoming, formerly a saloon, has a bullet hole in the mirror put there by a jealous lover.

Coal Creek Tap and Restaurant in Laramie Wyoming on 50plusses.com — Coal Creek Tap and Restaurant in Laramie, Wyoming serves up a variety of craft beers as well as light meals as well as pizza (after 5:30 p.m.). It offers indoor seating as well as outdoor that it shares with it’s sister business, the Coal Creek Coffee Company. It’s one of the Laramie breweries on the Wyoming Beer Trail.

Women’s Suffrage started in Old West Laramie Wyoming

Wyoming Equal Rights Seal in Laramie Wyoming on 50plusses.com — Wyoming Equal Rights Seal

As we walked along, we saw this Equal Rights seal painted on a small door.

Did you know that Wyoming’s nickname is the Equality State? Buffalo Bill, founder of Cody, Wyoming, said: “If a woman can do the same work that a man can do and do it just as well, she should have the same pay.”

Perhaps his word had sway, because, on December 10, 1869, Wyoming was the first territory or state to give the women the right to vote and to hold public office. In March, 1870, Laramie was the first city in the world to include women on a jury. In September, 1870, it was in Laramie that 70 year old Louisa Swain became the first woman anywhere in the western world to vote in a general election. Wyoming also had the first female Justice of the Peace, bailiff, and first female governor.

We didn’t have time to investigate it, but Laramie has the Wyoming House for Historic Women. It is run by the Louisa Swain Foundation. It has displays honoring 13 women of Wyoming whose actions were “firsts” for women and democracy.

The Murals of Laramie Wyoming

As we walked through Laramie’s historic downtown, we noticed several murals. They are part of the Laramie Wyoming Mural Project and done by local artists. There are walking tour brochures and also a cell phone audio tour, much like the one for the Talking Boots in Cheyenne. We were walking up a very wide, and very clean alley when we saw #5 Prairie Dog Town.

Prairie Dog Town Mural in Laramie Wyoming on 50plusses.com

Wrapping up in Wyoming

If we could have, we would have spent more time in Wyoming. Going to Laramie was a late add-on. Someone at the wedding we attended said, well, if you’re going to Cheyenne, you should definitely consider going to Laramie. As it was, we were only in Wyoming for a day and a half. The time we were there was a teaser and it made us want to learn more about what we saw, and what we didn’t have time to visit.

We discovered that Wyoming has a great website with all sorts of visitors information and offers a free travel guide and email newsletter. We had no idea that Laramie and Cheyenne Wyoming have such rich histories regarding the Transcontinental Railroad, outlaws, and equal voting rights for women.

And, now we have a greater appreciation of reruns of TV and film westerns. Also of Laramie’s place in the Old West. Looking up actor Robert Fuller was fun. He has an international fan club and makes special appearances at western films festivals and nostalgia conventions. You can find him on YouTube showing how to stage a no-contact fist fight. Some videos share his anecdotes about the Laramie Show and working with Yul Brynner. If you visit his website, robertfuller.info, you will find more about his career, as well as personal appearances. You can even order autographed photos and have him record a personalized audio message for voice mail, congratulations, or a happy birthday message.

Final Takeaways of Our Trip

One final takeaway is that ordering guides to Colorado, Denver, and Boulder helped us make a list of must-sees and maybe-sees and plan our itinerary. We wished we had done that for Wyoming, but we thought we would only spend a half a day in Cheyenne. Borrowing guidebooks from our library helped, but the city and state tourism websites and materials provided more details, handy maps, and additional current tips.

We have to give a shout out to the friendly, helpful folk there who are great ambassadors for their states.

Lastly, allow yourself as much time as possible to explore Colorado and Wyoming.

September 24, 2019 3 comments

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Old Lincoln Highway Monument Rises Above

by Deb C September 20, 2019

Ninth in a series of posts about visiting Colorado and Wyoming.

Top-lofty Lincoln Monument overlooks Highway

We had read that one site to stop at was the Old Lincoln Highway Monument, with a sculpture of the head of Abraham Lincoln. Well, we had no idea where it was when it suddenly loomed ahead overlooking Interstate 80 east of Laramie. It really was a “whoa” moment. It is quite stunning to behold, whether from a distance, or close up.

It’s an easy off, on to stop at the monument and Summit Rest Area. Why is the sculture there? The sculpture was commissioned in 1959 by Wyoming’s Parks Commission. It honors Lincoln’s 150th birthday and the highest point of the Lincoln Highway. The head of Lincoln is two tons and 12 ¹⁄₂ feet high and resting on a 30-foot-tall granite pedestal.

What’s the significance of the Old Lincoln Highway?

According to The Old Lincoln Highway Brochure, the road was America’s first coast-to-coast highway. It was established in 1913 by The Lincoln Highway Association, a private visionary group of investors. Henry B. Joy, president of Packard Motor Car Company, was the first president of the association.

When it opened in 1913, no structured highway maintenance system existed. Each county had to take care of its own section with the help of volunteers. Back then, in the still early days of the automobile, they shared roads with horse-drawn vehicles. Regulations and standards were still evolving. There were no speed limits or drivers licenses.

Motorists were mostly on their own to find their way along a route that could quickly vanish under heavy snow, thick mud or spring floods. The Lincoln Highway Association had their red, white and blue logo painted on telegraph poles and fence posts every few miles. That way drivers knew that they had not lost the road.

As the Lincoln Highway era came to a close in 1928, one of the Association’s last acts was to have Boy Scouts install standardized concrete markers with bronze Lincoln medallions. This was so that the route’s dedication to Abraham Lincoln would not be forgotten.

The Lincoln Highway Association revived in 1992 and holds conventions and other activities. Visit their website to find out more about the Old Lincoln Highway. If you like transportation history, you may enjoy learning about this group.

The Eisenhower Connection

In 1919, then-Lt. Col. Dwight D. Eisenhower was part of an 81-vehicle military convoy that drove the entire 3,250-mile Lincoln Highway. The trip took 62 days and required much rebuilding of bridges along the way.

After that experience, Eisenhower urged the Federal government to make road improvement a priority. Thirty-eight years later, in 1956, when President, Eisenhower signed into law the act funding the Interstate Highway System, initiating the largest public works project in US history.

The Eisenhower Presidential Library has many photos of the 1919 Transcontinental Motor Convoy that Eisenhower led. Here are some, including those taken in East Wyoming and Laramie, Wyoming.

Henry Joy of the Packard Motor Car Company not forgotten

Henry Joy’s wish was to be buried along the Lincoln Highway. Instead, his relatives chose to erect a monument, which is part of the Summit Rest Area. The site includes four of the cement Lincoln Highway markers in salute to his role in the creation of the Lincoln Highway.

Visit the Summit Rest Stop and Visitor’s Center or download this brochure for further information about the monuments there and history of the Old Lincoln Highway.

Getting our bearings in Laramie

There are two information centers in Laramie. Due to where we parked, we headed to the one on Ivinson Ave. We had a little trouble finding it. It’s also the Laramie Main Street Office which shares a storefront and it wasn’t readily apparent that it was there. The signage wasn’t great. But the person there was awesome! Enthusiastic and full of tips about visiting Laramie and places where we could enjoy a meal outside. She gave us some great brochures including walking tour guides of the town.

Go to the next blog post, Old West Adventure – Laramie, to read about what we found while walking Historic Downtown Laramie.

September 20, 2019 0 comment