 |
| The view of the harbour from our hotel in Belleville |
This weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving. For the four days off I've gone south to New
England, specifically north-eastern Massachusetts. Initially I wanted to visit Salem to learn
about the witch trials of 1692. Today
consisted primarily of scenic drives through picturesque upstate New York and New
England towns. Last night we stayed in
Belleville Ontario, which I had never been to before. We arrived after dark and left as the sun was
rising, but from what I saw it was very architecturally beautiful and I would
really like to go back for a weekend to explore it in full.
I had never crossed the border from Belleville to New York,
but for anyone crossing from Ontario to New York, or vice-versa I highly
recommend that crossing. To get across
the border one is required to take a bridge over the ‘Thousand Islands’. If you take this route, be sure to make some
time to go up the viewing tower to get an aerial view of the islands. Unfortunately I had no idea how stunning it
was and didn’t account for time to do so, but in the future I would love to get
a better view. I don’t have a picture as
it wouldn’t have been much with the bridge in the way, but it looked very
pretty with all the small islands bursting with coniferous trees interlocking
together.
Our first stop today was to photograph the remains of an old
stone bridge in upstate New York, unfortunately I can’t recall which town we
were in. It was buried in the forest,
still visible off the county road.
While driving through Annsville New York I had to stop and
take a few pictures of this Victorian era house. Although there are many beautiful vintage
houses in the area I was completely taken with this one in particular. To the right is the where the horse would
have been kept prior to and following riding. I would love to live in this house, I can't understand how turrets and wrap around verandas ever went out of style.
Just across the street was this house from the colonial
period, which is beautiful, though a completely different aesthetic. The American flag completes the look.
Next we visited McLean Hospital in Belmont
Massachusetts. Belmont is another
picturesque New England town. McLean is
a teaching and research mental health hospital affiliated with Harvard. It is where Susana Kaysen and Sylvia Plath
were treated and inspired their books Girl, Interrupted and The Bell Jar,
respectively. I found both these books
and their characters relatable as a young girl.
The Bell Jar is one of the few fiction books I’ve been able to complete,
although being semi-biographical I suppose it doesn’t even count. I also studied clinical psychology and neuroscience,
so McLean being a leader in the fields was very intriguing to me. I only wandered around the grounds for a bit,
which are quite large. The buildings
themselves are absolutely beautiful, having been built in 1811. I only have a few pictures as they didn’t
want us taking pictures, understandably for the privacy of the patients.
Tomorrow's post will include a visit to Salem and possibly Danvers Massachusetts.
