Tag Archives: Massachusetts

Have You Been to Lexington?

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Have you been to Lexington begs the answer, “Which one?” Lexington, Massachusetts is the oldest municipality with the name and Lexington, Kentucky is the largest city. There are cities named Lexington in Alabama, California (now a ghost town), Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. I’ve visited three, so far, all memorable for very different reasons.

Massachusetts

When I first hear the name Lexington, my thoughts skip to the famous Battle at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. On April 19, 1775, they became the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War, 

The Battle of Lexington

On the night before the clash, Paul Revere and Samuel Prescott galloped on horseback to warn that the British were coming. The first shots were fired just as the sun was rising in Lexington. Eight militiamen died. The confrontation proceeded on to Concord, resulting in many casualties. 

Patriot’s Day Parade

Patriot’s Day, originally April 19, is now observed on the third Monday in April. A reenactment of the horse ride and battle coincides with the historical event, so you must get to Lexington’s Battle Green before sunrise. The entire drama takes no more than 40 minutes, but the poignant scene stabbed me to the core, like a wound from the bayonets carried by the soldiers. We often forget the Revolutionary War, but this annual drama pays tribute to those early colonists and the freedoms they sought. 

Re-enactors of the Battle at Lexington

Virginia  

Another Lexington I’ve visited a few times is Lexington, Virginia, a small town in the Shenandoah Valley. Lexington is home to the Virginia Military Institute (VMI), Washington & Lee University (where my son graduated), and about seven thousand residents. While Confederate generals are no longer celebrated, I must say I fondly recall the serene Lee Chapel as the campus highlight.  This National Historic Landmark is the burial site of Robert E. Lee. His horse, Traveller, is interred outside, and many people leave sugar cubes on the horse’s grave.  The church’s basement contains a museum featuring the history of the school, highlighting the time when Lee was the college president. 

The Lee Chapel

Other attractions to see include the restored Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson house.  Tours revolve around Jackson’s life before the Civil War, including his tenure as a VMI professor. 

Lexington’s carefully preserved downtown is on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. Shops offer fine art, Virginia-made gifts, jewelry and more. Visitors enjoy a carriage ride through the downtown and remember Virginia is for Lovers.

Carriage Ride in downtown Lexington, VA

North Carolina

Lexington, North Carolina, calls itself the Barbeque Capital of the World. No visit is complete without Lexington style barbeque, made from pork shoulders cooked over hardwood coals. This century-old method involves smoking the pork for hours and then chopping or slicing it, leaving bits of crispy, brown skin.  The meat comes with a thin ketchup-and-vinegar sauce called “dip,” a distinctive red slaw, hush puppies, and sweet tea. While the meal is nothing fancy, you’ll find it finger-licking good in all of Lexington’s 15 BBQ restaurants. 

Smoking the BBQ

Lexington. NC also offers a fascinating collection of artifacts, memorabilia, and furniture from  North Carolina’s most famous living artist, Bob Timberlake. Visitors also enjoy the Richard Childress Racing Museum,  one of NASCAR’s top race shops and museums. The championship cars driven by Dale Earnhardt Sr. prove to be the most popular.  To round out your visit, stop by any of the 19 vineyards and tasting rooms that are earning NC winemakers rave reviews. 

Richard Childress Racing Museum

Kentucky

Lexington, Kentucky, is another famous city, this one known as the Horse Capital of the World, plus the birthplace of Bourbon and Bluegrass music.  

Kentucky is horse country.

While it ranks high on my bucket list,  I have not been there—yet.  Visitors tour Keeneland Race Course and Kentucky Horse Park in the early morning to see workouts, plus walk the pastures at  Old Friends, a thoroughbred retirement farm. Don’t miss the 14 bourbon distilleries and their tasting rooms, Mary Todd Lincoln’s historic home, plus the famous Kentucky Castle in the middle of Horse Country.  

Again barrels of bourbon

You can’t go wrong in any of four of the cities named Lexington.   How many have you seen?

Colonial American Ambiance at The Wayside Inn

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The Wayside Inn, Sudbury, Masschusetts
The Wayside Inn, Sudbury, Masschusetts

Anyone who knows me understands that I am drawn to Early American decor; the richness of cherry wood,  furniture with simple elegant lines, and the practical usefulness of tools. I don’t know why but perhaps I lived a prior life in that time period. Anyway, I  feel comfortable sitting in a straight back chair at a wooden trestle table, adore the streets of Colonial Williamsburg and sleep in a canopy bed.   

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Stopping by Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts

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Wayside Inn SignOn a crisp, rainy September afternoon I pulled up to the bucolic Wayside Inn, in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The sign post near the road boasts “food, drink and lodging for man, woman and beast.” I hoped I didn’t fit into the last category.

As soon as I entered, a warm welcoming aura enveloped me. The scent of smoky wood burning fireplaces mixed with the aroma of fresh baked bread and pies. The candlelight tavern bustled with activity, as it has for almost 300 years. Patrons were sitting at wooden tables enjoying meals and conversation. A bride and her wedding party stood near the entrance. Waiters and waitresses scooted about with food and drink trays.

The old tap room (part of the original building) overflowed with laughter from guests standing at the colonial cage bar. A cage- bar was standard in 18th-century taverns, used to secure the house whiskey, rum and wine from lodgers unknown to the innkeeper.Wayside Inn Bar

Eight guest rooms lined a wing on the second floor; my room, number seven, rested at the end of the hall. The space was small and rustic, authentic to the colonial era. An antique double bed covered with a white spread filled the room. Two windows were draped with tab curtains. A wooden chair sat in the corner and an armoire awaited guest’s clothing. The end table featured a framed print of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and the private bath included standard modern fixtures.

Sadly I did not fully experience the Inn’s New England hospitality as family commitments kept me elsewhere. Nonetheless, I relished a good night’s sleep in a place with much ambiance and history.

Room in the Wayside InnThe following morning I awoke before dawn, hastily dressing for my 6:30 AM ride to the airport. Everyone else was asleep except for a friendly night watchman, who offered me a cup of coffee and a brief history of the place.

Seems the Wayside is the oldest operating tavern in the US on one of the oldest commissioned roads. David Howe opened the establishment in 1716 as Howe’s Inn, offering provisions for men, their horses and cattle. The renovated old barn rests across the road.

Tradition says Colonel Ezekiel Howe changed the name to The Red Horse, when he succeeded his father in 1746. Colonel Howe led Sudbury farmers to Concord on April 19, 1775, the famous battle that started the Revolutionary War.

After Longfellow published “The Tales of a Wayside Inn’ in 1863, The Red Horse became known as Longfellow’s Wayside Inn, as it remains today.

In 1923, auto maker Henry Ford bought the Inn with the intention of creating a living museum of Americana. The property passed through several trusts and is presently administrated by a non-paid board of trustees dedicated to preserving the historic house and surrounding acreage. All of the Inn’s revenue is used for maintenance and restoration.

I highly recommend Longfellow’s Inn as a way to support cultural heritage and experience the days of Paul Revere and Sam Adams.Wayside Inn -6x4

If you go:

The town of Sudbury lies close to Lexington and Concord, suburbs of Boston. Visitors find many colonial sites and museums in the area, as well as the birthplaces of early American poets and authors.

The Inn’s multiple-roomed restaurant, open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, serves traditional Yankee fare like Clam Chowder and pot roast.

Make reservations early for one of just ten guest rooms, all individually decorated with country antiques and discreet wireless Internet access. Breakfast included. Single occupancy $104-125, double occupancy $125-175. www.waysideinn.org, 978 443-1776.