First, the disappointing power report. When we got up this morning the house batteries were flat and the freezer un-frozen. According to the TriMetric battery monitor, we should have had over 65% of our battery capacity left, based on amp-hours used versus the rated battery capacity. According to the battery voltage, they were flat. This means that our at least four year-old batteries have only a third of their rated deep-cycle capacity. It looks like new ones are in our future.
Other than that it was a fine day...the weather was good as well.
It was a hiking day. On this trip we are trying to alternate hiking and biking days in order to keep Ellen's thumbs from hurting too much. We had originally thought that we might do a bit of the Appalachian trail since it passes through the campground, but after our visit to the Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller NHP the other day we decided to go back and walk some of the carriage roads. There are about 20 miles of carriage roads and trails in the park and the surrounding conservation lands. This had the added benefit of 40 miles of battery charging with the alternator and several hours sitting in the sun with the solar panel.
We got an early start and arrived at the park around 8 am and found a sunny parking spot. Ellen took her binoculars to do a bit of birdin'; I took the pack with water and snacks to be the beast of burden. Off we went up the Mountain Road in search of the overlook at the top of Mt. Tom. The carriage roads are unpaved and are only open to walkers and horses (I didn't ask about carriages!), but no bicycles. I can understand why since the first section of Mountain Road was marked with a black diamond (cross-country skiing is allowed in the winter). Bicycles ripping down the roads would definitely be a hazard to hikers.
Our first stop was the Forest Center, a LEED Platinum certified building built out of wood harvested from the park's managed forest. It is used as a classroom for school groups and for meetings and events. It has a large solar array, probably around 8KW and a high-efficiency wood-fired furnace. To feed that furnace there was a least 20 cords of wood stacked under the carriage barn next door (more on the barn later).
After peeking in the windows and looking at the signs, we continued up the road. It climbed pretty quickly through the managed forest. The forest seems more open than your usual woods with many large trees. We could see areas where trees had been selectively logged, but there was no clear cutting. The logged timber, if it is straight it is milled and sold to local craftsmen, otherwise it is used for firewood. The scraps are sold to a company that makes wood pellets for pellet stoves.
We also passed several open meadows which had been left open when Billings started replanting the forest. They provided a nice contrast to the woods. About halfway to the top, we reached The Pogue, a natural pond that was enlarged by Billing and a carriage trail constructed around it. We walked around it, looked at the fish (no fishing!) and listened to the frogs before continuing to the South Peak of Mt. Tom. From the top we had a view to the west out of town, to the south and east to Woodstock and the Billings farm.
Rather than going back the way we came, we took a narrow swicthback trail, the down into Billings Park, the town-owned part of the mountain. Actually, the peak is in Billings park, not the National park. About halfway down,we took a cross trail which led back into the National Park and came out, eventually back on the lower part of the Mountain Road, right near the Forest Center.
As we passed the barn, we noticed the door to the upper level was open, it was actually the entrance to a carriage house, complete with the fleet of carriages owned by the Billings. There were many: from racing sulkies, to an Opera carriage with black leather roof, to a four-horse sleigh and evrything in between. Unfortunately, the entrance to the carriage area was locked so we could only see them through the glass doors.
From there we returned to the mostly-recharged Speedy for lunch before moving on. While having lunch we dicussed what to do in the afternoon. One of the brochures we picked up at the visitor center was for the Saint-Gaudens National Historic Site, the home and studios of the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens, probably the most renowned American scuptor of the late-19th and early-20th centuries.
It turns out that it is only about 20 miles from Woodstock, just over the New Hampshire border. And, as an extra incentive, they have free concerts on Sundays. Off we went.
We arrived about an hour before the concert, to be held in Saint-Gaudens "Little Studio". This gave us time to reserve our seats and see the rest of the grounds. The Little Studio is only little by the standards of sculptor of large works. It was large enough to hold the concert, a quartet, and seat at least a hundred attendees. It is probably thirty feet to the ceiling and the north side is a wall of windows. It was Saint-Gaudens private studio. His assistants worked in a larger studio to create the final large sculptures.
The large studio no longer exists. There were two of them, both burned down. The last was destroyed in 1944. The remaining outbuildings were converted and enlarged into galleries. We walked from the Little Studio towards the galleries, first passing through a flower garden, past a hedge enclosed outdoor scuplture, a recasting of the Adams Memorial, created for Henry Adams in memory of his wife. The path continued through the stables, where we did get to see Saint-Gaudens carriages up close, and then to the galleries.
Part of the gallery complex is a copy of his first public monument, the Farragut Monument. The original bronze is in New York, but the later casting here is atop the original bluestone sculpted base. The base was eroding in the New York environment, so a granite copy was made to support the original bronze and the original base was given to the historic site.
The galleries contain a selection of Saint-Gaudens works, mostly his reliefs of well-known (wealthy) people of the times, also some of his original studies and plaster carvings of his more famous works, such as his Standing Lincoln which is in Chicago. There were also some of his earliest creations, finely carved cameos, and his last creations, the 10 and 20 dollar gold coins minted from 1907-1933. His Standing Liberty figure from the $20 gold piece is still used by the US Mint for gold bullion coins.
On the way back to the concert we passed though another hedge enclosure where a new casting of his most famous work has been placed. It is the Shaw Memorial, the monument to the Massachsetts 54th regiment, the first African-American Volunteer regiment in the Civil War. The original is on Boston Common.
On to the concert, the Fischers and the Jennings. Norman and Jeanne Fisher on violoncello and piano and Andrew and Gail Jennings on violin and piano. Each duo has been separately performing at these summer concerts for the last 30 years or so, but they are also friends and colleagues. The Fishers and Andrew Jennings also perform as the Concord Trio. This was the first time they have all performed together.
There was quite an audience. Not only was the studio filled, but the porch outside was filled and there were folks on the grass around the studio. There were speakers placed outside so that those on the porch and on the grass could hear. We had seats inside for the first half of the performance, but moved to the cooler outside for the second half.
They started withe the three B's—Berens, Beethoven and Britten. A movement from a Berens piece for the unusual combination of violin, cello and piano four-hands with all the players. It was followed with a Beethoven sonata for violin and piano performed by the Jennings. The first half of the concert was completed with a Britten sonata for cello and piano performed by the Fischers.
During the intermission, we took the time to visit the Saint-Gaudens house, which hadn't opened before the concert. It was originally an inn, but converted into a home. It wasn't actually very large by today's standard, parlor, living room, dining room, kitchen on the first floor with bedrooms above, but all in the turn-of-century decor. It is mostly original from the Saint-Gaudens family as the buildings and land were preserved by Saint-Gaudens wife and son through the Saint-Gaudens Memorial. The Memorial passed it on to the Park Service in the 1960's.
It was back to the concert. Another movement by Berens for violin, cello and piano four-hands, a Gabriel Fauré suite for piano four-hands performed by Gail Jennings and Jeanne Fischer (I ducked out to Speedy to make coffee during these two pieces) and, finally, a Dvorak trio performed by the Concord Trio.
It was an excellent afternoon. We headed back to camp for a ham and beans dinner and a fully charged Speedy.
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