A day trip took us to the Martin Van Buren National Historic Site in Kinderhook (map ), where we stepped into the world of America’s eighth president. At Lindenwald, Van Buren’s post-presidential home, we got a glimpse into the life and times of a man whose career spanned the years from the American Revolution to the Civil War.

While out exploring the Hudson Valley area, we had to stop by the “Ichabod Crane” schoolhouse. While Washington Irving’s famous tale, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, is fiction, he did visit this particular school house and met with the teacher here - Jesse Merwin. The eccentric schoolmaster Ichabod Crane who finds himself caught up in the haunting legend of the Headless Horseman was loosely based on Mr. Merwin .

Saying goodbye to family is never easy! We had such a great time and are so fortunate that they made the time to stay with us and take in the history of the Pilgrims (and Steve’s family)! Photos are from our last night together where we went out for dinner and walked around Bourne.

We took an afternoon to drive all the way around Cape Cod and see the initial site of the Pilgrim landing at Provincetown (map ). While we don’t know exactly the spot where they landed, there are a couple monuments dedicated to the Pilgrims in Provincetown - one is just a plaque and the other is a tower and museum. After lunch and a quick walk on the beach (at low tide), we elected to see both.

While visiting Plymouth, we spent an afternoon visiting the Plimoth Patuxet Museum . This museum is where history comes to life! It boasts two very special spots - one is a Wampanoag homesite and the other is a recreation of a village with crops and animals similar to how the Pilgrims would have lived in the years after Mayflower landing in 1620.

Alongside both sides of the Cape Cod Canal runs a multi-use trail that is about 7 miles in length. We got out and rode along the trail on our ebikes, traveling about 10 miles in total (5 down and 5 back). We enjoyed the cooler air temps near the canal and stopped to watch a few boats pass us on the canal.

Just outside of downtown Plymouth, an 81 foot tall memorial to the pilgrims has been erected- the National Monument to the Forefathers . This monument is super impressive. You pull up and there is a large circular unpaved drive around it. The monument itself is elevated slightly on a hill in the center of the circular drive; the height from the gradual hill adding to the perceived size of it.

We explored Plymouth seeing several sites. Most notably, we saw Plymouth Harbor and THE actual Plymouth Rock . While Plymouth Rock is famous as “the site where the Pilgrims landed”; did you know that there is no actual written historical record of that being the case? In fact, we now know that the pilgrims on the Mayflower first came ashore in the new world in Provincetown on Cape Cod and after a month of exploration moved the ship to Plymouth in search for better land to farm.

We were joined by some our family - Steve’s Dad and Step-mother, Richard and Diane.

Diane is really big into genealogy and understanding where we all come from. Recently she was able to prove Steve’s family all the way back to the Mayflower ! What an incredible thing to know!