One year later - Whitinsville

  Whitinsville, Massachusetts
Monday, August 13, 2007

Annex...A revisit to New England , Autumn 2005.
 
Because of our ongoing friendship with the Tallys of Marlborough, we return to New England for a short visit in the autumn of 2005 to stay at their new bed and breakfast in the village of Whitinsville . MA.
We have seen on the news grim reports of heavy flooding in the area they live, and to top it all, Hurricane Wilma is due to arrive in Florida on Sunday 23rd. We are not fazed and decide to go ahead with our visit.
 
October
Friday 21st.
Uneventful flight on American Airlines, and uneventful car rental pick-up at Logan Airport . We are well prepared map-wise, and are in the village of Whitinsville by early afternoon. Naturally we miss the entrance to their street, and have to phone from a decrepit convenience store on the wrong side of town. With the advent of mobile phones, public phones are getting scarcer and scarcer.
Instructions are given and we soon arrive at the new Talley's Corner, 14 Linden St. Whitinsville, MA 01588 http://www.accommodationsusa.com/ma/talleyscorner.html. In the words of Karen and Ed Talley, The historic "Gatsby Era" home has been lovingly restored and feels like a breath of country manor fresh air. The spacious rooms with high ceilings, large windows, carved woodwork, and hardwood floors with Oriental rugs are creatively appointed with antiques and collectables personally acquired by the owners on their world travels. Over 80 years ago, this Georgian Period treasure was built on Linden Street and is reminiscent of the "High Style" architecture of its era. The winding staircase, marbled fireplace, built-in china cupboards and bookcases, crystal chandelier, and tranquil solarium provide inspiration for the weary traveler and an escape from the outside world.


The lovely home is everything stated on the web site, and after settling into "Scottie & Zelda's" room, we join our friends for some liquid refreshment, a nice pot of tea.
 
After catching up on all the news, we are guided around the neighbourhood, a truly lovely area of Massachusetts , wooded and hilly, with lots of pretty villages, rivers and lakes. They also show us the flood damage that we had seen on TV, though fortunately it has stopped raining and a rather wan sun has appeared in the afternoon sky.
 
How different New England is from Florida . At one of the villages I was admiring some colourful homes from across the street. Karen called out asking if I was going to cross the street or not. At this point I noticed that all the traffic had stopped from both directions in order to allow me to cross over, which in fact I hadn't proposed to do. I learned never to stand too close to the curb in Massachusetts unless you actually intend to cross over to the other side.
 
We make our plans for the next two days, which will be a visit to Mystic Seaport in Connecticut on Saturday, and Newport , Rhode Island on Sunday. This will give us two more states for our collection. Our return is scheduled for Monday.