15 Oct, 2006
Today was mostly a driving day, through the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts and down to the southern coast of Connecticut – but what a beautiful drive! It’s no surprise why rich New Yorkers like Martha Stewart want to live up here.We started the day in Bennington, VT with a visit to the huge monument commemorating the Revolution’s Battle of Bennington. Turns out the battle was actually fought a bit west of here in New York, but they were fighting over storage houses actually in Bennington. It was a decisive battle that eventually led to the defeat of Gen. Burgoyne. We also popped our heads into the Covered Bridge Museum and the Old Bennington Cemetery, where poet Robert Frost is buried. His epitaph says “I had a lover’s quarrel with the world”. His poem, “Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening” has always been one of my favorites.
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14 Oct, 2006
(by Grace) We slept in this morning and took our time packing up. At 9:00 David phoned Kristi Mattingly, his genealogy buddy. We haven’t looked it up to make certain the connection, but we believe she is his fourth cousin once removed. Her father descended from George Washington Lovrien as well. She’s the one who pointed us to his gravesite and old homestead site. We enjoyed a nice long visit with her and her husband Kevin in their home on top of the world near Washington Vermont. The view from their front lawn is stunning. It’s a summer/weekend house—they teach at a boarding school in New Jersey I believe she said. I was charmed by their retriever, Grady. She is such a friendly dog!
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13 Oct, 2006
“Gravehunting on Friday the 13th” Today was David’s big genealogy day, spent in eastern Vermont. The first stop was East Topsham, where my 3rd-great-grandfather George Washington Lovrien is buried in a small family plot that was not as easy to find as we thought. It is right off the highway but it is only visible for just a second as you drive past. There are only about 15 gravestones here: George W. and several members of the Bixby family (George’s in-laws). After George died at age 32, his widow Sophia and most of her children moved out to Iowa. We also stopped by the farm that was once George and Sophia’s.
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