January 2011

On April 15 the Reverend Samuel Myles laid the cornerstone of Christ Church (later known as Old North Church), Boston’s earliest surviving house of worship, whose belfry would one day hold the lanterns that sent Paul Revere on his famous ride in 1775. Although the architect of Old North has never been conclusively identified, its distinctive steeple—originally 191 feet high, and not added until 1744—is known to have been designed by William Price, a dealer in books and prints. The building bears a clear resemblance to the London churches of Christopher Wren, with which Price was familiar, though the same might be said of any church with a steeple. As befits a style transplanted from Merrie England to Puritan Boston, the design of Old North, while adopting the graceful proportions of Wren’s churches, did away with their richly textured stone and their ornament. The rather severe result, as one critic observed, looked as though it had been inspired by a print rather than the real thing.

On April 16 a fishmonger named David Thomson, his wife, Amias, and a handful of others became the first white settlers in present-day New Hampshire when they landed at what is now Odiorne’s Point at the mouth of the Piscataqua River. The settlement was on an elevated point of land that could be easily defended, with a good harbor and lots of fresh water. Thomson, who held title to the land, had previously visited New England and may have selected the site in advance.

The settlers built a house from shale and clay, both abundant in the vicinity, as well as structures for drying and salting fish. Their little colony received a number of visitors from New England’s scanty white population, including Miles Standish of Plymouth and Thomas Weston, the financier of the Plymouth Colony, who stumbled in after being shipwrecked and then getting robbed by Indians.

The Glebe House Museum and Gertrude Jekyll Garden (203-263-2855) are located just off Route 6, Woodbury’s main street, on Hollow Road. Museum and garden hours are from 1:00 to 4:00 P.M. Wednesday through Sunday from April through December. Tours of the house cost four dollars per person, while access to the garden, a plan of which is available in the adjoining gift shop, is free.

As an eleventh grader, I found Mr. Bracey’s article very enlightening. I believe that to make American education stronger, we as citizens should press for an amendment that would give the national government greater power to establish standardized testing (especially in math and science) and to press the states toward balancing out their curriculums to match one another. There should be standardized tests for fifth graders (who are coming out of elementary school), eighth graders (who are getting out of middle school), and eleventh graders (who are preparing for college).

I know eleventh graders are supposed to take the SATs, but these cover only two subjects, and the test I propose would cover everything that the average eleventh-grade student should have learned. Establishing these mandatory tests would be a way to improve America’s education; it is also a way to shut up the critics of the American school system and the students in it.

In February, James Fenimore Cooper published The Pioneers , the first of his five Leatherstocking novels. Cooper’s previous book, The Spy (1821), a romance set in Revolutionary days, had sold well, and with the aid of a lurid excerpt published in advance, initial demand for The Pioneers was overwhelming. Some thirtyfive hundred copies were purchased the first day it went on sale.

On February 15 the U.S. Congress reached its lowest point yet when Rep. Matthew Lyon of Vermont and Rep. Roger Griswold of Connecticut engaged in a schoolyard brawl on the floor of the House of Representatives. The trouble had begun on January 30, when a group of members were chatting informally by the fireplace during a pause to count votes. Lyon, a rabid anti-Federalist, accused Connecticut’s Federalist representatives of opposing the interests of their constituents in order to enrich themselves. With a printing press and six months in the state, he said, he could easily set things right. Griswold, sitting nearby, jumped at the opportunity to take a dig at Lyon. “If you go into Connecticut,” he said, “you had better bring your wooden sword.”

On February 11, in the middle of a trek across the Isthmus of Panama, Francis Drake stopped to climb a tall tree. Near its top he stepped out onto a spacious platform. Behind him, to the north, the British pirateexplorer-admiral could glimpse the Caribbean Sea, where he had spent the previous half-year plundering Spanish ships and towns. Ahead of him was the South Sea, also known as the Pacific Ocean, which no Englishman had ever seen before. Drake was so overwhelmed at the sight that he immediately dropped to his knees and prayed that he might someday navigate that mighty sea.

It was, up to that point, the photo opportunity of the century.

Here was the nation’s president-elect, Abraham Lincoln, visiting Independence Hall in Philadelphia en route to his inauguration—the defender of the Union seeking inspiration at the cradle of American independence. Adding resonance was the sacred day: Washington’s Birthday, February 22, 1861.

Lincoln rose to the occasion. Outside, he personally hoisted the American flag atop the hallowed building. “It flaunted gloriously to the wind,” recalled Lincoln, “an omen,” he hoped, “of what is to come.” Facing the threat of civil war, Lincoln defiantly declared, “I would rather be assassinated on this spot than to surrender it.”

There could not be a more appropriate recipient of the first Great American Place Award than the city of Saratoga Springs, New York (October). I warmly congratulate Mayor J. Michael O’Connell and all the people of Saratoga Springs and also commend American Heritage for instituting this aptly named annual tribute.

Our administration is committed to fostering heritage tourism, one of the fastest-growing segments of our resurgent economy. We are doing it through partnerships with local governments and the private sector—a collaboration which is clearly symbolized by this award.

The city of Saratoga Springs has been a place of history, beauty, celebrity, and healthful recreation for nearly two centuries and will continue to be as long as the springs flow, the horses run, the music plays, and the people care.

We have innumerable “Great American Places” in New York, and we look forward to being in the winner’s circle again and again.