Massachusetts Coast Trip, Day 5 - Andey's Interstate Road Trips

Massachusetts Coast Trip - Day 5 (Saturday, May 24, 2008)
- JFK and Battleship Cove -

I awoke at 7 AM and helped myself to a bowl of cereal. When ready for the day, I walked to the Fields Corner station and took the Red Line to the JFK/UMass stop. As planned, I met friends Ben and Arlene there and found the stop for the free bus to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. It had a 1960 Kennedy election poster on it. When we arrived at the museum, we first looked around it, admiring the architecture by I. M. Pei.

We examined Kennedy's boat Victura on the grounds then entered the building, paid admission and began exploring exhibits. We skipped the film and headed down the stairs, where we saw displays about the 1960 election in roughly a street setting, highlighting in props and video the Democratic Party Convention, the first televised debate against Richard Nixon, election night and inauguration with related artifacts placed where appropriate.

The decor changed to rooms resembling the White House as the subject became Kennedy's presidency. I particularly liked seeing the gifts received from foreign dignitaries. An office room described Robert Kennedy's influence as Attorney General and a small theater chronicled the Cuban Missile Crises. A dark room with recorded video of news about the assassination led into a white room noting Kennedy memorials worldwide.

The final exhibits focused on the legacy left by Kennedy and included a moon rock and section of the Berlin Wall. Then, we entered a tall, spacious glass room with supporting lattice. A large American flag hung down from the ceiling. We had extra time after this, so we checked out the films we skipped earlier such as the one about Kennedy's early years. We then took the free bus back to the T and took the Red Line south to the Quincy Adams station.

At the station, we met up with Ben's friend Mike, who then drove us to the city of Fall River. We stopped for seafood lunch by the river at Regatta. I ate steamers, which tasted good with drawn butter. The place seemed pretty empty. With its attached bar, it was probably more of a nightspot. When we finished our relaxed pace meal, we headed across the river to the collection of historic naval ships known as Battleship Cove.

We paused to look at a landing craft and the bow of the cruiser USS Fall River, then headed to the star attraction, the battleship USS Massachusetts. After admiring the massive deck guns, we went below to explore the corridors. Maps gave us an idea of where we stood, but we still had a bit of problem navigating. We found the engine room, and then entered the huge main gun turret, climbing its circular levels to just below the guns.

From that cool experience, we continued into the combat information center and communications, then the medical area with the dentist, isolation room, sickbay and an operating room, which had a dummy on the table dressed up for surgery. We then found the bunks where people stay in the overnight program, with some peoples stuff there. We made our way to the main galley and then found a room containing lists of names in memoriam.

We managed to get up a little onto the superstructure just to get a view of the area and then started to head off the ship until realizing we missed a little hatch that led inside another gun turret; smaller and more cramped than the main one. We exited the turret and then found one more place on the ship to see, located near the barbershop and brig. It had a museum containing many military model vehicles. Finally satisfied with exploring the battleship, we disembarked.

Next, we looked at the Soviet-built missile corvette known as the Hiddensee. Red labels translated the Cyrillic letters for us on the instrument panels. In short time, we moved onto the submarine USS Lionfish and took a quick walk through the cramped interior to see the small facilities. With limited time, we just quickly went about the destroyer USS Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. It had facilities typical of a destroyer.

I squeezed in a visit to hangars that had PT boats 796 and 617, peering at displays within the windows. On one side stood a small Japanese Suicide Demolition Boat. Our group then gathered in the gift shop and drove off. We had time before dinner, so I made suggestions on what to visit next. From outside, we saw the former house of infamous Lizzie Borden, now a bed and breakfast, and then visited beautiful Saint Anne Church, looking at all the altars.

For dinner, we ate at a Portuguese restaurant named Sagres, first accidently going in the wrong door. I got quite full from a large steak with fried eggs and potato. Mike drove us back to Quincy Adams station and parted with us, and then I parted with Ben and Arlene on the T. Linda picked me up from Fields Corner and gave me chocolate cake to try at her place. I then did some planning with Linda and others for the next day and then showered and slept in the living room.