STURBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS

We left Pennsylvania and headed for Massachusetts. Sturbridge, Massachusetts. We drove through Connecticut, which is a beautiful state, to get there.

Sturbridge is a small town in southern Massachusetts. It is near wine country and the State of Rhode Island. We only had a couple of days here, so, let the adventures begin!

The campground we stayed at was called Pine Lake RV Resort. It was originally a Jellystone Campground. The new owners have been updating, remodeling, and refurbishing everything. They have also been adding cabins to rent. They aren’t quite finished yet, but they don’t lack much.

Most all of the sites are roomy, flat, and have gravel. There is one section of pull-thru sites that doesn’t have as much space between sites, so we asked if we could move to another site. That was only possible because, fortunately, they were not totally booked. We chose another site that was a back-in, but it was easy to back into because the sites are big. This site was right by the dog park, so Ricky and Lucy LOVED that! Here are photos of our site and one of the park looking up the road.

Look at that ***BLUE*** sky. It was such a lovely day to sit outside and relax this day!

This area has several wineries. Some are only open on weekends (Fri., Sat., and Sun.), so call before you go. We found one that was open every day called Nashoba Valley Winery, Brewery, and Distillery in Bolton, MA. They have tours, tastings, lots of outdoor seating areas with casual dining, and a really nice, indoor restaurant.

We decided to do a tasting. For $10.00 you get five “chips” (like poker chips) with the name, Nashoba Valley, on them. You pick what you want to taste. To taste any of the wines cost you one chip. Some of the distillery products, like the eleven year old bourbon, costs two chips to sample instead of one chip. The gentleman working at the tasting bar was fun to talk with and entertaining with his knowledge.

Look at the empty wine bottles that are a part of the sign!

This is the side of the building. Those double doors lead into their tasting bar and store which is huge.

This is actually the front of the building (facing the road) that they have made into a lovely outside seating area if you have to wait to be seated at the restaurant. Zoom in to see all the creative ways they’ve used wine bottles as part of the decor.

It was a cloudy day when we visited, but it didn’t dampen our spirits. We ate a sandwich from the snack bar and sat outside on the porch. I would recommend this place if you are ever in the area!

On another day we decided to take a day trip into Rhode Island. We knew we wouldn’t have a lot of time to explore Rhode Island, so we had to make the most of it. I googled “things to do around Providence, Rhode Island” and Pawtucket Falls, Valley Falls Heritage Park, and Blackstone Heritage Corridor showed up (I don’t know how I ever survived without Google!).

Since we like exploring rivers and falls, we decided to go to Pawtucket Falls first. When I first saw the “falls” my immediate thought was, “How disappointing.” What I didn’t realize until we had walked around and started reading information about the area, was how important this area was in our country’s history!

This location was the birth place of American Manufacturing! Samuel Slater came here from England in 1789 after completing a two year apprenticeship at an English cotton mill. He brought with him the knowledge he gained of the water powered spinning process. The success of his mill here sparked America’s Industrial Revolution. This was another historical event that I taught my 5th graders.

Slater’s Mill wasn’t open to the public the day we were there (of course; these things always happen to me). However, I saw a maintenance man unlock and go in the front door. I hurried over to him and asked about going inside. He told me it wasn’t open. We talked awhile and he asked where we were from, and I told him Missouri. Sometimes “things” just work out in ironic ways. He was going to Springfield, Missouri the very next week to visit family! He let me in the building and I snapped a couple of quick pictures!

Next, we went to Valley Falls Heritage Park. It was a small park with falls. Much of it had become rundown and the posted signs with information about the area had been destroyed or completely marked over. Therefore, I don’t know much about these falls (I guess I’ll Google them 😉). This was heartbreaking for me because it was a pretty little area.

Finally, we wanted to go to Blackstone River State Park and Canal Heritage State Park. My GPS must have been on the blink because we drove around for quite some time and never found either. It was like we were in The Twilight Zone; we could tell we were close to the parks but couldn’t find the entrance! Oh, welllll. “C’est la vive!” as the French say.

We enjoyed driving around and seeing more of the area before it was time to head back to our “home on wheels.” We found this unique building along with several other buildings that were interesting, so driving around wasn’t all that bad.

This is Cumberland, Rhode Island, Town Hall.

So, for now ….. “On the Road Again!”

Betty

Retirement……LOVE IT!