September 29, 2011: Albany and the New York State Capitol
	September 27, 2011: Concord and the New Hampshire State Capitol
	Return to the Index for our New England Trip

Today, we are going to visit the Vermont State Capitol in Montpelier before walking around the town itself. After that, we will head east into New Hampshire to visit Mt. Washington and, with Mario and Steve, take the cog railway to the top of the mountain. When we are done there, we'll go in to the town of Franconia for the night.

Touring the Vermont State Capitol

We got up on Wednesday morning at our hotel, ate breakfast, and then got in the car for the short trip to the state capitol. We just headed back down Northfield Road which crossed a bridge over the Winooski River and became Main Street into downtown Montpelier. To get to the state capitol, we turned left on State Street and drove about five blocks to park right in front of the state capitol building.

A Brief History of the Vermont State Capitol

Vermont did not always have a state house, or for that matter, a state capital. From 1777 (when the Republic of Vermont was founded during the early years of revolution) until 1807, Vermont's General Assembly met 46 times in 14 different towns. In 1805 Montpelier was chosen as the "permanent seat of the legislature for holding all their sessions." There were two conditions. First, Montpelier had to give land for the capitol. Second, the State House was to be built by September, 1808.

Thomas Davis, son of Montpelier's first permanent settler- Col. Jacob Davis- donated the land, and the first State House was built on it at a cost of $9,000. It was a three-story wooden meetinghouse-type structure located near the present site of Vermont's Supreme Court building (to the right of the capitol and closer to State Street). This first State House had steep winding staircases flanking recessed galleries on its front facade, and a belfry surmounting its hipped roof. Warmed by a two-story stove in the center of its single legislative chamber, members of the General Assembly sat at pine desks on plank seats with straight backs. One historian notes that many of the desks and much of the building itself were "whittled out of use" by legislative jackknives. At any rate, the building deteriorated and was outgrown by the state's emerging bicameral legislature, so it was torn down.

Vermont's second State House, designed by Ammi Young, was completed in 1838 at a cost of $132,000. With a front portico modeled after the temple of Theseus in Greece, this classically-inspired building displayed a low saucer-shaped Roman dome and was the perfect embodiment of the chaste principles that typified the Greek Revival fashion then sweeping the country. It was constructed of Barre Granite. It took a team of four horses and a yoke of oxen 18 hours to deliver a load of granite and return to the Barre quarries about ten miles away. Built on an elevated site blasted out of the hillside, the State House enjoyed a stronger foundation and grander approach. The high ground would also serve to protect the building from the flooding of the Winooski River across the road.

On a cold night in January, 1857, a fire, caused by the wood-burning heating system, destroyed nearly everything within the granite walls. Ultimately the walls themselves would come down, leaving only the Grecian portico to be incorporated into the design of the third State House. The third building was built on the same site as the second. Its basic plan is similar to Young's, but it was built on a larger scale with a distinctly different ornamental scheme reflecting the Renaissance Revival style popular at the time. This State House was constructed over a two and a half year period, cost $150,000, and was dedicated in 1859. Additions in the rear date from 1888, 1900, and 1987.

The Exterior of the Vermont State Capitol

We'll begin our tour of the Vermont State Capitol by taking a look at the lawn and grounds and the exterior of the building. I must admit that when we got out of the car in front of the capitol, I was impressed by its quiet dignity as in looked out over Montpelier from its sit partway up the hillside. (In case you are wondering, Vermont Governor Shumlin had ordered all flags in the State of Vermont lowered to half-staff September 27-30 in honor of Vermont Air National Guard Master Sergeant Shawn Stocker of West Rutland who died on September 21 while on active duty for flood relief.)

The grounds of the State Capitol were very nicely done. From the street, a broad walkway led directly to the steps of the capitol building. So far on this trip, this has been the general practice, to have a broad lawn on one side or the other of the capitol building. Albany was the only exception so far, but it did have small parks on its north and south sides.

In the center of the walkway, there were fall plantings; in these beds at this time of year there were mums, kale and ornamental grass. The effect was quite nice, as you can see in my view of the state capitol here.

The grounds were framed on either side by beautiful maple trees, just beginning to color up for fall. Up closer to the building itself there was another garden, but as we approached it seemed a little odd- there were no flowers, but instead what looked like vegetables. Indeed, when we got close, we found something unique- a food garden right on the capitol grounds. Seeing this food garden added to the feeling I'd already developed about Vermont's State Capitol; it was a feeling of rugged independence. The capitol, while quite handsome, was very different from the large, ornate Victorian buildings we'd seen so far.

Flanking the State House on the lawn are two Spanish naval guns that were captured from a Spanish cruiser at the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898 during the Spanish-American War. Under Admiral George Dewey, the American fleet destroyed eleven Spanish ships and captured several others without any loss of American life. The Admiral was born in a house that stood directly across the street from the State House, and as a boy he played on the front steps of the building.

Standing on the front portico is a statue of Ethan Allen. In 1941, Larkin Mead’s original marble sculpture of the fabled leader of the Green Mountain Boys was replaced with a replica due to the deterioration of the original from exposure to weather, and this plaque was added. We were all wandering around separately before going inside, and I seem to be the only one who ran across the statue of Thomas Crittenden, the first Governor of Vermont.

The State House is surmounted by a gold dome, and on top of that dome sites a statue of "Agriculture." The dome is 57 feet high and is made of wood sheathed in copper and covered with gold leaf, as pure as could be obtained. The original statue of Agriculture atop the dome was created by Brattleboro sculptor Larkin Mead, but in 1938 the wooden statue had rotted and was in danger of toppling off the dome. With the help of his janitorial staff, 87-year-old Sergeant-at-Arms Dwight Dwinell carved a 14‑foot replacement mounted on a six-foot pedestal.

Vermont architect Ammi B. Young designed Vermont's previous statehouse whose Grecian portico still graces the front of the structure- the portico being the only remaining portion of the earlier Greek Revival statehouse of the 1830s. Young's classic Greek Revival statehouse of the 1830s held a dome that was subtly expressed on the building's interior with skylights over the flanking staircases. Today's State House was to have the same interior effect, but circumstances during constructions in 1858-59 resulted in a dome that has no interior expression whatsoever. This may have inadvertently created a building unique in world architecture.

I would like to include a few more of the pictures we took of the Vermont State Capitol. I thought it to be impressive and evocative of simple, homespun Americana. You can click on the thumbnails below to have a look at these pictures:

I also want to include two movies that I took before we entered the capitol building, and you can watch them with the two players below:

The Vermont State Capitol from State Street

The Capitol Grounds from the Portico

Just before we entered the building itself, I took a picture of Fred and the view from the portico, and you can have a look at that picture here.

The Vermont State Capitol: First Floor

When we entered the building, we found ourselves in a small lobby. Halls led from the lobby in three directions, as you can see in the first floor diagram below.

On this diagram, I've noted some of what you will see in our pictures and movies. We didn't go very far down any of the halls, as there are no public rooms there- mostly just offices and some committee rooms. If you are curious, here's a key to most of the room numbers: 1 (Senate Judiciary Committee), 2 (Sergeant-At-Arms), 3-8 (Various Senate Committees), 10 (Small Hearing Room), 11 (Large Hearing Room), 13 (President Pro Tempore of the Senate), 14 (Lt. Governor), 24 (Legislative Lounge, the old Supreme Court Chamber) and LC (Legislative Council). The remainder of the rooms are more committees or staff.

There was not really a self-guided tour, although you were free to walk around. We just waited the few minutes it took for one of the guides to assemble a small group for a tour.

There were some interesting things to see here in the lobby, including the only work of art by Larkin Mead that remains in the capitol: the bust of Abraham Lincoln that is installed at the end of the Hall of Inscriptions straight ahead of us. This bust was done in preparation for the large bronze statue Mead created for Lincoln’s tomb in Springfield, Illinois.

The Hall of Inscriptions is so named because along the walls there are a number of etched inscriptions, all of which are related in some way to the state of Vermont. You can see an example of one of them here. The lobby's marble floor exhibits white tiles from Danby, Vermont and black tiles from Isle La Motte on Lake Champlain. There was also a display off to the side of the lobby that had pictures of the first Capitol building (1808-1836) and the second Capitol building (1838-1857).

Portraits in this lobby include two naval heroes of the Spanish-American War, Admirals Dewey of Montpelier and Charles Clark of Bradford. The two presidents of the United States from Vermont are also portrayed here, Calvin Coolidge of Plymouth Notch and Chester Arthur of Fairfield. If you'd like to see these portraits, just click on the thumbnails at right.

The Lobby of the Statehouse

While we were waiting for a tour to begin, I paused to make a movie here in the lobby of the State House. I wasn't sure if the photographs of the portraits would turn out, so as I look around the lobby I'll close in on each of them. Towards the end of the movie, you can hear the guide gathering the group together. Have a look at the movie with the player at left.

You may have noticed the "cabinets" in the movie; these were actually cast iron "gilt-bronze" steam screens and were the decorative means of disguising the original steam radiators. The remainder of the first floor consists of offices for Vermont’s lieutenant governor, hearing rooms and Senate committee rooms. Many of these spaces have been restored to their nineteenth century condition. The carpets and drapes found throughout the building are in many cases documented patterns that have been replicated as part of the restoration of the State House.

The guide got us together, gave us a short introductory history of the Vermont State House, and then took the group up the stairs to our right.

The Vermont State Capitol: Second Floor

The next things to see in the State Capitol were on the second floor, so that's where the group went.

I hung back after the group went up the stairs so that I could make a movie as I was walking up. I did that, and the movie also looks around the top of the stairs and heads into the Senate Chamber- our first stop on this floor. You can watch that movie with the player below:

Into the Senate Chamber

We are going to make four stops here on the second floor. First, we'll look around the Senate Chamber, and then the House Chamber. From there, we'll go into the Governor's Office and finally end up in the Cedar Creek Room, which is also the Governor's Reception Room. You can see all of these locations on the floor plan at left, above. The other rooms are for the Governor's staff, House and Senate Committees and House and Senate Staff.

The Vermont State Capitol: The Senate Chamber

The Senate Chamber, with all of its original furnishings, is remarkably well-preserved. With only 30 members, the Senate is an intimate yet grand room. The combination of Renaissance and Rococo Revival furnishings combine with the elliptically shaped classical architecture to create this accessible elegance.

The elaborate hand-carved rostrum, with Vermont’s coat of arms at its center, is lit by gas lamps symbolizing the muses of Inspiration and Meditation.

The magnificent gasolier, found in 1979 after an absence of nearly 65 years, was refurbished and reinstalled in 1981. It features a maritime theme with seahorses, water lilies and figures of Neptune. You can see a close-up of the seahorses here.

The three of us took a number of other pictures here in the Senate Chamber, and I've selected the best of them to include here. If you will click on the thumbnail images below, you can have a look at these pictures:

The Senate Chamber Rostrum

As I like to do in the capitols we visit, I went up to the rostrum of the Senate Chamber to make a movie looking out onto the chamber from there. You can watch this movie with the player at right.

Finishing up in the Senate Chamber, we went over to have a look at the House.

The Vermont State Capitol: The House Chamber

Leaving the Senate Chamber, we walked towards the south end of the building, and halfway across we found ourselves in the House Vestibule. You can see the vestibule ahead of us past the north staircase here is also called the Hall of Flags because it houses some of the 68 flags carried by Vermont regiments in the Civil War. Many bear evidence of battle damage but display beautiful designs painted on silk. The vestibule has recently been restored to its 1859 appearance- including an elaborate ornamental plaster ceiling, mid-nineteenth century window treatments, and replicas of the original gas chandeliers on which cherubs dance with tambourines in their hands. The carpet, an exact reproduction of the original, has oak leaves and acorns sprinkled across its surface. William Henry Rinehart’s Pioneer and Indian, statues cast for the State House, flank the entrance to Representatives’ Hall.

Representatives’Hall is home to the 150-member Vermont House of Representatives. This chamber also has been restored to the way it looked in 1859.

The plaster lotus blossom in the center of the ceiling includes petals that weigh approximately 500 pounds. From its center hangs the original bronze and gilt chandelier, one of America’s most important surviving gas fixtures. It includes allegorical figures of Commerce, Prudence, Eloquence and Science alternating with four copies of Hiram Powers’ famous Greek Slave, perhaps an abolitionist statement in this pre-Civil War building. On the underside of the chandelier are eight copies of Vermont’s coat-of-arms.

Above the Speaker’s rostrum hangs the historic portrait of George Washington. Rescued from the fire that destroyed the previous statehouse in 1857, this 1836 copy by George Gassner of Gilbert Stuart’s original was rehung in the same location in the present House Chamber. Above it is the Vermont coat of arms, carved of pine, painted and gilded. The carpet, draperies and upholstery have been restored to their original appearance.

I made two movies of Representatives Hall, and you can watch them with the players below:

Representatives Hall from the Entry

From the Speaker's Rostrum

Next, it was on to the Governor's Office (3).

The Vermont State Capitol: Governor's Office

The Governor’s Office was meticulously restored to its original 1859 appearance by the Friends of the Vermont State House in 1985. It is really only used when the legislature is in session or for ceremonial occasions. The chamber is furnished with replicas of the original carpet, draperies, gasolier, and some furniture. You can see Steve, the carpet, a cabinet and some of the many portraits on the wall here.

The Constitution Chair has served as Vermont’s official governor's chair since 1858. It was carved from timbers of the frigate U.S.S. Constitution, better known as "Old Ironsides."

Around the walls of the room are many portraits of nineteenth century governors, including works by Thomas Waterman Wood, Benjamin Franklin Mason and J.Q.A. Ward. You can see one of Wood's portraits here.

There is actually a very controversial item in the room- the lamp on the Governor's desk. Sometimes it is on the desk and sometimes it is in storage, depending on the tenor of the times and whether the Governor feels comfortable with a naked goddess on the desk. The local newspaper takes some delight in chronicling the movements of the lamp as a way of categorizing the tenor of the current administration. As you can see, Vermont seems currently to have a less-straightlaced Administration.

Below are thumbnail images for some other pictures that Fred took here in the Governor's Office; click on them to look at the full-size pictures:

As our guide was talking to us in the Governor's office, I made a movie looking around the room, and you can watch it with the player at right.

Our last stop would be the Cedar Creek Reception Room, and so that is where we headed next.

The Vermont State Capitol: Cedar Creek Reception Room

Our last stop here in the Vermont State Capitol was the Cedar Creek Reception Room (4), just next door to the Governor's office.

The Cedar Creek Reception Room has been restored to a period later than the building itself. Dominated by the 20 by 10 foot painting "The Battle of Cedar Creek," the chamber served as the state library until it was transformed and redecorated as a reception room in 1888.

Elaborate wall stencils, bent brass gas chandeliers, an Oriental-inspired carpet design and stained glass skylights brought the "Gilded Age" to the Vermont State House. This redecoration swept its way through the building, and some smaller rooms downstairs have also been returned to this period.

The Battle of Cedar Creek, painted by Julian Scott from 1871 to 1874 for the State House, commemorates one of Vermont’s finest moments in the Civil War. In Virginia's Shenandoah Valley in October, 1864, the Old Vermont Brigade in the center of the canvas leads a rally that would reverse a Union retreat. A native of Johnson, Vermont, Scott won one of the first Congressional Medals of Honor for valor at the battle at Lee’s Mills.

There were two descriptive plaques below this major work of art, and you may want to read them just as we did. You can use the two scrollable windows below to pan across both of the plaques:

There was another painting by Julian Scott in the room, and you can see it behind our tour guide in the movie coming up. It was entitled "The Rear Guard at White Oak Swamp," and you can have a look at its descriptive plaque using the scrollable window below:

In the Cedar Creek Room

I made a good movie here in the Cedar Creek room from a position at the far end near the windows. I begin by looking towards the tour guide and the Julian Scott painting "The Rear Guard at White Oak Swamp" behind him. Then I pan around the entire room, taking in all the paintings on the walls. This movie will give you an excellent idea of what the room was like, and you can watch it with the player at left.

When we were done in the Cedar Creek Room, our guide took his leave of us and said we were welcome to walk around the second floor and go upstairs to see the third floor. He did mention that the galleries for the two chambers were not open, but that we could look around. We did go upstairs, and Fred got a picture of the other three of us relaxing for a moment in the area outside the two galleries; you can have a look at that picture here.

On the way back downstairs, I took some pictures of both the north and south stairs, and you can look at them if you click on the thumbnail images at right.

When we got back to the first floor and left the Capitol building, I took one more photograph of the guys standing just outside the capitol doors with the Vermont Supreme Court building in the background. You can see that picture here. Then, done at the Capitol, we went for a walk around downtown Montpelier.

Walking Around Montpelier, VT

When we finished touring the Vermont State Capitol Building, we thought that we would take a walk around downtown Montpelier- just to get a bit of flavor of the town itself. We wouldn't spend long doing so; we wanted to drive over into New Hampshire and take the Mt. Washington Cog Railway to the top before the day ended. So what we did was to make a long circle along both sides of State Street and down to Main Street, where we also walked along both sides of that street for a few blocks. The aerial view below will show you our approximate route. Leaving the Capitol, we walked back down to State Street and then began walking northwest along the avenue.

At the northwest end of our walk along State Street (and indeed all along the northwest side of the Capitol grounds, we found many very nice examples of Victorian architecture, most of the buildings now being used for state agencies and offices. If you will click on the word "Victorians" on the aerial view, you can see one of these neat buildings. If you will click on the thumbnails at right, you can see more of these houses and offices.

Along the rest of our walk, we passed lots of interesting stores and buildings and encountered a number of photo opportunities, and I've marked many of these on the aerial view above. On the southwest corner of State and Main was a shop called "Cool Jewels" (seen here from across Main Street); it had crystals, art jewelry and the like. Just around the corner on Main Street we found what appeared to be a parked camper in a vacant lot. But, as we watched, the owner of the camper brought out tables and chairs and set up an impromptu restaurant right there by the street. When I inquired, he pointed out the camper- on it was the name of the restaurant that he sets up and takes down each day during the summer.

Crossing to the other side of Main Street, we walked in front of the Lost Nation Theatre (shown at left), currently presenting a performance called "Metamorphoses.".

We walked a bit northeast on Main Street, crossing back to the other side just past the State Street intersection, and then we headed back along State Street towards the Capitol. We crossed over the Winooski River and passed the Montpelier Court House.

Then, a bit further along, we came to an interesting street clock. As we approached it from the east, we noticed that it showed the wrong time- 5:07 when it was only just after noon. Not only that, but we figured out that it wasn't working at all. The clock had four faces, and all of them showed the same time. I figured that it was just a temporary malfunction, but when we got to the other side and looked back, we found that someone had written some graffiti on the post that indicated that the clock has been out of order for some time. Take a look at the clock and graffiti and you'll see what I mean.

Continuing on, we got a view of Christ Church (Episcopal) on the other side of the street, and then passed by the Vermont State Museum and, finally, on the grounds of the State Capitol, the Vermont Supreme Court.

We took a number of other good pictures here in Montpelier, and you may wish to click on the thumbnail images below to have a look at some of them:

Montpelier was really very interesting and quaint, but it was time for us to head on to Mt. Washington over in New Hampshire. So we retrieved the car and then headed off east across rural Vermont.

Driving to Mt. Washington (NH)

The drive over to Mt. Washington was a pleasant one, mostly through rural Vermont and New Hampshire.

Steve drove most of this part of our route through New England, and while I had put my camera away, Fred did his best to take some photos of the countryside as we passed through it. If you will click on the thumbnail images at right, you can see four of the best of the pictures he took.

In New Hampshire, we were on I-93 South for a while and then turned east to continue on US 302 over towards Mt. Washington. We stopped for lunch in the little town of Bethlehem (New Hampshire, not Israel). As are many small towns, it was a picturesque place, and there were some interesting photos to be had. Fred was intrigued by an ornate fountain that seemed to be sitting by itself along the sidewalk. But was actually left over from the time a church had stood behind it. I suppose the fountain was too interesting to be removed.

Fred took some other good pictures here in the town of Bethlehem, and you can have a look at some of them by clicking on the thumbnail images below:

We had a pretty good lunch in a small cafe in town.

Bethlehem, New Hampshire

I also did some walking around Bethlehem, and I began by making a movie of the area of town where we stopped for lunch, and you can have a look at that movie with the player at left.

On one side of the street was a typical New England church appropriately located at the corner of Main and Church. I also took some other pictures here in town, and you can have a look at them if you click on the thumbnail images below:

After lunch and a short walk, we headed off for Mt. Washington.

We had hoped that we might be traveling late enough in the year that we might see some Fall color, but there was not, as yet, a great deal of it. It seems that mid-October is the best time. But, even so, the mountain scenery was really quite beautiful.

Just before we got to the turnoff to Marshfield Station, we came across one of the scenic trains that ply this part of New Hampshire in the Summer and Fall. Actually, all we came across was engines as it was coming off a bridge and being switched around. As it was blocking our path up the mountain, we had to wait for it to clear the roadway, and while we were waiting I made a movie of it. You can watch that movie with the player at left.

Once the train had passed, we were on our way to Marshfield Station and the Mt. Washington Cog Railway.

Mt. Washington (NH)

Some years ago, when I was working on a job in Manchester, New Hampshire, instead of going home to Dallas for a weekend, I used my travel allotment to bring Fred to New Hampshire instead. One of the things we did over that weekend was to drive up to Mt. Washington and take the Cog Railway to the top. I have not yet worked my way back to that part of my photo album (at least as of this writing in December, 2011), so this may be your first look at this major New England attraction.

We spent quite a bit of time here this afternoon- staying until it started getting dark. And we took a lot of pictures, too. So many that I should break down our visit into sections. First, we'll arrive at Marsfield Station, get our tickets and board the train. Next, we'll take the train ride to the top of the mountain. Then we will spend some time at the top, taking pictures of the expansive views and touring the museum and other facilities. Finally, we'll ride down the mountain in the waning afternoon.

At Marshfield Station

From Highway 302, we drove up the access road to Marshfield Station.

Although the resolution isn't great out here in the boonies, you can see an aerial view of Marshfield Station at left. Most of it is parking, but you can easily see the station/museum building, and I have pointed out the loading platform, where we took quite a few pictures, and an exhibit area outside the station and adjacent to the loading platform where we also took quite a few pictures.

We parked the car and got our jackets; we knew from prior experience that even in summer it is quite chilly on the top of Mt. Washington, and now, in late September, it promised to be quite cold. We walked around to the west side of the station building and went downstairs to the ticket office to buy our tickets for the ride to the top. As it turned out, the two trains leaving next were already full, so we would have about an hour wait until we could ride up. We put that time to good use, wandering around the station area, visiting the museum and outside exhibit area and watching the train operations.

One of the first things we did was to visit the museum on the lower level of the station, where we learned a good deal about the history of the Mt. Washington Cog Railway. That history began in 1852 after a hiker, Sylvester Marsh, became lost near the summit of the mountain. Once he'd found his way back down, he decided that there had to be a better way for people to reach the highest mountain peak in the Northeast. Upon his return home, he immediately started working on a plan to build the world's first mountain-climbing cog railway.

Marsh, a native of Campton, New Hampshire, had made his fortune in Chicago's meat-packing industry and was considered by his contemporaries to be a creative and innovative thinker. However, upon first presenting his idea to members of the New Hampshire Legislature, they laughed at him and said that he "might as well build a railway to the Moon." Undaunted, Marsh began the task of building his mountain climbing railway, working with inventors Herrick and Walter Aiken, a father-and-son team from Franklin, New Hampshire. The task was not an easy one, as equipment and materials had to be hauled by oxen for 25 miles to Bretton Woods, and then another six miles through thick forest to the base of Mount Washington. But on July 3, 1869, 'Old Peppersass' became the first cog-driven train to climb 6,288-foot Mount Washington. It was also the first such mountain-climbing cog railway in the world, beating the introduction of Europe's first such railway (at Mt. Rigi in Switzerland) by two years.

140 years later, The Mount Washington Cog Railway is a National Historic Engineering Landmark. With its vintage steam engines and replica coaches, as well as biodiesel locomotives, the Mount Washington Cog Railway is an attraction that anyone visiting the White Mountains of New Hampshire simply must visit. This was our second time here, and the experience, although not cheap, was just as enjoyable the second time around. In 1983, the Presby and Bedor families together purchased the cog railway and, since then, they, and their staff, have restored all six coal-fired locomotives, built a new base station (improving the grounds and maintenance facilities in the process), replaced the tracks, improved the switching system and established the museum.

The Outside Exhibit Area

We also explored the exhibit area outside. It lies just up the hill from the station, and contains some restored pieces of equipment used previously on the railway- including the engine 'Old Peppersass' that you saw earlier.

This engine was the first one used on the railway, and it was built by Sylvester Marsh himself. It is also known as "The Old Hero" (presumably for its long service on the railway). The descriptive sign beside it was interesting, and you can read it here.

At the mountain end of the exhibit area, there was also an elevation marker. As you can see, we are only a little over a half-mile high here; looking at the mountains around, one would think one was higher than that.

There were four major pieces of equipment here- four different engines that, at one time or another, were used on the railway. I took a picture of Fred beside each of them, and if you will click on the thumbnail images at left, you can have a look at each of these engines.

The Two Trains Ahead of Us

As you can see in the picture at right, taken by Steve shortly after we arrived at the station, there were already two trains waiting at the station, loading their passengers. These two trains, the two ahead of us, were already filled to capacity, so we would have to wait until one of them came back down before we ourselves could board.

After we came out of the museum, but before we spent time looking at the exhibits, we were able to watch as these two trains, now filled with their passengers, headed out up Mt. Washington. These two trains would be going up the mountain together, but about halfway up, one of them would go onto a siding temporarily while another train came back down. The switching system was one of the improvements made to speed up the process of getting folks up and down the mountain. It allowed multiple trains to be used effectively- reducing wait times significantly.

In a picture that Fred took, you can see the lead train pulling out of the station. The other train was completing its loading process and preparing to follow the other train up the mountain. When they start out from the station, the trains climb an immediate 40% incline; only a cog train could possibly do that. The maximum grade for trains already at full speed is about five percent, and a ten percent highway grade is considered steep. Using his zoom lens, Fred was able to capture a picture of the first train as it cleared the end of this first steep ascent and moved into a more moderate stretch (that was still twenty percent or so). You can see that picture here.

This was the signal that the second train could begin to follow it.

When the second train began to pull out of Marshfield Station, Fred took one of his rare movies, this one of both trains. He put his zoom to good use to show the lead train on its way up the hill. Watch this movie with the player at left.

When the trains had departed, we then spent some time looking around the outside exhibit area until the train that we would be taking came down the mountain.

When I saw our train coming down the mountain into Marshfield Station, I made a movie of its progress down to the point where it switches onto the siding used for boarding. You can have a look at my movie using the player at right.

After the train had stopped and the passengers coming down the mountain had gotten off and left, I wanted to get a good picture of the train we'd be taking. From the platform side of the exhibit area I was too close, and from out in the exhibits, they got in the way. So I took a series of four photos, and then stitched them together in Photoshop. The result is the picture below:

Our Train

Finally, it was time to board our train. Remembering our first visit, I knew we'd want to be sitting at the front of the car, so as soon as I could, I took up a position near the boarding stairs to be at the head of the line. When we boarded, I took the double-seat at the front of the car, just inside this side of it. I tried to save the other side for Mario and Steve, but was unsuccessful in that. Fred joined me in the double seat when he boarded, and we waited for the train to start off on its journey along the track ahead.

Our Trip Up Mt. Washington

From our vantage point at the front of the passenger car, Fred and I had great views of the trip up Mt. Washington. The weather was almost perfect, and we enjoyed the trip immensely.

Although you can't see much detail, the aerial view at left will show you the route we took to the top of Mt. Washington. You can also see part of the auto road that goes to the top; it begins on the east side of the mountain and is, I'm told, kind of narrow in places- not for the faint of heart.

Before we started out, I slipped over to the other side of the car to get a picture of Steve and Fred, and then Fred returned the favor by taking a (slightly fuzzy) picture of myself and Mario.

We Begin Our Ascent

I took a number of movies during our trip up the mountain on the cog railway, and the first one was when we were just leaving Marshfield Station. You can have a look at that movie with the player at right. All of my movies will be looking out ahead through the window right in front of us. With the engine behind the car, there was no way to get pictures or movies looking behind the train.

The second movie was taken as the train made its way up the first, steep part of the trip just east of the station. You can watch that movie with the player below:

Ascending Steeply East of Marshfield Station

Below are thumbnail images for some of the best of the pictures we took of the route ahead as the train ascended the mountain. Click on the images to view the full-size pictures:

Another Train Passes Us

For the first part of the trip, we were on a single track that went pretty continually straight up the side of the mountain. The conductor stood on the platform outside the car at the front of the train providing a commentary as we went. After a while, the track split into two, part of the improvements that have been made to allow trains to pass, as you can see one doing in the movie I made. You can watch it with the player at left.

A bit further on, Fred could see a water tower between the tracks, and he made that picture of it looking through the window in the front of the car. As we got closer, I went to the doorway to get my own picture of the Waumber Tank sitting between the two tracks. As you can see, we have come up about 1500 feet since Marshfield Station. Had we been hiking, this would have been quite a climb so far.

After the tank, the tracks paralleled each other for quite a ways, until eventually they rejoined for the final part of the trip to the top of Mt. Washington.

On the Ascent

Back on the single track, we covered a section that was approximately a 25% grade, and we were going fairly slowly. Fred got a nice picture looking out the window at the track ahead, and he also got a particularly beautiful picture of the clouds on the slopes of Mt. Washington.

I made a movie as we were traveling along in this section, and my movie also shows some of the scenery off to our north from there. You can watch it with the player at right.

I also made a couple of my own pictures of the track ahead, and you can have a look at them if you click on the thumbnail images below:

Crossing Jacob's Ladder

The final portion of the trip up to the top of Mt. Washington took us over a section known as "Jacob's Ladder," perhaps because the grade exceeds 37%- the steepest on this railway and indeed on any cog railway in the country. We had left all the trees behind, and the area we traversed was barren, rocky upland. The folks in the car were getting quite a view. You can see the expansive views that they saw if you click here.

I made a movie in this section, and you can watch it with the player at left. In the movie we pass to the left of a memorial to Lizzie Bourne of Kennebunk Maine, who died here on 14 September 1885.

Lizzie Bourne

On that day, Lizzie, along with two relatives, tried to climb Mount Washington without a guide. They left the Glen House at the bottom of the mountain at about 2 PM. They walked up the carriage road as far as they could, but by 4 PM they had made it only halfway to the top, and they still were not at their destination when night fell. Lizzie was wearing the usual apparel for women of her time, which hindered her movement. The party then experienced a violent gale. Quickly becoming cold and confused, Lizzie died from exposure about 10 PM. (The fact that her companions survived has led some to conclude that Lizzie had some kind of undiagnosed medical condition that contributed to her death.) When the sun rose, her companions sadly realized they were only a few hundred yards from the summit house. Her family built this monument near the spot where Lizzie perished. And so Lizzie Bourne's spirit continues to survey a view with a circumference of nearly 1,000 miles, including parts of five states and the province of Quebec, although her body is actually buried at Hope Cemetery in Kennebunk, Maine.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see some of the pictures we took along this section of the trip:

As we came around the last part of Jacob's Ladder, we could see the buildings at the top of Mt. Washington off in the distance, and we started getting ready to disembark. I might note that as we were getting of the train, I noticed a familiar emblem embossed into the metal of the seat back in front of me. My Mom's Scandinavian furniture that she bought in 1950 and which we sold about ten years ago seems to have been made by the same company that fabricated the railroad car seats- Heywood‑Wakefield. One of these days, I'll have to look up the company history.

At the Top of Mt. Washington

When we disembarked from the train, we found ourselves in an open area that had views to the north. It was here that we found the official sign for Mt. Washington State Park. From the area between the train platform and the buildings, we had beautiful views to the north and east. Fred began our picture taking by stitching together a panorama looking north, and you can have a look at it below:

As you can see from Fred's panorama, the views from here were quite spectacular, and Fred also used the northern view to take a picture of me in the stiff wind. If you want to know more about some of the mountains you are seeing in these pictures, you can read the explantory sign that points them out and talks about the Appalachian Mountains here.

While we were standing around here, people were queuing up to board the train we had come up on for the return trip down the mountain. Again, Fred used the facility his camera has to stitch pictures together to capture both of the trains waiting here at the top of the mountain, and you can see that picture below:

About the time we were ready to head on into the museum and see some of the other things here at the top of the mountain, we saw that the trains were loaded and getting ready to depart. So both Fred and I stopped to make movies of these departures. When I reviewed them later, I found that the two movies Fred made were excellent- much better than the one I made. This surprised me a bit since Fred doesn't like to take movies and supply narration, but these were quite good. You should definitely have a look at them with the players below:

The First Train Departs

Second Train Departure and Panorama

Now we headed off to see what else we could find up here on the mountaintop.

Facilities Diagram

At left is an aerial view of the top of Mt. Washington. I have labeled some of the buildings and other points of interest that we visited, and we'll be relating the pictures to this diagram as well.

When we walked into the building housing the museum and cafe, we passed underneath an informative sign describing the State Park and National Forest. As you can see, we are now over six thousand feet high, having come up about three-quarters of a mile from Marshfield Station.

Inside, we wandered through the building for a few minutes. I stopped at the weather station where I was not actually checking the weather but instead reading about the sixty or so people who have died on Mt. Washington through the years. A bit later on, in the museum, we learned more about Lizzie Bourne, whose story I recounted a bit earlier. Fred took one other picture in the museum, that one of a vintage photograph of some folks in the Tip Top House (which we'll see later). The museum was on a lower level, with the upper level given over to the cafe and gift shop in a large room with numerous large windows offering views of the panorama outside. Steve took a picture of this room, and while it didn't turn out all that well, you can still have a look at it here.

Next, we left the cozy building and headed back out into the chilly wind to walk around and up onto the observation deck, which is actually situated on the roof of the museum/cafe building. One of the first things I did when I got up to the observation platform was to try to take in the entire vista in one shot. That was impossible, so I took a series of five pictures and have photoshopped them together into one panoramic image that spans the view from approximately northwest to southeast. You can used the slider window below to view in detail the entire length of the image that I created:

If you are curious as to what the entire image looks like all at once, I have sized it below so that it will fit on your screen without scrolling:

Fred did his own panoramic shot, by having his camera automatically stitch together two widescreen pictures. You can have a look at the result below:

When we got up here on the observation deck, we had even more of the feeling of being above the clouds, as indeed we were. The views from here were just amazing, and it seemed as if the clouds were just flowing through the mountain passes below us. Fred took a number of really good pictures from here, many of which capture both of the trains that had left just a bit earlier as they crossed the area called "Jacob's Ladder" just below the mountaintop. You should click on the thumbnail images below to have a look at these pictures:

When we came down off the observation platform and walked over towards the actual summit of Mt. Washington, we noticed that at the west end of the platform there was a communications installation, presumably taking advantage of being at the highest point in this part of New England. Then we walked a bit south to a pile or rocks about fifteen feet high. It was on top of this pile that we found the actual summit of the mountain.

We didn't all walk up to the summit at the same time. I went up right away on my own when some people at the top stepped away so that I could take a movie panning 360-degrees around from the very top of the mountain. Reviewing the movie just now, I can see that the high wind created an obtrusive noise in the movie, so I eliminated the sound to give you the movie that you can watch with the player below, left.

Panorama from the Summit

Then I asked Fred to come up and join me so we could get a fellow tourist to take a picture of the two of us at the summit. Unbeknownst to me at the time, Steve was down at the base of the rock pile, and just happened to take a picture of Fred and I at the summit exactly at the moment that the tourist took the picture you just saw. Looking at Steve's picture gives you an interesting perspective. Everyone got there chance to get photographed at the summit; you can see these pictures if you click on the thumbnail images below:

Mario and Steve were off doing something else when Fred and I walked the few feet to our southwest here at the summit to have a look at Tip Top House.

By the mid-1800s lots of tourists were utilizing the new train service into the White Mountains, and a bridle path was opened to the summit to made it accessible to them. The first hotel, the Summit House, was built in 1852, just feet from the highest crag of Mount Washington. The rugged stone hotel was so successful its first year of operation that a competing hotel, the Tip Top House, was built the following year.

Tip Top House c. 1965

It is hard to imagine how difficult and time-consuming the building of the hotels on the summit of Mount Washington must have been. Other than the stones that were abundant on the summit, all the materials had to be hauled nine miles by horses over rough trails. In addition, the workers had to climb to work each day from a camp two miles down the mountain. Walls of the Tip Top House were made of stone blasted from the mountain rock. The original roof was flat, and used as an observation deck. In clear weather, a telescope with a tripod was put on the roof for the enjoyment of visitors. The flat roof of the Tip Top House was replaced with a pitched roof in the early 1860s.

An exciting new era began for Tip Top House in 1877 when it became the first printing office for the newspaper, Among the Clouds, that was printed on the summit. For seven years the printing presses in Tip Top House whirred out the summit news for visitors. Once production of the newspaper was moved to a separate building on the summit, Tip Top House was abandoned and allowed to fall into disrepair. Development at the summit continued, and included a three-story, 91-room hotel, a daily newspaper, and a weather observatory. The great fire of 1908 destroyed the “City Among the Clouds,” sparing only the Tip Top House. The sturdy building was renovated to once again serve as a hotel, as it was the only structure left to provide accommodations and meals for visitors. Shortly after completion of the new Summit House, the Tip Top House itself was destroyed by fire. It was rebuilt amd used as a Summit House annex. Much in need of repair, its long history as a hotel ended when it was abandoned in 1968.

Now a state historic site, the Tip Top House is once again open to summit guests. As a result of the most recent restoration which was completed in 1987, the building now resembles the original house as it was when it was first built with a flat roof. As the sole summit survivor, it provides a link between the mountain’s past and present and affords a window to its rich history. The Tip Top House is believed to be the oldest mountain-top hostelry still in existence in the world.

Click on the thumbnail images below to see a couple of pictures that Fred took inside the Tip Top House:

It was just about time for us to head over to board the last train down the mountain this afternoon. There were a few other interesting pictures that we took around the summit. Steve took a picture of one of the restored buildings from the late 1800s, this one the old stage company terminal. A building much like it was in use from the late 1800s into the twentieth century, before almost all tourists got to the summit on the cog railway or by driving. On the side of the building, Steve took a closeup of the sign commemorating the highest wind speed ever recorded- which was, of course, right here on Mt. Washington.

Meanwhile, Fred was off taking some other pictures. The Appalachian Trail comes across the summit of Mt. Washington and, because the weather here is often so bad that it is hard to see very far (people have gotten lost in fog and died before on Mt. Washington), a series of closely‑placed cairns has been constructed to guide hikers across the featureless summit. Just before heading back to the train platform, Fred got a last picture of the Mt. Washington Observatory.

The Trip Down Mt. Washington to Marshfield Station

Back at the platform, we found that our train was boarding. Since we had sat at the front (now the back) of the car on the way up, I sat down right behind the engine for the trip down. There was a window right in front of me and I could look alongside the engine all the way and again see the track ahead. I took a series of four pictures on our way back down to Marshfield Station, and you can have a look at them if you click on the thumbnail images at right.

Staying in Franconia (NH)

When we got down the mountain and were driving back down the access road to the highway, we talked about where to stay the night. Mario and Steve did some investigation on their cell phones and found a Best Western over in Franconia, NH, where we could stay.

We got on highway 302 north to US 3 and took that over to the Interstate where we went north a couple of exits to find the Best Western.

We got all checked in to the Best Western, and then went across to the other side of the Interstate where we had a couple of dinner choices. We settled on a homey place called The Dutch Treat.

We'd done a lot today, and we have yet another state capitol tomorrow.

You can use the links below to either continue with our New England trip or return to the Index Page to continue on through the photo album.

	September 29, 2011: Albany and the New York State Capitol
	September 27, 2011: Concord and the New Hampshire State Capitol
	Return to the Index for our New England Trip