Sandwich: Glassblowing and Rhododendrons

Friday morning, we left our luxurious hotel for breakfast in downtown with Paula, the local tourism rep, before we headed out, to Sandwich, already on Cape Cod, founded in 1837 and therefore considered the oldest Cape Cod town.

A gentleman by name Devin Jarves found deemed this town ideal for glass manufacturing, with enough timber to fuel the furnices and close enough to the wealthy city of Boston to market the goods. So, glass became THE industry in Sandwich, and, predominantly, it was the Sandwich Glass Company, founded in 1825, which became "Boston & Sandwich Glass Company" one year later, which became famous.

First, it was free-blown glass, later, the glass press developed as a new invention. Middle of the 19th century, the company was flourishing and so was the region. Mr. Jarves later founded Cape Cod Glass Works, having in mind the future of his son, who unfortunately died in 1869 and couldn't take over. The Sandwich Glass Company continued till 1888, produced lacy glass, pattern glass, cut glass, Trevoise glass and other specialty glasses to satisfy the changing market. The exhibition not only shows the complicated process of glass blowing (with a workshop and a master glassblower), but also shows nice objects of glass of different periods.

On to the Heritage Museums & Gardens in Sandwich - didn't expect much, but were fully surprised. Huge botanical garden and three galleries, among them a unique collection of American cars, Folk Art, a vintage carousel and lots of artwork. The Automobile Gallery includes an impressive collection of American automobiles (pic) within a replica of the Shaker Round Barn from Hancock, Massachusetts.


The gardens feature a worldwide renowned collections of rhododendrons, reaching the height of trees (!), including those created by Charles Dexter, who did his ground-breaking plant hybridizing work here. Most of them were still in full bloom and just gorgeous! Besides that, the garden is known for its variety of hydrangeas, accompanied by daylilies, peonies(pic) and hostas in abundance.

The gardens date back to 1677, when Lydia Wing Hamilton Abbott lived on the land. Charles Owen Dexter was the next owner of the land, then known as Shawme Farm, in 1921. He turned the wooded farm into a country estate. Mr. Lilly planned to create an automobile museum in memory of his father, who collected things from the time he was a child, from weather vanes to artwork to automobiles.


What a great, sunny morning to be outside and get a garden tour! We really enjoyed it, before heading out to Boston at 1:30 pm - which was a pain i.t.a.: Instead of one hour, it took us two hours to get into town, then another 1/2 hour to find parking around South Station. Traffic was horrible, drivers are bad, honking and driving too fast and aggressive, up to 10 lanes, parking a challenge. Finally, at 4:30 pm, we had checked in and stored our luggage at the AMTRAK railroad station and had gotten rid of our rental car at Alamo's. We have driven over 1,000 miles in 10 days - not much in the West, but quite a bit in New England. Boy, what a drive! Would rate Boston # 4 after New York, Los Angeles and Houston when it comes to cities you should avoid driving.


Back to Boston, we explored the city some more, visited a large (cheap) farmers' market (pic) closeby the Boston Public Market, where we, eventually, had a beer and ate our last seafood. Sat on a bench and watched people at Quincy Market (pic) before we walked back on Harbor Walk towards South Station, where our train to Washington DC departed at 9:30 pm (with a little delay).