Welcome to the jewel of the Northeast, the Cradle of Liberty, and the only city on the trip I had been to previously!  The Suffolk County Courthouse was, at first glance, a little disappointing.  After a few moments, I realized that the attached John Adams Courthouse, which I thought of as more attractive, was the … Continue reading 829. Boston, Suffolk County (MA03) →

Middlesex County was new only to me. The rest of the fellowship had found a cache here on the drive from Connecticut to New Hampshire, and Cambridge came to represent a bit of a pickle for me. Middlesex County was originally divided into two regions, each having one of the county's two seats: Lowell in … Continue reading 828. Cambridge, Middlesex County (MA02) →

Oh, Massachusetts!I can't not note how ironic it is that the site of the Salem Witch Trials would become America's Witch City.  As we pulled into town, I wondered if there would be a lot of witch stuff about, considering it was the beginning of the Halloween season.  I thought there would be some, but not a … Continue reading 827. Salem, Essex County (MA01) →

Welcome to the other Portland! Neoclassicism, thy name is the Cumberland County Courthouse! But I must admit, the courthouse was secondary by the time we arrived. Making it to Portland was another of the ultimate goals of the trip. We immediately went to our target, Fort Williams Park and, more importantly ... ... Portland Head … Continue reading 826. Portland, Cumberland County (ME02) →

Oh, Maine!The York County Courthouse was nicer than I expected (I really liked the Jeffersonian portico), but its history was a little more confusing. Alfred has been the county seat since 1803. This building was completed in 1807. But the original county seat, established in 1652, was the town of York (which makes sense), and … Continue reading 825. Alfred, York County (ME01) →

I was rolling with Krissy4884 and Godot that morning, and as the winding back roads took us off into the country, we wondered, "Where the heck are we going?" But the trees turned into houses, and the houses turned into the courthouse and other county government buildings. There's a historic courthouse in town, but the … Continue reading 824. Dover, Strafford County (NH04) →

A good night's sleep had prepared me and the fellowship for the hard New Hampshire morning. [NB: it was not hard.] I had expected something more historical as courthouses go. Every courthouse in the Northeast seemed either really old or really new. Of course, that was not always the case because architectural revival styles are … Continue reading 823. Concord, Merrimack County (NH03) →

I thought the courthouse was nice enough, but not without problems. I couldn't really find a good vantage from which to photograph it, so I had trouble getting the very top of the tower in the shot. The best I could manage included the tower, but it was still obscured by an unfortunately placed tree … Continue reading 822. Saint Johnsbury, Caledonia County (VT07) →

Or perhaps this would be more aptly titled "Ayer's Cliff, Quebec." I crossed the border into Canada for the first time in just over a year. It was quite a thrill getting here. There's a little thing in the back of my head that has always doubted I'd make it back. But here we were. … Continue reading The Great White North 2 (Electric Boogaloo) →

This was a nice little piece of architecture. Romanesque and Queen Anne Revival. I wasn't deeply focused on the courthouse, not because I didn't care, but because we were on the way to something special, one of the features that would define our trip. But I'm getting ahead of myself. We had to take care … Continue reading 821. Newport, Orleans County (VT06) →