Day 19.241: Hammond Castle miscellany

A few more things from our visit to Hammond Castle:

A list of John Hays Hammond Jr.'s music-related patents - not what he's most famous for, but music is a large presence in the "castle"

A remarkable pipe organ including some of his innovations

There are more than 8000 pipes back there

Some musical characters carved in panels up on the balcony

One of only a few claviharps in the world - part of his eclectic collection

He is more famous for his work on remote control. Here is another list of patents (there were at least two other categories with large lists as well)

A remote-control dog that was actually a proof of concept for a guided missile

This massive painting shows a fictional naval battle in which his remote controlled torpedoes won the day

Sitting in a faraday cage with the subject of a series of experiments into whether electrical fields could enhance or suppress ESP.

The rooms in the house are similarly eclectic

Although each one has a cohesive charm

And then there are the pieces used to decorate - acquired from all over the world like these carvings

and this

and this

and this bull

This chap looks like he's holding the building up at significant personal cost

whereas this guy is either wise and thoughtful or just cheesed off

Really - anything goes.

What a fascinating place and a remarkable man who created it.

Day 19.240: The Peabody Essex Museum

Here are some of the things we saw at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA.

Our first priority was to visit Yin Yu Tang: A Chinese Home. It's an 18th century two-story home built around a central courtyard.

The house is open to the elements (it is undergoing some maintenance for damage caused by the cold Massachusetts winters but the most obtrusive work had finished before our visit)

Exile #2 says she was not as shocked as it looks when being told about this device to keep a toddler out of trouble

Another bit of childcare equipment - a little chair with a tray in a hexagonal enclosure

The original stairs (not the ones we used)

The bedrooms had been decorated at different times in different styles

The narrow passage on the upper floor between the rooms and the courtyard

It was a wonderful experience.

After that, we went to the witch trials exhibit which I talked about briefly on the day.

This exhibit: On This Ground: Being and Belonging in America was one of the best I've ever seen - a thoughtful look at Native American identity and colonialism. It was engaging and challenging and - delightfully - includes currently active Native American artists and their work 

Anila Quayyum Agha: All the Flowers Are for Me (2015)

We enjoyed the Korean art exhibit...

...including this chair, which had possibly my favorite explanation panel from any museum...

It reads: "We know this chair was displayed at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, but almost everything else about it is a mystery. It does not resemble traditional Joseon-era chairs but appears to blend features of officials' ceremonial chairs, sedan chairs, and ritual chairs that held spirit tablets in ancestral shrines. Its back splat even evokes European and American styles, Was this a makeshift creation specifically crafted for the fair? If so, why, and what was it meant to convey?". I love a museum that admits to not knowing all the answers!

A large Korean fan

An even larger leatherback turtle (caught nearby in 1885)

Kiss-o-Meter. Here are the ratings:
-10: Ice Cold
0: Clammy
10: Sour
20: Sloppy
30: Amateurish
40: Sweet
50: Tender
60: Thrilling
70: Exciting
80: Passionate
90: Naughty
100: Hot Stuff
Sadly, it seems that this was all judged based on grip strength rather than any actual kissing.

A giant clam

It's a large, varied and delightful museum.

Day 19.236: Anniversary; witch?

This morning we woke (as expected) to rain. It also rained 32 years ago in Oxford on the day of our wedding. Today's rain didn't stop us having breakfast on the (covered) deck of the hotel overlooking the sea.

After that, we drove to Salem where we visited the excellent Peabody Essex Museum. The museum neither focuses on, nor avoids the issue of the witch trials that made the town (and surrounding area) famous. The specific exhibit is excellent in balancing the interest in the events with the real people who were so terribly treated.

The Salem Witch Trials: I guess if you're willing to convict people for having skin blemishes or because of someone's report of their dreams or visions, you can basically target people who are grumpy, foreign, don't attend church or whatever else you don't like. 

We were surprised to find that nearly a quarter of those accused and convicted were men

Not an exhibit as such - just a staircase.

I'll save talk of the other exhibits we visited for another day.

By the time we left there, the rain had stopped, so we explored a small preserve in Marblehead Neck (Mass. Audubon) and a nearby public park with a lighthouse and views out to sea before returning to Rockport for an anniversary dinner.

Marblehead Neck Wildlife Sanctuary - we saw a northern waterthrush here, but it evaded my camera 

Marblehead Light

Double-crested cormorant

I briefly saw an American oystercatcher on this rock along with the gulls and cormorants. Again, no photographic evidence was obtained.