I Finally Met The Gang!

Meet up, connect, make travel plans, and organize face-to-face get togethers in Fall River.

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FairhavenGuy
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I Finally Met The Gang!

Post by FairhavenGuy »

Hooray!

This afternoon, Stef, Kat, Harry and Richard walked into the Fairhaven Visitors Center! It was so great to meet after all this time. (Kat had emailed me that if I couldn't get to Fall River while they were here, she'd come to Fairhaven, and she kept her end of the deal.)

Fortunately they caught me at lunch time between tours, so I got to spend a bit of time discussing Fairhaven/Emma/Helen Brownell stuff with them.

It was way too short a time, but so much fun for me. I'm sure we'll be hearing reports from them soon.
I've met Kat and Harry and Stef, oh my!
(And Diana, Richard, nbcatlover, Doug Parkhurst and Marilou, Shelley, "Cemetery" Jeff, Nadzieja, kfactor, Barbara, JoAnne, Michael, Katrina and my 255 character limit is up.)
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Stefani
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Post by Stefani »

Hooray is right! We had a wonderful time meeting Chris. You were gracious and kind and full of great stories. What a treat!

Look what we missed . . . . the tour of Fairhaven with the director of tourism all dressed the part.

Thanks again for the Slocum! :smile:


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Kat
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Post by Kat »

Hey Christopher!
My first post after getting home- It was fantastic seeing you and getting a big hug! :grin:
The time went too fast but I'll always remember our first meeting- and hope to see you again soon!
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FairhavenGuy
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Post by FairhavenGuy »

And now I'm back from three days of historical re-enacting in New Bedford. (My wife and daughter do this, too.) It was like an extremely primitive camping trip. Everything we own seems to smell like wood smoke right now. . .

Once I've gotten some sleep in a real bed, I'll do some of the research we talked about.
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I've met Kat and Harry and Stef, oh my!
(And Diana, Richard, nbcatlover, Doug Parkhurst and Marilou, Shelley, "Cemetery" Jeff, Nadzieja, kfactor, Barbara, JoAnne, Michael, Katrina and my 255 character limit is up.)
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Richard
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Buster Keaton and Emma Borden in Fairhaven

Post by Richard »

Hey FairHavenGuy. It was great meeting you, and sorry we missed your Rogers walking tour.

Just listening to you and Harry and Kat and Stef chat for an hour was a mini-education in itself. Before that afternoon, all I knew about Fairhaven was the Lizzie Borden connection. I did snap up as many brochures from your office as possible and I was reading them on my lunch break the other day, finding out more about rich New Bedford and Fairhaven history.

We did make an effort to connect with Debbie in the Library but she was on a long lunch break. We were going to talk to her about possibly finding Brownell related papers that would have gone under the radar to Borden scholars but perhaps may have a reference to Emma's connection with the family. I'm convinced there is something just sitting in a filing cabinet somewhere waiting for us to take a look at it. After the recent breakthrough with Emma at Wheaton, which came about as a result of someone writing a letter to Wheaton, there's got to be tons of other stuff just sitting around waiting for us to help shed light on previously unknown chunks of the Borden story.

On a non-Lizzie related subject, I took this picture of a playbill that was in the Fairhaven Visitor's Center. Apparantly, Buster Keaton acted in a play there.

On Sept 5th, 1949, James Agee wrote in Life Magazine about Buster Keaton:

Besides occasional bits, spots and minor roles in Hollywood pictures, he has worked on summer stages, made talking comedies in France and Mexico and clowned in a French circus. This summer he played the straw hats in Three Men on a Horse.

Reference: http://www.geocities.com/~oldbrit/bklifemag.html

Also in a special double issue of the Keaton Chronicle (Winter 1999/2000) Frank Buxton wrote an article called "Three Men (And Buster) On A Horse" which I suppose is about the play in Fairhaven.

http://busterstuff.com/catalog/product_ ... ucts_id=46

I wonder if Buster Keaton knew he was performing in the town where Emma Borden was staying at the time of the murders. I wonder if he would have cared?

We do, of course.
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diana
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Post by diana »

I think I was the first forum member to meet you, Chris! That was some years back but I still remember how patiently you provided us with excellent directions to the Courthouse, the Ash Street Jail, Knowlton's house and the Brownell house. Any Bordenites visiting the area should definitely make a stop at the Fairhaven Tourist Center!

Just a note -- your enthusiasm for Slocum inspired me to buy a copy of Sailing Alone Around the World when I saw it in a Newport bookshop a few days later ... and I'm glad I did.
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Post by mbhenty »

:smile:

Being a sailor and book collector, I have two copies of "Sailing Alone Around the World", both 1st Editions. :smile: :cool: :roll: Been looking for a signed copy for years, but those are very scarce and I would probably not have the money to afford one at this time. (Buying those darn Lizzie books) :oops: :oops: :oops:

Slocum (Slocomb) was quite the character. It is believed that he may have embellished his book a little. But, like Tristan Jones, also a famous sailor/writer, one like me, who could not swim but loved sailing------he could spin a yarn. Most us sailors tend to do that.

Slocum also had some skeletons in the closet. The story of his life in well recorded and in many ways scarred buy unfortunate events, which I do not care to mention here, since he is one of my heros and I chose not to believe it. :smile:
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FairhavenGuy
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Post by FairhavenGuy »

mbhenty,

I was explaining to Stef one of Slocums embellishments that was discivered because of my Lizzie interest. In Slocum's book, he says that mid-winter 1892 Capt. Pierce from Fairhaven said "Come to Fairhaven, I'll give you a ship. But she'll need some repairs." Slocum then spent 13 months rebuilding the Spray.

Imagine my surprise, then, when looking at Lizzie stuff in the Aug. 4, 1892 New Bedford Standard and reading a little notice that Slocum had taken a sailing party out on the harbor in the Spray the night before. If he came to Fairhaven in 1892 and spent 13 months rebuilding the boat, how was he sailing it in August 1892?

I passed this tidbit of info on to a friend and historical researcher, Bob Birely, of Fall River. He soon discovered a newspaper notice about Slocum launching the Spray in June 1892.

Then came a big breakthrough. Bob found a long New Bedford Standard article from November 1891, interviewing Slocum in Fairhaven. At that time, the rebuilding was nearly completed. The story explained how Slocum had come to Fairhaven to work in the local shipyards, had stayed with his friend Capt. Pierce, and had subsequently been offered the old Spray, which Slocum decided to fix up to cruise southern waters.

So Slocum really came to Fairhaven sometime in 1891 and the Capt. Pierce quote "Come to Fairhaven, I'll give you a ship," is most likely a complete fabrication. :shock:

We think Slocum changed his arrival date in Fairhaven to 1892 so it more closely coincided with Columbus' voyage in 1492. Slocum likens himself to Columbus several times in the book, and even meets the ghost of one of Columbus' crew. The 1892 date was used by Slocum for literary reasons. (And the actual round-the-world voyage, from 1895 to 1898, doesn't line up with Columbus at all. . .)

And all of this came from my reading about Lizzie in the New Bedford Standard.
I've met Kat and Harry and Stef, oh my!
(And Diana, Richard, nbcatlover, Doug Parkhurst and Marilou, Shelley, "Cemetery" Jeff, Nadzieja, kfactor, Barbara, JoAnne, Michael, Katrina and my 255 character limit is up.)
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