My Fall River Visit

Grace · Post by **Grace** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 5:49 pm

I went to Fall River this past Saturday. I had a great time at the B & B, my Red Hat ladies and I went for a tour and tea. I will try to post some pictures whenever I find my camera cable and can accomplish the upload of the photos!

We had quite a time trying to navigate the flooded streets (thanks so much Hurricane Kyle!) I wondered if Fall River always floods so badly? Seriously, the streets looked like waterfalls!

I also wondered about the lack of accents! I live in Mass, and whenever I go anywhere east of say, Brimfield/Sturbridge that Bostonian accent seems to permeate. However, I heard no one, not one person speaking in that very distinct Eastern Mass dialect, and I truly thought that I would. Can anyone explain that to me? Is it not as prevailant in SE Mass as it is in Eastern Mass?

LeeAnn and Don were extraordinarily welcoming and wonderful to us in every way! I learned alot on our tour and even after it was over! Don took us down to the cellar and also showed us some awesome things that LeeAnn had uncovered in her 'digs'! I am really impressed with the way that they're caring for the house and the grounds. It is obvious that it is not just a business venture, but so much more to them.

I also met Max and he let me hold him and take his picture-best part of my day!

I think I left one or two items in the gift shop for someone to purchase, so as not to be too rude!

Shelley · Post by **Shelley** » Mon Sep 29, 2008 8:25 pm

Sorry I missed you Grace, I left at midnight Friday as we had a full house and my old bones don't quite take the sofa anymore. I heard you were coming with 5 other ladies on Saturday. LeeAnn always makes such a lovely tea. Can't wait to see your pix!
Another red Hatter!

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 4:10 am

Hi Grace!
I am forever curious: what does that mean when you say you left things in the gift shop to be purchased?

FairhavenGuy · Post by **FairhavenGuy** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 6:03 am

Grace, part of our lack of Boston accents in southeastern Massachusetts might be due to the fact that more than 50% of our local population is of relatively recent Portuguese origin. And in the late 1800s there was considerable immigration of English, Irish and French-Canadian mill workers.

Those who live around here can start to detect what we tend to call a "Providence accent" as one heads from Fall River westward along I-195. That's sort of the accent that you here from Lois on "Family Guy."

Grace · Post by **Grace** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 5:37 pm

Kat @ Tue Sep 30, 2008 4:10 am wrote:Hi Grace!
I am forever curious: what does that mean when you say you left things in the gift shop to be purchased?

Gah, sorry! Re-reading that it sorta sounds like I pilfered from the gift shop! Eek!

I bought an awful lot of items in the gift store and my friends always complain that I don't leave anything for anyone else to purchase! I tried to not go too overboard!

FairhavenGuy, thanks for the info! I know that the accent goes way north, though it changes as you get into New Hampshire and Maine. It seems to morph into an entirely new, though not altogether different accent!

Grace · Post by **Grace** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 5:42 pm

Shelley @ Mon Sep 29, 2008 8:25 pm wrote:Sorry I missed you Grace, I left at midnight Friday as we had a full house and my old bones don't quite take the sofa anymore. I heard you were coming with 5 other ladies on Saturday. LeeAnn always makes such a lovely tea. Can't wait to see your pix!
Another red Hatter!

I am sorry I missed you, too! Will catch you next time, no doubt! My mominlaw and I are going to come for an overnight in (not too distant) future.

Love the hat!

joe1956 · Post by **joe1956** » Tue Sep 30, 2008 9:38 pm

I love visiting Fall River and the B&B! It is one week that I look forward to every summer. You may consider this a wee bit strange, but when I visit, I walk around Fall River and see the way it was in 1892. My visits are the next best thing to actual time travel. Am I alone in doing this? The B&B is so well done. It is not difficult to see it the way Lizzier did. The city of Fall River has changed a lot, but much of Lizzie's Fall River is still there. Next July/August I will be there again. I will be the one with the camera carrying Len Rebello's amazing book :)

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 2:49 am

Thanks for the clarification, Grace!

Now- What Do You Guys Mean There Is A Lack Of Accent??!! Believe me, there's an accent!

That Providence accent gets around I will say. And I get it confused with Fall River.
The girl from "Big Brother" (Michelle?) was from Providence so we got to hear her thru almost the whole summer on TV and also got her *tude* as well! Yay!

FairhavenGuy · Post by **FairhavenGuy** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 8:13 am

Kat, about the accent, I think that Grace means that we have neither the distinct "Down East" New England accent made famous by "Bert and I" or the Pepperidge Farms fella, nor do we have that Boston accent made famous on M*A*S*H by Charles Emerson Winchester III. Our accent is watered down by time and the variety of other cultural accents that one finds in this area.

doug65oh · Post by **doug65oh** » Wed Oct 01, 2008 1:39 pm

I know what you mean exactly Christopher. I first noticed it several years back speaking to some folks from the FRHS on the phone. The "Fall River" accent is far softer than what I expected initially - not nearly so hard or noticeable as some of the other regional accents you mention. It strikes me as being rather musical now that I think about it.

It's funny, for years I thought there were really only three New England accents: Boston, Charlestown, and Parker Fennelly's Maine accent, that covered the rest of the region. (Fennelly portrayed the wagon driver in those old Pepperidge Farms tv ads.)

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 3:48 am

Well, I guess Grace and I have different connotations, because so far I've thought she left things at the gift shop for people to buy and that there was a "lack of accent" in Fall River.

Sometimes I have a habit of writing and speaking a form of *Pennsylvania Dutch* so I'm one to talk! I'll speak *backwards!* (Meaning my sentences are sometimes constructed backwards.)

Grace · Post by **Grace** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 6:33 am

Kat @ Thu Oct 02, 2008 3:48 am wrote:I'll speak *backwards!* (Meaning my sentences are sometimes constructed backwards.)

I do that as well!

Yes, I was speaking of that Bostonian accent, as in those mentioned and I can think of others, like Cliff from "Cheers" who duplicated it well. It always fascinates me to hear it and I imagine that accent sometimes when reading Lizzie books or trial testimony and I wonder if they were saying things like "yahd' or "bahn" for yard and barn, or "sawr" and "lawr" for saw and law.

doug65oh · Post by **doug65oh** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 8:28 am

If you notice Grace, the undertaker James Winward seems to have had a bit of an accent. When he was called to testify (in Volume 2 of thetranscription) he gave his name but wasn't asked to spell it. Court stenographer Frank Burt apparently played things by ear (literally) and recorded the name as Winwood.

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 2:24 pm

That's a really good example, Doug-Oh!

doug65oh · Post by **doug65oh** » Thu Oct 02, 2008 2:53 pm

I think it might be the only example!

Grace · Post by **Grace** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 9:18 am

Finally I uploaded my piccies! I have a ton of pictures, all of the rooms and lots of close ups of things in the rooms, but I will just post a few here, if anyone wamts to see any particular room or fireplace, just say so, I probably have a picture of everything! I will post rooms or areas of interest as requested. I didn't get any ghostly photos, as others have gotten there in the past, we saw some in an album out in the gift shop.

The house during a break from the rain

Lizzie's books

I get the ax!

Me & Max

Here's all of us

LeeAnn preparing the Tea

In the basement

Kat · Post by **Kat** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 5:32 pm

Oh that is FUN!! Thanks a bunch for the great photos!

SteveS. · Post by **SteveS.** » Sun Oct 05, 2008 9:15 pm

Thanx for the awesome photos. I always enjoy looking at the photos of others stay at the house. I have been there numerous times but have never stayed overnight myself.