There Is A Lot to Like About Lowell -- Along the Merrimack River in Four Seasons

"There is A Lot to Like About Lowell" is the city slogan.

(See tab on right side called "Lowell Series" for many more articles about Lowell.)

Along the Merrimack River in Four Seasons

The Merrimack River From Wikipedia: "it is a 117-mile-long river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Massachusetts, and then flows northeast until it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Newburyport."

Pawtucket Falls

There is a man-made beach, a popular spot during the summer. The river can be very rough, high or smooth (above and below).

Six bridges cross the river, the city is on both sides.

There are walk paths on both sides of the river, and even in the middle, as shown above (with man-made canal on left and river on right).

While looking up information about the river, I found a site, I wasn't aware of. It's the NOAA National Weather Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service, they track the height of the river (see their colorful chart below on the left).

Since Lowell currently has the most snow of any city in the United States (February 16, 2015, at 111") I'll be watching  the gauge readings frequently. We all remember the recent floods in 2006 and 2007.

Flood Categories (in feet)

Major Flood Stage:	58
Moderate Flood Stage:	54
Flood Stage:	52
Action Stage:	50

Historic Crests

(1) 68.40 ft on 03/20/1936

(2) 60.60 ft on 04/23/1852

(3) 60.57 ft on 09/23/1938

(4) 58.84 ft on 05/15/2006

(5) 58.09 ft on 04/17/2007

Snow chart, posted February 16, 2015, by Mill City Weather. (Permission granted to use.)

All That History and Flowers at Concord, Massachusetts Pt. 2

Above is the Visitor Center, (the former Buttrick Estate) and below is the side entrance, facing the gardens.

Continuation of Pt. 1

Old photo in a frame, inside the Visitor Center, showing the house and gardens.

Beautiful grounds.

At the end of the gardens, there is an overlook, in which you will look down on the Concord River and North Bridge. A short trail will take you to both. Below are the river and bridge taken from the opposite direction.

In my opinion, the best time to visit is early in the morning, perhaps 30 minutes before 10 AM. You will be there before the bus loads of tourists or school children arrive. When the Visitor Center opens, you could be among the first to get inside.

Finding the Kill, Roots and Flowers in Albany, New York

This river may not look special to any reader, but it means the world to me.  It is called Normans Kill (River) and is located a few minutes from Albany. In 2003 I discovered that my ancestor, Andries Ten Eyck once lived there. After the Revolutionary War, he became a Loyalist, and moved to Canada in 1794. The documentation is below. For years, I have wanted to visit this site, and Steven Danko even gave me directions from Boston to Albany three years ago.

At long last, I went May 1st with my husband, first to visit Albany, then to Normans Kill. This wasn't a long trip (about three hours one way), it was just to a new place.  Since I had posted many of my Ten Eyck / TenEyck names for Saturday Surname the same day, I thought it appropriate to finally make trip, which was a very full day for us.

Normanskill Farm sign.

View of Albany, and not a car in sight!

"I Andres Tenneyck Do hereby declare that I am a native of the United States of America from the State of New Jersey my age is Sixty Seven Years and my trade or occupation is that of a farmer that for these Six Months Last Past. I have resided at Normans Kill in the State of New York and came into this Province of Lower Canada by water on Lake Champlain on the tenth day of June 1794 and now do reside in Dunham as Witness my hand at Missisquoi Bay this Twenty Fifth Day of October 1794. Signed: Andres Tenneyck"

Lower Canada Declarations of Aliens (Film # CS, 88, Q4, L69, 1981) #000295. #21. Located at New England Historical and Genealogical Society, Boston)

Albany's annual tulip festival is next weekend, but we checked out the flowers a week early, good thing, they were in full bloom on this 85 degree day.