Spreading the News About Flat Stanley-Whitman's Visit to Boston

Nickname: The Bay State, but during the eighteenth century became known as the “Cradle of Liberty”
Capital: Boston
Admission to the Union: February 6, 1788



Like so many New England families, Flat Stanley-Whitman's heritage can be traced back to Cambridge, England, Massachusetts Bay Colony, and ultimately the Puritan haven for nobleman, River Colony (known today as the state of Connecticut). Both the Stanley and Whitman families are among the most dignified when ranked by the Farmington church of old. Still, Flat Stanley-Whitman enjoyed exploring Boston in his geneologoical quest.

Built in 1798, the “new” State House is located across from the Boston Common on the top of Beacon Hill.  While visiting Boston, he hiked the Freedom Trail, a 2.5 mile red brick walking trail that leads you to 16 nationally signifcant historic sites. Dedicated by the citizens of Boston in 1958, the Freedom Trail is a unique collection of museums, churches, meeting houses, burying grounds, parks, a ship, and historic markers that tell the story of the American Revolution and beyond.

He also enjoyed strolling the Public Garden and riding the Swan Boats.The Public Garden, also known as Boston Public’s Garden, is a large park located in the heart of Boston and adjacent to Boston Common. From the start, the Public Gardne was fancy and flowery and the Common was rustic and practical. The Common Walkways were for crosstown travel, the Public Garden’s paths for strolling. The Common was America’s first park (1634), the Public Garden its first botanical garden.  was created in 1837, Boston Common in 1634.


For over 130 years, the Swan Boats have been a part of the Boston experience. Each Spring they come out and grace the waters of the Boston Public Garden. The Swan Boats became famous in the stories Make Way for Ducklings and The Trumpet of the Swan.

The John Hancock Tower was built in 1976 and at 241 meters (790ft), it is still the tallest building in Boston. The construction of the modern 60 story skyscraper at Copley Square, creates a glass curtain wall reflecting the more historic surrounding buildings.


Helping Flat Stanley-Whitman find out about his ancestors was an interesting and educational experience. Now he's heading back home, to Farmington, Connecticut, where he can reflect on the many places he's been.


Kim Pelletreau and Nicole Barbuto

Making Our Way Around the Concrete Jungle - New York City

About three years ago, when I came to this great nation from India, I had the pleasure of coming to stay in the city commonly known around the world as "the city that never sleeps" - New York City.

New York City has a cool, humid climate since it falls on the North-Eastern Coast of America. On average, it has about 234 days with at least some sunshine annually. Summers are typically hot, with temperatures averaging in the 80s, while winters are quite chilly, with a lot of precipitation. New York City is often called ‘the concrete jungle,' and for good reason. New York consists of several islands, covered with gigantic, high-rise buildings. The city can be best described geographically as an archipelago, with the Hudson and East rivers running through it, and emptying out into the Atlantic Ocean, forming
several natural harbors, and making New York City a primary trade center. 

New York’s current culture can best be described as mixed and integrated. It’s a thriving city with over eight million residents from hundreds of different backgrounds, and the city can be compared to a melting pot. Indeed, New York City is the most linguistically diverse city in the world! Other than that, New York is also considered the financial capital of the world, and all kinds of jobs are available. It is a place with abundant well-paying, job opportunities and people come from all over the world in pursuit of money and careers.

 
Probably the most important tourist attraction of New York is the Statue of Liberty, situated on Ellis Island, just off the coast of the mainland. However, New York is home to several world class museums (MOMA, Museum of Natural History) and the island of Manhattan is frequently enveloped with tourists, who come to New York to witness the man-created wonders of the city. All of New York itself is unique, since it is a city like no other. However, a few distinctively unique events are the U.S. Open, hosted in Flushing Meadows, the New Year's ball-dropping in the electric Times Square, and the world-famous Broadway musicals that have adopted Manhattan as their home.

So there you have it, Flat Stanley-Whitman, New York in a paragraph. There are countless secrets of the place that cannot be described, only be witnessed first-hand. Thanks for coming to New York City with me, a fascinating place that I admire to this day.

Archit Parikh

Exploring the Seacoast Region of Hampton, New Hampshire

We are happy to have Flat Stanley-Whitman visit us in Hampton, New Hampshire (population 15,000), a town in an area commonly referred to as the Seacoast region. The New Hampshire seacoast borders Massachusetts to our south, and Maine to our north, with the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Interestingly, with only 18 miles of coastline, New Hampshire has the shortest ocean coastline of any U.S. coastal state. 

Our town of Hampton is home to Hampton Beach State Park, the state’s largest beach with a huge, long sandy beach, a boardwalk with all kinds of amusements such as arcades, fried dough and lots of T-shirt and gift shops, to name a few. Every Wednesday night during the summer is just like the Fourth of July at Hampton Beach because there are awesome fireworks. And there is a band shell where nightly outdoor concerts are held. Every year in June, there is a sand sculpture contest and in September, the Hampton Beach Seafood Festival is held. There are also eight other beaches and waterfront state parks along the coast.
 
Our climate in Hampton is much like your climate in Farmington. The summer is warm and humid and the winter is cold, snowy and wet. Usually, it is cooler along the coast than it is inland. For example, yesterday it was 52 degrees in Hampton, but it was 80 degrees in Manchester, New Hampshire’s
largest town, which is about 30 miles inland.

The Seacoast region of New Hampshire is just one part of our large state. There is also the Lakes region, the White Mountains region and the North Country, to name a few. So much to explore and do! Did you know that New Hampshire was the ninth of the original thirteen colonies? And New Hampshire has the coolest state motto in the whole United States, if I do say so myself: "Live Free or Die."

The Anastasia family, Hampton, New Hampshire, (Aunt, Uncle and cousins of Erik I.)

Experiencing Oregon with Alex A.!

Thank you for sending me Flat Stanley-Whitman. I had so much fun taking him around. I first started at the Oregon Vortex. It is a mystical place that makes everything appear different than it really is. www.oregonvortex.com

Next we headed to the coast. One side of Oregon is met by the Pacific Ocean. The water is cold and the beach has big rocks to climb on. We stayed the night and made a big fire by the beach. I found this cool starfish during low tide in the morning. http://www.brookingsor.com/  I then drove down to California to the Redwood Forest. We saw trees that were over 300 feet tall and 1000 years old. http://www.treesofmystery.net/

The places I went are all close to the town I live in called Medford, Oregon. http://www.city-data.com/city/Medford-Oregon.html I really like it here. It is pretty nice weather most of the year. It does not rain too
much. We go on lots of hikes. This weekend I am going to a cool place called Crater Lake.

Thanks again for the letter. I hope you are all doing well. I miss you
all.  Alex A.- former Noah Wallace School student

Visiting Brooklyn, New York: A Kaleidoscope of Languages and Cultures

Your friend, Flat Stanley-Whitman, came to visit me. I met him in Northport Village, across Long Island Sound from Norwalk, Connecticut. Did he sail across or did he row across the Sound? Either way he was tired after such a long journey – it was about 20 miles!


Northport Village is located in Suffolk County Long Island. Did you know that Long Island is the longest and largest island in the contiguous United States? It is 118 miles long and 23 miles wide at its widest point.


The next day Stanley and I drove to Brooklyn where I work. Technically, Brooklyn is considered to be part of Long Island, but today it is one of the five boroughs that make up New York City. We drove through many different neighborhoods, a kaleidoscope of languages and cultures: Caribbean, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, Chinese and Orthodox Jewish; each with their own style of dress and customs! Stanley was surprised to see so many different people living close together. How different this was from his home in Farmington, Connecticut!


I work near the Brooklyn Bridge, one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. It was completed in 1883 and has a pedestrian walkway that allows people to walk or cycle across the bridge, high above the East River, from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Walking along the Promenade, we marveled at the Statue of Liberty and the tall buildings on the other side of the river that makeup the beautiful Manhattan skyline. We also sadly remembered the Twin Towers that no longer rise majestically across the way.


Soon it was time to return home. On the way back to East Northport, we stopped by to visit the home of another Whitman: Walt Whitman, the famous American poet who was born on Long Island and wrote poems about the beauty of nature. I wonder if they are somehow related? Perhaps a distant cousin decided to seek his fortune in New York and settled in the west hills of Suffolk County Long Island? Walt Whitman also traveled to Brooklyn and settled there. In fact, he was living in Brooklyn when the Brooklyn Bridge was built! Brooklyn was very different then, mostly farms and orchards.


Stanley was amazed at how the world has changed. And yet, some of the simple pleasures that Stanley, and then Walt Whitman, enjoyed we also enjoy: walking in the woods, listening to the birds, watching the waves along the shore. These are life’s simple pleasures that give us peace and joy. Walt Whitman captured these images beautifully.


Stanley is on his way home now. I hope he enjoyed his visit. I certainly enjoyed showing him where I live and work!
Submitted by Mimi, friend of Adria

Finding Finance and Fun in Chicago!

Chicago is located in northeastern Illinois at the southwestern tip of Lake Michigan. Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. Lake Michigan is the only one of the Great Lakes wholly within the borders of the United States; the others are shared with Canada. The city’s lakefront allure and socially-active arena attracts residents and tourists alike.


Chicago is also a major world financial center, with the second largest central business district in the United States. Manufacturing, printing, publishing and food processing also plays major roles in the city’s economy.


Chicago city lies within the humid continental climate zone, and experiences four distinct seasons. Summers are warm and humid with average daytime high temperatures of 80 to 85 degrees Farenheit and nighttime lows of 61 to 66 degrees Farenheit. Winters are cold, snowy, and windy, with some sunny days, and with temperatures (particularly at night) below freezing. Spring and fall are mild seasons with low humidity.


When Chicago was incorporated in 1837, it chose the motto "Urbs in Horto," a Latin phrase which translates into English as "City in a Garden." Today, the Chicago Park District consists of 552 parks with over 7,300 acres of municipal parkland. There are 33 sand Chicago beaches, a plethora of museums, two world-class conservatories, 16 historic lagoons, and 10 bird and wildlife gardens.


Karthi Narayanaswami & Kalpana Muthusamy, friends of Afzal A.

Vacationing in San Diego from Tampa

Flat Stanley-Whitman joined the Monteiro family (Jack P's aunts and cousins) on a fun trip from Tampa to San Diego. From the pictures you will see that he visited Petco Park (home of the San Diego Padres) where he saw a great baseball game, the San Diego Zoo, home to hundreds of plants and animals, and the Maritime Museum, where he learned about ships and submarines!

The zoo was a lot of fun - the pandas, the koalas and the elephants were the highlights. San Diego Zoo is a "retirement home" for elephants - they have nine elephants ranging in ages from 33 to 56.
The Padres lost to the St. Louis Cardinals at Petco Park, but it was fun visiting another baseball field - the Tampa Bay Rays indoor, domed stadium - where it was nice to be outside in the sunshine for a game.

The Maritime Museum was also very interesting. We toured ships that had crossed the Atlantic, along with two submarines, one Russian sub and one American sub. I don't think that any of us would have liked living in those cramped quarters.

San Diego has wonderful weather, with an average temperature of 71 degrees, and less then 10 inches of rainfall a year, making it a desert climate. The sun was out (after a little morning fog) every day we were in San Diego, but with a strong breeze from the water, it was a bit chilly every day. We tried to go in the ocean, but the water temperature was only about 62 degrees, which was WAY too cold. We are used to a water temperature of closer to 80 degrees at home at the beaches along Tampa Bay!

We hope that you have enjoyed Flat Stanley Whitman's journey with us.

Aunt Barbara, Aunt Laurie, Nick and Kayla

Spending a Day at the Beach in San Diego, California

San Diego is the 2nd largest city in California and the 8th largest in the United States. It has a citywide population of nearly 1.3 million residents and more than 3 million residents countywide. Its area is 4200 sq. miles.

San Diego is known for its wonderful climate which averages 70 degrees. It has a great variety of geography. It has 70 miles of beautiful beaches on the west coast. 
 
In San Diego’s East County, the terrain varies from gentle foothills to mile-high mountains. About 2 hours from the city is the Anzo Borrego Desert State Park. Some of the most popular tourist attractions are the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park, Sea World, and Legoland.

Spending Quiet Time in Giles County, Virginia

Stanley-Stanley! Wake up! How did you sleep last night now that you’re in Giles County, Virginia? Did the trains wake you during the night? There are tracks on both sides of the river and trains run from the two Lime plants to the coalfields of West Virginia all during the day and night. 

It was a little chilly, about sixty degrees, but it will warm up today to about eighty-four. If it gets really hot, we’ll ride out of the valley into the mountains. It’s always five to eight degrees cooler up there. If we go all the way to the top, it will be close to 4,000 feet, so it’s always cooler up there.

What would you like for breakfast? ”Shoney’s?” We don’t have a Shoney’s here. This is a small county, only about seventeen thousand people. Our biggest town only has around two thousand people. Heck, some high schools in other areas have that many kids in one school so the closest we come to Shoney’s is Burger King, Dairy Queen or Hardees.

What’s that? Of course we have a Wal-Mart, but even it’s a small one. It isn’t brick like most others, it’s a sheet metal building. Come on, put on some clothes and we’ll ride to Glen Lyn, a small town on one end of our county next to the West Virginia border. Glen Lyn had one of the top employers in the area—American Electric Power—but sadly it is closing down due to the economy. We will pass Celanese—the largest employer in our county. At one time it employed almost four thousand people, but now it’s down to 1,000-1,500. It produces cigarette filters and textiles.

You see the horses over in the field? Yes, we have horses and cows in this area although we don’t have any huge horse farms like maybe northern Virginia or Kentucky. Do you see that mountain to your right? No, your other right! That’s called Butt Mountain, no really—Butt Mountain. We will get on the one of two highways that crosses our county, Route 460 (the other is Route 100). Route 100 will take you to Radford University and Rte. 460 will take you to Virginia Tech. How long, did you ask? It’s west about twenty to thirty minutes away.

Buckle up! Here we go! Oh you’re funny—yes this is a car and not a horse and buggy although in one part of our county, the Amish still ride that way. Why yes, we did cross a river, that’s the New River, the second oldest river in the world and only one of a handful that flow north. It crosses thirty-seven miles of our county. It is a slow moving river but is about a hundred yards across pretty much all the way. Why yes, you are right that’s the width of a football field.

How many schools? There are two high schools—Giles (700 kids) and Narrows High (about 350), and three elementary schools (Macy, Eastern, and Narrows). Stanley, what is your favorite subject? "Lunch?” Ha ha. 

Any questions about this area? Anyone famous ever been here? Well yes, if you count Patrick Swayze. They filmed the movie “Dirty Dancing” at Mountain Lake Hotel. It’s a resort at the top of Salt Pond Mountain with a natural formed lake. That lake all but dried up to a mud puddle last year, but when it’s full covers about 50 acres and is around a 100 feet deep at some points. Because of the way it sets on a fault line, it sometimes drains low but eventually fills back up, although not completely.

A little known fact-it is one of only two naturally formed fresh water lakes in Virginia. The other one is Lake Drummond in the Dismal Swamp. 

What do people do for fun here? We are pretty relaxed, we have numerous creeks and mountain trails, The Appalachian Trail cuts through our county and we get hikers from as far away as England and all parts of the United States. We don’t have a movie theater. You have to go about 30 minutes away for that. Lot of folks set on their porches or campgrounds by the river and just enjoy the quite evenings and relaxing atmosphere. We have a fair amount of tourists.

Did you know that of the nine covered bridges in Virginia and three of them are in Giles County? Fishing is popular, and we have two golf courses and several parks.

We are also quite proud of our new hospital, Giles Memorial, which replaced the original one built in 1960. The new one’s a state-of-the-art, $50 million facility with a great view of Angels Rest: one of the three largest mountains in the county--Angels Rest, Butt Mountain and Peter’s Mountain.

Are you ready to call it a day? Maybe we will go up to the top of Butt Mountain to an old Forestry service fire tower. Before technology with radar and satellites, rangers sat in those towers watching for signs of forest fires. There are a couple left standing, although not in use anymore and they offer great views of the county. Oh, don’t be a scaredy-cat. Yes, we have black bears, deer, raccoons and other small animals, but we will be fine.  No? Ok! I enjoyed having you along, Mr. Flat Stanley-Whitman.

Lori Wilburn, Giles County, Virginia

Visiting Atlanta with Flat Stanley-Whitman

According to census estimates, Metropolitan Atlanta is the fastest growing area in the nation since 2000. Maybe half of the population here is “born and raised” Southerners, the rest are transplants—mostly from the North. Weather and jobs are big lures. Several Fortune 500 companies are based in the metro area. As you can imagine, the huge influx of people have created traffic and infrastructure problems. Every “Atlantan” dreads the major highways—175, I85, GA 400, US 285—during peak times, and there is always lots of construction going on.

The weather here is much warmer than in Connecticut. Average afternoon temperatures in June are close to 90 degrees. In December the average high is about 55. We see very little snow, and if any does fall, it usually melts within a day. Also, schools get closed for even the slightest bit of snow. Don't get me wrong, we get the bitter 20-30 degree weather for a short time every year, but we also can have those wonderful, crazy 70 degree days in the winter. We typically see the most rain in January and in July. The January rain makes the temperature feel much colder than it really is. The July rain steams everything up. And everyone here has air conditioning!

Atlanta is located in northern Georgia, at the base of a mountain ridge. Many people vacation in the mountains because of the close proximity to the city. Atlantans also like the beach, but the nearest ones are a 5-6 hour drive away. The Gulf Coast of Florida, Alabama, and southern coastlines of Georgia and South Carolina are popular destinations. Lake Lanier is a man-made lake just outside the city and encompasses 38,000 acres! It's used largely for recreation purposes and is the source of Atlanta's drinking water. Urban legend has it that in the deepest parts of the lake live 5 foot long catfish, however I don't know that anyone has ever caught one before!

Atlanta has many cool places to visit including the aquarium, zoo, Olympic Park, High Museum, and other attractions. College football is practically a religion here. We also have four professional sports teams—the Braves, Falcons, Thrashers, and Hawks. There is a festival, sports event, or function happening every weekend so you can always find something fun to do. We're also lucky to have lots of different ethnic foods and a ton of great restaurants.
J. Ward, Marietta, Georgia

Spending the Day in Miami with Flat Stanley-Whitman

Flat 
Stanley-Whitman had an interesting day with me in Miami. We went to the Viceroy Hotel via the Miami River Bridge, which you can see in this picture.
He joined us at the swimming pool where he grabbed a quick game of chess on the hotel's pool deck and enjoyed the sunny weather.
The Viceroy Hotel is in downtown Miami and it can very hot here -- 86 degrees today. That made it very, very hot for Flat Stanley-Whitman in his colonial garments!

Carolyn Keating, Tampa, Florida
Nick's Aunt

Enjoying Adventure Island with Nick and Flat Stanley-Whitman

Flat Stanley-Whitman went with us today to Adventure Island, one of 10 theme parks owned by The Blackstone Group (formerly the parks were owned by Anheuser-Busch). The family of parks includes all of the Seaworld locations, Busch Gardens and Discovery Cove in Orlando, among others.

Adventure Island is a water park – there are rides, a giant wave pool and a lazy river that keep you entertained all day. Adventure Island is in Tampa – it was about 87 degrees today, pretty typical for Tampa in the summertime. The afternoon thunderstorms started at about 3:30, again, very normal for Tampa.

There are tons of beaches, sports teams (including the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football, Tampa Bay Lightning hockey, and the Tampa Bay Rays baseball teams) and a great zoo, Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) and an aquarium to visit.

Unfortunately, there are no mountains in Florida or snow so in the winter, so there isn’t much else to do.

Nicholas Monteiro, Cousin of Noah Wallace School student, Jack P.

Traveling to the 2010 Olympic Games Vancouver/Whistler, British Columbia, Canada

After visiting Calgary, Canada, home of the 1988 Winter Olympic games with Mike Clark (Otis Elevator team), I headed out to the 2010 Winter Olympic games to watch Erin Pac, former Farmington student (FHS class of 1999, IAR Middle School, and Union Elementary) compete in the Olympic competition as the USA2 bobsled team. Erin is 29 years old and excelled in track, gymnastics and swimming at the high school. She went on to star in track at Springfield College graduating in 2003. Now a world class bobsled driver, she is in the Olympics.

The competition begins at 5 pm on Tuesday, February 23. We arrived on Tuesday at 2:15 am. There isn’t much time to sleep, find out where to go, how to get there, best time to beat the crowds, and all the other things we need to know so we don’t miss out on what we came to see. By mid morning our plans are set. We even have time to get our picture taken in the official Olympic bobsled.

The security gate opens at 2 pm, so we get in line at 12:30 pm so we can be up front during the race. The entry is easy; the climb up the mountain to the bobsled start is a bit harder. It’s like trying to climb the hill from the lower playground at Noah Wallace School to the upper field for 45 straight minutes with NO REST! We had to follow every curve of the fastest, steepest sliding track in the world.

Now we have 2 hours and 15 minutes to wait before the start of the 5pm race and the excitement is building. Erin’s sled, USA2, is the sixth sled to start on the first run because they go by the current world rankings. In the second run they go in reverse order determined by the first run’s time, best time goes last. So Erin is next to the last since her team has the 2nd best time. At the conclusion of day one, Erin and her partner, Elana Meyers from Georgia, are in medal contention holding onto second place.

The next day we get up early and purchase tickets to the giant slalom event for the morning session. We want to be back in line by 12:30 pm to get through the security checkpoint at 2 pm to get back to the bobsled start and be up front to see Erin and Elana prepare for the start of the third run. In this run (#3) they will start second determined by the previous day’s results. After Erin and Elana prepared their sled, Erin come by our stands and we all wished her good luck.

Erin’s third run was again excellent and the second best time once again thus holding onto 2nd place overall. This means for the fourth and final run USA2 runs second to last remaining in medal contention.

We leave our spot at the start and go to the finish line to watch the results. The place is packed with spectators so we can’t get near the rail where the sleds stop after their run. So we watch the race on the huge television monitor—but no big deal—being here in just great.

With two sleds to go, one being USA2, Erin and Elana are in 3rd place and still in medal contention. With a good last run they are guaranteed a medal. Everyone is glued to the monitor watching USA2 on their last run. They come in with a time that earns them a spot on the podium! USA2, Erin Pac and Elana Meyers, earn the bronze medal.

What an outstanding ending to a childhood dream for Erin. What’s better than being in the Olympics? Winning a medal for your country…precious.

What a celebration we had after the flower ceremony with Erin’s family and fans routing her on for this fabulous achievement.

Next for us? Back to the room, sleep, pack, take a bus to Vancouver airport where we watch the medal ceremony on TV (Erin and Elana receive their bronze medals), and then fly all night arriving home in Connecticut on Friday morning.

What a fabulous time we had and to witness Erin’s victory first hand is something to talk about forever.

John M. Grocki, Noah Wallace School, ‘56

Retired Physical Education, Mathematics Teacher and Middle School Athletic Director

Farmington, CT