There are two possible questions: (1) What Springfield is the oldest in America, and (2) Where did you spend yesterday?

As is typical, I learned a lot roaming around Springfield.  Things I didn’t know. First, we saw a lot of beautiful but older houses in a neighborhood called Forest Park. And, it is an extensive neighborhood and one of six in the city that have been designated historic districts. In fact, they are so extensive that Springfield was once known as “The City of Homes”. Many of these homes have been built between 1880 and 1930.

Those were the years that Springfield was a manufacturing powerhouse. We learned about much of the touring the wonderful Springfield History Museum.

Springfield was, for example, the home of Duryea Automobiles, one of America’s first, and until the 1930s had a large Rolls Royce factory. Here is, first, a Duryea, then a Rolls:

Springfield was also the home of Smith and Wesson guns, and Indian Motorcycles. The first dictionary in America, The Merriam-Webster Unabridged was published here. Friendly Ice Cream started here. And there were Milton Bradley toys and games, and Breck Shampoo. Why, even basketball was invented (if that’s the right word) here. Thatwhy the Basketball Hall of Fame Museum is here.

But all that is gone now. So a Springfield resident has much to be proud of and nostalgic about, but with a tinge of sadness.

The history museum is located on a campus which also contains two art museums, a natural history museum, and the Dr. Seuss Museum. He lived in Springfield.

The Michele and Donald D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts has some fascinating American paintings (its collection is much broader than just American). A few examples:

I could tell you about each of these, but I am afraid it would take too much time. The first is by Harold Rabinovitz, who was killed in the Pacific in World War Ii before he reached the age of 30. The third is a detail from a work by Paul Sample, who painted this church supper using people he knew as models. The gfourth, by Bill Vuksanovich is a work with graphite on paper (looks like a photo). The bottom one, by Reginald Marsh shows nurse Edith Cavell before her execution by the Germans.

This is just to give you a taste of the museum. There is much more. The other art museum contains only the work collected by  George Walter Vincent Smith. American paintings of the 19th century. Extensive Japanese, Chinese and Islamic works, and a large room of plaster casts of Roman statues. I galive you a few examples of the museum’s large netsuke collection.

After the museum, the second seder, with the same five kids and the same results. I should say one thing. Almost 10 year old Joan, the oldest of the five, not the youngest, did a masterful job on the Four Questions.

Today? Driving home.