JOURNEY FROM ALBANY TO BOSTON. 



CHAPTER VI. 



Journey from Albany to Boston New Lebanon Pittsfield Road 

 Repairing The Features of the Country Rhododendrons 

 Northampton Mr Stuart s Description of Northampton Stage 

 Passengers Mode of Courtship Villages Agricultural No 

 tices. 



MY companions and I having left Scotland without fixing 

 en a route by which we were to proceed, I consented to visit 

 the New England States, in order that I might claim their 

 company through the Western States, to which they ex 

 pressed an aversion. Accordingly we left Albany at two 

 o clock in the morning, by a stage which carried the mail-bag, 

 crossing the Hudson in a horse ferry-boat, and reaching Nas 

 sau, by five, where we breakfasted on indifferent fare. Shortly 

 afterwards we passed New Lebanon, finely situated in a lovely 

 valley, surrounded by picturesque hills, a great part of which 

 belongs to the religious sect denominated Shakers, whose 

 principal establishment is here, and whose garden seeds are 

 justly esteemed throughout North America. New Lebanon 

 is celebrated for mineral waters, chiefly used for bathing ; 

 and the hotels afford ample accommodation for visitors. Nine 

 miles beyond New Lebanon is the village of Pittsfield, a 

 clean and beautiful village, reposing in a charming valley. 

 The houses form a spacious square, in the centre of which 

 is a tall aged elm, seemingly a remnant of unsubdued nature. 

 There are several churches and hotels. Here the members of 

 the Berkshire Agricultural Society, the oldest in America, 

 hold their meetings, the first show of which took place in 

 1807, and consisted of two Merino sheep. We dined at Peru, 

 a miserable country hotel, where bad fare was washed down 

 by worse tea, the first time such a beverage had been pre 

 sented to us during dinner, and is presented only in inferior 



