For Caroline and I the day started with breakfast at Casper's Diner in Groton with my hosts Joe and Eileen. The food was excellent and it seems like there are plenty of regulars who go back time and time again.
We then met up with everyone else and drove to Seward House at Auburn. The house is named after William Seward, who is most famous for masterminding the purchase of Alaska in 1867 for just $7.2m - 2 cents per acre - when he was Secretary of State under Abraham Lincoln. It was Seward's home for most of his life and was passed down his family before being donated to an independent trust in the 1950s who have preserved the house and its contents.
A very knowledgable guide toured us round the house giving us an account of the house, its contents, and William Seward's life. Seward was dead-cert to get the Republican nomination for Presidential candidate before Abraham Lincoln arrived on the scene... Lincoln ended up getting the nomination, winning the Presidency and had to ask Seward to be Secretary of State three times before he accepted. Seward was also nearly killed on the same night as Lincoln as Lincoln's assassination was part of a wider plot targeting senior government officials. All in all it was a very informative few hours on an important part of America's history.
Following the tour we had a late lunch at Curley's in Auburn - we were very impressed by the fish and chips. Helen took advantage of the fact that Curley's is just over the road from the state prison to get a few pictures (it has the distinction of being the first place in the world that an execution by electric chair took place) before we returned to Groton.
We then had a couple of hours for a siesta before spending the evening at the Dryden Hotel. Saturday evening was rib eye steak night and here you can see Tom with half a cow on his plate!
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