America's Historic Trails

Ah, the joys of travel in Colonial America. Taking a coach along the Old Post Road--running from New York City to Boston--your basic fare would include hard spring seats, an often drunk driver, and whiney passengers, as well as the standard bumpy ride. Not so different from a crowded air flight encountering pockets of turbulence, I guess, except for the tourist attractions. Those surviving landmarks along America's first major thoroughfare are the focus of The Old Post Road, one of six titles in the new-to-DVD America's Historic Trails set, hosted by author, NPR commentator, and Motel 6 pitchman Tom Bodett. Highlights include visits to New York's St. Paul's Chapel; the former mansion (currently being renovated) of America's first Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay; Newport, RI's Touro synagogue (the oldest Jewish synagogue in the continental U.S.) and the Redwood Library (founded 1747); Pawtucket, RI's Slater Mill, the first textile mill in America; Paul Revere's house; and the site of the first post office in Boston (incidentally, Benjamin Franklin, America's premier postmaster general, eventually was fired for reading other people's mail--a federal offense, regardless of one's intent, which in Franklin's case was politically motivated). Handsomely filmed, drolly hosted by the plain-speaking Bodett, and enlivened with engaging anecdotes, this is definitely recommended. The other titles in the set are: The Great Wagon Road and The Wilderness Trail, The River Road and The Natchez Trace, The Mormon Trail and California's Mission Trail, The California Trail and El Camino Real and The Yukon Gold Rush Trail. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)