Spent the day Saturday re-exploring my old stomping grounds from years living in Newbury and on Plum Island. After shooting Crane Estate and Plum Island from the top of Steep Hill, we made our way to the end of Plum Island Refuge and shot Steep Hill from there. It looks a lot closer when you are just looking across the water, but it was an enjoyable adventure. I’d forgotten how much I love that area.
E.J. Lefavour
Good Morning Gloucester 
Great photos
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Thanks Donna. I was a fun excursion and trip down memory lane.
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In the next to the last picture posted, I believe the land mass on the horizon is the Isle of Shoals.
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Really! I wouldn’t have imagined being able to see something out that far. Very interesting.
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Every time I pee in a urinal I think I am helping the Crane Estate. I saw Pirates of Penzance with Linda Ronstadt or someone similar at the top of that hill in 1985.
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Explain the peeing in the urinal thing – I don’t understand. The Pirates of Penzance thing must have been pretty cool!
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Pretty much every urinal I have ever peed in says Crane on the top of the porcelain. When you have thirty seconds or so to contemplate nothing and stare off into space it works as great advertising. Crane estate was built on porcelain toilets.
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Besides awesome photos EJ, one more tidbit but this is probably wrong. Didn’t Crane try to emulate the Versailles palace with this lawn? It must have gone down to the beach when it was new. There is a museum in Miami that does the same thing that used to be a residence of the gay son of John Deere.
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You pointed out some things I never knew about Crane Estate. I came across this link, which confirms much of what you have pointed out http://www.thetrustees.org/what-we-care-about/history-culture/sp-grand-undertaking.html. Thanks, Paul.
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Who knew!? I guess I haven’t paid sufficient attention to urinals, but I haven’t had much cause. I’ll have to pay more attention to toilets in the future. That isn’t really where the Crane fortune came from, is it?
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I have peed into urinals and I can confirm about the Crane logo.
Crane was a plumbing magnate. He built the castle for his wife.
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Thanks Jose. Maybe it is a guy thing, identifying the brand of plumbing fixture they are using. I can’t say I ever noticed that myself. I wonder if other women do.
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Hi E.J. I did all kinds of work at the Crane Estate and can tell you some stories- but not here!
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Curiosity piqued.
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http://www.craneplumbing.com/company.aspx
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http://www.craneplumbing.ca/searchResults.aspx?d=1&t=10
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