Great American Railroad Journeys

Guided by his Appleton's and tracing the footsteps of the Pilgrim Fathers, Michael Portillo heads for Plymouth, the 'home town' of America. He learns how indigenous tribes of Wamponoag people taught newly arrived settlers to live off the land, inspiring one of the biggest holidays in today's American calendar. Michael boards the Cape Cod Central heritage railroad, bound for Hyannis, a favoured presidential holiday spot. Catching a ferry to Martha's Vineyard, he discovers that ardent Methodists put the island on the map in the early 19th century by establishing the country's first religious summer camp. On the island of Nantucket, Michael discovers how hardy New Englanders made vast fortunes from whale oil in what was once the whaling capital of the world. He joins conservationists and whale spotters out at sea, hoping for a glimpse these magnificent creatures. On the banks of the Providence River, Michael discovers a dining club that traces its roots back to the 1840s and is invited to join an open-air 'clambake'. In Providence, the capital of Rhode Island, Michael finds a pen company that counts among its customers the Presidents of the United States. The elite US Coast Guard Academy, established in New London, Connecticut, in 1876, trains cadets to defend the American coastline. Michael joins them on the drill ground. At the childhood summer home of the Nobel prize-winning American playwright, Eugene O'Neill, Michael discovers the setting for one of his greatest plays.