Below and to the left the painting of La Belliere, there is a display case holding Marie-Helene's ancient frayed diary, a few small tools and an aging map.
Marie-Helene recorded her thoughts several times a day during their journey, which was long and arduous. From Cherbourg, the Beaunes took a packet across the English Channel to Portsmouth, where they stayed a fortnight waiting for a ship to America. In due course, Auguste secured passage on the barque Cornwall, and they departed the Old World.
Between seasickness and morning sickness, the trip was abject misery for Marie-Helene; it was hardly better for Auguste and the three girls (Therese, Catherine and Isabelle). Throughout the voyage, Mary the governess was a tower of strength, tending to Marie-Helene and doing everything possible to make the travelers comfortable.
The trip took four long and uncomfortable weeks, but was uneventful. The Cornwall sailed into a large bay and thence into the mouth of a great river. The surging tide carried them upriver a great distance, until they dropped anchor by a great muddy island. After a short delay, a pilot came aboard and steered the ship through the shallows until finally they tied up at a long wharf by a lazaretto.
Men came aboard the ship to inspect passengers and cargo. They examined each member of the Beaune family and, satisfied that they carried no infectious diseases, moved on.
Upon the incoming tide, the Cornwall resumed its journey, and a few hours later she dropped anchor at a franticly busy quay. The Beaunes gathered their possessions and weakly staggered down the passageway to land.
At last, they had arrived in America, with nothing but faith, hope and optimism. Nothing, that is, other than the dozen or so trunks and wardrobes, packing crates full of distilling equipment and a fortune in letters of credit drawn on a London bank.
