YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

BOATING TRIPS

New England Rivers.

/-

BOATING TRIPS

ON

New England Rivers

BY
HENRY 1'ARKER FELLOWS

^i>

ILLUSTKATED IU' WILLIS H. liEALS

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BOSTOX
CUPPLES, UPHAM, AX I) COMPANY
ffilu CEorntr Bookstore
18S4

Copyright, 1SS1,
liY CUI'l'IXS, Ul'IIAM, & Co.

YAL£

8«J4-

^

rnuss of
STANLEY AND US1I12K,
IIOSTON.

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To my friend C. C. POWERS, Esq., who will, I imag
ine, take more pleasure reading between the lines than
any one else can possibly take in reading the, narratives
themselves, I inscribe, our Inland "Voyage and the Trip on
the Nashua.
To E. T. S LOCUM, Esq.., who will, 1 am sure, if no
one else does, read with some degree of interest the lines
of our experiences on tho. Housatonic, I dedicate our
Autumn Cruise.

P R E F A C E .

t?

It is the author's purpose, iu the following pages, to
describe trips he has taken in a skiff, from summer to
summer, on one or another of our home rivers.
The initial article appeared, in part, originally iu the
Boston Courier, aud the Cruise on the Housatonic in
the Springfield Republican; while the trip on the Nashua
is now published for the first time.
H. P. F.

CONTENTS.

I. AN INLAND VOYAGE ON THE SUDBURY, CONCORD.
| AND MERRIMAC RIVERS.
! CHAPTER I.
j Page
Southvillk. — Concord  17
r CHAPTER II.
Concord  w
p; CHAPTER III.
CONCOKD.— NEWBURYl'OKT  ^
Practical Suggestions  . . . -A
II. AN AUTUMN CRUISE ON THE IIOUSATONIC.
CHAPTER 1.
PlTTSFIELD. — Lee 
j CHAPTER II.
i> Lee. — Great Harrington 
i CHAPTER III.

61

Great Barrington. — Kent  .04
CHAPTER IV.
Kent. — Stratford  L12

xu CONTENTS.
III. THE NASHUA RIVER. CHAPTER I.
Pa,rt!
West Boylston. — Lancaster  iog
CHAPTER II.
Lancaster. — Groton  ... 146
CHAPTER III.
Groton. — Nashua  159

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Bridge at Soutiiville . .
Stone's Bridge 
Sherman's Bridge ....
On the Sudbury . .
South Bridge at Concord •
The Old Manse .
The Wayside . . . .
The Old North Bridge
Bridge at North Billerica
Hawthorne's Writing Desk .
Pojieroy's Lower Mill, Pittsfikli
Lenox Furnace ....
The IIousatonic fkoji Pern Cliff
Tanglewood .
South Glendai.e
Old House at Great Harrington
Great Bareington
A Crazy Bridge . .
At Falls Village
West Cornwall Bridge
Lover's Leap
West Boylston
Holheook's Mi I.I,
Canal at West Boylston
Old Bridge at Boylston . .
Mill at South Lancaster

I'asrr IS

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oil4:2•in 01 on 74 78
80 SO00
01
!).")
I0:i IDS
117

1 1 1
1 141

/•

xiv LIST OF ILL USTIIA TIONS. — MATS.
V:\ttii
Groton  1U4
Bridge at Pepferell  168
Main Street Bridge, Nashua  17;i
Junction of Nashua and Merkimac  177)

r

MAPS

Pagu
The Sudbury, Concord, and Nashua Rivers. (Frontispiece).
The Merrijiac froji Lowell to Newbuuyport .... 51
The Housatonic River  G3
The Housatonic froji Monument Mountain to Konkapot
River  90
The Nashua from West Boylston to Still River Village 153

AN INLAND VOYAGE

ON THE

Sudbury, Concord, and Merrimac

RIVERS,

CHAPTER I.
SOUTHVILLE. — CONCORD.
fT^HE source of the Sudbury River is, I was about to
say, among the clouds. It appears upon earth,
however, in the form of two rivulets, one of which flows
from Whitehall Pond, a beautiful sheet of water in IIop-
kinton, and the other, beginning from indeterminate places
in Westborougli, joins the Hopkinton branch just above
Southville. Which is the Sudbury River we leave Hop
kinton and Westborougli to settle between them, although
perhaps ere this, tor aught we know, they may, in order to
avoid controversy, have divided the honor. After t he-
junction the river Hows in an easterly direction to Ash
land, and thence pursues a generally northeasterly course-.
until with the Assabet, in Concord, it forms the Concord
River. It was the desire ol' the writer and a. friend in taking
a boating trip down the river to obtain a rowboat at the
pond at Hopkinton; but it appeared to be difficult to
procure a suitable , craft, and it seemed very doubtful
whether the branch from the lake, in its several miles of
flow to the other branch, was navigable ; so we concluded
to take a skiff to Southville .and start from there

18

MOATING TRITS.

THE SUDBUltY, CONCORD, AND MERUDIAO.

ly

By virtue of an order of Mr. Hobart, station-master of
the Boston and Albany Railroad, we had our skiff put on
board the baggage ear of the seven A.M. train from
Boston, upon the payment of one extra fare, seventy cents.
AVe arrived at Southville soon after eight o'clock, and
were obliged to wait in the station a couple of hours on

"ttiVille

account of a severe thunder shower. As the clouds were
breaking away, we carried our boat on a wheelbarrow to
a stone bridge, with a single small arch, about two hundred
feet from the station, and launched her on the right-hand
side, and, having embarked with the baggage, pulled down
stream. The river was barely wide enough to allow
free play to the oars. The water was sufficiently deep,
however, though the; river most of the way was filled

r

witli beds of long, limp, gently winding blades of grass.
Halting at a leaf-embowered bend midway .between South
ville and Cordaville, we partook of lunch in a beautiful
stretch of sloping woods amid moss-gray bowlders, and at
high noon were again on our way.
We soon pulled over a pond and came to the mill-dam
at Cordaville. The bed of the river below the dam was
dry, so, disembarking, we carried our boat around the mill
on the left-hand side (left, facing down stream), and
deposited her at the bottom of a dec}) tail-race, and
patiently waited for the mill to begin work so that we
might float away on the waste water. Soon we heard the
machinery in motion and quickly the water rose in the
canal and -soon carried us forward under an arched stone
bridge into the river. We then had rather difficult work
in pushing and poling for about a mile until wc came to
the dam at Chattanooga, having unwisely hurried on in
the shallow channel instead of waiting for the waste
water from the mill to raise the stream. We were com
pelled to pull the boat over several rocky places, however,
which are impassable in a boat at all times, except.
perhaps, when the water is high, as in the spring. As we
were pushing through one place where the stream was
completely blockaded with overhanging bushes, Bow
found just beneath his hand a bird's nest in which were
three light blue eggs.
We hauled up near the sluice-way in front of the mill

20

BOATING TRIPS.

and earned our boat on a wheelbarrow about three hm,
dred feet over a road past the right of the mill, where the
proprietor, Mr. Aldrieh, who had kindly loaned us the
barrow, came out with his boys and wished us good luck
<m our voyage. We pulled under a bridge of the Boston
and Albany Railroad, which crosses the river just below
the mill, and had a delightful row in a narrow, deep
channel with a fine current, until we came to a deserted
Jhim We pulled to shore on the left-hand side ami
hauled the boat over the framework of the sluice-way to
the embankment, and thence into the canal below, whe-e
i" -till water under arching trees which east deep shadows,'
we poled the boat for about a hundred yards until we
emerged into a pond. Crossing this pond we came to a
low dam. We pulled the boat over the middle of the dam
m a few minutes, but then were obliged to get out and
drag her through several gravelly shallows two or three
hundred feet to a bridge, and thence had difficult naviga
tion a short distance further, until we entered the pond
at Ashland.
About six o'clock we came to the dam and stopped on
the right-hand side thereof, at the head of the sluice-way
Below the dam is a series of extensive buildings which
were intended to be used as print-works, an industry that
on account of the injurious effect of the dyes upon the
stream, unfortunately had to be abandoned, when Boston
took the Sudbury River as a source of its water supply

t^*

THE SUDBURY, CONCORD, AND MERRIMAC. 21
Only a portion of the premises is now occupied as a
thread-mill. Below the dam, for nearly a third of a mile,
the bed of the river was so shallow that it was impossible
to float the boat, so we endeavored to procure a convey
ance to carry the boat around by the road.
While waiting on the bank a number of Ashland gamins
crowded around and were altogether a saucy lot. AVe
could obtain no conveyance of any kind, so, as it was
growing dark, and we Wished to get further down stream
away from the Ashland gamins, to pitch our tent, wc
carried the boat through the mill-yard, and with friendly
assistance after a while put her into the water below the
first road bridge. The stream was still very shallow, how
ever, so we alternately carried along the bank or dragged
the boat through shallows to a place about half a mile
below the dam. When embarked and once more able to
row, it was quite dark. Pulling on, we several times got
into wrong channels, and soon found that we were in a.
labyrinth, in which it was as difficult to find an outlet as
it is to trace one's way through the puzzling mazes of
Rosamond's Bower. Iirthe course of a half-hour, how
ever, after meeting many obstructions, wc passed under
a bridge, aud continued on along past several houses,
which we afterward discovered were in the lower part of
Ashland. As we rowed by the last house a little girl
cried out in the darkness, » Halloo ! who are you ? " We
said, « Boating on the river,-' and bade her good-nioht,

22

BOATING TRIPS.

THE SUDBURY, CONCORD, AND MURIUM AC.

23

She responded, " Good-night," and added, in tender treble,
the kindly invocation, —
"May you sleep tight,
Where the bugs don't bite ! "
Immediately below, we pulled under a bridge, but after
rowing on about half a mile we found that we were en
tangled iu a multitude of winding and shallowing bayous,
with long marshy grass on every side and a causeway in
front, and merely a glimmering landscape around. AVe
were indeed completely baffled, and as it was eleven
o'clock we put back to the bridge, and after vainly trying
to get directions for our course we concluded to stop at
one of the houses. ' The young man who acted as our
cicerone talked the true middle-of-England dialect, as
it appears in Griffith Gaunt and Nicholas Nickleby. His
peculiar pronunciation of " meestur " was very pleasing,
and especially pleasant the tones of his voice as he rapped
up Mr. Pratt, who, in most hospitable fashion, as we had
been assured would be the case, took us in and rid us of
the chief difficulty of our situation until the morrow.
Upon crossing the bridge early in the morning to em
bark again, we readily discovered the cause of our
erroneous wandering the night before. The course of
the river was very similar to the shape of the letter Y.
As Ave proceeded along we had come to the bridge at the
apex of the Y, as it were, and of course, naturally enough,

***

V*

in the darkness, immediately rowed under it. The river,
however, instead of flowing under the bridge, turns sharply
to the northeast, and we should have rowed up the other
side of the V, as it were.
In a few minutes we. were rowing in front of the bridge,
and soon left it in the rear. In about a third of a mile a
low dam compelled us to make a very short carry on the
left side, and we then entered the first of the city reservoirs.
We hauled over a low dam at the end of the first pond on
the left, a very easy obstacle to pass, and after a pull over
another pond with the Boston and Albany Railroad on our
right, we came to a low causeway, over which we hauled
the boat, and then pulled through a long stretch of water
to a very high dam, guarded on the right by a small but
very artistic gate-house, wherein are the gates for regu
lating the supply of water, and several hydrometers. The
row in the deep water basin under the hot sun had been
pretty warm, so we lingered in the shade of the gate-house
on the dam before undertaking the fresh task of getting
the boat over. It was hard work to pull the boat to the
top of the embankment on the right of the clam (which is
about twenty-five feet high), over the heavy masonry, at an
angle of about forty-five degrees. The descent, however,
on the lower side, was comparatively easy, and we were
soon pulling across the last reservoir to dam number one.
Bow was quite surprised to ascertain that number one
was the last dam, there having been much talk about dam

t

24

BOATING TRIPS.

number one, dam number two, and dam number three;
he naturally supposing that number one was the first,
instead of the last, of the series. We found the water of
the last pond filled with innumerable fine particles of the
vegetable matter which has been the occasion of so much
disturbance to the citizens of Boston and their water-
board, from time to time, for the past several years. The
phenomenon appearing in only one pond, and there de
veloped to such an extent, is certainly very remarkable.
Experts have declared, however, that the matter does not
impair the purity of the water, though we did not care
to drink it.
Dam number one we found almost as difficult to get by
as dam number two. We carried over on the right and
lowered the boat over quite a high stone wall below the
gate-house into the river. Only one hundred and forty
thousand gallons of water are let through the dam each
day to supply the mill at Saxonville, and consequently the
river-bed was quite shallow. Stroke kept in the boat,
and after poling by a number of rocks in a few minutes
reached comparatively clear water. The going continued
to improve, and ere long wc came to the camp-meeting
ground at South Framingham. Rowing on through a long,
narrow pond we came to a short, low dam. AVe let the
boat float over with the fall of water under a house at the
middle of the dam, and below had to get out at brief
intervals and pull over several gravelly shallows. The

/¦>

rt

THE SUDBUR Y, CONCORD, AND MERRIMAC. 25
going soon became good, except at rare intervals where
a shallow compelled us to push along or get out of the
boat and haul through. The water'was clear, however,
and the banks lined with trees, and, except when we came
to an arched stone 'bridge and saw some men mowing, our
course for about two miles was along a narrow, winding
stream, exceedingly pleasant. AVe passed a number of
piles of stones heaped up in the form of round bee-hives;
and on one a water-snake (I think he must have been
asleep), threatened with an oar, maintained his position
until thrust off. After a while the river wound in more
open country and then again amid a hilly country with
thick woods on every side. It was noon and the sun was
shining hot. Not a breath of air was stirring, but we
kept on, wishing to get below Saxonville at as early an
hour as Ave could and go into camp.
Emerging from the woody banks, we crossed a pond
and came to a deserted dam, which is about two miles
above Saxonville. The dam is broken on the right side
with the water at the same level below as above, and we
found that we had just room enough to pass between two
iron axles, each surmounted by a huge iron cog-wheel,
hi"h in air, that formerly composed part of the niachinery
of a grist and lumber mill. AVe pulled over the buoyed
race-course on the upper part of the Saxonville poiuL
and at the ice-house a huge cake of ice was thrown into
the pond for our benefit, where it looked very odd floating

26

BOATING TRIPS.

about iii midsummer. We soon came in sight of the mill
and houses at Saxonville, and about two o'clock hauled
ashore on the left-hand side of the dam and had our boat
transported through the town by the Adams Express, and
put into the water near a livery-stable by the railroad-
station. Saxonville is a very fine specimen of the NeAv-England
manufacturing village. It is grouped in very picturesque
fashion around the end of the pond, and looks extremely
neat and thrifty. There is a boat-house on the pond and
many boats. A road has been cut through the Avoods on
the north side of the pond. This improA'ement, as well as
many others, is due to the public spirit of Mr. Simpson,
who, from the constant rumor of his name, is evidently
the presiding genius of the toAvn.
AVe found the stream beloAv Saxonville shallow and
filled with many rocks. The water was clogged Avith all
.sorts of impurities from the woolen-mill, and so muddy
that Ave could only guess at obstructions. A violent gust
of wind, preceding an impending shoAver, which luckily
for us, hoAvever, did not fall, drove us down stream at first
at a rapid rate. For about a mile Ave were seldom able to
row, and although compelled most of .the time to push
along Avith the oars, and often meeting apparently impass
able obstructions, very fortunately Avere not once obliged,
as Ave often feared avc should be, to get out of the boat.
The stream itself Avas disgusting, though lined much of

THE SUDBURY. CON-CORD, AND ME1UUMAC.

27

the way on the right by a very pretty, Avooded bank. The
oars in poling sank through thick, yelloAV Avater deep into
oozy beds of yielding, slippery slime, and the odor stirred
up by the action Avas foul and miasmatic. Indeed, neither
Styx nor Phlegethon, I suspect, is half so bad.
After an hour or more of progress in this wretched
fashion the water greAV deeper, while the banks were often

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quite abrupt and well Avooded. A prostrate tree now and
then threatened to entangle us in its branches. AVe avoii-
dered Iioav Ave should be able to get by one, until A\'e found
a natural arch in a huge branch that lay upon the water,
through Avhich, when the way seemed most beset Avith
perplexities, Ave passed in triumph. The river ran into
many curving recesses Avhere the Avater looked heaAy and
somnolent, and we were glad indeed, after a Avhile, upon
passing through an open meadow, to arrive at Stone's

28

BOATING TRIPS.

f

Bridge. The bridge is only a mile from the village, but
the river in its tortuous course makes a circuit of more
than three miles thither. At one place the neck betAveen
the banks is only a feAV rods across, and if one could only
discover the spot from the river a short carry Avould save
a roAV of nearly a mile.
A Ioav hill to the right of Stone's Bridge commands
a fine prospect. The view of the river Avinding along to
the north through the broad, level AVayland meadows
is especially beautiful.
The river behnv the bridge is comparatively free from
impurity. A cluster of thick grass occasionally blocked
up the river from bank to bank, and hindered the free
motion of the boat, Avithout, hoAvever, materially delaying..
our progress. On the left are several hillsides, covered
Avith trees, Avith curving meadoAvs between. We spread
our tent on an old road which ran along the side of one
of the hills, under the trees, and stretching ourselves out
upon the ground, Ave watched the moving leaves shadowed
in silhouette by the gloAV of the dying fire against the
canvas, and amid the mournful croaking of an army of
frogs in the river beloAV, and the strange, unearthly sounds
of the Avoods around, Ave fell into slumber deep and
unbroken until nine o'clock on the morrow.
Soon after starting Monday morning, Ave came to a place
Avhere the river Avas completely blockaded by dense masses
of o'rass and rushes and lily-pads. RoAving was very sIoav

K^

THE SUDBURY, CONCORD, AND MERRIMAC. 2'J
and tedious for about a quarter of a mile. By and by,
hoAvever, the channel greAV clearer, and then the river,
entirely free from impurity, began to wind in serpentine
mazes through level meadoAvs. The shores were lined
with grass sedges and bordered Avith lilies, white and
fragrant, while on every broad, leafy pad sat a frog.
Here was, I think, the paradise of Batrachians. They sat
in silence and stared at us Avith solemn gaze as Ave floated
by. Even a thrust of the oar did not suffice to disturb
the judicial serenity of some old croaker, avIio merely
-winked as the oar approached, or reluctantly abandoned
his position as he was SAvept off at the end of a stroke.
But the pond-lilies were indeed most wondrous, especially
as we came to the head of Long Pond, just above AVay
land. Upon either shore the spotless Avhite array, immac
ulate in purity, sti etched along as far as one could sec,
and the air Avas filled Avith their delicious fragrance. As
we neared the end of the pond, the vieAV oi the hills
encircling the valley at a. distance Avas very fine. Beyond
the broad meadows the slopes looked extremely rich and
luxuriant. We halted at the AVayland bridge for a short time, and
then rowed past a bank lined Avith enormous cat-o'-nine
tails that Avould have delighted lovers of modern art in
nature, and then under the bridge of the Massachusetts
Central Railroad to the Sudbury-AVayland bridge. Be
low this bridge the river avouik! in continuous crooked

30

V

BOATING TRIPS.

folds through a wide expanse of marshes. The channel
was marked on either side by lines of grass, and beloAv
was often filled with waving Aveeds. Occasionally the
stream was completely clogged witli grass, so that it Avas
hard Avork to pull through, and at intervals the stream
flowed through a small pond-like stretch of water. Alto
gether the scene Avas quite tropical, the luxuriant vegeta
tion of the Avide marsh contrasting strangely in the quiet
noonday with the varied upland scenery on every side.
As Ave dreAV near the end of the meadoAvs, Bow espied
at the beginning of a little pond into which the river
opened a huge black object, which Ave almost immediately
discovered to be the head of a monstrous Avater-snake.
He quickly saAv us too, and as Ave ceased rowing he began
to move. AVe were for a moment in grave apprehension
as to his intentions, and were greatly relieved to see him
direct his course tmvard the reeds at the margin of the
water. He turned around and looked at us during his
sIoav retreat, reneAving our apprehension each time, but
continued on, one immense fold folloAving another, until
he disappeared in the marsh. He must have been seven
or eight feet long, and tapered sharply at the tail. We
heard him for several minutes, splashing through the
reeds, and saw the reeds, disturbed by his sinuous Avind-
ing, moving some distance aAvay from the channel before
we ventured to proceed.
We'soon came to another bridge, and about half a mile

TUB SUDBURY, CONCORD, AND MERR1MAC.

31

behnv drew to shore and passed the afternoon beneath the
refreshing shade of some trees. Then late in the day we
roAved on by some very pretty Avooded hillsides, and in
the course of an hour came to Sherman's Bridge, at North
Sudbury. Upon the left of the river the country slopes

<s <mh£?y, '%m^ t%^Wt

up to the town in broad and fertile tracts, and to the
left of the bridge and just beyond rises a hill gracefully
picturesque. On the right, the sloping banks were orna
mented Avith clumps of trees, Avhile the bridge itself
accented a river scene rich in beauty.
About half a mile below the bridge we put ashore at
a point Avhich juts into the river on tho right, and found

-*£fcT.

32

BOATING TRIPS.

admirable camping ground in an open forest alongside
a grassy road that led up from the river. While eating
supper in dusky shadoAvs by the waning fire, drops of rain
began to rattle on the dry leaves around. Retiring to the
tent Ave soon heard the roar of the storm above. At
frequent intervals the tree-tops, shaken by the wind, sent
down a shower of large drops that battered musically upon
the canvas. The rain poured in torrents all night and the
greater part of the folloAving morning.

*M

CHAPTER II.
CONUOllD.
/^VUR camping place Avas Avithin the borders of Concord.
^"^ AValden Pond was accessible, and not far distant;
but we did not care to undertake a tramp there in the
Avet. AVe got under Avay again on the river about the
middle of the afternoon. A few strokes carried us to

>.*'<"¦ •¦¦ '-.¦¦¦"• ¦ - -- —

- -T-^^fg^SIS

-^|$*F

Fair Haven Bay, AA'here hills rise on every side, shutting
in the prospect Avith Avails of living green. The river is
here, indeed, Avild and picturesque, and a\ as a. faA'orifc
resort of Thoreau. After a long, hard pull against a
strong head Avind, avc came to the old South Bridge at
Concord. The river, here and beloAv, was sluggish, and
mpsc, in the quiet

as Ave continued on Ave caught a <rli

evening, of that tranquillity for Avhich the town itself is

34

Vjk-

BOATING TRIPS.

noted, which it undoubtedly derives from the river.
The water was like glass ; the freighted clouds hung in
solemn masses in the west, and the sunlight poured
in golden floods over earth and sky. Pulling under the
stone bridge, Ave came to the Grand Canal of Concord,
and met several rowboats flying along the watery Avay, and
among others a dark-blue yaAvl Avith a creAV of tAvo youno'
ladies, Avho pulled a gentlemanly coxswain Avith a graceful
yet effective stroke, that Avas, I suspect, the product of
-much patient coaching.
The village is situated on the east side of the river.
The shore at the rear of the gardens of the houses on the
bank was lined Avith every kind of rowing craft. The
riA-er is indeed the greatest part of Concord. Just below
the bridge of the LoavcII Railroad, the Assabet joins the
Sudbury, the tAvo streams forming the Concord River.
At the junction is a little promontory, called Egg Rock,
Avhere Ave landed, as the shadoAvs of evening began to
gather. AVe pitched the tent near the top of the eleva
tion, and after a hastily improvised supper stretched
ourselves out upon the hard ground for slumber. A mul
titude of frogs in the Assabet, hoAvever, made night hoarse
with their croaking ; and Ave Avere aroused soon after
daAvn by the clamorous cawing of a flock of ci-oavs, and
began the day at an early hour, little refreshed.
Egg Rock is covered Avith turf and mould, except here
and there Avhere the rock protrudes, or a ledge crops out,

THE SUDBURY, CONCORD. AND MERRfMAC.

35

V

and an open growth of trees. It is a favorite resort for
picnics, and hardly a day goes by iu summer Avithout one
or more parties making it a scene of bright festivity. We
were, hoAveArer, entirely undisturbed during our stajr,
except by the report of a gun and the rattle of a scat
tering charge of shot among the trees someAvhat near our
heads, a circumstance that Avas immediately folloAved by
a brief, but somewhat animated, conversation between us
and the sportsman : and, upon another occasion, Avhcn,
on our return from the village, Ave found a very pretty
little girl in the hammock, Avhich, hoAvever, Avas not very
much of a disturbance ; at least, to us. Frequently, Iioav-
ever, during the day Ave heard the sound of dipping oars,
and caught sight of a boat gliding up the Assabet or
returning to the A-illage.
Egg Rock is indeed an idyllic spot. The vieAv is a
charming pastoral. The Concord, formed by the union
of the Sudbury and Assabet, Hows away from the end of
the rock Avith rippling current until it shortly disappears
beneath a bridge in a causeAvay. Here and there is
a house, and, among others, the Barrett Mansion, which
occupies the site of the house the ancestors of the present
family lived in at the time of the Concord Fight. The
Minute-man and monument arc a little distance farther
clown, and beyond is fold upon fold of green hills and
woods. Upon one side, beyond the embankment of the
LoAvell Railroad, is a blended mass of foliage and houses,

36

BOATING TRIPS.

which comprise a portion of the village, and on the other
the wild and lovely Assabet.
Hawthorne says : " A more lovely stream than the Assa
bet for a mile above its junction Avith the Concord lias
never iloAVed on earth — nowhere, indeed, except to lave
the interior regions of a poet's imagination. ... It comes
floAving softly through the midmost privacy and deepest
heart of a. wood which Avhispers it to be quiet; while the
stream whispers back again from its sedgy borders, as if
river and wood Avere hushing one another to sleep. Yes;
the river sleeps along its course and dreams of the sky
and the clustering foliasre."
On AVednesday afternoon we rowed up the Assabet.
We saw innumerable frogs and a. congregation of seven
turtles on a board, the very same party, I have no doubt,
that Mrs. Goddard, 'in a sketch of Concord, says she saAv
while rowing up the Assabet. AVith heads craned high
and motionless iu air, like so many pious Moslems, they
awaited our approach, and Avhen Ave were quite near they
tumbled into the Avater one after another, and rapidly
kicking hind-legs could be seen vigorously propelling each
clumsy creature to the depths beloAV.
On the evening of every Fourth of July a carnival ol
boats is held on the rivers. One Aving of the fleet forms
beneath the leafy arches of the Assabet, Avhere the great
hemlocks reach over to see their reflections in the black
water, and the other on the open Sudbury, and at a given

^

rL

y \

THE SUDBURY, CONCORD, AND MERRIMAC.

37

signal the procession, gay with illuminations, moves doAvn
the Concord amid a glare of fireworks under the old North
Bridge brilliantly adorned Avith lanterns.
After wandering aAvay from the haunts of men on
"to'*""" s

/
¦>&?

lonely rivers in the midst of nature, where all is appar
ently plain and simple, Ave determined to A'isit the School
of Philosophy and listen to the perplexing problems man
proposes and discusses. The cosy little building in Avhich
the school holds its sessions is new, with interior unfin-

38

BOATING TRIPS.

THE SUDBURY, CONCORD, AND MERRIMAC.

3D

ished and rough, and of itself Avould surely not awaken
any suspicion of distraction, nor, indeed, did the enter
taining lecture Ave heard Airs. Cheney deliver about early
American art. It is, somehow, the fashion to deride the
School of Philosophy. Is not learning, hoAvever, rather
to be congratulated upon the establishment of a school,
disjointed it may be, and someAvhat fragmentary, Avhere
the mystical problems of the mind can be discussed?
The problems exist, and though of no immediate practical
inportance, and perhaps forever insoluble, yet they
cannot be dismissed out of sight. The question of pre-
existence and the primal principles of philosophy and
what-not else can surely find no more fitting place for
consideration than the Hillside Chapel; Avhere, in an
atmosphere of drowsy nature, amiable culture, mature m
experience, calmly discusses with frank courtesy the
Unthinkable and the Unknown, — the self-same problems
that Macaulay declares Avere discussed and left unsolved
by Ionian philosophers three thousand years ago. May
the Concord School have better luck !
The conversation that folloAvs each lecture is, however,
the real charm of the school, and has given the philosophic
enterprise its chief reputation.
The vieAV from Lee's Hill, an inconsiderable elevation
that rises behind Egg Rock, is quite extensive, varied,
and beautiful. ToAvard the nortliAvest appears the mag
nificent extent of the State Prison, like a huge palace —

Jr*

J.

a palace of misery. The toAvn is beloAv on the right,
hemmed by the shining river, Avhich can be seen for some
miles SAvecping toAvard the northeast through rich green

hills.

': ' *>•'/,- >'¦> 'fi ib "'A&i, JZ

i
H*

There are many points of interest in and about Con
cord. The tavern Avherein Major Pitcairn stirred his
famous glass of toddy with a bloody finger, exclaiming,
" I will stir the Yankee blood in the same Avay before night."
is still standing, in nearly the same condition as when the
Major uttered his bloody threat ; and along the road to

J:!

40

BOATING TRIPS.

Lexington, and in and around the village, are many
houses Avhich were standing at the time of the British
"occupation." Then, in addition to the Old Manse, there
is the Wayside, Avhere HaAvthorne resided at the time of
his death, the residence of the Hon. E. R. Hoar, and the
homes of Emerson, Aleott, and Sanborn. For a more
particular description of these, hoAvever, and the library,
which is quite large and valuable, and the cemeteries and
other places and matters of interest, I would refer any
one desirous of further information to Bartlett's Concord
Guide-book, which is a very interesting, as well as useful,
contribution to the literature of the toAvn. The view of
the Old Manse given herein is from the rear, or river,
side.

CHAPTER III.
COKCOUD. — XKAVIUTUVT'OltT.
"TTTE broke camp on Egg Rock Thursday morning,
*^ and about ten o'clock- renewed our voyage.
After passing the stone bridge Avhich spans the Concord
just beloAV the junction of the rivers, avc Avcre caught in
a shoAver that had been impending, and on account of
which we had delayed our departure. A brief pull, how
ever, brought us to the old North Bridge, Avhere avc made
fast, and for several hours found shelter upon the historic
structure. The bridge itself is so old-fashioned, yet
artistic, and the approach on the Concord side through
the avenue of hemlocks so beautiful, that the spot Avould
be attractive, even apart from the monuments and his
torical associations that cluster about it. The Minute-man
on the left bank, the monument on the right, and the
quaint bridge, contrast strangely Avith the rural scenes
around; Avhile the Old Manse near by, on one side, and
elegant houses on the other, complete the bewilderment,
I might almost say enchantment, of the place. There is,
too, a touch of pathos in the inscription, "Graves of
liiitish Soldiers," on a granite ledge set iu the stone wall
between the hemlocks near the bridge. Tavo nub" stones,
peering just above the ground within a scant enclosure,

42

BOATING TRIPS.

THE SUDBURY, CONCORD, AND MERRIMAC.

43

which mark their resting-place, tell a dumb story of pain
and Avoe long past. Hoav easy to call up the scene of
conflict ! On the south bank the company of red-coated
soldiers idling on guard; upon the other the Provincials
coming down the road, and then both sides forming for
what might be a collision, the British stolid and disposed
to sneer at their foemen, the Americans anxious, and
^W- SA- ¦'!¦;'*:
r.y:ii:ty
.:'-¦¦ < y&'v*--
¦¦>/f>- ,-r\yyy -Mi

eager, and nervous, it may be, still bravely approaching
the crisis. Then came a stray bullet from the Britons,
followed by a volley that killed Davis and Hosmer, and
then the fire of the Americans, after Avhich an indiscrim
inate loading and firing until the British retired to the
toAvn, leaving the two dead, Avho Avere buried Avhere they
fell. It Avas one o'clock Avhen Ave ventured to embark aa'ain.
betAveen the stray drops of rain. In a feAV minutes Ave

v

passed under the third and last stone bridge at Concord.
and soon lost sight of the Minute-man, and in a brief
while Avere again on an aboriginal river. Either the old
truism about the inappreciable descent of the Concord
River is untrue, or the rains had unduly swollen the
volume of Avater; for the current Avas, for the most part.
quite rapid, and with the help of the oars Ave swiftly
passed along close to one bank or the other, around many
a pretty AAdnding turn. I am inclined to think, ho avc ver,
that the current story about a bridge that Avas bloAvn from
its abutments and floated up river, in reality belongs to
the Sudbury, Avhich is, in truth, the slowest and laziest
river under the sun, and near Concord is often called the
Concord. After a row of nearly three hours, Avhich included
a long halt under some trees to escape a shoAvcr, as we
Ave re pulling along a Avide marsh around a sharp bend
just Avithin the border-line of the toAvn of Bedford, we
espied, at the head of a long reach on the left bank, at the
edge of a piece of Avoods at the foot of a hill, a deserted
shanty. The rain — Jupiter Phrvius appeared to be in
ascendency all the Aveek — Avas pouring down quite hard.
so we made fast by the shanty, and sought shelter in it.
After a Avhile, the rain ceased, and we roAved up river half
. a mile or more, and after much difficulty in effecting a
landing on the marshy shore, reneAved our supply of pro
visions at a farm-house, and returned, besides, Avith a boat-

44

BOATING TRIPS.

THE SUDBURY, CONCORD, AND MERRIMAC.

45

load of dry hay, which contained a great deal of sAveet-
fern, and made an aromatic couch, full of slumber. Bow
here proved an accomplished cook by making an excellent
custard, in a very few minutes. He gave solemn assurance
that the result was not an accident. We found the name
Bull cut in one of the boards of the shanty, and Ave after
wards ascertained that a man named Bull, from Concord,
had lived in the shanty an entire winter, after the manner
of Thoreau at AValden Pond. Whatever the comfort of
a structure entirely of boards, about ten by eight, and
just high enough to stand in, with one small window, and
a door, and a hole for a stovepipe, and a sand floor, in
winter, Ave found it very comfortable during our stay, save
when a sudden shower in the morning let in an unneeded
quantity of water through the leaky roof. Whether Mr.
Bull succeeded in reducing his expenses to eight dollars
and seventy-six cents for a year, a. feat achieved by
Thoreau at Walden Pond, I know not; but our thanks, at
least, are certainly due him for the use of his building.
We pulled doAvn river Friday afternoon. The reach
below the shanty is one of the longest, if not the longest,
on the river. Rough Avoods lined the shore on the left
side beyond marshy meadoAvs, while at intervals farm
houses and cultivated fields appeared on the right. After
a Avhile the houses and spires of Billerica loomed up on the
right bank. Rowing by the abutments of a lost bridge,
Ave made fast just above the middle bridge, the road from

u

which leads direct to the village. Billerica is a very hand
some specimen of the more modern New-England village.
The view down the Aralley toward Lowell from the head
of the street that leads to the riArer is exceedingly fine.
After rambling through the village, avc returned to the
river and pitched our tent under a huge oak at the
edge of a grove just above the bridge, hurrying the Avork
to escape a shoAver impending from the north. The stars
Avere shining brightly all over the sky, except Avhere a
castled cloud projected itself slowly upward, shot through
Avith constant, vivid flashes of lightning and accompanied
by a loud rumbling of thunder. For an hour or more the
shadoAv of the cloud hung above us, and then edged away
to the north, a rainless portent.
The next morning Ave Avere early on our Avay. On the
left and loAver side of a bridge Ave pulled under, in the
course of the morning roAV, — I think it Avas here, although
it may have been beloAV the Carlisle-Bedford bridge, — is
an old Aveather-staincd house, AA'ith barn and outbuildiurrS
to match, which rivals in quaint, antique grace the Old
Manse at Concord.
Above and beloAV the bridge Avere innumerable lilies.
Avhich bloomed almost continually along the river, only
in some places in almost tropical profusion. As avc Avere
pulling along at the edge of the lily-pads, Stroke plucked
a handsome bud,Avhich in a moment broke into full bloom
in his hand. The current beloAV the bridge runs quite

46

BOATING TRIPS.

f

THE SUDBURY, CONCORD, AND MERRIMAC.

47

SAviftly at times over several slight descents. By and by
Ave passed a number of rocks streAvn about the channel,
and entered the pond above the dam at North Billerica.

The oarsman off duty Avhile trolling across the pond
succeeded in catching a rock that weighed several tons,
and tAvo small pickerel. The dam of the Talbot Mills is
easily passed by keeping in the sluice-Avay on the right to

I

the road. Then, after a short carry across the road into
the mill-yard, you can let your boat over a stone embank
ment into the river.
We hauled to shore on a perfect sand beach on the right,
about tAvo miles below North Billerica, and iu the Avoods
beyond found a lively brook of remarkably cold Avater.
At three avc started for Lowell and at the edge of the city,
after passing under three or four bridges, found our Avay
obstructed by a dam. The river-bed beloAV the dam Avas
completely dry. A canal leads off to the left. FolloAving
the canal at first and then turning to the end of the dam,
Ave made a portage over the embankment and put the
boat into the canal beloAV the gate. AVe then had good
sailing for about a third of a mile, although avc Avere
occasionally obliged to lie doAvn in the boat to escape
hitting some of the bridges which crossed the canal. AVe
took the boat out at the end of the canal and made
a portage of about three hundred feet through the yard of
a mill on the right, and, launching the boat doAvn a steep
bank, Ave Avere soon pulling across another pond, and
quickly came to another dam. The second dam can quite
easily be passed to the right, though Ave found no diffi
culty, on account of the Ioav Avater, in getting over the
middle of it, and avc Avere soon pulling over another pond,
to our great discouragement. We Avere now in the city
and houses lined the hills on both sides of the pond. At
the end of the pond on the left was a huge brick mill, and

48

BOATING TRIPS.

rr

over a high dam we could sec the water curling and hear
|t p hinging below. A carry is feasible around a low
-Wmg to the right of the dam. AVe approached the
dam rtselt, however, at a corner of the building, and found
just space enough, where the water Avas only trickliuc,
over the flash-boards, to pull the boat up and slide her
over the dam, and amid the thundering roar of the water
which loudly resounds when one is near below it, we
launched her below the fall. Then, after a few strokes
we entered a sort of canal, and shooting across a deep
revolving whirlpool, formed by the inrushing waste water
from the Merrimac canal, we were borne on the surging
current under Merrimac-street bridge into the Merrimac
We had been two hours in getting by the three dams.
Ao good landing-place appeared near, however, so Stroke
turned the boat about and put her, stern foremost, throuo-fi
Hunt's Falls, on the LoAvell side. The Avaves leaped
menacingly above the stern, ami the spray flew around in
little showers for a moment or two ; but the swift motion
Avas a very agreeable sensation after the slow work over
dams and ponds. The row of brick mills which extends
along the south shore of the Merrimac until the view is
intercepted by a bend, presents a massive and imposim-
frontage on the river. We drew to shore at the foot of
the rapid, and spent the night in the City of Spindles.
On the morrow we found that the channel over which
Ave had swiftly floated the night before was completely

<r

f

THE SUDBURY, CONCORD, AND MERRIMAC. 49
<hy The river had, indeed, on account of the shutting
<>h of lie water, almost entirely disappeared. We passed
Inough a .very narrow channel at first, and then kecphc,
to the left of an island just bchnv, dropped down t£
"ver a few nukes, and in the evening encamped on the
Jeft bank, about a mile above Lawrence
Lawrence is nine miles below Lowell, and the river the
entire distance is wide, and the banks Avoody and pi,tur-
-P-c. A large island lies nearer the left shore, about half
jvaybetwee,, the two phiees, and immediately below, on
u-let, are some handsome stretches o, open count,,-,
u Where and there by farm-houses and, farther down
n y wooded hills The river, quite deep, with little
cunent, satavonte cruising g.ound f,„ IlliIIlv „„„„
<u its, Avluch add life to the water. The Merrimac i
"deed a famous river for boating. As we sat under our
U it, m the moonlit evening, we saw many boats go by,
» the music of sacred songs was wafted across the
water from far and near.
At daybreak on Monday morning w, Himbed to ,JU.
4"1' ut ^ '»" which ,,,, Troni the river w,„e J
™~l-^-l^danutgni.centviewof,,es,1n-
»•*. Below was Lawrence, still ;l„d sleeping.-, ,„d
^nmst said lazy,--to the south were And,,ver and wj
And-r on a ndge of hiHs, while the course of the river
-ul 1 be traced westward by the mists winch robed above
*¦ ^ is a lum locatton fill. a ,„,,. ;ui(1 l)|e ^ ^

50

BOATING TRIPS.

obtained at the house which crowns the summit of the
nil was quite as good a, the view. After a breakfast of
the tenderest of sirloin, and the sweetest roasted potatoes,
and the most delicious coffee, -I speak wholly with
reference to the taste, and not at all to the actual 'quality
of the articles, - we rowed along shore and soon came to
the head of the broad canal on the left of the river, which
supplies the motive power to the mills of Lawrence
The water glides swiftly into the canal, and rushes
innously under the bridge. Boats have been swept under
and care must be exercised in approaching it. The lock-1
man opened the gate at one side of the bridge in a few
nnnutcs, and we pulled into the canal below, where the
water pours along full of little whirlpools, but entires-
safe. The current is very swift at first, and carried us
along very rapidly past the mills on one side, where the
machinery made incessant roar, and the long lines of brick
houses on the other. We had to lie down in the bottom
of the boat to pass some of the bridges. After a. vcry
novel and agreeable voyage of about half a mile, perlrms
we came to the end of the canal, where we were let down
tlurty-two feet through three locks, in about twenty
mmutes, into the river below. The sensation, as you sit
m the boat in » lock and feel the water sinking beneath
you, induces a. slight sense of horror, to say the least.
There is no charge for locking.
The current is very swift below Lawrence, but the

V

Y

THE SUDBURY, CONCORD, AND MERRIMAC.

51

banks are not nearly so pretty as above. About four
miles beloAV Lawrence is an island, and immediately below
the island is a short stretch of rapids. The best channel,
marked by buoys, is used by small steamers; but I should
think they Avould have a hard time in getting through.

,<r

We turned the boat about and Avent through stern
foremost, enjoying that most delightful of sensations, the
motion of rushing Avater. The river makes a sharp bend
beloAV the fall, and along the Ioavci- side of the bend is
another rapid. The sAvil't water carried us along near the
shore past the steamer Kittle Boynton, moored alongside
the bank. BeloAV the rapid, the current continues quite
strong in the middle of the river, betAveen lines of buoys,
nearly to the end of the reach, Avhere, after rounding
a bend, Ave saAv the city of Haverhill. AVe pulled up at
a Avharf under the passenger bridge at eleven o'clock,
having made the nine miles from LaAvrcnee in tAvo hours

52

BOATING TRIPS.

and a half. Here, to our surprise, we were informed that
the tide was just beginning to go out ; so, after only a few
•minutes' delay, avc Avent along Avith it.
Pulling by Groveland, about two miles beloAV Haverhill,
we kept on for about a mile, when we pulled up on the
beach aud had the last of the dinners of the trip, which
somehow, in spite of the crude cookery, were always
literally devoured with a relish. Then keeping on down
river, with wind and tide and current iu our favor, avc
soon came iu sight of West Newbury, and for a time
Avondered what was the course of the river, as the hills
seemed to enclose it on every side. The river turned
nortlnvard, hoAvever, and soon Ave Avere pulling through
an interminable reach, Avhere a strong head Avind made
very toilsome the incessant efforts of the weary oarsmen,
and Avas, I fear, the occasion of some pious ejaculations.
Then Merrimacport appeared on the right bank. Several
uiipainted, Aveather-stained, old-fashioned houses give the
village a quaint and pleasing aspect.
After pulling through tAvo or three quite long reaches,
Amcsbury appeared before us, and rounding a long cape
of sand heaps that projected from the right bank just
beloAV Laurel Hill, formerly the summer residence of the
English Minister Thornton, a slight elevation, Avhich,
nevertheless, commands one of the loveliest vieAvs in New
England, we met the incoming tide and another head
Avind. Pulling diagonally doAvn river past the rocky north

I 1

V

THE SUDBURY, CONCORD, A.YD MERRIMAC. 53
shore, by a very handsome edifice of brick and stone we
directed our course toward the channel on the lower side
of an island, on which is the Spofford rcsidm.ee. Rowim-
under the old chain bridge, which in part connects fioli*
hury with Newburyport, and forms a quaint contrast with
the more modern structure over the channel on the north
•sule of the island, we crept along close to shore, and
were, I bebeve, an hour and a half in going a mile and
a half to Shaw's Wharf, where our voyage' ended.
AVe had been eleven days on (he three rivers, and had
made a distance of about one hundred miles in all.
The Sudbury, from Southville to Saxomille. cannot be
navigated without a great deal of toil and troubl,, and the
Merrimac is too wide to furnish the peculiar pleasure
which ernes from following the continuous windings of
a small stream; but the Sudbury, from Stone's Bridge at
Saxonville to Concord, and the Concord thence to North
Billerica, a distance of nearly fifty miles in all, is free
from any difficulty; and each stream, narrow, deep, and
generally, sluggish, is a delightful river to descend I
commend the nameless graces of each to all who loy„
to folloAv the Unknown River.
I may add that Saxonville is the terminus of a branch
of the Boston and Albany Railroad, and the station of
the Lowell Railroad at North Billerica is only a few
mmutes' walk from the milks.

">

54

BOATING TRIPS.

rilACTICAL SUGGESTIONS.

I ought perhaps to say, by yvay of advice to any one
who has a desire to take a boating trip, that almost any boat
is suitable for the purpose, provided it is light and portable.
In the absence of any choice, hoAvever, I Avould recom
mend, especially for two persons, an eleven-' foot ' skiff, and
spruce oars seven and one-half feet long.
A back should be fitted to the stern seat of the boat,
as it adds greatly to the comfort and ease of the oarsman
off duty.

Three oars should be taken in preference to a pair
alone. A painter of extra length should be provided, and a
long stern rope may be very useful at times in rapids.
A tent, such as the one I have used, which has proved
very serviceable, may easily be made as folloAvs. The
main canvas is about sixteen feet long and seven Avide.
This is stretched over a ridge-pole and fastened to the

*P

<!>

THE SUDBURY, CONCORD, AND MERRIMAC.

05

ground by pegs, three on each side, attached to double
holes in the canvas about a foot and a half from the edge.
thus leaving a projecting flap Avhen the tent is up. At
the rear of the tent a triangular piece of canvas may be
sewed to one half of the main piece, and can then be
buttoned on the other side and fastened close to the
ground by four or five pegs. For the front of the tent,
instead of using canvas or leaving it entirely open, I have
used two large pieces of mosquito-netting. By pinning
these to the edge of the tent and alloAviiig them to fall in
folds on the ground, one is protected against mosquitoes
and other plagues o' the night, Avhile the projecting Haps,
Aveighted, with the oars, for instance, keep them out at
the sides. Cotton drilling, Avhich comes two feet four
and a half inches in Avidth, and sells at eight to ten cents
per yard, is sufficiently stout, and tAventy-five yards is
enough for the main and rear pieces.
Duck, Avhich is considerably heavier and a little more
durable, is of the same width, and costs from tyvelve to
seventeen cents per yard.
I have always cut ridge-pole and supports at the begin
ning of a trip and carried them along to the end. I
think, however, that it might be well to prepare two light
supports of seasoned wood sharpened at the lower ends
and covered Avith an iron ferrule, with holes in the top,
through Avhich a cord could be passed and knotted on
either side of each support to keep it from slipping. The

56

BOATING Til IPS.

cord should then he fastened at each end to a peg which
is to be driven into the ground at a suitable distance from
the bottom of the support. Fivo feet and eight inches is
sufficiently high for the supports.
It usually took us not over ten minutes to pitch our
tent, using supports and ridge-pole of green wood; but
with the improvements I have suggested it Avould take

still less time and the tent Avould be more trim and secure,
though our tent always stood up iu all sorts of Aveather
and never leaked.
Of course one can readily dispense Avith a. tent
altogether and stop at hotels in the villages. If, how
ever, one stops at hotels he may nevertheless enjoy a bit
of camp life by taking along cooking utensils and supplies.
All that is necessary of the former are coffee-pot, tea-pot,
a frying-pan (preferably the Acme), sauce-pan, tin cups,
tin plates, knives, forks, and spoons. Other necessary
adjuncts to camping arc a hatchet and candlestick. As

/

THE SUDBUR ), COXCOUD, AND MERRIMAC. ¦) i
for supplies, tastes differ; but almost everything desired,
including fresh meat ordinarily, can be obtained at villages
along the rivers. Canned roast beef and baked beans are.
however, ahvays good to start Avith and keep in the larder,
aud campers-out hoav generally agree that tea, perhaps
English breakfast tea. is fully as much a necessity as
coffee. In camping, a thick comforter is, I think, the best kind
of a blanket, If is necessary to have a rubber blanket
also, an overcoat, preferably an old one; and a rubber
coat is very useful under any circumstance.
A canvas bag is very convenient to keep the tent in
and various odds and ends, and a box should be made
Avith a cover for cooking utensils aud supplies.
These suggestions may be useful iu some respects,
perhaps, to many Avho already have found pleasure and
health in the ever new and delightful experiences ol a
boating; trip, and they will, I hope, be still more service-
able to those to Avhom such a trip Avould be an entire
novelty.

AN AUTUMN CRUISE

THE HOUSATONIC

PITTSFIELD TO THE SOUND.

CHAPTER I.
PITTSEIKLI). ' — LEE.
A RIVER is a musical poem. Like the strains of an
orchestra its various streams unite and pour for-
Avard in rhythmic melody. Then, too, a river like a fine
epic is avcII adorned, having for its constant themes Avoods
and hills and mountains, a mill or a village, farm-houses
and bridges, and a genuine atmosphere overhead. An
epic is likely, however, to groAV tiresome ; a riA'cr, never.
You read a poem ; you enjoy a river.
The Housatonic River, the finest of poems, is the chief
ornament of Berkshire County, the finest of prose.
The Avest branch of the Housatonic rises among the
Hoosac Mountains of" northwestern Massachusetts, a
section of the State Avhich has not inaptly been called
the Switzerland of America. The principal source of the
west branch is in the town of Lanesborough. Lake Pon-
toosuc, a broad and beautiful sheet of Avater, dotted Avith
two islands in the middle, may be considered, hoAveAer,
the actual head from Avhich the stream Hoavs south to
Pittsfield. The principal source of the cast branch is
in Hinsdale, though a multitude of small streams join
above Dalton, and their commingling Avatcrs Hoav west
ward along the line of the Boston and Albanv Railroad

62

BOATING TRIPS.

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

63

to unite Avith the west branch just below Pittsfield. The
river after the union of the two branches flows in a
generally southerly direction through western Massachu
setts and western Connecticut for about one hundred and
fifty miles to Long Island Sound. It derives its name
from the Housatonic tribe of Indians, Avhich formerly
inhabited its banks. I have somewhere read that Hou
satonic signified in the Indian tongue, " Over the
mountains:" but I should think a more correct interpre
tation might be " Among the mountains."
I had an appointment to meet a friend at Pittsfield
toAvard the latter part of September for the purpose of
taking a i-oav down the Housatonic — to enjoy a poem
without reading. The skiff Avhich was to embody the
movement, the same one I had used in a voyage doAvn the
Sudbury, Concord, and Merrimac, was sent from Boston
to Pittsfield about the middle of September by the
American Express Company. The expressage Avas three
dollars and ninety cents, double the ordinary rate. The
fare from Boston is three dollars and forty cents.
Pittsfield, the shire toAvn of the county, settled in
1752, and named after AVilliam Pitt, the great Eno-lish
commoner, has a population of about twelve thousand.
It is situated in the triangular space formed within the
tAvo branches of the river. The Boston and Albany
Railroad intersects the toAvn like the bar of an A, the
branches of tho riA-er representing the prolongations of

•v

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64

BOATING TRIPS.

~rj^*~'

Tin: housatonic HIVE 11.

Go

the letter. From a square about the middle of the town
four streets radiate toAvard each point of the compass,
called respectively North, South, East, and West Streets.
On the north side of the square is the old ToAvn Hall, while

opposite is a, very handsome library of unique and artistic
design. In the Athemeum in the upper part of the
library is a small, old-fashioned, upright mahogany desk
upon which IlaAvlhorne wrote The Blithedalc Romance,
The Wonder-Book, and The House of the Seven
Gables, while he lived in the little old red house on the
north side of Stockbridge Bowl in Lenox.

After dining at the American House, as the friend
who Avas to accompany me on the river Avas busily
engaged in concocting a. brief, or some such con
trivance, it Avas agreed that 1 should take the boat
alone to Lenox Station, Avhere he Avas to join me on
the arrival of the five o'clock train from Pittsfield, and
Ave Avere then to go on to Lee together. 1 proceeded
to the office of the express company, and was there
subjected to a pcttj' annoyance without, rhyme and with
little reason. The agent declined to deliver the boat
at the river at South-street bridge on the ground that it
Avas beyond the schoolhouse, which he affirmed was the
limit of delivery. It Avas beyond, but only a IVav rods,
and it seemed as if there might be a. slight concession
to the exigency of the case ; but no, the //w ,U.rit of the
agent was as decisive as the fulmination of a Roman
emperor. It behooA'od me, therefore, to find another
place to launch the craft, and I soon ascertained that the
west branch Avas navigable below Pomcroy's lower Avoolen-
mill. Here, hoAvever, another difficulty arose. The
aforesaid agent declined to deliver the boat until after
live, o clock, so that it finally became necessarv to procure
a. team at additional expense and a great, deal of additional
trouble. The teamster and I put the boat in the river beloAV the
last building of Ihc mill, which is on West Housatonic
Street, It would be. however, an easy matter to get over

-.,"¦**

66

BOATING TRIPS.

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER

67

the dams of both woolen-mills. The boat had been in
ordinary several weeks, and the instant it touched the
water, to use the familiar expression, leaked like a sieve.
By this time several operatives from the mill had gathered

4
" si v ,

x&

°**»Mill PiHstieU

around, and we lifted the boat on a walk, turned her over,
and I was engaged an hour or more in caulking the widely
distended seams, an operation in which one or another
of the constantly relayed group of interested observers
took a hand. It is always advisable to have a little
oakum and oil-of-tar in boating. I had neither, I must

'-" --A

admit, however, and had supposed there could be no
possible occasion for anything of the sort, as the boat hatl
been both caulked and painted in anticipation of the
trip. We used cotton batting, the only thing available,
which proved quite serviceable, though I suspect that the
soaking in the Avater Avas the most effcctiA'c remedy. I
had invited any one of my co-laborers Avho felt so disposed
Lo join me as far as Lenox Station, and Avhen the boat
Avas ready for its final launch a Aroluntcer appeared,
arrayed in his Sunday best.
AVe put the boat in once more and started on the voyage
about three o'clock. The stream beloAV the mill is about.
thirty feet wide, and Avinds very pleasantly in a small,
narroAv valley of its own. AVe soon came to a brand new
Avire fence which extended directly across our path and
looked like a Areiy troublesome obstacle, as the Avircs Avere
full of sharp projections. Drifting to it, howe\'er, stern
foremost, my passenger lifted the lowest strand OA'cr his
head, I carried the thorny burden precariously OA'er my
oaa'ii, and AA'e passed under without a scratch. Just above
South-street bridge avc ran against a log boomed across
the stream. AVe passed close to the Avest bank under the
Avest end of fhe log by depressing the boat nearly to the
guiiAvale in the Avater. I do not believe that the boat
displaced quite so much Avater again during the trip.
Pulling under the old Avooden bridge immediately beloAV,
Ave rowed around a bend and bunted against another log

¦

68

BOATING TRIPS.

THE HOUSATONIC 1UVER.

69

lying across the stream. Aly companion in assisting to
lift the boat over the east end lost his footing on the
mossy bank, and slid into the Avater considerably above
his knees, amid expressions of great disgust. AVe quickly
got the boat over, hoAvever, and started on and soon came
to another obstruction in the shape of a plank walk. AVe
found just room enough, hoAvever, to pass under the east
end Avith ease.
The river had been continually rapid, and Ave Avent
SAviftly forward, now past a clump of Avoods and uoav
along open meadows Avith both banks and hillsides near
at hand. The Avater, discolored by the refuse of the mills
above, and darkened still more by dense, threatening
clouds overhead, flowed with peculiar shady effects over
a grassy bed in -shalloAv places, though the bottom could
not be seen at all in the deeper pools. There Avas always
sufficient Avater, hoAvever, and after Ave got beloAV the
junction of the east branch, a stream about the same size
and consistency as the other, avc had an abundance. I
allude to the state of the Avater, as the. trip had been
delayed on account of a fear that Ave Avould not have
sufficient Avater to get along at all, as the season had been
remarkably dry. 1 haA'e little hesitation, hoAvever, ii,
saving that the river from Pittsfield to Falls Village b
navigable in a flat-bottomed boat at all times ; and that
one can indeed get along beloAV Falls Village, too, although
the greater the volume of Avater beloAV that point the
greater the pleasure of a trip.

j

r

T e river soon wound under another bridge and then
vnthed in extraordinary fashion in qilite ail extensiye
~ ^ loitered along its windings, the swift
"" k*mI,,,S ,w ili:" taking that wc were makin-
great progress and would easily reach Lenox Station hi
hvco clock. Greylock drifted to and fro across the rear
of the valley ,n the distance to the north. Perhaps, how-
tner, it was the winding river that drifted to and fro
hnow not how it may have been; the effect was the
-une and even now in memory I see a blue mountain of
vaguely beautiful outline, solemnly moAdng from side to
-de across a, valley landscape, shadowily picturesque
Phe clouds, hoAvever, threatened rain even- moment,
«»«J tl«e rising Avmd, blowing fresh as if from the ocean
addea stimulus to our constant apprehension of an n !"'
<ha e downpour. It (lid uot ^ .^.^^ ^ ^
darkness above only served to bestow on all the valley
™ mtense, <leep, sombre green. No house was in smht
«u»l "]I -s silence. The river was as variable fiats'
-- as the wind is usuaby supposed to ,,,,, ,,,,,!, .nnc'-
-cs, assunnng tha, the wind was steadfast, we had t,,e
-e at our back, frequently on one side or the other.
¦»«' -asionally m (IU1. fllces. Aftor a w] ^ ] ^
^--^-'^ companion, who had long been itchi,;,()
- ^e exerted his muscle with territie ,bree, and. as
lK b°f W™ ^ht' ^ ™°y ™" i»g. and quickly turned
he produced some startling aberrations frmn t,,\,dina n

70

BOATING TRIPS.

hue of our progress. His knees were the occasion of
a great deal of trouble. Having once got the stroke
well past those troublesome projections, however, he was
all right for the rest of it. Taking one quite desperate
stroke, however, after the usual interruption at the knees,
there was a loud crack and the iwing-seat, Avhich was'
thin and springy, broke into a half-dozen pieces and let
the oarsman down to the bottom of the boat with a great
shock. Luckily we bad with us a stray board which we
bad used as a rest to keep our feet out of the water which
poured into the boat' in spite of the cotton batting, and
this Avas made to answer for a rowing-seat, while there
after Ave bailed oftener than ever.
And now the river had come to a Avoody mountain on
the east side of the valley, and began a game of tag with
the high and mighty dignitary. It ran up to the
mountain, and then edged away in the devious ways
.known only to a river, and then again, after approaching
the immovable and dignified mountain, bounded away
over the meadows. After a while we heard a train
whistling ahead, and, as it was past five o'clock, we
concluded we were not far from Lenox Station. We
had not once caught sight of the railroad, however.
Pulling rapidly on Ave came to a bridge, the fifth from
Pittsfield, I think, and below on the west bank was a .arge
house. Inquiring of a boy where we were, he said at
Dewey's Station, Avhich is only three miles below Pitts-

T111C HOUSATONIC RIVER.

(1

field. The boy _]ie WIS I1()t ,m eucouraging J(mth at
all -gave a very disheartening account of the hum-
d.stance still before us to Lenox Station; but both my
-mpamon and myself, voting him an ill-omened prophet
decided that there was nothing else to be done but
keep on.
The river from Dewey's goes with an evener current,
and renewed the game of tag with a range of mountains.
which begins just below. Soon after starting, the clouds,
winch mercifully for us had not dispensed rain, not even
a drop, broke into fleecy mists and drifted away, tinned
with a deep red glow by the setting 81U1. After a while
we found ourselves on a dark river in a very dark land
scape. And now my companion proved to be a com
panion indeed. Malachi was an optimist. He assured
me every few strokes that it could not be far to Lenox

ame assurance in

now, and in truth I often gave him the sl  .„.,.,„,., „.
return. We Avere once startled nearly out of our wits bv
the voice of a man on a bank lishing. We had not
perceived him at all when he broke the deep, black
solitude by asking us if we could assist him to splice the
™»i brace. We explained that we were not sailors, onlv
oarsmen. In vain I endeavored to ascertain whether we
were m the pond opposite Lenox Station, but I could
not tell Avhen we passed through it, nor see the station'
though we passed within fifty yards of it, and Malachi'
was as ignorant as myself. We finally p„lW UJlder

72

BOATING Tlill'S,

a bridge, and, just beloAV, the Iioav of the boat grated
harshly on the gravel at the edge of a stone dam.
Entirely unfamiliar with the locality, and, as Ave had
apparently not passed through any pond, thinking that
we had not yet arrived at Lenox, Ave nevertheless
moored the boat, as the channel beloAV the dam Avas dry.
As a matter of fact, the d6pSt of Leuox Station Avas at
the end of the bridge Ave had just passed, but having no
suspicion of it, and still encouraged by the optimism of
my friend Malachi, Avhose tendency, as avcII as my own,
Avas forward, Ave Avalked doAvn the track Avith alterna
tions of doubt and conviction, a mile to Lenox Furnace ;
and then, after sending a telegram to my intended felloAV-
voyager Avho had gone on to Lee, Ave retraced our steps
to Lenox Station, where, upon the departure of the nine-
o'clock train that carried Malachi back to Pittsfield, I took
the stage to Lenox, distant two and one-half miles, and
found shelter, which I had at one time seriously despaired
of obtaining, at Curtis's Hotel. In the office I gazed
Avith a present sympathy upon an allegorical picture
Avhich graced one of the Avails : " The Aroyage of Life —
Old Age." On the hearth the embers of the fire sent
a thrill of Avarmth through me, for the night air Avas cold,
and supper, a ten o'clock one, — the table is excellent, —
soon sent another of a different and better kind. The
hotel is quite a fashionable resort and performs its share
in what Mr. James, in his note about Hawthorne (a very

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

lo

poetic strain of criticism, not in the least inconclusive),
calls the lionization of Lenox. Numerous odds and ends
of antique bric-a-brac are scattered over the house. The
rage for that sort of thing may indeed be said to reach
high-water mark in Curtis's large, and, in the way
indicated, old-fashioned and comfortable hostelry.
I took the early coach the following morning, to meet
my fellow-voyager on the arrival of the early train at the.
.station. The regular stage-driver is also, strange to say,
the station-agent, a. remarkable union of callings, it seems
to me. Another driver, hoAvever, took his place, who, as
it turned out, had no key to the station wherein our oars
and baggage had been locked up the night before, and so
avc had to Avait nearly an hour for the arriA'al of the
double-headed functionary before Ave could get our stuff
and go on. Hoav odd the scene around looked by the
garish light of day ! There Avas the pond, or, rather,
a narroAV channel through the middle of a Avide expanse
ol mud, and the bridge, and the riA'cr, all as plain as
need be !
AVe found the gate at the head ot the sluicc-Avay at the
east end of the dam raised so avc could pass under; other
wise it Avould have been necessary to carry over on the
east side, as it is not advisable, under any circumstances,
I should think, to try the river beloAV the dam. Follow
ing the canal, Ave soon came to another dam. Taking the
boat out below the gate-Avay, we had a very short carry

74

BOATING TRIPS.

around the lower side of the mill to the river. The mill
belongs to the Smith Paper Company, and is known as
the Pleasant Valley Mill. Paper is made here one hun
dred inches Avide, on the largest machine in the country.

y.

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Pulling on doAvn stream, we soon came in sight of a
bridge, above which rose, just beyond on the west bank,
the square tower, surmounted by three brick chimneys,
of an iron furnace, which sometime apparently impressed
the name Lenox Furnace on the small settlement there-

T1IE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

75

r.

about. The dam is just below the bridge. If water is
pouring over the dam, the best Avay to get around is to go
to the Avest shore, and carry around the grist-mill, putting
in 'under the barrel-flume below. The water Avas so Ioav
that Ave let the boat down over the middle of the dam.
We pulled by the furnace, A\rhich has an air of ancient
oTcatness aunc to rack and ruin, and in a feAV minutes
came to another dam of the Smith Paper Company. We
carried tAvo or three rods, and put in the sluice-way on the
east side of the dam, and thence floated down to the mill,
where avc carried the boat around the mill on a Avhecl-
barroAV, and put iu the tail-race just below. A high bank
made it awkAvard to launch the boat, and the stern dipped
some Avater. After bailing, several hundred lucky-bugs that
had been scooped in remained and beat an incessant and
multitudinous tattoo. The water ran swiftly iu the race,
and Ave soon emerged into the river. Ere long Ave came to
an island, and attempting to get by got aground, and had
to go back and take the Avest side, Avhere is an abundance
of sAAuft Avater. Immediately below, the river spread out
over a gravelly bed, and we had A'ery hard Avork to push
over. The banks are quite picturesque here, especially
just above and beloAV an old wooden bridge. A range of
mountains Avhich borders the valley on the east adds fine
emphasis to the scene. All admiration of scenery, Iioav-
ever, Avas soon stopped by another dam, which furnishes
motive power to the Columbia ALUs. If the Avater is

;.-

76

BOATING TRIPS.

high, the best way to get by is to pull over the embank
ment on the Avest side. AVe made a carry on the east side
with a AvheelbarroAv. Then a short pull over a pond-like
stretch of Avater, past a toav of houses on the east side in
the village of Lee, brought us to the dam of the Eagle
Mills. If the water is high, it is better to carry over on
the Avest bank. We had a hard tug of it on the east
side, taking out just above the mill, and lugging the boat
across the road before we could put iu. Immediately
below is the dam of the Housatonic Mill. Here it is
necessary to put in the sluice-way on the cast side. AVe
left our boat at the bridge just above the mill, Avhich is
very nearly the centre of the village.

Hh/

^

CHAPTER II.
LK1C. — OREAT HA1IK1NOTOX.
LEE is an energetic and thriving village, having
a much more business-like appearance than other
toAvns along the river. The most striking feature of
natural beauty is Fern Cliff, a rugged ledge of granite,
croAvned, however, with graceful trees, that frowns upon
the toAVn just back of the principal street. We remained
at Lee two days, and one afternoon attended the annual
meeting of the Fern Cliff Association, a society which
has for its object the improvement of the streets ot the
village, and chielly attending to sidewalks and crossings,
and setting out shade-trees and shrubbery. The meeting
Avas held on Fern Cliff, which commands a very fine vieAV
of the houses of the village beloAV, and the river and
Berkshire Hills. A very eloquent address Avas delivered
by the Rev. AVashington Gladden, on The Use of the
Beautiful. The accomplished orator spoke in the open
air, iu the midst of a scene of . beauty that Avas indeed
an omnipresent commentary on his theme. Then; is an
association of the same character at Stockbridgc called
the Laurel Hill Society, from an elevation near by, which
has wrought a marvel in the appearance of that beautiful
place, and keeps it in a marvelously fine condition. It

78

BOATING TRIPS.

is to be hoped, indeed, that a society having the same
object will spring up in every village throughout the
land.

The customary and favorite drive from Lee is to Lenox,
distant about three miles. The distinguishing character
istic of Nahant is broAvn paint, Newport affects the
veranda, and Saratoga the broad piazza; but life at
Lenox is incomplete unless one lives in a house sided

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

with shingles. There is the old-fashioned colonial man
sion, too, and the more modern box, and a great varicty
of styles besides. Formerly the county seat, the old
Court House and town buildings impart to the village an
exaggerated idea of past importance. It overiloAVs Avith
fashionable life through a long season. There is also,
withal, a distinctive literary flavor about the toAvn.
Hawthorne, Beecher, Holmes, Mrs. Kemblc, Miss Seclg-
Av-ick, Miss Cushman, have all lived there at times; while
Longfellow, James, and Melville have dwelt in the valley
near at hand. It has, hoAvever, as its croAvning glory, a
constant vision of a broad landscape of valley and moun
tain, indescribably blended in beauty. The drive is then,
ordinarily, to the top of Bald Head Mountain, which
commands a fine prospect of the "brilliant and generous"
landscape. The vieAv southward is, in truth, superb.
BeloAV, near at hand, is Stockbridge BoavI ; beyond, rising-
above fertile upland and loAvland, a rolling plain of field
and forest, is Monument Mountain, Avhile a range of the
Green Mountains guards the valley on the cast, and the
Taconic range, Avhich mounts high up in air in the Dome,
runs along the Avestern side. Then the drive is along the
road that leads near the northerly edge of the Bowl, by
Tanglewood, made famous as a residence of Hawthorne.
It is a small, red house, Avith a Aving on the Avest side,
Avhich Avas formerly the east Aving. Apart from this
change, hoAvever, and a few slight alterations within, flic

80

BOATING TRIPS.

house is the same as when it Avas occupied by Hawthorne.
On a glass in one of the windoAvs is still preserved the
inscription, cut in the author's oavh handwriting, "Nath'l
Hawthorne, March 21st, 1853." There are open fire
places in two of the rooms, but its chief value as a resi
dence is the beautiful landscapes the windows on the
south side of the house frame of the Berkshire Hills.

,_.,,. _ j.^ — i h?Ti t >T7"-'j — ] wr^*tt*py* ^yy~ i JciU r /JrJzr

l9t*

"7, t I

'VoorJ

«*dfl., '(j?>

From TangleAvood a road leads direct to Stockbridce,
one of the most beautiful villages in the Housatonic
valley ; and thence one may return to Lee either by a road
over the hills or along the river. This drive is, through
out, in a region of fashion. One is, indeed, almost as
likely to meet a four-in-hand as a farmer's Avagon. Fine
residences are frequent, and evervAvhere arc evidences of
careful cultivation.

V*

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

81

There is a lonesome drive, hoAvever, east of Lee, Avhich
is very fine in its Avay, and in some respects superior to
the other. Tho road leads just north ot the village,
through a long, steep, Avoody pass between two mountains
to the toAvn of AVashington. The original settlers ha\-c
of late years, though, for the most part, descended into the
valley or IIoavii AvcstAvard, and a foreign population has
largely succeeded to the old farms; and hoav upon the
high lands here, remote from city or A'illage, many a son
ot Erin cultivates his scanty potato patch, grazes his
cattle, and views Avith utmost complacency a noble land
scape of tumbling mountains. Then continuing south
along the upland to the road from Becket, you turn west
ward, and from the summit of the mountain, as you pre
pare to descend, the view is more than simply beautiful :
it is grand. The road itself is visible only a short distance
as it winds down the side of the mountain, and there is
naught else to be seen but a billowy sea of forests, rising
and falling in mountain crests until they dash upward iu
the distant horizon in the misty bights of the lordb,- Cats-
kills. The striking feature of the scene, due to the singu
lar vantage of the point of A'iew, is the utter absence ot
anything like civilization, even a cultivated field. You
might be among the fastnesses of the Adirondack's or the
Avilds ot Maine, for aught that appears The road beloAV
is Avinding and steep iu places, but from East Lee pivttv
levcl and straight to Lee.

82

BOATING TRIPS.

On Saturday morning Ave renewed the voyage. We
carried the boat around the west side of the mill and put
her in the tail-race just below, and got off at ten o'clock on
a swift current of Tiberish yelloAv. AVe stopped on the
Avest shore, just IicIoav the outlet of the canal, and climbed
up the bank, over the refuse of a quarry, to the edge of
the excavation which looked like an inverted AvindoAvless
palace of Avhite marble. It is a singular fact that Avhite
marble is frequently used in and about Lee for founda
tions and Avails, seemingly a base prostitution of pure and
valuable material. The river is narrow, and Avinds very
pleasantly Avith a rippling current past the East Lee val
ley, and then at the mouth of the Avider valley which runs
betAveen two mountain ranges to Tyringham, pursuing
here, for many miles, a westerly course as far as Glendale.
The Housatonic is, in truth, a confirmed coquette, con
stantly flirting Avith one mountain range or another, and
frequently several at the same time.
Our sudden and unexpected appearance Avas the occa
sion of stampeding several horses, and quite often an
affright to the patient coav who usually turned and
clumsily trotted aAvay in a state of mild distraction. AVe
roAved very close to two Alderney bossies, hoAvever, Avho
stood Avith forefeet firmly planted in the water and gazed
at us Avith melancholy surprise in their wide-open, inno
cent broAvn eyes, curiosity evidently overcoming their
fear. After rowing about an hour, Ave met two boys coni-

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

80

ing up stream Avith an effort, in a light outrigged pair oar,
Avho turned about and accompanied us under the railroad
bridge, and thence, across the pond, to the dam at South
Lee. AVe put ashore on the east side, and iu a few mim
utes (tAvelve in all, I believe), Avith the help of the boys,
had carried in front of the mill of the Hurlbut Paper
Company, and after sliding the boat oArer a stone embank
ment opposite the middle of the Avest side of the mill,
launched her on the river. Just below the mill avc
entered a Avestward sweep calmly curving between border
ing trees, and pulled away from a steep, densely wooded
mountain slope Avhich rises sheer from the east end, and
seemed to gnnv higher and higher Avith every stroke. A
rock peered out of Avater here and there, but there Avas a
fair current and the going was A-ery delightful all the Avay
to Stockbridge. Just above the village, we passed under
a slender bridge Avhich leads to Icy Glen, half a mile dis
tant on the east side, Avhere ice is said to remain all the
year round. At one o'clock Ave pulled ashore under the
Avest end of the bridge Avhich leads from the station at
Stockbridge, to the village.
Stockbridge is a singularly beautiful Ncav England
village. It is located on a broad and fertile intervale
close to the Housatonic. The principal avenue, Avhich
is a little over a mile in length, is nearly straight and
nearly one hundred and fifty feet Avide in its widest part.
It is, of course, Avell shaded 1ia_ long rows of trees, and is

84

BOATING TRIPS.

kept scrupulously clean. The houses beneath the droop
ing elms arc very tasteful, and there hangs about the
entire village an air of aristocratic quiet very graceful and
beconnng. Stockbridge obtains its chief distinction as
having been the residence of Jonathan Edwards. The
house is still pointed out where he wrote his most famous
production, The Freedom of the Will. A monument
has been erected to his memory in Stockbridge Street
At the lower end of the street, on a slight elevation, is an
uncouth, unhewn stone, perhaps thirty feet high, and
upon the base the inscription, « The Ancient Burial Place
ol the Stockbridge Indians -The Friends of Our Fathers.
1734." There are many beautiful residences in and
around the village, among others the summer home of
David Dudley Field, the well-known New York lawyer
Henry M. Field, the editor, ami Ivison, the book publisher'
The towns of Great Barrington and Stockbridge, Lenox
and Lee, are all indeed fine tributes on man's part toward
the adornment of a remarkably picturesque and beautiful
region. AVe dined at the Stockbridge House, which, like Curtis's
Hotel, abounds in old-fashioned colonial bric-a-brac.
Among other furnishings are fine ancient stoves for open
wood-fires. One is surmounted by a huge iron dome that
embodies a strange conceit of the beautiful in ornamenta-
tion. AVe got under way again at tAvo o'clock, and greatly

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

85

enjoyed the sail along the winding, watery lane below the
bridge. The river is very crooked. At one i>b.ce Ave
approached quite close to a church and the stone tower,
inclosing a chime of bells, erected in commemoration'
ofthe site where John Sargcant first preached the gospel
to the Indians, and presented to the town by Mrs. David
Dudley Field, and then shot away, leaving it behind
forever, as we supposed. The river, however, after
wandering a long way eastward, returned again almost
to the base of the tower, I was about to say, and the tower
disappeared and came into vicAv several times thereafter.
Behnv Ave passed around the ox-bow. The banks Avere
frequently lined with willows, and were often dense with
masses of creeping vines. AVe pulled by a very cosy
landing on the east side, where were moored three boats
of a high and dainty aspect. I should think, indeed, that
there, would be more boating here, as the stream is wide,
the current sIoav, and the banks and all the scenery
remarkably tine. The river is superior on some accounts
to the Concord at Concord, simply lacking boating culti
vation. It Hows slowly to Glendale, where tluue is a.
dam and mill. We bunted the bow of the boat against
a corner of the bulkhead on the west side, direeily in
front of the tower of the mill, and procuring a wheelbarrow
wheeled the boat around. It was only seven minutes from
the time Ave touched the bulkhead before we were again
under way in the swift current below the mill. I„ a7ew

86

BOATING TRIPS.

minutes the river makes an exceedingly acute bend, which
the railroad follows on the east bank. At the end of the
bend is a high dam Avith a red mill on the Avest bank
below. AVe landed at the easterly end of the dam and
made the carry over it in about twelve minutes. The

\ i i iiic.'^: y^£, A.jww^^f5a?w;

channel beloAV is quite wide and shallow, and is best
navigable on the east side. Just beloAV the mill, hoAvever,
the various streams unite and pour through a narrow
channel, in Avhich are tAvo large rocks set diagonally in
the current a little Avay apart. The oarsman intended
to go near the Avest shore; but the current proved too
strong and SAvept us doAvn toward the rocks Avith great

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

87

force and avc passed between them with a rush, and,
luckily, without touching. The river below is shallow
and rocky. It is not dangerous, but very bothersome.
Wo bumped on rocks, ami every once in a while hitting
some obstruction, let the boat swing around, so that we
sometimes went bow on, though most of the time, and
such was our intention, stern foremost. The Housatonic
Railroad crosses the river on a bridge just above the end
of the shallows. The stretch of rapids is a short half-mile
in length, though a very long one indeed it seemed in
reality. Not far behnv the end of the sIuiIIoavs is a fall,
safe to run at almost any stage of water. AVe plunged
through stern foremost in fine style, and then passed
between the fragmentary ends of a ruined dam by some
miserably old and Avrctehed abandoned buildings on the
east bank, going at a lively pace in sAvift water.
Shortly beloAV, — I think it Avas here, — the river divides
into several channels, and Ave Avandered a long time
through one, a delightful, narrow, leaf-embowered water-
path, Avhere the current ran deep and swift through many
a circuitous crook before finding its Avay to the main
stream again.
The river rounds the northerly end of Ahtnuiuent
Mountain and then half Avay along its westerly side, until
stopped at the dam of the Monument Mills, at Housa
tonic. The mountain, covered with a scraggy growth of
trees, rises precipitously from the water. Near the

88

BOATIXG TRU'S.

summit arc rugged facades of rough granite. The sum
mit, which is in the middle of the valley, commands a
Avide, circular view of great beauty. The elevation
derives its name from a tradition that an Indian maiden,
blighted iu love and unable to overcome her passion,
sought relief and eternity^ by jumping from one of the
cliffs. Her body Avas interred Avhere it Avas found, and
above her grave Avas built up "a. cone of small, loose,
stones." Every visitor thereafter, even Avhen all her
dusky compatriots had vanished from the scene, added, as
in duty bound, a stone to the pile, Avhich at length became
a monument of imposing dimensions. A veritable icono
clast, however, put an end to the venerable custom a. long
time ago, by scattering the pile to discover Avhat Avas
beneath, and, most proper retribution, found nothing for
his trouble. The mountain itself, Avhich had ahvays
Avi thin memory been called Monument Mountain, is now,
indeed, the single eternal memorial of her sad fate.
The story is very happily embalmed in verse by Bryant.
HaAvthorne compares Monument Mountain, clad in rich
and diversified autumnal foliage, to a huge, headless sphinx
Avrapped in a. Persian shawl.
AVe landed by a clump of avUIoavs on the Avest shore, and
at the village store found a team, upon Avhich Ave Ave re
carried, with the boat, across the bridge and around the
end of Cone's Mill, Avhere, after a delay of only twenty
minutes in all, avc put iu the tail-race and SAviftly floated

THE IlOUSATONiC RIVER.

89

into the pond above Cone's new mill, which is about half
a mile beloAV the other. AVe landed at the Avest end of
the dam, and without much trouble hauled the boat over
a gravel embankment, and after sliding her down the
haver side, started on. Only a slender stream of water
was pouring over the dam, and avc found the channel
below very shalloAv iu several places ; and just above a Avire
fence Ave had to take the boat out and lower her by means
of a cord at the lunv and another at the stern, into the end
of the tail-race. The mill comprises two large buildings of
brick, Avith stone trimmings, and it is altogether the hand
somest mill structure on the Housatonic. I should think
all the dams at Housatonic might be carried by on the
Avestside; but they arc so near together, and the carries
would be, the first so long, and all so troublesome, that it

is a saving of time and vexation to

get a learn.

And ihw, without fear of further obstruction, we Avere
fairly on our Avay to Great Barrington. The river seems
to pursue a diagonal course over the Great Barrington
intervale. AVe pulled as rapidly as possible, as the shades
ot evening Avere beginning to fall, and the cool air Avas an
inducement to keep a-going. The sun after a Avhile dis
appeared in a cloud of fire behind the Laconic dome
Avhich toAvers two thousand feet above the valley, leaving
the slope in vieAv, a solemn mass of darkest green, Avhile
Monument Mountain, at the other end of the valley, stood
out in a purplish glow, clear and distinct in the still air.

90

BOATING TRIPS..

T remember no river scene, indeed, of greater beauty.
Ihe stream itself, too, was very beautiful. The banks on
either snle sloped down to the water's very 0«l«*o of
smooth turf, oft broken, however, by a clump of tis or

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

91

masses of clustering vines; and avc occasionally passed a
little inlet, usually guarded by a martial array of eat-o"-
mne-tails. Later, tho water was smooth as polished black
marble, and reflected, with gloomy accuracy, the dark
hanks and the floating boat whenever Ave ceased to row
AVe came to the first bridge, which is just above the dam

^

at Great Barrington, as a tuneful clock in the village Avas
chiming the hour of seven. AVe tied the boat fast near
the Avest end of the bridge, and having stowed our heavy
baggage at a curious, old, rambling, tumble-doAvn house
close by, we found shelter at the Berkshire House, a very
substantial hotel.
There is a stateliness and dignity about Great Barring
ton as great in reality as its high-sounding name would
imply. It is a rare combination of New-England thrift
and New-York opulence. Beecher, it is, I believe, who
once declared that he never entered the village without
wishing that he was never to leave it. Here Brvant
practised Law before finally straying into journalism and
the more congenial field of literature.
Great Barrington is in the midst of a fine region for
drives. The road to the top of Alonument Mountain is
deservedly in favor, Avhile one of the finest drives in
Berkshire is through North Egremont, and then by way
of Hillsdale, a toAvn just over the border of Massachu
setts, in NeAv York, to Bash-Bish Falls, in Copake. The
crest of a hill just above Hillsdale commands a magnifi
cent vieAv of the Catskills and an extensive vieAv of the
Berkshire hills, avIiosc broad slopes, blooming with culti
vation and beauty, roll upAvard, in the far distance,
beyond a fertile expanse of territory Avhere the valley is
widest. There is another way to Bash-Bish: through South

92

BOATING TRIPS.

Egremont, and thence over the mountains ; and this is
perhaps the most picturesque drive of all. The view of
the Taeonic range, as one goes AvestAvard OArer the country,
Avhich is comparatively level, toddie foot of the mountains,
is especially fine. The Dome of Mount Everett, alone,
remains unchangeable upon its huge, buttress-like founda
tion, as one draAvs near ; but elseAvhere, the mountains
break, from time to time, into neAv and beautifully vary
ing shapes. The view of the Taconics is essentially the
same over the, Hillsdale road, but the Avay, as one mounts
upward through the valley between the mountains,
especially if the day is Avarm, is, upon the Avhole, rather
more agreeable, and very attractive Avithal. The music of
a brook alongside the road at length dies away, hoAveArer,
and as you emerge from the thick Avoods, you come upon
the iioav quite famous Goodale Sky Farm, airily perched
high up on the mountain-side, Avhere there is a most
enchanting vieAv through the verdurous Avails of the long
valley up Avhich you have just come, and over a beautiful
landscape beyond to Greylock, fifty miles distant. Soon
thereafter, the head of the valley terminates upon the
tab'.e-land of the tcnvn of Mount Washington, Avhich is
surrounded on every side by mountain tops, Avhich peer
up here and there, above the edges of the plain, as if
they were playing a game of bo-peep.
Soon descending, hoAvever, from this high and charm
ing region, the delight of the ubiquitous summer boarder,

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

93

one hears again, from amidst the shady recesses through
Avhich the road, for the most part, Avanders, the accompani
ment of a running stream, or sees it tumbling over its
¦rocky bed; and opposite Eagle's Nest, just above the head
of the Bash-Bish ravine, is a superb vieAv of the toAvering
Catskills, Avhich, as one gazes through the framing walls
of the valley, rock-ribbed on one side and densely Avooded
on the. other, look in the distance, beyond the broad and
beautiful expanse of country intervening, like blue bar
riers of eternity.
The name Bash-Bish, Avhich Avas originally bestowed
upon the falls by the Indians, signifies, it is said, AVild
Waters. A hotel has been built near the foot of the falls,
at the head of the ravine, Avhich is indeed altogether a
delightfully Avild mountain nook.

CHAPTER III.
GREAT RAKEJXGTOX. — KENT.
EARLY Monday morning Ave carried the boat around
the east end of the dam of the Berkshire AVoolen
Mills, and put in just beloAV. AVc threaded our Avay

vO^'i

^^^M^£SS^fS^f -i ^

among the rocks under the foot-bridge of the mill and
a passenger bridge just below, and then swiftly drifted
stern foremost through a stretch of rapids, past a deserted

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

%

mill on one side and the houses of the village opposite.
The sun shining on the turbulent water gave it the
appearance of molten lead in violent agitation, and it was
at times difficult, on account of the perplexing glare, to
guide the boat aright among the rocks, though the rapid
is "not iu the least dangerous. AVe soon came to a bridge

.¦,y •"•¦"¦

z .

y 'SS'i .

'-., ',>_

*#„*« ^^>/ /#/

¦,y?/t «j&i^

,r<'
I ill'

i'TW

:i^~

i >'• i'*wtr /%• j? a=±_s^=~y^yy

¦-Brnt,
in the reach beknv, pulled up under the Avest end at seven
o'clock, and leaving all the baggage in the boat, walked to
the hotel, Avhich is at the corner of Bridge Street and
Main Street, for breakfast. Iu the History of Great Bar
rington, by Charles J. Taylor, it is stated that the bridge
is eight hundred and forty-five feet aboA'e the level of tide
water.
9G

no A TING TRIPS.

On our way to the hotel avc met a man who would, one
would imagine, have little difficulty in proving a mistake
of identity if occasion required, as he wore a heavy
imperial, one half of which Avas Avhite and the other red.
Six witnesses having looked at him from one side Avould
sAvear, without a moment's hesitation, and correctly, that
ho had red Avhiskers; and another half dozen would swear
Avith equal facility that they Avere Avhite. The fable of
the knight of the gold and silver shield might indeed
easily be replaced, in lower Berkshire at any rate, by the
instance of the man Avith the red-and-Avhite imperial.
A little south of the Episcopal Church in the village is
an old house, which has been standing unaltered for
nearly a century and a half, "the quaintness of its archi
tecture hoav presenting" — I quote from an uuknoAvn
correspondent — "a strange and interesting contrast to
its modern neighbors. In 1777, General Lincoln and staff
Avere quartered in the house for a few days before beinc
sent -with the Massachusetts troops to oppose Burgoyne's
advance from Crown Point upon Bennington. Three
years later, in 1780, it sheltered Washington on his
journey north from Hartford. Within its ancient walls
William Cullen Bryant, while practising law in Great
Harrington, wooed and Avcd Miss Fannie Faireliild ;
a union," the writer adds, " that in every way fulfilled the
beauty of its promise." There, also, Bryant Avrote
Green River, A Walk at Sunset, To the West Wind,

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

%

«*n~

and one of his longest and most notable poems, delivered
before the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard in 1821,
the year of his marriage.
We started again at eight o'clock, and found the going
remarkably good, but as remarkably crooked. Language
is indeed inadequate to convey an idea of the fantastic
turnings of the river. In about an hour Ave came iu sight
of the Leavitt Mansion, on the east hank. The river
swept by apparently, but soon again turned to the man
sion ; and then, after rambling about the meadows a while,
returned once more, and then gliding under a bridge,
which is only two miles from Great Barrington, ap
proached the base of a. woody hill, ami the mansion linally
disappeared as we pulled south through a eoniparatively
long reach. Soon, however, the river turned from the
mountain at a point where the steep slope has been
denuded of trees, leaving exposed a broad strip of rock-
ribbed surface, shaiply defined at each vdgv from base to
summit, by dense green woods, — a peculiar transforma
tion that frequently occurs in tic valley below Falls
Village,— and began (,, ramble one more in the wide
intervale. By and by we passed I he mouth of (irecn River, a stream
celebrated in the verse ,,1 Byrant, which was most appro
priately named, as its waters are of a decided greenish
tinge. The Housatonic itself, transparent as air, rellectecl
every grain of sand and parti-covered -ravel and llowim-

98

BOATING TRIPS.

Aveeds in the channel with luminous softness, except where
the current sloAvly flowed into deep places. Often schools
of fish broke from under the boat, scattering in rays lilcc
a shoAver of arrows. Trees lined the banks from time
to time, and added constant variety to the continually
varying course of the river. It Avas indeed a place in
which to linger ; but Ave pulled on at a steady pace, and
after a Avhile passed under a red bridge, just beloAV Avhich
is a little fall, and then continued on to an old Avooden
bridge that leads to the north end of Sheffield Street, a
long, shady avenue, with houses on either side.
Sheffield is indeed a handsome old toAYii ; but it has a
torpid appearance as if it Avere dozing under its sleepy
elms. The municipality of Sheffield, England, Avould, I
have little doubt, pay a round sum, if it could have its
namesake transplanted just as it is and set doAvn some-
Avhere in the bus3r region Avithin its corporate limits. Be-
Ioav, the bed of the stream Avas occasionally filled Avith
trunks of trees that sometimes almost blocked up our Avay.
A half-hour's pull brought us to another long, covered,
Aveather-stained bridge. The road from the Avest end leads
direct to the middle of the village of Sheffield Avhich is only
a short distance aAAray. Here Ave pulled up for a Avhile, and
my fellow-voyager, after Ave had partaken of some sardines,
used the oil on his boots and pronounced it good. The
river then Avinds Avorse than eArer, if it Avere possible, until
it approaches a range of hills on the east side of the valley,

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

99

w-

\

Avhereon are several houses, the first, excepting, perhaps,
at rare intervals an isolated building, Ave had seen since
leaving Great Barrington.
AVe pulled the boat ashore at the ^^>"-^ff/J'^
end of a reach under the hill and at
one 'of the farm-houses had a sumptu
ous repast of rye-bread and milk and
canned fresh beef Ave had taken with
us. On returning to the boat Ave
found in the brief interval of our
absence an entire change had come
over the face of nature. The air
had been sultry before and Ave had
had a Avarm time roAving betAveen
the high clay-banks Avhich are char
acteristic of the river beloAV Sheffield.
The Avind had suddenly veered to the
northeast and Avas cold and raw,
mists rolled around the top of the
Dome, and clouds Avere scudding furi
ously across the sky. AVe started at
tAvo o'clock, and before going a dozen
strokes Avere enveloped in a scanty
sprinkle of little rain-drops, and then
another until the rain poured in tor
rents and battered the surface of the
river into a long sheet of deep-fretted

100

BOATING TRIPS.

r

water. AVc protected ourselves with rubber coats and
pulled on, and in about an hour rowed under the road
bridge and a railroad bridge Avhich cross the river
side by side. The village of Ashley Falls is about a
mile distant from the bridges on the east bank. The
erratic river then trends across the intervale in long
zigzag reaches to a group of houses on the west bank.
The wet buildings, exhibiting no signs of life, envel
oped in the melancholy haze of rain, looked dreary in
the extreme. The reach, immediately beloAV a bridge
that spans the river just below the group of houses, ends
against the rocky face of a mountain spur that turns the
river eastward. The river again approaches the mountain
below, however, Avhere a rocky cliff stands guard, and
above, a broad field of broAvn heath, dotted Avith stones,
stretches in grim realistic fashion to the base of woods
that crown the summit. The reaches here are all longer
and wider, and the banks, Avhich are quite high, Avere fairly
ablaze Avith brilliant autumnal color. We had often since
leaving Housatonic pulled by an uncouth looking scoav,
lying against the bank-, and here Ave passed a hideous
looking craft Avhich had tAvo names. " The Old Sal " Avas
painted on the stern and on the side near the bow,
"The Great Eastern, oAvned and navigated by  ;" an
odd vagary of fancy. About five o'clock Ave shav before
us the bridge of the Hartford and Connecticut Western
Railroad. Just above it is a short rapid. We landed

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

101

at a farm-house just IicIoav the bridge on the Avest bank
and Avalkcd to Canaan, a mile distant on the east side
of the river, on the railroad.
Canaan is a sort of Mugby Junction. The tracks of
the Hartford and Connecticut AVestern and Housatonic
Railroads intersect at right angles at a corner of the
station. There are tAvo hotels in the village, but, apart
from the noise of trains, Canaan is not a remarkably lively
place. AVe got under Avay Tuesday morning at nine o'clock.
The river flows deep and tranquil below the bridge, until
it has disappeared around the first bend, Avhere avc glided
through a gently floAving rapid. AVe had passed a great
many pumpkins afloat on the river from time to time
during our morning i-oav and the day preceding, and avc
had been tempted to use one of the grotesque, dumb yelloAv
masques as a sort of jack-a-lantcrn ornament to our prow.
After a Avhile Ave pulled under a bridge, and, as avc avc re
rowing along close to shore, avc discovered at the edge of
the Avater Avhat at first avc supposed Avas the sloughed off
skin of a snake, and thjn the dead root of a tree. It
turned out to be, hoAvever, the crumpled horns of a skele
ton ram's head. We at once made it fast to the bow, and
thenceforward had a weird and imposing ficnire-head.
The river flows in somewhat regular long reaches, Avith
a smooth current, to Falls ATillage. Twice, hoAvever, at
a stated interval, the riA-er turns sharply almost north-

102

BOATING TRIPS.

ward before resuming its southward sweeps. Mountains
•ntard the valley on either hand, but the intervale and
near hills give evidence of careful cultivation. We were
indeed passing through the last intervale region on the
river. The scenery is not so strikingly beautiful as m the
Great Barrington meadows, but the river itself is, if it
were possible, more beautiful. At Falls Village, however,
the mountains come close to the river, and thereafter
remain constant near guardians to the end; and the river
is for the most part, rough and rapid, foaming Avith only
brief intervals of rest through narrow mountain valleys.
We reached Falls Village, which is the gate-way of this
wild and lonesome region, at eleven o'clock. The descent
of the river from Pittsfield to the State line of Connecti
cut is tAvo hundred and ninety-five feet, while the descent
from the State line to Derby is six hundred and twelve.
The actual distance from Pittsfield to the State line is
about one third the distance fiom Pittsfield to the mouth
of the river ; but the river in Massachusetts, on account
of its crooked windings, is about as long as the river m
Connecticut. . ,
On account of the low stage of the water, we carried
over the rocks of the upper pitch of the falls m the
middle of the river, and then, rowing past the repair-
shops of the Housatonic Railroad on the Avest bank, we
hauled ashore .just above the railroad bridge, and let the
boat float along down to the edge of the principal fall,

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

103

Wl

ith a cord. The river makes a plunge here of thirty or
forty feet, Avith considerable roar and blowing spray. AVe
then dragged the boat over the rocks a short distance on
the west side, and lowered it over a steep cliff to a ledge
below, where, by means of a long cord at the bow, and

another at the stern, we let her down to the water at one
side of the fall. AVe tried to run the rapids below the
fall, but the channel was narrow and strewn with rocks,
and we, therefore, concluded it was the part of discretion
to let the boat through with a cord, while we walked
along the east side of the principal channel in the middle
of the river. Arriving at the end of our footing, wc g..t

104

BOATING TRIPS.

into the boat and pulled to the west side of the river,
where Ave used the cord once more, to get by the third
pitch. Our operations had attracted quite a crowd on the
bank, and an entire district school, with the teacher at the
head, Avas narrowly observing every movement. My fel
low-voyager then took the oars, as the Avater Avas shallow
and turbulent, Avhile I walked along the Avest shore and
awaited his coming under the bridge at the village.
Just aboA^e the bridge, the channel Avinds among rocks,
and the oarsman, in an endeavor to escape the first one,
got the oars out of the rtuv locks, and, before he could
replace them to pull back, the boat drifted broadside on
a rock that peered out of water immediately below,
careened, filled; and the water, rushing into the boat,
Avashed oars, carpet-bags, and all our provisions doAvn
stream. The last 1 sa.AV of my carpet-bag, it Avas placidly
floating in the middle of the river, some distance beloAV,
the handle just out of water ; and then the Avaves closed
over it. The oarsman stepped on the rock when the boat
began to fill, and, after breaking a paddle, all his further
efforts to keep her from sliding doAvn still deeper proved
unavailing, and the boat finally lodged about a foot under
Avater, and the current, rushing in, held her immovably
fast. There Avas nothing to do but strip and plunge in,
and after a half-hour's manceuvering, the boat Avas turned
over and edged along to another rock, beloAV, Avhere the
water poured against the bottom of the boat. The long

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

105

rope at the stern Avas then caught and throAvn ashore,
Avhereat a man pulled hard, and by half-inches at a time,
the boat Avas hauled into the stream and floated OArer a
si ior i rapid; and after the Avater was bailed out I put
back to the rescue of my fellow-voyager, Avho stood, to
the utter amazement of late comers on the scene, after
the boat had got Avedged against the second rock under
the bridge, dry shod on the upper rock in the middle of
the river upon a rather precarious foothold. On getting
to shore, he stripped to unmentionables also, and by
repeated divings rescued all our canned goods, Avhich
glittered in the deep Avater just beloAV the place of the
overturn. Then keeping on doAvn stream with one
rescued oar, Ave fished our carpet-bags out of the stream
IjcIoav, and picked up the other articles a boy had rescued
and left on the bank, and started on iIoavh river in search
of the missing oar. AVe eArentually missed, besides the
ram's head, only a feAV things of no great value. AVe
passed through three reaches of swift Avater, and then
came to a Avide, open bay, Avhere, Iavo hours after the
accident occurred, avc found the oar imbedded in weeds.
AVe had been induced, by the Ioav stage of the Avater, lo
try the falls, and naturallj- Avere somewhat provoked after
getting by the three upper pitches, Avhich arc really diffi
cult, — I doubt Arery much indeed Avhether they Avere ever
attempted before, — to get wrecked on a couple of paltrv
rocks at the very end. It is no doubt much better to

106

BOATING- TRIPS.

land above the first pitch on the west side at a solitary
barn, and, indeed, quite necessary, I may say, as the
Avater is seldom lower than when avc took our trip, and
get a team to carry you over the bridge beloAV the lower
pitch to the east shore, where it is an easy task to launch
a boat in good Avater.
The scenery below Falls Village, especially just above
and beloAV Lime Rock Bridge, is Avild aud grand. A
ran go of mountains Avith a very ragged edge stretches
away from the river on the Avest, Avhile mountains cov
ered with green woods slope up from the river on the
east. The village of Lime Rock is a mile from the Avest
end of the bridge, and, it is said, contains several fine
residences, among others, that of the Hon. AV. II. Barntim
of State and national reputation.
As Ave journeyed on Ave saw many brilliant sunset
effects on the mountains along the east side of the nar
row valley. Noav, upon a dark green slope was outlined,
in bright yellow sunshine, the form of one mountain ridge
on the Avest side of the valley, and then again, another.
I remember distinctly Iioav the upper part of one long
ridge Avas gilded Avith brilliant, almost dazzling light, Avhile
all the valley beloAV Avas filled Avith intense, deep, sombre
hues; and Ave often saAv the sun rise and set over the
sloping western ridges. The river, most of the time,
pours along over fretted stones ; and the scenes, as night
closed in, were extremely Avild, almost Aveird. The moun-

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

107

tain ranges were, for the most part, covered with trees,
but occasionally a mountain had been stripped bare, and
the naked granite looked desolate and dreary in the
extreme. AVe often saw a strip of bare waste girdling a
slope Avhere Avood-choppers were still at work, and fre
quently, near at hand or afar off down the valley, per
haps close to a mountain summit, the flowing smoke of
a charcoal pit; and when night added brilliancy to the
glow of the fires that liamed here and there on the dark
slopes, it seemed as if one were in the midst of one of
Grimm's tales, in a land of dragons and gnomes.
About seven o'clock, we saAv the twinkling lights ot
West Cornwall, a decided misnomer, as the village is on
the east side of the river, and we made fast just aboAc the
dam. AVe found refuge at the Mansion House, where we
were long occupied, both before and after supper, in hang
ing our wet clothes on a dryer in the kitchen, and were
often, I fear, in the Avay of two young, and pretty, and
remarkably lively stepping dames of the domain.
Our shipwreck had opened the seams of the boat con
siderably, and before embarking next morning, Ave were
engaged, an hour or more, in filling them with cotton
batting and putty. AVhile at Avork, a man told us about
a trip that three canoeists from Boston had made doAvn
the river the previous year, and pointed out the shed ni
Avhich they had stored their boats over night. AVe had
heard of the party from the proprietor of the Berkshire

108

BOATING TRIPS.

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

109

House at Great Barrington ; but whether they succeeded
in getting through, I know not, although Ave heard of
them once afterward at NeAV Milford. AVe -got under way
at ten o'clock. Just above the bridge is a Ioav apron dam.
AAre landed toward the east end, and, in a feAV minutes, had
lowered the boat over the dam and were bumping through

age

the rapids beloAV. AVe Avere obliged to stand up and push
Avith the oars, Avhen opposite the shears factory, and then
Avere hurried, by the swift Avater, between tAvo mountains
that sprang from the Avater's edge on either side, toward a
shalhnv rapid, which, hoAvever, Ave ran Avithout difficulty.
The scenery Avas quite Avild and picturesque, the road
along the Avest shore alone giving a hint that the place
was in reach of civilization.

"1

We soon came to other shallow places, however, where
Ave had hard work to get through. One great cause of
difficulty Avas occasioned by fish-ways, which were made
up of stones heaped in a long line, usually in a diagonal
direction from shore to shore. If Ave went through
the upper end Ave Avere quite sure to be stuck on
shallows; if, on the other hand, Ave folloAved the deeper
Avater along the upper side of the Avay to the loAver end,
there Avas no opening and Ave had to lift the boat over
the stones. Sometimes, hoAvever, Ave found an opening
in the Avail where we could shove through. The river
Avas often filled Avith huge rocks, and in a feAV places the
channel was very narroAV and the water poured through
iu a rapid fall. At the Avorst places we turned the boat
around and Avent through stern foremost. Going through
in this Avay we Avere enabled, even Avhere the Avater was
very swift and violent, to pull back and keep the boat
steady until Ave had selected the best course. Much of
the time one or the other of us walked along the shore.
We had indeed altogether rather a tedious forenoon
journey, and Avere three hours in getting to Cornwall
Bridge, a distance of five miles. There is quite a high
lish-way obstruction just above the bridge at ConiAvall
Bridge, and Ave had considerable trouble in getting past.
We often Avished, indeed, that the river was a foot higher.
The water, hoAvever, as if to make some compensation,
was pure and transparent as crystal.

110

BOATING TRIPS.

Below the bridge Avas another long stretch of shallow
water, where my felloAV-voyager, alone in the boat,
exercised his ingenuity to the utmost to get through.
In the next rapid we had no difficulty, as the channel
was comparatively narrow, and wc rushed through in fine
style. AVc pulled up on the east shore, where the back
water curled around to the foot of the rapid and in a
sheltered nook enjoyed a lunch after our long fast and
bard labor, and were again under way at three o'clock.
The going continued to improve, and we soon came to
Boardmau's Bridge. The road from the east end leads
to Cornwall Bridge and the west to Sharon. Below we
ran aground two or three times, but the river was less
rapid and the country not quite so wild. After a while
the river was divided into several channels by graceful
islands, aud the shadows of evening began to fall upon
the ¦' Many-color'd woods,
Shade deepening over shade, the country round
Imbrown; crowded umbrage, dusk, and dun,
Of every hue, from Avan. declining green
To sooty dark."
And then again the fires of charcoal pits illuminated
mountain slopes near and remote, and it seemed as if we
were sailing through some vast, mysterious region of
witchcraft. AVe still pursued our Avay in smooth water,
however, with some confidence. By and by, we passed
the houses of Alder City, on the west bank, whose lights

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

1.11

twinkled cheerfully under the black shadow of the Scata-
cook Mountains, and, upon inquiry by hallooing, learned
that Ave Avere two miles from Kent, our intended stopping-
place. Pursuing our way in the Egyptian darkness, avc
cautiously approached a huge misshapen object in our
course, Avhich proved to be a catamaran. AVe had before
heard a noise like an unearthly groan, repeated at brief
regular intervals, and could then hear the Avater pouring
over the dam; so Ave kept along the east shore, and landed
as close to the dam as avc dared go. Stumbling along the
road, attracted by a feeling of curious horror toAvard the
dreadful moaning, Ave saw, in front, a furnace, belching
flame and sparks from the chimney, and a Aving of the
building agloAV Avith the lurid, bright glare of a casting.
AAre found that the groaning was due to a water-wheel and
Avind suction pump that supplied the furnace with air.
It Avas easy, indeed, for a moment, however, upon arrival,
to imagine one's self in Hades. AVe left our baggage in
charge of the foreman, and walked half a mile doAvn the
track to the Elmore House in Kent.

w

CHAPTER IV.
KENT. — STKATKOIJI).
E had little opportunity to see Kent, but it had

all the dignity of an eminently respectable NeAV-
England village, in the quiet air of early morning, as Ave
left it still asleep on our Avay to the boat. AVe, carried the /
boat around the dam on a wheelbarrow, and, relying upon
the statement of a Avorkman, put the boat in the tail-race,
and, having loaded the baggage, embarked ourselves.
The race was narrow and the current SAvift, and the boat
got athwart the stream under a loAV-lying. projecting tree
and filled, and all the baggage was Avashed out and got
Avet. Furthermore, after getting righted, avc found that
the race at the end expanded into shallows, — Avhich,
hoAvever, had never been the case before, — that Avould
' have made a oarry necessary in any eArent ; so Ave Avere
not at all obliged to our informant. AVe easily rescued
everything, hoAvever, including a can of julienne soup.
We were continually reserving the julienne for a choice
occasion, but after losing it in both our overturns, we
carried it the length of the river, and, sad to relate,
brought if home unused. HoAvever, avc finally got under
Avay about ten o'clock, and soon pulled under the bridge
at Kent, Avhich will, I doubt not, be a better structure
hereafter, as it was undergoing repairs.

¦:iy'

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

113

The river banks are somewhat more open beloAV Kent.
On the east side, indeed, Avas quite a. stretch of intervale.
The reaches a, ere long and graceful, and it Avas very
delightful rowing in the clear air of an autumn morning,
The trees Avere flaming in gorgeous colors, the maples,
most brilliant of all, fairly ablaze Avith crimson and gold.
The shrubbery Avas usually very gay, and, most beautiful
of all, the vines of A'arious colors creeping around the
trunks of trees. The soft haze of an Indian summer Avas
on the hills, and the air was deliriously cool. AVe arrived
above the upper pitch of Bull's Falls at twelve o'clock-,
and landed on the east shore Avhere we luckily, at once,
found a team to transport us around. Bulbs Falls is not
a very large place. There is a store, one Avhite house, and
two or three red ones. A survey of the Housatonic was
made last year for the purpose of determining the avail
ability of the river as a source from Avhicli to increase the
Avater supply of the city of New York, and the report
was, I believe, favorable, and contemplated the location of
a great reservoir at Bull's Falls.
A friend of the writer, av1io, in company -with another,
had navigated the river iu a small skiff, in the third wcek
of July, 187!), and unfortunately suffered shipwreck at
Lover's Leap below, said he ran the first pitch of Bull's
Falls, though it Avas the Avorst place he passed through on
the river, and added, in a list of directions Avhich we
found very useful, in a somcAvhat humorous tone: "The

L—

114

BOATING TRIPS.

loAver pitch is truly terrific, and is best seen from the
bridge. The river pours down a ledge to a depth so great
that everything beloAAr seems dwarfed in the awful abyss."
The river pours through a very narrow channel of rocks
at an angle of about forty-five degrees, and finds rest
before again plunging onward in a pond behind a deserted
dam just beloAV the bridge. AVc rode a mile and a half,
and then, at a place where the road approached the river,
launched the boat within sight of Gaylord's Bridge. We
paid for the transportation of ourselves and boat, seventy-
fiA'e cents. AVe backed the boat through a bad stretch of
rapids under the bridge, and thence made good progress
on our Avay to NeAv Milford. A Avhite church with a
square toAver, on a little elevation on the Avest side of the
bridge, continued in vieAv quite a long time, a prominent
picturesque object, like a church in a picture. AVhile
roAving along, Ave came upon a flock of ducks in a coAre,
which, perhaps luckily for them and perhaps fortunately
for us, proved to be tame, as they came Avithin range.
Hitherto, our course from Falls Village had been in
a Avild, rough, mountainous region. I doubt, indeed,
whether avc passed through a mile of country, in all,
that could be considered intervale, and a cultivated field
Avas about as rare as intervale. AVe had mountains, -rocks,
trees, and a river that every few hundred feet Avas a foam
ing rapid. There is, indeed, an almost endless series of
unused Avater privileges on the Housatonic, easily capable,

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

115

it would seem, of being improved. It Avas, therefore, a
relief to find the encircling mountains give Avay, and a
broad open tract of country gradually disclosing itself
before us as Ave dreAv near New Milford. Rounding a
bend, Ave saAv the houses of the village scattered over the
side of a hill, looking, at a distance, much like a . toy
village. AVc were quite puzzled, for a time, to discover
the use of several barrels painted Avhite and apparently
located as beacons along the river; but, as avc pulled
ashore below the bridge, avc found a small paddle-wheel
steamer, not much larger than a roAV-boat, at anchor, and
we inferred that they were planted to aid it in navigating
the broad and placid shalloAvs opposite the toAvn.
NeAv Milford is the centre of trade for a large district.
and it is very active and thriving. All the villages above
are small — mere settlements; and the nearest villages
beloAA-, on the river, are Derby and Birmingham, Avhich
are tAventy-eight miles distant. The predominance of
English names in the valley of the Housatonic is very
noticeable. We stopped at the New England House, a
hotel where the Avhite-haired landlord is exceedingly jolly,
lunch is ahvays on the table, and the fare is excellent.
AVe pushed off at seven o'clock next morning. The
river was enveloped iu a thick mist. AAre kept close to
the east shore, and soon heard the Avater pourin"- over a
Ioav dam which is, perhaps, half a mile beloAv the bridge.
AVe passed the mouth of the canal that leads to the mill,

116

BOATING TRIPS.

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

117

which avc had been warned to avoid, and landed at the
east end of the dam and carried the boat over a conven
ient rocky ledge, aud then, holding her by the cord, let
her float through the short rapids beloAV. While thus
engaged, we found a half dozen large eels that had been
caught in a trap at the end of a fish-way. There are so
many fish-ways on the river, however, that I should think
the catch everywhere must ordinarily be small.
Pulling under the railroad bridge below, where the
Housatonic Railroad crosses the river for the last time, Ave
continued on .in the middle of the stream. The reaches
Avere wide and long, and the trees on either side loomed
vaguely through the dissolving mist, like gigantic ghosts.
AVe had been approaching a mountain range directly in
our path, and after about an hour's pull, avc saAv before us
the dreaded Lover's Leap where the river makes its Avay
through a Avild gorge. On the right bank, just above, is
the mouth of the Danbury River, crossed by a broAvn
bridge. There is a fall of tAvelve or fifteen feet in the
Housatonic just above the gorge, and a bridge crosses the
river, just below the fall, at the entrance of the chasm.
Between the fall in the middle of the river and the east
end of the bridge is a ledge of rocks, and betAveen this
ledge and the shore is the narrow channel of a fish-way.
AVe had come to consider Lover's Leap as the critical
point of our voyage, for the friend Avho had supplied us
AA'ith directions had been compelled to abandon his trip at

1 1

this point, and lie said: "I cannot exaggerate the difficul
ties of Lover's Leap. The boat cannot be taken out of
the stream, for 'the banks are enormously high and steep
where they are not mere cliffs. Furthermore, there is

"¥":M\

no road over the mountain, and you will see that it is too
high to take a boat over. The fish-way runs between two
flat ledges, from one of which rises the cliff; the other is
out in the stream, and cannot be reached. The only way
to reach the one next to shore is to climb the bank where

118

BOATING TRIPS.

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

119

the bare rock begins. I tried to go along the base of the
cliff, and narroAvly escaped drowning. I then climbed
down the bare cliff to the ledge, no easy or safe job."
The river must have been very high at the time he
attempted to get through. He said, indeed, that " the
water foamed iu the fish-way as if it Avould pull the ring
and staple out of the boat." The friend who was with him
undertook to loAver the boat with the painter through the
fish-way from above, so that he could reach her, standing
on the ledge below. The rope unluckily proved too short,
and the boat rushed by and was swamped on a huge
boulder at the end of the Avay. He added : " Doavii the
(Toree all is olain ; but at the loAver end are ominous
breakers, of which I knoAv nothing, and they might droAvn
you, after all, for all I can tell." AVe landed on the outer
ledge and found the fish-way merely a trickling rill. AVe
made a fire in a very convenient cavity on the outer ledge
¦and had the standard repast of the camper-out, beefsteak,
roasted potatoes, and coffee. AVhile breakfasting, Ave
glanced, from time to time, doAvn through the gorge
where avc could sec the "ominous breakers" at the end,
and get a glimpse of the country beyond, too, like a haven
of rest, open, peaceful, and smiling.
AVc lowered the boat over the rocks beside the fall
Avithout any trouble, and, embarking just below, passed
under the bridge Avhich crosses the river high in air, and
entered the Ausable-like chasm. It is, indeed, a wild and

T;"

lonesome place, full of rugged beauty. The river is, how
ever, comparatively smooth, except that there are two
rapids at the very end of the gorge. AVe might easily
have run the first, but instead, lowered the boat through
on the west side with the cord. The other rapid we
avoided by guiding the boat through shallow channels on
the east side. As you emerge from the chasm, cliffs tower
abruptly from the water at each side. The rugged cliff
on the west side is covered with a scanty growth of trees.
while the other is a bare, rocky steep, crowned with a
dead pine, which enhances its desolate appearance. The
river below spreads out in quite a wide basin called the
Cove. The vieAV of the Leap given is from the lower
end, looking north.
AVe had supposed that, below the gorge, avc should
have smooth, deep water and level country. We found,
hoAvever, instead, that the river was rapid and stormy, and
ran through a valley, between mountains, amid sceuery
quite as Avild and grand as above Ncav Milford. AVe
occasionally came across a troublesome shallow place.
and often the inevitable fish-Avay, where avc invariably
had an interchange of opinion as to the best course to
take. The going was very good, however, for th.- most
part. After rowing nearly three hours, we saw a board
nailed to a tree at the edge of a thick woods on the west
bank, and, drawing near, found that it Avas a memorial.
marking the place Avhere a young man had been 1'oitml

120

BOATING TRIPS.

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

121

dead. Not far below, Ave pulled up on the Avest shore
where a brook trickled into the river at the edge of a
gravelly point, and had our mid-day lunch. Immediately
IicIoav the point is a shallow fall, and then a bridge.
Rowing on, avc came, in a little less than an hour, to the
bridge of the Shepaug Railroad, Avhich crosses the stream
at a lonely place. AVe passed through a long stretch of
rapids above and beloAV the bridge, and then pulling
around a very pretty bend bordered along the Avest side
Avith trees, Ave came to a Ioav dam Avhich Ave passed at the
Avest end. Then followed SAvift currents and rapids.
The river, by and hy, made a sharp turn eastward, run
ning on the loAver side along a finely curving Avooded
slope. The river continued to folio av the spur of the
mountain until it seemed to Aoav almost north, and then
debouched into a small, open valley, a place quite as beau
tiful as any Ave saw on the trip. The river, as if relieved
after its continual fretting over rocks, murmurs pure and
limpid over a gravelly bed in a charming little intervale,
Avhile two large, Avhite, comfortable looking houses on the
north shore attest an appreciation of the charms of the
little Aralley. At the end of the reach below, just above
an island, is a ford Avhere avc saw a horse draAviiig a
wagon and splashing, Avith slow contentment, through
the shallow water. At the extreme end of the same
reach is the truss bridge of the NeAv York and New
England Railroad, which, perched on lofty stone piers,

-*f-

spans the river like an aerial spider's web. The riA-er
beloAV flows rapidly around a perfectly curving wooded
bank. A feAV minutes after six o'clock, Ave came lo
Bennett's Bridge, Avhere an island divides the river and
bridge. AVe pulled under the eastern section and, land
ing on the gravel shore below, found shelter at the board
ing-house of II. M. Post.
AVe started next morning at seven o'clock, and found
the river about as usual, only the readies Avere longer
aud broader, and the distance from rapid to rapid a little
farther, Avhile mountains still bordered the narroAV valley
on every side. AAre also got stuck tAvo or three times in
shallow places. AVe reached Zoar's Bridge, Avhere a very
handsome chain suspension bridge spans the river, about
ten o'clock. Then, after passing through several rapids
Avhere the full current ran delightfully swift in narrow
channels, Ave came to the head of a long pond formed by
the Derby-Birmingham dam Avhich sets the Avater back
betAveen six and seven miles. Here avc encountered a
violent southwest Avind, and were glad to keep under
the lee of mountains wherever they afforded protection.
The scenery about the pond is essentially the same as
along the river, embracing principally mountains, Avoods,
and water. There is, hoAvever, some cultivated land, and
a few houses are scattered along the shores. The pond is
comparatively narroAV, gradually Avidening. however, as
you approach the end; and, as Ave rounded the last bend,

122

BOATING TRIPS.

a magnificent broad expanse of Avater stretched before us
to the dam. Beyond the gate-house on the Avest side rises
the tall brick toAver of the Derby mills, and a feAv scatter
ing houses are visible on the high ground on both sides
beloAV. There is a lock at the gate-house, but the keeper
Avas not at hand, and Ave had no time to hunt him up,
so Ave pulled to the east end of the dam and there made a
portage. A AAride, deep, unused canal leads off from the
east end of the dam, over Avhich Ave carried the boat on a
narroAV stone Avalk on the east side of the gate-house.
The dam is a very imposing structure of stone, tAventy-
two feet high, Avith the loAver face nearly perpendicular.
It is six hundred and thirty-seven feet long, in the form
of a curve, which is fifty feet deep, Avith the concave siele
facing doAvn stream. In a history of Derby I find a state
ment that the trembling sound of the Avater pouring over
the dam, Avhen the river is full, has been observed in the
tipper part of the city of NeAV Haven, a distance, in a
direct line, of over eight miles. There is a lock on the
Avestbank, just above the Derby mills,- between the canal
and river. The bank below is lined Avith mills to the
bridge, Avhile on the east side beloAV the bridge are the
factories and houses of Birmingham, Avhich is located on
a tongue of land between the Plousatonic and Naugatuek
Rivers. The river forms quite a basin immediately beloAV
the bridge, and several schooners, at wharves, and a
sharpy, darting here and there, Avarned us of our
approach to the sea.

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

128

\

AVe began our last pull on the river about two o'clock.
AVe kept close to the Avest shore, under the shelter of
mountainous Avooded slopes, AvheneA-er it was possible.
to avoid, as far as Ave could, the Avind, Avhich Avas fiercely
blowing. The tide, luckily, was Avith us. Still our progress
was slow. The river is several hundred feet Avide, and the
reaches very picturesque. The shore Avas rocky and Avoodc
almost all the Avay to Stratford. AVe occasionally pulled by
a little beach ensconced between rocks, and sometimes an
open space Avhcrein a house Avas prettily located. A fence
projecting into the stream often compelled us to make
a brief detour, and by and by avc passed little fleets of
moored dories, and huge reels in sheltered coves, and
many a fine camping place, of AA'hich, hoAvever, there had
been no lack all along the river. There were marshes
here and there, and yet, although avc Avere so near the
sea, and the tide was running strong, the Avater was fresh.
Late in the afternoon avc saw a long way off down river.
over a Avide expanse of water beyond a marsh, the high
crossed frameAvork of a long bridge outlined against the
sky, and the spires of Stratford. The banks were dark
and sombre, the Avater in the channel a raging mass of
white caps, Avhile heavy clouds rent and torn by the
furious Avind Avere scudding along above, lighted with the
gorgeous and continually changing hues of a brilliant
sunset, the entire scene resembling Arery much a sullen
and angrv Turner.

124

BOATING TRIPS.

^t

We pulled under the truss bridge of the New York ami
New Haven Railroad about six o'clock. AVe cent
on fl nr r the wasMngton ****** ^' *^
m the Id post route from Boston to New York, which
» sau, derives its name from the fact that Washington
-arched over it when on his way to New York after*
Wish evacuated Boston. There is a hotel at the east
end f the bridge. The river below the toll-bridge hWs
past the Lower Dock at Stratford, as it is called, and then
a mle further m a magtiificent wide, semi-circular sweep
between level marshes to the sea. The mouth of the river
« guarded on the eastern side by Milford Point, where
here, ,s a hotel, and on the west by u light-house. The
own of Milford is on the cast bank, but the village is
three miles from the bridge. Stratford is on the west
side, about a mile from the river. It is a large old-
fashioned village withwide, rambling, well-shaded streets
Many of the houses are covered with long, wide shingles,
ami the windows are filled with the small panes of Wass
anciently in vogue. There is no factory in the village
ani1 »° 1«*.l. ^ i«, therefore, as one would naturally
supposc. a very quiet place, and it has a quaint and
extremely conservative air, which the modern houses-
cannot dispel. Bridgeport is three miles Avest of Stratford
and New Haven thirteen miles east.
AVe were seven days in all in descending the river
which may be considered the utmost limit of time'

THE HOUSATONIC RIVER.

125

necessary, as the Avater was almost unprccedentedly Inv
alid the days short. The invigorating autumn air, how
ever, enabled us to sustain the burden of rowing, which
some one has characterized as the easiest kind of hard
work, —as it surely is for one accustomed to it, though
a most grievous task to a novice, —Avith an effective stroke
from morning until night. The friend Avho supplied us
with directions, upon hearing an account of our trip
Avrote: "I did not suppose Ave had such very high Avater,
and it could not have been very high in July either. I
am sure that letting down over the great falls at Falls
A^illage would have been about as practicable for us as
letting down by Niagara. AVe were less than three
quarters of an hour in going from West Cornwall to
Cornwall Bridge, Avhere you seem to have had so much
trouble. AVe rushed right along, bow on, as I never
rushed on any stream before. At Lover's Leap the fish-
way Avas a roaring torrent, and the Avaves at the end Avere
tremendous curlers. With the same stage of water I do
not believe that it would be safe to undertake to go
through." I should advise anyone in boating on the Housatonic
not to be in a hurry, if possible to avoid it. It is a beau
tiful stream from beginning to end. AVhoever descends
it, indeed, iu Avhatever Avay, will undoubtedly retain in
memory unfading visions of scenes of rare beauty, which
he will nevertheless unhappily find as impossible to

126

BOATING TRIPS.

describe as the charms of a perfect poem or a perfect
picture. A single word of caution: Be sure you know how to
handle oars in Avilcl water before embarking on the mad
Housatonic.

THE NASHUA RIVER.

CHAPTER 1.
WEST BOYLSTOX. ¦ — LANCASTEU.
"Where through tho calm repose
Of cultured vales arid fringing' woods the gentle Nashua Hows."
Wiiittiicu.
A T the end of the trip on the Housatonic 1 had the
-^-L- boat sent as freight to AVest Boylston on the South
Branch of the Nashua, iu Worcester County, and in July
of the folloAving year took the three o'clock train from
Boston on the Boston and Albany Railroad, with a Friend
of previous experience in river travel, to make a voyage
in her down the Nashua. At Worcester, after a very
convenient interval of forty minutes between trains.
Avhich Ave improved by making additions to our store of
supplies, Ave took the five o'clock train on the Worcester
and Nashua Railroad.
After a short ride ot twenty-four minutes avc landed
at AVest Boylston, and, without delay, obtained of the
station-agent the bill of freight for the boat, which
amounted to six dollars and fifty-five cents. The charge
of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad from
Stratford to Springfield, a distance of seventy-five miles,
Avas one dollar and seventy-five cents; that of the Boston
and Albany for transporting ],0r from Springfield t

¦o

"W«

130

BOATING TRIPS.

THE NASHUA RIVER.

131

AVorccster, fifty-six miles, three dollars and twenty cents,
while the charge of the AVorcester and Nashua for nine
miles Avas one dollar and sixty cents.
The boat weighed only about one hundred and fifty
pounds, but was rated by the first road as weighing seven
hundred. The Boston and Albany, however, was much
more generous and had rated her as weighing two thou
sand pounds. The rate for a boat on the printed tariff
of the AVorcester and Nashua Railroad is fifteen hundred
pounds, but the AVorcester and Nashua in a magnanimous
spirit lost sight of its oavu rating and adopted, by some
strange preference, that of the Boston and Albany instead
of the somewhat more reasonable fiction of the NeAv York,
NeAv Haven, and Hartford.
Having briefly called the attention of the agent to the
' somewhat remarkable variability of rates for such an
apparently extraordinary article of carriage as our boat,
Ave discovered, upon lowering her from a long enforced
retirement on rafters in the loft of the freight-house, and
bringing her to the light of day, that she had been badly
damaged in transportation. There Avas a yawning crevice
nearly seven feet long on one side close to the bottom.
The seams Avere of course all open, but Ave had foreseen
that they probably would be, and had provided ourselves
Avith means to make them tight. It Avas necessary, Iioav-
ever, to procure a skilful Avorkman to repair the injury,
and, upon inquiry, Ave Avere directed to the Avheehvright,

i

Mr. Goselin. AVe carried the boat Avith our baggage on
a AvheelbarroAV, Avith alternate reliefs in wheeling, down
a pretty steep road from the depot, and across the level
of a narrow valley to G-osolin's shop, which is on the bank

Wc

of the river. Goselin examined the break carefully, and
then with a calm, judicial air that Avas eminently reassur
ing said he could repair it on the morroAv.
Just beyond Goselin's a handsome stone bridge Avith
stone parapets spans the Nashua, and only a feAv steps

132

BOATING TRIPS.

THE NASHUA RIVER.

133

away is an ordinary wooden one over a canal. Immedi
ately beyond the canal is a small, unpretentious hotel,
which, however, unluckily, bappened to be closed ; and,
as it is the only one in town, Ave were compelled to seek
quarters for the night at a remote private house, — Avhile
farther on, past a row of buildings, in front of Avhich is
a park, that might, perhaps, be considered extensive in
Lil'liput, at the end of the road, is an old, two-storied,
double-gabled, red brick building, under a steep hillside,
in the longest block of buildings in toAvn.
The view southward from the lower village is exceed
ingly beautiful. The intervale stretches away iu broad
and fertile meadows of rich, dark green, bordered on the
west by a wooded bank, broken, at a distance, by a pro
jecting headland of bare earth, to a line of high curving
hills a couple of miles distant, where a white church-spire
gives relief to thickly-wooded slopes. The river flows in
graceful curves over the broad expanse, its course marked
here and there by a bordering of trees, while at the
extreme end of the vale, when! the hills crowd together,
hangs a high red bridge. The canal runs along the
easterly side of the intervale, and half a mile away, at the
end of" a wooded bank, close under a hill, stands, entirely
by itself, in a grand sort of way, the large brick building
of the Clarendon Mills. There is a bridge at the upper
village, which is perhaps a third of a mile above the stone
bridge, and just below it is the dam of Holbrook's Mill.

It Avould be easy to carry a boat by the dam, and in
taking a trip on the river it Avould be vsell to begin at
least as high up as Oakdale, the next station above West
Boylston, on the AVorcester and Nashua Railroad, Avhere
the Quinepoxet River from Holden and the Stillwater
from Sterling, unite to form the South Branch id' the
Nashua; and, generally, the higher up a river one can

JW'

-.f'yyyyyi ¥ v- ™m- *

y:^^-

begin in boating, provided only it is navigable, the
better. Furthermore, since taking this trip the Massachusetts
Central Railroad has been completed to Oakdale, and
furnishes the most direct route thither from Boston. The
station at AVest Boylston is alongside the canal.
The high ground between the upper and lower villages
at AVest Boylston commands, at most points, a fine view
of the broad intervale beloAV, the river, lying deep and

134

BOATING TRIPS.

THE NASHUA RIVER.

135

quiet like a narrow pond betAveen picturesque banks,
while the shapely peak of Wachusett stands forth promi
nently in the north, only a feAV miles distant, and adds
a mountainous flavor to the gentle beauty of all the rural
landscape round. The vieAv from the summit of Mount
Wachusett, Avhich is easily accessible, is one of the finest,
in extent and variety, of any in Massachusetts.
Early in the afternoon of next day, the boat Avas ready,
so, after preparing and eating lunch in the blacksmith
shop Avhich adjoins Monsieur Goselin's establishment, avc
put her in the canal, as the river itself, on account of the
large volume of water drawn off through the canal, was,
as avc had ascertained, too shalloAv in many places for
navigation. Iu spite of repairs and caulking, the boat
leaked pretty badly at first ; but Ave loaded the baggage
and cast off about three o'clock. The canal is Avide
enough to i-oav in, and there is a good current. AVe soon
came, hoAvever, to a bridge so close to the water that avc
could not pass under it, and Ave therefore made a portage
over it.
The canal then opened into a small pond, bordered on
the left Avith a shady road lined with oblong, box-like
boarding-houses. As Ave pulled doAvn the pond Ave had
a fine vieAv, from its high level, of the intervale opposite
and beloAV.
We landed on the embankment at the foot of the pond,
and carried the boat over a grassy slope betAveen the

•in

buildings of the Clarendon Mills and the canal, and put
her into the race-way just beloAV, and in a few minutes
Avere going at a lively rate in a very sAvift current
between banks of uniform bight, marked alternately with
greenery and patches of gravel.

yL ^mft^i

^^7

'ifz-'-^l^f--

After a Avhile, lioA\-ever, avc came to a barrier in the
shape of a log, Avhich for a few minutes looked trouble
some. My friend, howeA-er, got out and, Avithout much
difficulty, lifted one end of the log, and the boat glided
under without am- disturbance to the baggage. Avhich was

CT-H

136

BOATING TRIPS.

THE NASHUA RIVER.

137

heaped up in quite a mountainous pile in the bow.
Shortly IjcIoav, swiftly going Avith the rushing current,
avc came to another bridge so low that Ave could not pass
it, and Ave were again compelled to make a carry, Avhich,
however, avc quickly accomplished.
The canal thereafter assumed much more the appear
ance of a river as it HoAvcd, with frequent turns, rapidly
between Ioav, open banks, often bordered on both sides
with a thick network of bushes. After a delightful sail of
about tAvo miles in all, in the canal, the boat drifting stern
foremost all the Avhile and the oars only used to keep the
course, avc emerged into the river, narrow, deep, sAvift-
lloAving, and bordered Avith trees.
AVe sought here to get a glimpse of the Red Bridge
which hantrs so hiii'li in 'g'raccful suspense, in the view
from the head of the intervale at AVest Boylston, but could
discover no trace of it, and its later whereabouts remained
a mystery of the A'oyagc. AA^e soon passed a high sand
bank on the left, and then, after a few Avindings, glided
through refreshing, cool shadows, under Carr's Bridge, an
ancient, Aveather-stained structure of quaint gracefulness.
made still more attractive by the beauty of its shaded
approaches. The road south leads to Boylston Centre.
Behnv, the river Avas bordered on the right by a steep,
woody bank, Avhile opposite were open fields. By and by
we passed graA'el embankments of the Massachusetts
Central Railroad on the right, and after a Avhile pulled

'S*1

between piles upon Avhich the railroad is carried over the
river, and entered the pond above Sawyer's Mill.
AVe pulled under a bridge near the end of the pond,
and landed at the left of the dam just beloAV. We found,
however, that, upon this occasion at any rate, it would be

l^f^fyy'y
li-*.',-^.^^-; .,-~Z—~-— '-i. / -' -¦-¦¦,:.¦ Si
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easier to get over the dam on the right-hand side, as Avater
Avas not pouring over the dam and there is unite a hi<_;h
ledge of rocks below the clam on that side. It took us
only a feAV minutes indeed to loAA-er the boat into the
river belcnv the dam, and, having reloaded the baggage.
Ave made rapid progress doAvn stream. The Nashua
indeed Hoavs very swiftly here, wandering in a charmim>-.

138

BOATING TRIPS.

TILE NASHUA RIVER.

139

vagrant fashion hither and thither over the level of quite
an extensive valley, dashing at frequent intervals over
beds of gravel and making music as it goes. It was past
six o'clock, and Ave talked of halting to pitch the tent,
but, tempted by the pleasant Avindings of the SAvift-fioAv-
ing stream, Ave continued on and neglectfully passed one
good camping ground after another.
While shooting through a rapid at a lively pace Ave came
near being impaled ou a barbed Avire stretched across the
stream. There Avas quite a number of such Avires at
various points along the river, and they constitute the
only source of danger I know of on the "gentle"
Nashua. After a Avhile the shalloAv rapids came to a sudden end,
and Ave entered the head of the long pond above Clinton.
AVe soon pulled under a bridge and past a primitive steam
boat landing beloAV, and then began to look out in earnest
for the night's resting-place, but for a long time without
discovering a location in any Avay desirable. AVe finally
got into the broad pond and at last halted on the left
shore, and pitched our tent in the Avoods on the level of
the bank above, and Avhile regretting opportunities for
camping neglected above the head of the pond, con
gratulated oursehres as darkness set in that Ave had found
a place not quite so bad as Ave had just before come to
believe would have to be our refuge. Before going to
sleep Ave could plainly hear coiiA'ersation and the noise of

I i

wagons on the high-road on the opposite side of the pond,
and during the night were startled tit times into half-
conscious Avakefulness by the intermittent tread of some
creature near the tent.
We got under way about nine o'clock Wednesday.
After a short pull betAveen the high banks near the foot
of the pond, which diminishes in width toAvard the end,
Ave landed on the sloping edge of the dam, as Avater was
not pouring over it. The dam, Avhich is just beloAV a
bridge, is of stone, not Avide, but upwards of tAventy feet
high. There is no opportunity to get by the dam on
either side; it Avas also quite impossible to lower the boat
doAvn its perpendicular face, and Ave had no inducement to
attempt it, as the bed of the stream beloAV Avas completely
dry ; so Ave pulled back past a propeller and tAvo or three
sail-boats moored in a group and landed on the north
shore near a wharf, and then had to Avalk up the long hill
to the village before Ave could find a team to carry us
around. AVe drove past the Lancaster Mills,-— and out of
the long array of buildings came an infernal clatter, —
and then along a veiy fine leArel road, which at one point
runs close to the river. AVe might have launched the
boat here on the brimming Hood, but the teamster advised
us that there Avas another dam only a quarter of a mile
below, so Ave continued on, and in a few minutes drove
across the road beloAV it, and then shot the boat down
a sloping bank, lined Avith great trees, into the river.

140

BOATING TRIPS.

After embarking, it seemed to us, as Ave looked up stream
under the bridge, as if it would not be at all difficult to
get by the second dam, Avhich is so Ioav, indeed, that I
believe we might have floated the boat over it. AVe had
made considerable saving in time, hoAvever, by the long
carry, which cost for ourselves, boat, and baggage, about
a half mile in all, seventy-five cents. A rapid current
bore us swiftly on in an open intervale -with high hills at
a little distance on almost every side. The houses of
Clinton were scattered over the more remote Avestern
slopes, Avith here and there a Avindow glittering in the
rays of the sun, and all tremulous in the heat, looking so
hot and uncomfortable that Ave Avere glad to turn to the
sAvift movement of the coolly iloAving river. The current
after a little Avhile, hoAvever, subsided in the still water of
a pond. AVe supposed at the time that the North Branch
of the Nashua here joined the one on Avhich we AA-ere
sailing, and Ave looked doubtfully from time to time into
the numerous green recesses in Avhich the pond abounded.
Fortunately, however, Ave kept rightly on our Avay to the
foot of it Avhere there is a bridge, Avith a grist-mill, a
homely, old-fashioned building Avhich outwardly gives
indication of its use, on one side, Avhile on the right,
opposite, is a hill of graceful slope, marked by a great
elm and crowned by a farm-house. There is no village in
sight, but the place, I believe, goes by the name of South
Lancaster. AVc made a portage, which was very easy, to

THE NASHUA RIVER.

14 i

the right of the bridge, to avoid the dam, which is beneath
it. The dam is not very high, but the edge is lined at
brief intervals Avith stakes, Avhich divide the fall of Avater
in a very pretty Avay into innumerable glass-like portions.

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/ '.m-ii-'-y*'; * ¦ „ ..,.•.. ., ...• ¦¦:¦!,;,.;, f- •>»•,

,J,/,M South Uncasier'^'
AVe loAvered the boat over a little ledge of rocks below
the fall, and, Avhile backing her down stream, had our
attention attracted to a man on the bridge, who was
wildly gesticulating, as his voice was useless in explana
tion, on account of the noise of the Avater. AVe quickly
concluded, hoAvever, as Ave Avere hurrying along in the
swift A\-atcr, and keeping a sharp lookout for our eouisc

142

BOATING TRIPS.

that he Avas trying to tell us about danger on the river,
of which avc had no fear, and avc, therefore, gave him but
momentary heed. In a feAV minutes, Ave pulled through
an arch, under a lofty embankment of the Lancaster
Railroad. The road Avas designed to give Lancaster
direct communication with Boston; and Avas completed
to Hudson, but never used. It is now, hoAvever, I under
stand, operated as a branch of the Old Colony, Avhich is
thus considerably estray, as it Avere, from Cape Cod and
Plymouth County.
The Nashua then HoAved mostly Avith a SAvift current,
Avith many a crook and turn over the wide level of a
fertile valley. The river now glided gentlj- betAveen
turfy banks, and, again, rippled along with soft murmurs ;
or, descending a bed of gravel, " made music on its
pebbled rim." Here and there Avas a tree or a clump of
bushes, Avhile the bills Avhich bordered the valley Avere
silent in a motionless, sleepy haze.
Just above Atherton Bridge, the novel spectacle of a
boat on the river, attracted and held the undivided atten
tion of a man and Iavo boys Avho Avere sifting graA'el on
the bank. They gazed Avith such friendly, sympathetic
interest, until avc were lost to sight, that I Avish we might
haA'e taken them in. Behnv the bridge, Ave came upon
an artist on the left bank, under a white cotton umbrella,
painting, perhaps a group of cattle at the Avater's brink,
or some noble trees, or the rich expanse of the broad
and luxuriant Lancaster intervale beyond.

THE NASHUA RIVER.

143

The river quickly sent us on our Avay as it rushed from
bank to bank, and in a few minutes Ave Avere hurried
doAvn a swift rapid to the mouth of the North Branch of
the Nashua, a tranquil, dignified stream that seemed like
a reproof to check the other's boisterous flow. Pulling
out from the current, avc landed at the edge of the ripple
on a sand beach, at the point of junction, a very delight
ful spot, .lust in front, looking doAvn stream, is the Cen
tre Bridge, which spans the united rivers, Avhile in the
rear, between the tAvo branches, stretches a lordly field of
more than two hundred acres, bordered on the north by a
wooded slope, and marked in the middle by a gigantic
oak. The banks of the rivers are lined with trees, which
congregate in a little assembly at the point. We pitched
the tent here, near the smoothly lloAving. dark -brown
water of the North Branch. A little distance above was
the bridge of the AVorcester and Nashua Railroad; and
beyond the easterly end, Ave caught a glimpse here and
there, amid banks of foliage, of the houses of Lancaster.
It Avas past noon, and avc began to make preparations
for lunch, Avhen avc discovered that our ean of milk Avas
missing, and then, alas 1 somcAvhat too late, Ave knew the
meaning of the rude pantomime by the man on the bridge
at South Lancaster. He had endeavored to Avarn us that
avc had left it on the bank. It Avas idle to think of row
ing back up the SAvift stream, so we returned by Avay of
the railroad, under the hottest of July suns. and. luckilv,

144

l! GATING TRIPS.

found the can in the cleft of a rock, a little to one side
the place of our embarkation, still in plain sight from
both road and river. The Nashua is, however, I believe,
the Lethe of New England rivers. AVe were often,
indeed, lulled into a state of forgetfulness, in following its
mazy windings. At the outset, we forgot a pipe, then the
ridge-pole and supports of the tent, and at Lancaster left
the hatchet.
Late in the afternoon, Ave pulled up the North Branch.
AArc roAved under the railroad bridge and the Sprague
Bridge just above, and then toiled through a stretch of
rapids. AVe pulled up half a mile perhaps in all, and
then turning about, glided SAviftly through one rapid
after another, Avith only an occasional stroke, hardly
necessary, save to give direction, Avhere thirty or forty
hard strokes had barely sufficed to carry us laboriously
up. AVe landed at the Sprague Bridge, and, after
rambling through the village, returned to our camp at
the junction.
The North Branch ol the, Nashua is, as maps indicate,
a very tortuous stream. I have little doubt, however,
that, with a. light boat, and no disinclination to an
occasional "easy," by Availing where the rapids arc shallow
as avcII as sAvii't, one could go up as far as Leominster,
Avhich is eight miles above Lancaster, and, perhaps, to
Fitchburg. It is, hoAvever, I have no doubt, easily navi
gable in descent, from either place, by skiff or canoe.

•--"&«

r

THE NASHUA RIVER.

145

AVe rowed up the North Branch again, in the evening,
and landed at the foot of a lane, immediately beloAV the
railroad bridge. Returning late from the village. Ave
had to grope our way cautiously through the lane, Avhich
Avas very dark ; and the river was so black that Ave could
not see a boat's length in any direction. The voyage to
camp was, indeed, throughout, a nocturne of shadoAvs.

THE NASHUA RIVER.

147

CHAPTER II.
LANCASTER. — GROTON.
"TXTE were awakened Thursday morning by the sound
' * of great rain -drops heavily pattering on our
canvas covering, and Avere compelled to lie a long time on
our beds of hay, iu which was mingled much odorous
sweet-fern, listening to the music of the storm. The
lightning was incessant and vivid, and crash after crash
of thunder broke through the sky. It seemed, indeed, as
if the ghostlike mythicals Avhom local tradition says make
thunder among the Catskills by bowling ten-pins during
a shower, had transferred the scene of their sport, and
Avere bowling a constant succession of strikes above Lan
caster. AVe did not get wet in the least, however, and
after a while the thunder rolled grumbling away in the
distance, the sun shone brightly, and birds everywhere
filled the air with the melody of their delayed matins.
Camp duties were performed by the middle of the
morning, and then once more, and for the last time, avc
pulled up the North Branch to the village. At the landing
at the foot of the lane we had talk with a man who, in a
communicative humor, told us something of his life. He
had been a sailor in his youth, and had voyaged over
nearly all the oceans of the world; but now, in middle

age, had found a snug harbor in the rural quietude of
Lancaster. We had already before, strangely enough, yet
naturally, too, perhaps, in accordance Avith a law that
seems to group incidents of a similar kind in life in close
sequence, met, in the course of our brief excursion, a
reminiscence of the sea, a sailor lad on the train from
Boston, who Avore the cap of the PoAA-hattan. He Avas
a mere boy, but said he had been away cruising the past
nine years. He had written to his parents only once
during all this time, and had not heard from them at all.
AVith sailor-like unconcern, hoAveArer, he Avas then on his
Avay to Springfield, on a three days' leave of absence, to
ascertain whether his home was still unbroken. 1 should
not be at all surprised if he, too, sometime in the future,
found a retreat someAvhere along the "gentle " Nashua.
The principal part of Lancaster lies upon the westerly
slope of a ridge that extends in a northerly direction from
the North Branch of the Nashua, and affords a fine view
of the river-basin and especially the broad, gently sloping
hillsides beyond. Upon the back of the ridge, along its
highest elevation, AAdiich also commands a wide view of
the valley east, are the schoolbouse, Toavii Hall, .Memorial
Hall, a church, and a large hotel, all of substantial brick.
The toAvn library, a large and Avell-appointed institution,
second only in size and equipment, I think, to the Concord
library, is in a very handsome octagonal room in Memorial
Hall. Most other tovras have, during the past thirty

«lj,1W

.48

BOATING TRIPS.

THE NASHUA RIVER.

149

'cars, felt the impulse of the march of modern times,
ind hoav throb with neAV industries and teem with alien
lopulation ; but Lancaster preserves, in a marked degree,
the traditional character of the old New-England village,
and seems likely to -for many a year to come. A singu
larly beautiful rural landscape, which, soon after the land
ing of the Pilgrims brought the first settlers to the town,
still remains its greatest attraction.
Lancaster is indeed the oldest town in Worcester
County. It was settled in 1645, and incorporated in 1653.
It was for many years the most advanced post of the
Pilgrim Colony. The inhabitants, however, lived on
amicable terms with the Indians, and the settlement
thrived continuously until the outbreak of King Philip's
War. On August 22, 1675, eight persons were killed by
the Indians, and the tenth of February following, several
tribes, led by Philip himself, made, a desperate attack
upon the town, in live different places at once, in which
more than fifty were killed or taken prisoners. Six weeks
afterward all the bouses but two were destroyed, the town
was deserted, and Lancaster remained without an inhab
itant for more than three years. The inhabitants then
began to return, and were not molested in the resettle
ment of the town until after King William's accession to
the throne of England, which occasioned a new series
of hostilities, in which the Indians were encouraged and
aided by the French' as allies. They made an assault in

•a"*?

July, 1692, and renewed their attacks at various intervals
from time to time, down to August 6, 1710, when, as an
ancient chronicler says, the laxt inkcluef Avas done.
At the time of the assault, in February, 1676, the wife
of the minister was taken captive by the Indians, and
remained among them several Aveeks before she Avas
ransomed. Soon after her release she wrote an account
of the attack upon the toAvn and her experience among
the Indians, which Avas published in a little book entitled
Narrative of the CaptiAnty aud Removes of Mary Roaa--
landson. It is written iu quaint language in graphic style
and contains a strange admixture of events most pathetic,
and incidents most ludicrous, despite their tragic, rueful
aspect. The sentences for the most part, hoAvever, fairly
roll and groan under the burden of her terrible story.
The narrative, brief as it is, nevertheless throAvs a great
deal of light on the character, traits, mode of life, and
manners of the Indians, and may indeed wisely be read as
a very effective antidote to the romanticism of Cooper.
A History of Lancaster was written by the Rev. A. P.
Marvin, and published by the toAvn in 1879. If is a very
interesting account of the early settlement and progress
of the toAvn, and contains many illustrations and maps.
After a Avhile we returned to the junction again, broke
camp, and Avere soon under Avay once more. AVe pulled
into the ripple SAviftly floAving out of the South Branch,
and quickly shot under the Centre Bridge, Avhich spans the

150

BOATING TRIPS.

Nashua. The Centre Bridge, one 'hundred and seventy-
three feet long, is an iron structure, in suspense from
bank to bank, light, graceful, and commodious. The
Sprague Bridge over the North Branch, which, in old
deeds, was called the North River, is one hundred and
forty feet in length ; while the Atherton Bridge over the
South Branch is ninety.
The main river Avas called Pennacook by the Indians.
The Indian name Avas retained for a while by the early
settlers, according to Marvin's History, and the river is
indeed thus designated on the oldest maps. The present
name, Nashua, is a corruption of Nashaway, which was the
name of the tribe of Indians who lived along the banks of
the river, and was after a time, perhaps naturally, and at
any rate very happily, bestowed upon it by the settlers.
I have seen it stated that nashaway Avas a generic Indian
word and signified "a place between" or " in the middle."
I have, however, also seen it stated that the Avord signified
"the beautiful stream with the pebbly bottom." The
river near Lancaster was also at one time called the
Lancaster River, and in the same way the river for an
indefinite distance above and below Groton Avas called the
Groton River.
The river at first flowed, for the most part, steadily
with a deep strong current betAveen gently curving banks
of uniform bight, and we rowed along at an easy pace
under a cloudy sky. Standing up in the boat we could

THE NASHUA RIVER.

151

look across the broad, luxuriant, level fields to the hills
far away on the south side beyond. AVe often passed a
group of cows standing at the edge oi the water and
doubtfully eyeing us, or on the bank above staring
with a distant gaze at the strange apparition floating
down riA'er. After a Avhile the river often descended a
gravelly shallow Avith a rush, and Ave swiftly floated along
past rapidly receding banks of sand or clay. Then,
by and by, the river Iknved smoothly betAveen green banks
under arching trees, and moving thus in state, touched
a high hill on the left and passed under a very picturesque,
old-fashioned, Aveather-stained road bridge, perhaps the
connecting link of the old Lancaster-Concord turnpike.
The river then still softly iloAved in beautiful reaches, and
after a Avhile at intervals poured darkly Avith a deep,
strong current past great banks of sand, Avhich made
a very picturesque feature of the riverseape. They Avere,
for the most part, fringed along the semi-circular top edge
with pines, Avhile the sandy facade presented a grotesque
spectacle of trees and shrubs engaged in a. hopeless struggle
to maintain their position in the sliding mass. Plaintivcly
they turned iu every direction, Avhile others, settled at the
margin of the water, were awaiting Avith melancholy
resignation their hour of doom at the hands of a spring-
freshet. After Ave had journeyed about an hour in alba shower
came up and avc made fast to the bank in a leafy cuA'e

152

BOATING TRIPS.

THE NASHUA RIVER.

153

formed by the drooping branches of a graceful elm, Avhere
we Avere amply protected, while outside the swiftly
movintx surface of the water boiled with the thickly
pattering drops of rain. AVhile waiting for the rain to
cease, avc had lunch. The clouds finally began to bloAV
ovcr, and we forthwith again got under way, and, ere
long, the last rack disappeared and the sunshine, pouring
doAvn from a clear sky, filled all the valley Avith brilliantly
luminous light. The river then soon began to Avind in
a labyrinthian maze over a Avide intervale, turning indeed
in most capricious fashion hither and thither, as if it had
lost its Avay. The reaches curled round and round, one
into another, and at brief intervals Ave faced every point of
the compass. Luckily there was a good current most of
the time. After a Avhile, hoAvever, the river seemed to be
moving in a northerly direction, and we passed through
many long, Avide reaches, Avhere trees lined the banks
almost continuously. Here the Nashua Avas indeed
a lotus-like stream, and, as Ave pursued our course close to
shore under the branches Avhich drooped over the Avater
in a- sleepy Avay, it was easy to fall into a dreamful mood,
while the stillness of the scene, the quiet Hoav of the
river, and the gentle rocking of the boat, all contributed
to lull one's senses to a dumb feeling of enjoyment.
Unless, indeed, I am very much mistaken, some one did
fall asleep.
At length the river approached a. high hill on the east

and we swung under a bridge of the AVorccster and
Nashua Railroad, and put ashore at the east end of the
road bridge, Avhich spans the river at the head of the next
bend beloAV. The depot of Still River Village is only
a feAV steps away. The village however, is half a mile

3 \jlt.iraaAuse/t

~te

'.# A? !\i

cnipdyy>%

-- '- "rfif'P^JK'yCttoen

SC^LE>
'X
distant on top of the hill, and is reached by a direct, but
pretty steep road. The view along the Avay, and especially
near and at the summit, hoAvever, amply repays the
trouble of ascent. The valley of the Nashua below is
wide aud deep, and stretches away a magnificent vista
towards the southwest. Opposite are broad, high hills,
154

BOATING TRIPS.

'*>»*•.

«id behind them hilltops roll aAvay until lost in the
distance. The Nashua makes a wide semi-circular sweep
l-rom West Boylston to Still River Village, which is well
indicated by the relative change in position of Wachusett.
At AVest Boylston, Wachusett stands out a sharp cone m
the north, Avhile at Still Ri,er Village, -elongated into
slopes of exquisite gracefulness, it bounds the western
horizon. The view northward, which terminates with the
blue peak of Monadnock, is also very fine.
The few houses of Still River Village are grouped about
a triple cross-road on the crown of a hill, where the suns
of summer and the winds of winter have the freest access.
T is a quiet place, as befits its name, which it derives
I suppose, from a sluggish stream that somewhere'
meanders over the intervale below. As we walked alon-
the deserted roads, not a soul in sight and the only sound
the harmonious clang of a blacksmith's hammer on anvil
it seemed indeed as if we had come to a Dreamthorpe in
Arcadia. Still River Village, however, boasts a post-office,
which we discovered, after a long search, in the Avood-shed
attached to a private house. The office was equipped
with a single row of open boxes affixed to the Avail Iu
one was a paper and iu another a letter, which, it is to be
hoped, Avere not soon taken aAvay.
We got under way again about four o'clock, and pulled
at a leisurely pace through a succession of lazily winding
reaches. We were once startled for a moment by the

¦w^r~q'

««*

THE NASHUA RIVER.

155

r^*'

souncl of a stone plumping into the water quite near us.
We were only splashed, but nevertheless set up an outcry
which speedily brought a farmer through the bushes on
the bank with an apology of his complete ignorance of
our presence, which was, no doubt, the entire truth. After
rowing about an hour iu all, avc landed at the head of
an abrupt bend of the river on the right, and procured
some supplies at a farm-house just above.
The river had before been moving generally eastward,
but here took a turn in a westerly direction until it laved
a hill Avhere the remains of stone abutments Avere visible
on both sides of the river. The reaches were all quite
long, and after pulling past the ruins of an old dam we
entered one of great length and beauty. The banks on
either side were high and lined with trees, and away at
the end where the river disappeared in a curve to the
right was a great bank of sand and above it an open grove
of lofty pines. We landed beneath their shade alongside
a fallen tree, and clambering up the sandy slope found the
ground above smooth as a house-floor and covered with
a matting of pine pins softer to foot-fall than Moquctte
or Axminster. The water in the long reach through
Avhich we had just come, smooth as glass, reflected clouds
and sky as in a mirror. Just below, the river descended
with a rush by a high clay-bank, while a brook, which
goes by the euphonious title of Catacoonamaug, poured
with a loud roar over a stony channel along ^one side

156

BOATING TRIPS.

THE NASHUA RIVER.

157

of the grove and emptied into the Nashua half-way down
the rapid. We pitched the tent in an open space near
the edge of the bank, Avhere the canvas gleamed almost
sacrilegiousby white in the solemn shade of a forest aisle,
Avhich ended in chirksoine recesses ; Avhile the sunlight
streamed above the tops of the trees and fell like a
benediction upon a quaint old farm-house on the ridge
of a hill Avhich slopes up Avith gentle inclination from the
opposite bank. The Fitchburg Railroad runs along the
hills- on the Avesterly side of the river. AVe heard from
time to time the roar of a train, and occasionally caught
sight of a. puff of smoke. AVe could plainly hear the trains
slowing to a stop at Shirley Village, about a mile back
of us through the woods, and also the strokes of the toAvn
clock which rang out the hours in long, musical tones. A
path led among the pines to the village, but somehow
we did not get there, and Shirley Village remains the
Carcassonne of the trip.
AVe got under Avay about eight o'clock next morning.
AVe had considerable trouble in getting under a barbed
wire stretched across the stream just at the foot of the
rapid. The river Avas quite SAvift in several places beloAV
and at. times shalloAv. AVe pulled along the cast bank to
keep out of the sun's rays. AVhile roAving by the mouth
of a shalloAv bayou Ave discovered a huge snapping turtle
in full flight for the river. The oarsman endeavored to
stop his progress Avith an oar, but after turning him over

«*->-

"if

'*>

and dancing him on his head several times, the water got
riled, and in the confusion he escaped. After rowing
about two miles Ave pulled under a bridge, the road east
from Avhich leads to Aver Junction, and just beloAV shot
through a little fall of Avater amid the ruins of an old dam.
The river then Hows with an occasional ripple to the
bridge of the Fitchburg Railroad, under Avhich it pours
in quite a swift rapid. We landed near one end of it on
the right and walked to Aver Junction, Avhich is three
fourths of a mile from the river. The convergence of
several railroads gives the village an air of considerable
importance. AVhat a relief, though, upon returning, lo
leave the, hard bed of the railroad Avith its confusing scries
of cross-tics and long lines of glistening rails, and once
more embark on the cool river and swing Avilh the flow
of a stream gently Avinding between green banks in a
craft responsive to every stroke of the oar! AVe pulled
along one or the other bank in the current, now past a,
shore lined Avith bushes and often under overhanging
trees. Beyond, on either side, Avas a pleasing variety
of scenery, a wooded hill near or afar off, a grove of pines,
or a cultiA-ated field, all quiet and seemingly asleep in
the heated noonday air. The river alone gave sign of
life, but it too finally made its Avay lazily amid the
tranquil scenes around.
AVe pulled perhaps an hour, and then landed on the
left bank and spread our blankets at the edge of a sunken

~v*

158

BOATING TRIPS.

road at the foot of a steep, thickly Avooded hillside. A
stream of crystal water sparkled across the road a short
distance away, and above Avas the embankment of a dam
and a curious old saAV-mill. BeloAV the mill Avas a small,
shallow pond, which was, however, the favored abode
of a multitude of frogs, among whom, with the willing aid
of a friendly urchin, Ave made sad havoc in the course of
the afternoon, and had an extra entrSe of rare delicacy,
in spite perhaps of mottled associations, for supper.
We got under Avay again late in the day, and soon
pulled under a road bridge, then past the mouth of Squan-
nacook River, and under the bridge of the Peterborough
and Shirlejr Railroad just below, and thence in a suc
cession of long, straight reaches to the Red Bridge at
Groton. AA^e landed about a third of a mile beloAV the
bridge, and pitched the tent on the high right bank at the
edge of a grove of pines. The camp-fire, after dark,
lighted up the dense array of trees Avith startling shadoAvs,
and Avhen it Avas suffered to die aAvay, Ave Avere in the
midst of a scene desolate in the extreme. Below, the
river Avas still and dark ; opposite, flat fields rising in
slopes of gentlest inclination, stretched drearily away to
a sky-line of black clouds ; overhead, a few stars brightly
twinkled amid the spray of the motionless black pine
boughs* but elseAvhere there was no light nor any sound,
save the distant croaking of a frog, or, at a rare interval,
the dull rumble of a team across the bridge above, and we
therefore gladly lost ourselves in slumber.

CHAPTER III.
GKOTOX. — NASHUA.
"YTTE pulled back to the Red Bridge early on the raor-
* * roAv, and then Avalked to the village of Groton,
which is about a mile from the river. The road leads up a
hill, which rises in long and easy slopes, to a road called
Farmer's Roav, Avhich runs north and south along the edge
of a wide plateau. On the wall bordering the Roav, a stone
has been placed, by Mr. James LaiA-rence, near his resi
dence, Avhich bears the folloAving inscription : " Near
this spot, three children, Sarah, John, and Zacariah Tar-
bell were captured by the Indians, June 20, 1707. They
were taken to Canada, Avhere the sister Avas placed in a
convent. The brothers became chiefs of the Coughna-
Avago tribe, and Avere among the founders of St. Regis,
Avhere they have descendants now living." From Farm
er's Roav there is a magnilicent view, westward, over the
valley of the Nashua, Avhich is very Avide but quite
shallow. The hills fade aAvay in receding masses ol
green, the outermost circle set Avith a rim of blue moun
tains Avhich shoot up here and there into little peaks, in
a way unique and extremely picturesque ; Avhile Monad-
nock, in the north, and AVachusett, iu the Avest, dominate
still all the landscape. From Farmer's Row, the princi-

160

~Wi:

BOATING TRIPS.

pal part of the village presents a very fine appearance,
on slightly rising ground on a street which runs to the
eastward of the Roav, and nearly parallel with it.
The houses, many of which are almost concealed in the
midst of trees, extend in a long, irregular line 'beneath a
heavy bank of dark-green foliage, above which rises, here
and there, a church-spire, pointing heavenward.
Proceeding northerly, along the Roav, a street leads to
the right into the Main Street of the village. Near the
junction of the streets is the old burying ground. On
the side street, just before going to the Main Street, is
the house Avherein Margaret Fuller was born and passed
her girlhood days. Then proceeding south, one comes to
the post-office, and in the same building is the town
library. Nearly opposite, is the residence of ex-Governor
Boutwell ; and in rear thereof, and not far distant, is an
eminence called Gibbet Hill, from a tradition that an
Indian Avas executed there. The summit commands a
very fine vieAv. Then one comes to the buildings of
LaAvrence Academy on the left-hand side, Avhile nearly
opposite is a roAV of old houses, one of Avhich, at present
occupied by a dealer in old furniture, was built nearly
two hundred years ago ; and there are several other
houses, equally old, in other parts of the town.
On the same street, Avhich is bordered on both sides by
beautiful elms of massive growth, is the old tavern, the
Central House, Avhich Avas used as a residence before the

THE NASHUA RIVER.

•m&.

'¦f*m

¦*T>

101

Revolution; and farther doAvn the road is the site of the
house, marked by a stone bearing a suitable inscription,
Avherein AVilliam Prescott, the commander of the Ameri
can forces at the battle of Bunker Hill, was born; and
near at band, is a fine, large, old-fashioned house, Avhich
Avas, at one time, a boarding school, and attended by
Margaret Fuller.
Whoever, however, desires to know about Groton
should consult the histories of the Hon. Samuel A. Green,
ex-mayor of Boston, a native of Groton, who has made a
complete collection of the epitaphs in the burying ground,
the early toAvn records, and Avritten a History of Groton
During the Indian Wars, besides compiling much other
miscellaneous information of an interesting character,
about the old taverns and stage lines, for instance. There
is also a very good history of the town by Caleb Butler.
Groton had very much the same experience as Lancaster
in the Indian Wars. The town av.is settled in 1655,
and was in no way molested until an attack, which was
made during King Philip's AVar, March 16, 1676. The
inhabitants, however, alarmed by the fate of Lancaster.
had retired to the garrison houses, live in number, the
sites of Avhich arc still knoAvn, and were situated, four at
least, near the present Alain Street. One garrison was
taken, but only three persons Avere lost. Nearly all the
buildings of the settlement were destroyed, however.
including the meeting-house, the site of Avhich has also

-itw

162

BOATING TRIPS.

been recently indicated by a monument. Soon after the
attack, hoAvever, the inhabitants abandoned the place,
and remained aAvay nearly two years before they ventured
to return. They Avere subject still to alarms from time to
time, howeA'er, and an occasional assault and depredation,
and, during King AA^illiam's War, an attack Avas made
July 27, 1694, in which tAveuty or more persons were
killed and a dozen or more taken into captivity.
Not far south of the post-office a road leads off from
Main Street and, after running Avesterly over the plateau,
terminates on Farmer's Roav, just south of the road up
from the Red Bridge.
It is supposed that just above the bridge on the Avest
side of the river Avas the site of an Indian village, as
a number of stone implements have been found there
near the bank of the stream ; and the site of other Indian
villages has been indicated in the same way in other
places in the town. Dr. Green has quite a large collection
of the crude utensils used by the Indians, Avhich have
been gathered in various parts of the toAvn, in the rooms
of the Massachusetts Historical Society, in Boston.
AAV returned to the boat about eleven o'clock, aud Avere
soon under Avay. After skirting the high east bank Avhich
makes a long curve to Avhere Ave encamped, we continued
on in a good current. By and by the banks Avere, for the
most part, covered with a riotous groAvth of bushes and
above Avere almost continuously lined with trees, mostly

THE NASHUA RIVER.

163

*-^

pines. It seemed indeed much of the time as if Ave Avere
on a river of wildernesses.
AAre pulled up after a leisurely row of about an hour,
perhaps less, under Fitch's Bridge, Avhich was fastened to
the banks by two long cables. The road east leads to
Groton, which is about two miles distant. The road.
hoAvever, branches on the Avay, the southerly mad
terminating, after a course a little more roundabout than
the other, in the village, Avhile the other intersects the
Great Road, so called, a road of unusual Avidth, formerly
the old stage route, Avhich runs direct from the village to
Tileston and HollingSAVorth's paper mills, and is there
continued over the river on a bridge designated Emery's
Bridge on an old map, though I think that now-a-days it is
generally spoken of as the Paper Mill Bridge. From
this, the third and last bridge in Groton, it is about
a mile — a pretty long one, hoAvever — by the Great
Road to the village.
The road Avest from Fitch's Bridge likeAvise branches
into tAA-o, one of Avhich, Avell shaded with great maples,
runs north parallel with the river, and the other dis
appears around the spur of a hill and runs, I knoAv not
where. AVe obtained some supplies at a farm-house, prettily
located on the lower road, and had a season of idleness
under the maples and on the bridge. After a Avhile we
embarked again and pulled through the reaches and then

^

164

BOATING TRIPS.

landed on the low, open, left bank, aud had lunch under
a mammoth oak, which was partly surrounded at a
respectful distance by a large family of small trees. The
river in front was motionless, as if it too were quietly
enjoymg a rest. The bank opposite was also low, and
beyond were broad and fertile meadows which terminated
against pretty, dark-green hills.

fit-, h&y

When Ave started on it was about three o'clock. As Ave
rowed along Ave heard the noise of machinery, which greAv
louder and louder, and, ere long, we pulled under the
Paper Mill Bridge which Avas being painted a very effective
red, and came close to the edge of a dam just below as
water was not pouring over. AVe could not get by on the
right, however, as Tileston and Hollingsworth's paper
mills covers the bank betAveen the bridge and the east
end of the dam, so Ave pulled to the west shore and

"N,*.

^7

-«-<«-

THE NASHUA RIVER.

165

landed there on the bulkhead. It Avould have been easy
to make a carry thence- along the bank, but, having first
unloaded the baggage, we lowered the boat over the dam
and moored her at the edge of the flooring beloAV, and in
a feAV minutes the baggage was tossed down, stoAved, and
Ave were drifting along in deep water Avith a rapid current.
Before fully getting under way Ave passed several Avomcn
in a group on the bank, Avho looked, in fioAving dresses,
much like Greek goddesses of Hibernian descent.
Just below where the dam now stands there used to
be a shallow place in the river called Stony fordivay.
Here, on May 8, 1709, John Shattuck, one of the select
men of the town of Groton, and his son, while crossing
the river, Avere killed by the Indians, and recently a stone
has been erected by Messrs. Tileston and Hollingsworth,
near the mill, in commemoration of the event.
The last man killed by the Indians in Groton Avas one
John Ames, avIio Avas slain on the Avest side of the river,
not far from the bridge, July P, 1724. The Indian who
killed him Avas, hoAvever, slain almost immediately after-
Avard by Ames's son.
On the cast side oi the Hollis Road, perhaps a mile and
a quarter from the village, was the site of a house which
has recently been marked by a monument bearing the
following inscription: "Here dwelt William and Deliver
ance Longley, with their eight children. On the twenty-
seventh of July, 1694, the Indians killed the father and

166

BOATING TRIPS.

mother and five of the children and carried into captivity
the other three." Of these children, one, Lydia, was sold
to the French and placed in a convent, became a Catholic,
and died at the age of eighty-four; one perished of hunger
and cold soon after his capture; while the other, after
remaining with the Indians four years, Avas ransomed
against his will and afterAvard lived and died in Groton,
and his remains now repose in the old burying ground.
The- scenery along the river beloAV the paper mills is
very fine. AVe passed tAvo or three rush-lined bays, thick
Avith lily-pads, and a sheltered cove, Avhose dark expanse
Avas dotted Avith a countless array of yellow lilies ; and
noAv and then a feAv fragrant Avhite pond-lilies Avhich
bloomed, hoAvever, at rare intervals along the river border.
Here and there along the turfy banks stood a great elm
in stately dignity, Avhile on either hand Avere broad, fertile
intervales and bills near or remote. Occasionally Ave
passed a group of lofty trees, and farther doAvn innumer
able, squads of pines.
After roAving about an hour the river began to groAv
Avider and quite sluggish, and Avas often bordered Avith
sedges. By and by Ave came to a small but very graceful
islet, covered with trees, at a bend of the stream. On the
right is a high, broad hill, bordered at the north by a
dense forest of pines, Avhich approaches the river ncarly
opposite the islet. AVe then passed through a slight rapid,
and thereafter kept along the east shore in a considerable

THE NASHUA RIVER.

167

current in the shadow of pines which line the bank-
almost continuously to Peppered.
AVc pulled through the reach, which is quite long and
straight, with houses of the village in view at the5 foot
<'f it, and landed just above the west end of the dam, and
then, from the bridge which crosses the river just below,
examined the dam to see how Ave could best get around'
it. The east bank is high and wellnigh impossible of
access. One might indeed get a boat over at the east end
ot the dam itself if water was not pouring over, as there
is a ledge of rocks below there sufficiently high to .-ive
looting. It would, however, apparently be an under
taking of doubtful value, as it would have been difficult
to navigate the riA-er below when water was pournm over
the dam at full head, on account of rocks ami shallows
AVe were, in addition, informed that there is another dam
only a- short distance farther down. The second dam
is quite Ioav, but Ave concluded upon the whole that it
would be better to make a carry to the lower mill, ,
distance of about quarter of a mile in all : and we there
fore ^had a man take the boat on a wheelbarrow, while
Ave folloAved Avith the bng'nio-e.
AVe had not proceeded far, mullled with parcels of
various kinds, when a rapid succession of hollow splash-
mgs fell upon our ears, and almost ere we realized the
nature and occasion of the mishap we found a couple
oi dozen eggs, which had escaped through the dampened

168

BOATING TRIPS.

THE NASHUA RIVER.

169

bottom of a paper bag, strewing the hard Avalk at our
feet, and' a woman, previously screened from observation
behind a pair of blinds, thereupon laughed aloud. The
impulse, however, that moved her to merriment Avas, I
assure her, very pardonable, and if the accident pleased

wm^^^'i

ye ^^epftrell
the fair — I hope she was fair — incognita, I am sure the,
incident amused us.
AVe launched the boat in the tail-race in the yard of the,
mill and were soon speeding in a swift current along the
western shore of the river. AVc soon landed, however, at
the covered bridge, a huge, gloomy, cavernous structure,

-*r

with very picturesque surroundings, especially about the
western mouth.
Here, and on other occasions while in the vicinity, Ave
heard a strange gibberish issuing out of the mouths oi
boys and young maidens, in Avhich Ave finally distinguished
sounds like hashee and tuthashee, which gave a key
to a dialect that, I believe, has some affinity to the Latin
tongue. A sentence sounded thus: —
" I AVUA'-o-nun-clud-e-rug Avuv-hash-e-rug-e tut-hash-e-y
a-rim-e gug-o-i-nun-gug avua'-i-( ui-hash tut-hash-e bub-o-a-
tut ! "
This language, which, after all, is simply an extension
of English, is formed by doubling each consonant and
placing the voavcI u betAveen the two, except certain
consonants AA'hose sound will not permit, as c, Avhich
becomes caus to distinguish it from k, and h, Avhich
becomes hash, j, jug, r, rug, and av, avuv; Avhile q and x
and the vowels remain the same. Pronounced as the
youth of Peppered pronounced it, trippingly on the
tongue. Avith the rapidity of great familiarity, it had
a sound as foreign and unintelligible as the speech of
Greek or ChoctaAv. If only the oft-recurring "hash"
could be changed into a form a little less flat and dis
cordant, the flow of the utterance Avould be, from the
constant repetition of the most euphonious of voAvels, as
musical as Tuscan Italian, or the Spanish of Castile.
Peppered Avas set off from Groton and given the name

170

BOATING TRIPS.

THE NASHUA RIVER.

171

of Pepperell in honor of Sir William Pepperell, avIio
commanded the NeAv England expedition of six thousand
men that captured Louisburg and subjected the Isle of
Cape Breton to the possession of Great Britain, in 1745.
The principal village, Avhich is called Middle Pepperell, is
about a mile from the river. The village along the west
side of the river by the mills is called Babbatasset, Avhich
Avas the Indian name of the locality. East Village is
situated along the Nissitisset, a stream Avhich empties
into the Nashua a short distance below the covered
bridge, Avhile opposite Babbatasset is the Depot Village,
as it is called thereabouts, though it appears on maps as
East Pepperell.
AVe encamped about half a mile doAvn river on the left
bank under a canopy of pines. A\re broke camp late in the
afternoon of the next day, and drifted quite swiftly along
in a strong current, and occasionally were hurried onward
by a rapid. The banks Avere quite high and almost
continuously lined Avith trees. After a Avhile the river
greAv broader aud Ave passed several quite high sand bluffs.
AVe roAvcd about an hour altogether, and then landed on
the right bank, and at a. house aluwe, the first avc had seen,
made inquiry as to our whereabouts. The Avonian Avho
gave us directions said she saw our boat coming round
the bend above and for a moment thought it Avas a canoe
in Avhich her son was making a voyage home from Canada.
lie had intended to come down the Passumpsie into the

t

s*

Connecticut, and paddle doAvn the Connecticut to Miller's
River, aud up Miller's River as far as possible, Avhich, I
should say, could not be A-ery far, — and then, making
a carry by the Fitchburg Railroad, launch his canoe in
the North Branch of the Nashua, and so reach home,
— an interesting journey I hope he successfully accom
plished. Around the next bend below the place Avhere avc
landed, is a covered bridge, high above the Avater. The
bed of the river underneath is quite thickly strcAvn Avith
rocks. A\re had some trouble threading our Avay among
them, but at length came to a shallow channel on the left
through which Ave towed the boat. It Avould be easy to
shoot a little fall the river makes on the right were it not
that the Avater just below dashes with great violence
against a rocky ledge. AVe afterward heard it stated that
the Nashua Manufacturing Company intends soon to
erect a dam here. There is a small settlement at the
east end of the bridge, Avhich is colloquially knoAvn as
Pumpkin Toavu. The road Avest from the bridge leads to
Hollis, Avhich is about three miles distant. It is one nf
the earliest settlements iu Ncav Hampshire, aud. I am
informed, still preserves marks ol its antiquity. We
pitched the tent on the right bank of the bend next
below the falls, as night Avas falling upon the shadowv
landscape. We Avere under Avay again early Monday morning and

172

BOATING TRIPS.

THE NASHUA RIVER.

173

rowed along the east bank in a fair current, and for a long
time in the shadoAV of quite an extensive avoocI. AVild
roses and fioAvcrs of various hue bloomed at frequent
intervals along shore, and the air Avas full of invigorathm-
freshness. By and by avc passed an island of comely pro
portions, covered Avith rich undergrowth, and Avoods, and
fields in constant succession. AVhile roAving aloim- avc
amused ourselves for a time by bloAving soap-bubbles.
The rainboAA'-hued globes, instead of bursting Avhen they
touched the Avater, as avc supposed they Avould, glanced
lightly along even where it Avas calm, or gayly bounded
from wave to wave, usually a long time before Hashing
out of sight. Occasionally a bubble mounting iu air,
moved quickly to the impulse of every Arariable 'wind
hither and thither until, like its companions on the Avater,
the brilliant iridescence burst into nothingness.
After about an hour's pull Ave came to Mine Run, the
last fall in the river aboAre Nashua. BeloAvthe dam at the
head of the run Avas a dry bed of naked jagged rocks
which curved dowmvard out of sight betAveen steep banks
covered Avith dreary pines, and all the valley beloAV Avas
a silent sea of green spray. A carry in the rough channel
to the, head of the river would have been lone' and
©
difficult, so Ave roAvod oArer a boom of logs and carried the
boat around the gate-house at the right and launched
her in the canal beloAV, which, hoAvever, at once broad
ened out into a Avide reservoir, bordered with trees except

V

at the end behnv Avhere it is scarred by a great bank of
sand which glistened in the sun. AVe lingered some time
in the open space by the gate-house and in the Avoods
around the head of the reservoir, amid a strange solitude,
undisturbed, except by the noise of the water, which
struggled out from under the gate, and, at brief intervals,
moaned like some monster in distress.
AVhen Ave embarked and put off into the reservoir Ave
1

W r\ =1
^'.fyvrv,-. ami!

MainSf. 'Bt-idtfiA'sshua

Avere for a Avhile in much doubt Avhich Avay to proceed.
AVe pulled, hoAvever, along the northern shore and at
length discovered the bead of the canal Avhich was screened
from ArieAv around a bend, and enjoyed very much our pull
through the long, uniform reaches that gently curved one
into another between tree-lined banks. Tho canal is Avide
and deep, and the Avater runs along through it iu heavy
volume with strong current. The canal is dug along the
side of a hill and near the end is quite high above the

174

BOATING TRIPS.

river, which lies in peaceful quiet in the valley beloAV.
After a delightful sail of nearly tAvo miles in all, Ave landed
at a carriage-gate on the road Avhich runs along the outer
enbankment of the canal, and, carrying the boat across
the road, lowered her doAvn tho steep bank on the other
side, and in a Icav minutes launched her once more on the
Nashua. AVc pulled up river a short distance and pitched
the tent in a piece of avoocIs on the grounds of the Nashua
Manufacturing Company, Avhich extend for three miles
between the canal and river.
During the night Ave were aAvakened by a terrific clap
of thunder, which Avas folloAved b}' dazzling flashes of
lightning, and a furious thunder storm burst upon us.
The wind was so violent that Ave were for a time appre-
hensiA-e that it Avould demolish the tent, which had been
less securely fastened than usual, but fortunately the
canvas stood up under it, and avc escaped a wetting.
AArc embarked for our final pull Tuesday morning at an
early hour. AVe rowed through quite a long reach past
a wooded bank on the right, Avhich, after a while, receded
around a deep recess ; Avhile opposite AA-ere broad fields Avith
hills beyond, and before us Avas the tall brick chimney of
a mill, and here and there amid green slopes the steeple of
a ehurch and houses of Nashua. We soon pulled around
an abrupt bend, wooded on the left, Avhile opposite, a little
farther down the reach beloAV, Avas the long, high, imposing
mill of the Nashua Manufacturing Company, and our Avay

THE NASHUA RIVER.

175

fir

ivas then in the midst of the city. At the end of the
reach, which is lined on the south side with mills and on the
north with dwellings, is a long bridge. There is a dam
just below Nashua which supplies motive poiver to the

-"Vo/ ,vaspy * "2nl^tn\ i» a&
Jackson Mills, and it is only a short distance beloAV the
mill to the Merrimac. We landed at Boyntoirs boat-
house, No. 46 Front Street, whence it is only a few
minutes'' walk to the depot of the Boston and Lowell Rail
road, which is near the north end of the bridge.
It is thirty-seven miles by rail from AVest Roylston to

176

BOATING TRIPS.

Nashua, but it is safe to say that the distance by river is
at least sixty. The trip occupied a Aveek, but Ave Avere
actually in the boat roAving only about thirty hours in all.
There is indeed an almost constant temptation to linger
along the delightful course of the gentle Nashua, and at
the end one could not, I think, Avell help indulging
a regret that the voyage had changed from a reality to
a dream.

YALE

YALE UNIVERSITY

a39002 0022280Ub

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