Trashpaddler: All the Leaves are Gone

Saturday, December 11, 2021

All the Leaves are Gone

In paddling the above pictured bit of the Sudbury River last Sunday morning the lyrics to the song California Dreamin' came to mind: All the leaves are brown (gone in this case), and the sky is gray, I've been for a walk (paddle in this case) on a winter's day....

At the Sudbury/Assabet confluence I drifted down the Concord River passing the Concord Minuteman who's been standing sentinel there since the 1875 Centennial...

At Saw Mill Brook the river sweeps gently around the "Holt"...

While retrieving a beer can this old whiskey? bottle was found just below the surface...

It's embossed with Patrick Gillon and Co. of Milford Mass and is quite likely from the early 1900's. Still watertight but has a crack in the glass.

By the time I reached Davis Hill the day had turned into a beauty for this time of the year. Several other boats were encountered including these two...

...temporarily beached near October Farm.

Yesterday I returned to the Concord River launching a little further down at the Bedford Boat Launch. Paddled downriver and passing Two Brothers Rocks along the way...

Interesting to think that Governor John Winthrop (the "city on a hill" guy) and Deputy Governor Thomas Dudley rowed a boat to this spot in January of 1638. Standing at these two boulders they divided their respective land grants of roughly 1,000 acres each. In the above photo Dudley's rock and land are to the left (north) and Winthrop's to the right (south).

Another few miles further downriver is Jug Island. This upriver view shows Jug to the right and what might have been H.D.T.'s Fox Island to the left (only speculation on my part)...