Nemasket to Assawompset

 

Paddled the upper 2 miles of the Nemasket River (above photo) yesterday morning enroute to the river's headwaters at  Assawompset Pond in Lakeville, MA. 

This map from the University of New Hampshire Dimond Library Collection shows the area...

Information related to paddling the Nemasket was found on a guide to the Upper Nemasket River a joint production by the Taunton River Watershed Alliance and the Rhode Island Blueways Alliance.
 

I started just a little after daybreak...

...having launched at Old Bridge Street named for the above pictured bridge no longer used by vehicles...

Headed upriver passing under the newer Bridge Street Bridge...

The sun was climbing the trees to my left while the moon was still to be seen to my right...

Between the two was this little creation...

Eventually I approached what is said to be the largest natural body of water in Massachusetts...

...and right up to the dam/barrier that forbids boaters from entering...

The signs read...

The reason being that the pond is a source of drinking water for the City of Taunton...

Herring are afforded entry to the pond via this fish ladder...

...and thereby allowed entry into the Assawompset Pond Complex which consists of Assawompset, Pocksha, Great Quintticas, Little Quinticcas, and Long ponds.  According to Mass Audubon the springtime herring run in the Nemasket River is one of the largest herring runs on the east coast.  A related plaque at Old Bridge Street...

The expansive waters of Assawompset Pond...

I've long wanted to visit the pond because of the pivotal role it played in the lead up to the 1676 conflict known as King Philip's War.  The pond was the site of an unfortunate event in 1675 where a local Native American man, John Sassamon, went missing while out hunting or fishing.  Eventually his body was found and the English authorities concluded he'd been murdered.  According to Leo Bonfanti in his Biographies and Legends of the New England Indians (Vol 2):  "The finding of John Sassamon's body in Assawampsett Pond, and the trial and execution of his three alleged murderers, was the spark that set these two diverse civilizations (English and Native American) at each other in the most destructive war that New England had experienced since the Plymouth Colony was founded." 

Soon after beginning my drift back down the Nemasket I came across this hawk...

...enjoying the view.

At a point downriver from Vaughan Street the river splits into 2 channels.  The west side channel (man-made) is said to have been utilized by steam-powered side wheelers that operated on the river and pond in the late 1800s.  The west channel is a shortcut around a winding stretch.  I took the shortcut on the way up and the river's original course on the way down.  Photo of the steamboat channel looking north...

According to a very detailed blog post at Recollecting Nemasket (http://nemasket.blogspot.com) titled "Nemasket Steamboats, 1877 - 95" steam-powered boats, the Pioneer and the Assawampsett, traveled from Middleborough upriver to and onto Assawompset Pond until 1895 when the dam/barrier was installed.  In addition to preventing entry onto the pond the structure also lowered the water level in the river while raising the level on the pond.

I found the waters of the Nemasket River to be crystal clear, which is understandable considering its source being a drinking water supply.  It reminded me of paddling the Swift River below the Quabbin Reservoir. 

Not much trash was encountered...

Back in 2014 I entered the Nemasket at its confluence with the Taunton River and found an empty Nemasket Spring Water Co. bottle.  This time near the river's other end I came across an empty beverage container that also may have local roots...