An Elusive Moswetuset Hummock

 

I needed to extend my paddling week by adding a make-up day yesterday in order to accomplish my objective for the week...reaching Moswetuset Hummock by boat.  I had stumbled upon mention of it in an article The 'Indianized' Landscape of Massachusetts by Mark Jarzombek which included a great map of the Colonial Frontier ca. 1650.  What I found most intriguing about this historically significant Native American site was that the Hummock is described as being pretty much the same as it was 400 years ago.  No way I could pass on paying such a spot a visit.

The previous Monday, prior to learning about Moswetuset Hummock, I'd paddled out of Hingham Harbor on a beautiful morning when tide and wind were ideal for visiting Grape and Slate islands...

It was after this paddle that I learned about the Hummock's existence.

My first attempt at reaching Moswetuset Hummock (3 days later) came up short when, after launching into the Neponset River in Dorchester, MA, I encountered a steady and stiff wind upon reaching the river's mouth at Squantum Point.  This caused me to rethink my plan of reaching the Hummock by paddling around Marina Bay and Chapel Rocks...

At one point while in the tidal Billings Creek I was within a half mile of the Hummock.  So close yet so far.   A causeway blocked my getting closer via the creek.
  

Thus I added the extra day and decided to make a second attempt approaching from the opposite direction.  Launched yesterday at sunrise about 1.5 hours after high tide from Houghs Neck in Quincy, MA...   

After paddling around the fishing pier at the tip of Nut Island...

...I spotted the Hummock some 3 miles distant and watched it slowly grow larger and larger as I paddled across Quincy Bay...

It was just a little past mid-tide when I made landfall there...

...which left little time for exploring things as the area around the Hummock becomes a big mud flat at low tide.

The markers on the short trail running around the Hummock:

...

...this kiosk shows just how rich this area was in resources...

...

...the view from where the Massachusetts tribe's sachem, Chickatawbut, may have built his wigwam...

,,,an in-ground fireplace...

It's said that he hoped to avoid contracting disease by staying fairly isolated there.  Sadly he died in 1633 possibly from smallpox.  

After visiting the Hummock I drove about a  mile north to Nickerson Beach at the northern tip of Squantum to visit the Myles Standish cairn.  According to historians, in 1621 Myles Standish landed here after traveling by boat from the Plymouth Colony.  The Native American, Tisquanto (aka Squanto), was acting as his guide in locating Chickatawbut and his abode at Moswetuset Hummock. The cairn was created in 1895 to memorialize the spot where it's believed Standish and Squanto made landfall...

The most legible part of the inscription...

It's an interesting location with the prominent Nickerson Rock...

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At dead low tide, a sandbar ran from Nickerson Rock across to Thompson Island...

Other spots I visited in Squantum included Squantum Point Park which during World Wars I and II served as a Naval Air Station.  I believe this grassy expanse was formerly one of the air station's  runways...

From Squantum Point I could see the 350-passenger luxury yacht Sir Winston docked at Marina Bay...

Across the Neponset River's mouth was the Dorchester Gas Tank (aka "Rainbow Swash")...

Some wildlife encounters on my paddle across Quincy Bay included:

Terns...

Harbor seals, gulls, and ducks hanging around the Hangman Island vicinity...

A cormorant rookery seen a week ago in Hingham Harbor...

Most of the boats I encountered were providing ferry service between Boston and Hingham:

The Ruth E. Hughes...

...and the Sanctuary...

...had just crossed paths by Peddock's Island.

A map showing my 3 Massachusetts Bay outings this past week: The yellow line is my route from Hingham Harbor a week ago; the blue line shows the section of the Neponset River I paddled on Thursday; and the red line shows yesterday's route from Houghs Neck to Moswetuset Hummock (marked in orange)...

Chickatawbut certainly chose a great spot for his wigwam.  He had the open bay to one side and tidal creeks and flats to the other.  I suspect that at high tide it became a true island.  Back in the late 90's I recall reading of construction workers unearthing a set of Native American tools at the nearby Caddy Memorial Park.  The tools appeared to have been deliberately buried and are believed to have been used in the killing and butchering of beached whales around 3000 years ago. 

Way back, now more than a week ago, I got in a freshwater paddle to Fairhaven Bay on the Sudbury River...

...which may have whet my appetite for islands and more wide open waters.

Trash from the Sudbury River...

Trash from the Hingham Harbor area (mostly Slate Island)...

Trash from the Neponset River between Granite Ave and Squantum Point...

Trash from Quincy Bay was few and far between...

 

Great Meadows Near and Far

My river travels this past week brought me to the Concord, Connecticut, and Assabet rivers.

Got my week started at Egg Rock where nearly all of its text was visible...

...indicating river levels had fallen to something closer to normal.

The Old North Bridge was no longer flooded...

...as it was two weeks ago when the annual re-enactment of the April 19,1775 battle was cancelled due to high water.

Further downriver this bench, possibly from the Great Meadows National Wildlife Refuge trails, attested to the recent flooding...

Turned about at Davis Hill...

The otherwise dreary day was brightened up a bit by these flames...

...where someone was burning brush.

On my way back upriver I stopped at October Farm and explored the ruins of William Brewster's riverside cabins. 

Drove to Vermont on a whim Tuesday morning and launched from Putney Landing...

...located about 15 miles upriver from the Vernon, VT dam.

Waited for the very tail-end of a thunderstorm to clear the area before heading upriver...

Passed along knobby hills on the river's west side...

Noticed an occupied eagle nest to the east of the river...

Eventually reached the shallow area where Mill Brook enters the river...

...which provided a good spot for lunch and was across the river from Putney's Great Meadow.

This stitched-together map from UNH's Dimond Library shows Great Meadows near the top, and Putney Landing just off the page bottom left...

According to Rich Holschuh, Public Liason for the Elnu Abenaki Tribe, in an article, Putney Great Meadows (K'tsi Mskodak) found on the Brattleboro Historical Society's website: "When the British first ventured up the Kwenitekw (Connecticut River) in the early 1700s they found a glorious stand of yellow pine trees covering the K'tsi Mskodak, the Great Meadows of Putney, Vermont...this fertile floodplain, encompassing 500 acres of well-drained sandy loam, projects eastward toward New Hampshire nearly a mile, with the Connecticut River sweeping in a broad arc around its fertile expanse."  Rich also explains that what was called "yellow pine" back then is today known as red pine.  "The stand at K'tsi Mskodak certainly caught the attention of the merchants in New London, Connecticut, already a well-established center for shipbuilding, In 1732 a party of seventy men was sent upriver to cut the tall arrow-straight pines for the use of the King's Navy - it was British law that all such trees were Royal property.  Accounts indicate that the trees were cut and floated down the river continuing into the following year. Save for Massachusetts' frontier outpost 16 miles downriver at Fort Dummer (at the south edge of what is now Brattleboro, Vermont), this was an exceedingly rare venture into the northern unknown by the English interlopers."  It's hard for me to imagine what the native Abenaki people would have thought upon seeing clear-cutting of trees that they also valued for the pitch they produced.

At the south end of Great Meadow stood this log cabin...

...which may have been intended to serve as a reminder of the long-gone Fort Putney.  The cabin is located about 1500 feet from a stone marker for the fort.  The first fort at Great Meadows was built in 1740 and later demolished.  A second fort was built in 1755 and is described as having been built of pine logs with the following dimensions: 120 ft by 80 ft with walls 17 ft high. It encompassed some 15 dwellings and a staff of 10 or so soldiers.  Fort Dummer was about 12 miles downriver, and Fort Number 4 was about 20 miles upriver.  These forts allowed English settlers to gain a toehold on these valuable tracts of land along the Connecticut River.  The forts were put to the test during the French and Indian wars. 

My trip back downriver to Putney Landing was swift and saw brightening skies...

On Thursday I was back on my local waters launching from Chapin Road in Hudson, MA and paddling the Assabet River.  Enjoyed the best weather of the week with temps near 75 degrees F.

Passed under the Taylor Bridge at Wood Park...

...before reaching downtown Hudson...

Ventured upriver toward the Four Bridges area...

The passage where one of the four bridges once spanned the gap...

Came across this rabbit...

...beneath the mayhem of the Route 495/290 interchange traffic.

Sunday's trash from the Concord River...

...included these official coffee containers for two of our Boston teams...

Hope their playoff drives don't get cut short like these cups.

Tuesday's trash from the Connecticut River...

...included an empty 5-gallon kerosene jug and somebody's golf club.

Thursday's trash from the Assabet River...

...included 14 "nip" bottles and some laundry-related containers.