In his book, Walking Towards Walden, John Hanson Mitchell treks — bushwhacks — with two friends through the woods from Westford to Concord. He spoke at the Conservation Trust’s annual meeting three years ago and was a delight. His book is delightful as well with just enough eccentricity to keep the reader’s interest up.
To start the eccentric motor running he and his small band paid a visit to the site of the stone monument to the Westford Knight, a fabled visitor to North America from Europe who in legend explored the area in 1399. According to Mitchell, no archaeologist has even bothered to refute the claims of this predecessor to Columbus, but many locals firmly believe in the Knight.
Mitchel is a believer in the importance of sense of place and told us at our meeting that he wrote Walking Towards Walden about it. He feels that Concord Massachusetts is the most America of all places. It is the place in the US with the most thereness, he feels.
I think that Prospect Hill Wildlife Sanctuary might be the most ‘Westford’ of all of our conservation lands. Its small — ~ eight acres — and humble but full of history and nature, and its right in the very center of town on Hildreth street (one of our most scenic) across from The Salt Box farm, one of the few remaining farms in town. It has Norway Spruce that were planted after the 1938 hurricane, a huge Shagbark hickory and its thickly wooded throughout making it a good habitat for deep forest birds including Wood Thursh and Blue-winged Warbler. To top it all off there is a corn field as if thrown in for good measure. (These details are from the Westford Trails guide book published by the Westford Conservation Trust)
The Sanctuary is also a place of invasive plant species. The is lots of Fire Thorn and other invasives, something that Lenny Palmer of the Conservation Trust is working to mitigate. It is also a haven for Poison Ivy, so wear long pants and boots if you hike through it.
The land was donated in 1999 by Priscilla Elliott and the entrance to the Sanctuary (nice word) is gated. I wonder of the gate was there before she made her generous donation or if it was put up then. It looks timeless so I guess its old.
I’ve been taking photos of the gate and entrance for the 2008 Westford Conservation Trust calendar. The photo above is my best effort so far. It is more of a challenge than I thought it would be. The sun creates hot spots so I arrived earlier today to avoid strong sun light. But then the breeze blows the leaves around making it difficult to have all the foliage in focus. But then why does it all need to be in focus? Maybe so the the image has a restful, peaceful feeling inviting the viewer into the woods beyond the gate. Or maybe I’m being a typically fussy photographer. If I was painting the scene I doubt that I would try to represent each leaf in perfect clarity.
If you care to please let me know how you like the photo. Or better yet, go to the Sanctuary and hike around then let me know what you think about it. Enjoy the birds and trees but — watch the poison ivy!
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July 17, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Prospect Hill Revisited « Photos and thoughts from my journey
[…] thoughts? Do you like the latest image above or do you like the first one better? Any ideas about photographing the woods? BTW here is one of my favorite woodland […]
July 18, 2007 at 9:47 am
bill
OK – this has nothing to do with your wonderful photographs of Prospect Hill – but rather your reference to J.H. Mitchell’s reference to The “westford Knight”… it HAS been refuted, and this terribly unfortunate, ridiculous modern creation is an affront to the sensibilities of any educated historian or geologist. The Merrimack River, which the party supposedly ventured up, is unnavigable for an ocean-going vessel; Prospect Hill would have been wooded until the 1600s and would not have afforded any view; anyone with any education of glacial scarring of rocks would immediately recognize the markings on the stone as such, glacial etchings can be found on stones throughout the northeast U.S. To attribute the markings to anything else – is not only bad history, bad archaelogy (and I am not aware of any formal digs that have been performed there) and bad geology. Mitchell is a cool guy, and I enjoy his writings, but unfortunately he has fallen for just another specious roadside attraction.
July 18, 2007 at 11:18 am
frankwinters
Hi Bill,
As always, thanks for the comment.
But in this case I think you missed Mitchell’s point — “According to Mitchell, no archaeologist has even bothered to refute the claims of this predecessor to Columbus, but many locals firmly believe in the Knight.”
No archaeologist has even bothered to refute these claims because they are not credible in the least. Or at least I think that’s what was intended by what he wrote.
If an infinite number of glaciers drag themselves across Westford sooner or later a Westford Knight or space traveler will seem to have left us a message or written a sonnet……..
Cheers,
Frank
October 31, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Derek
Ok Bill… you know all the answers, huh? Let’s see…
“and this terribly unfortunate, ridiculous modern creation is an affront to the sensibilities of any educated historian or geologist.”
-First of all, the image on that ledge is not a “modern creation.”
Records go back at least to the 1880s that mention an image that was attributed to the Native Americans. While it is not proven, it is not ridiculous either. And by the way, there was a geologist from GA who examined it and thought that the image was quite old.
“The Merrimack River, which the party supposedly ventured up, is unnavigable for an ocean-going vessel”
-Ok. You’re correct. However, the pro-Sinclair people never said an ocean-going vessel went all the way up the Merrimack and then the Stony Brook. It has always been theorized that smaller boat(s) were used.
“Prospect Hill would have been wooded until the 1600s and would not have afforded any view”
-Hmmm…. really? So that precludes the possibilty that a Native American (or early visitor) wouldn’t climb as high as they could on the tallest tree on that hill in say, December (when the leaves gone), and use it as a lookout? And when you say that the area would’ve been entirely wooded up until the 1600s you could be really off the mark. If you do a little research on Native land management practices you will find that in many instances the Native Americans periodically cleared the land by controlled fires. See page 48 in “Changes In The Land” by William Cronon or try “Manitou” by James Mavor/Byron Dix. Or visit Burnt Hill in Heath, MA. In several accounts, early colonists remarked that they found the landscape “park like” and were reminded of England.
“anyone with any education of glacial scarring of rocks would immediately recognize the markings on the stone as such”
-Yes. There are glacial marks on that ledge. But there are also deliberate, man-made punch marks on it too. Have you even been to the site? I see glacial scarring but I also see punch marks.
“unfortunately he has fallen for just another specious roadside attraction”
-Seems like you’re very certain this site is specious. Readers… check it out for yourselves and beware people who are so certain. There are pros and cons regarding the Westford Knight but the case is far from being closed like this guy Bill purports.
Derek
Please note:
Some person in the recent past painted that part of the ledge that possibly shows a shield with Gunn heraldry. That shouldn’t have happened for obvious reasons, but most unfortunately they got the position a bit off. Anyone who compares the earliest drawings by Glynn with the painted shield on the ledge will see what I’m mean.
October 31, 2007 at 11:26 pm
Derek
ooops..
Anyone who compares the earliest drawings by Glynn with the painted shield on the ledge will see what I mean. (not “I’m mean”.. haha I just sound like it in the previous comment!)