All Entries Related to "Project 351"
November 02, 2007
64 Lines About 32 Towns*
One thing I've been doing this summer, in addition to not writing, is making progress on Project 351. I've hit 32 more towns since I last checked in. Here are the Cliff Notes:
1. Hingham. The Old Ship Church is, well, a church designed to be reminiscent of a ship's hull. Which leads us to...
2. Hull. I really like this one; it's Fort Revere Park at the tip of Hull, with the causeway leading downtown in the background. I should have announced this trip ahead of time, to stock up on the "Highway to Hull" and "it'll be a cold day in Hull" jokes I know I would have received. My bad.
3. Cohasset. The replica of Minot Light on the Cohasset shore is a lot easier to get to than Minot Light itself, especially with my miserable history of maritime skills.
4. Scituate. Scituate Lighthouse. Those coastal towns are so much easier to find landmarks in than the landlocked ones.
5. Dover. It wasn't all that exciting the day I was there, but this picture of the town common is nice to look at now that we're plunging into the drear of November.
6. Medfield. The Peak House is one of the only buildings in Medfield to survive King Philip's War. If nothing else, Project 351 is really raising my King Philip's War awareness. Wait till I get to spend more time in Shay's Rebellion Country.
7. Westwood. I learned on the Internet that the drummer boy from the Battle of Bunker Hill was buried in Westwood. I thought a picture of the final resting place of an historically-significant-if-taken-too-soon youth would be poignant and meaningful. Turns out he survived the battle and lived another 60 years. Good for him; bad for my application to Deep and Meaningful School of Photography.
8. Dedham. I tried to swing by the Fairbanks House on three separate previous excursions, but was foiled by (a) a town fair, (b) rain, and (c) a road race. Fourth time was the charm! Here's also a good place to plug the Museum of Bad Art, which isn't the slightest bit disappointing.
9. Melrose. I finally found an observation tower that wasn't closed! So I went up it. It's right in the middle of a golf course, which made me feel a little conspicuous walking among the golfers. But I had nicer pants on.
10. Wakefield. The first town in Massachusetts named after a member of the 2004 Red Sox has a nice lake with an impressive stone church alongside it. They were hosting a wedding the day I was there; if you look at the big version of the picture, you can see what's either a bridesmaid or an Imperial Stormtrooper.
11. Reading. Reading Common. If this was a seaside town, I might have had more to work with.
12. Stoneham. I went to the very pleasant Spot Pond, then my car wouldn't start. I fiddled and cursed, then remembered the exact same thing happened in Virginia on Day Two of a two-week road trip a couple years ago. I did what the Virginia AAA guy did, and off I went. Memory; it comes in handy sometimes.
13. Marblehead. I went with the lighthouse again, but I got a great tour of the scenic sights of Marblehead from Christine at (a)Musings. We're going to meet up again for a tour of the Merrimack Valley as soon as our schedules line up.
14. Swampscott. Lobster traps and a boat. I'm telling you; these seaside towns are easy pickins.
15. New Ashford. I drove out to the Berkshires with two good friends whose car had suffered a fatal episode out there, and learned that there's a town called New Ashford, which has about 31 people and a cool old one-room schoolhouse.
16. Williamstown. Williams College, home of the Ephs and freaky eyeball sculptures. Pssst...they're still watching me...
17. North Adams. I spent some time here, wandering around the scenic downtown and stumbling into The North Adams Museum. I love stumbling into tiny museums that are largely labors of love. This one instantly became one of my favorites.
18. Adams. The access roads are closed, and I ain't hiking all the way up, but I had to include Mt. Greylock, the Commonwealth's highest point. Incidentally, I was reading something online about the type of people who try to get to the highest point in all 50 states (hmmm...) and they say the toughest to attain are Alaska and Montana, because of their size and remoteness, and Rhode Island, because the hill was on private property and the owner (not anymore, he sold it) was an ornery son-of-a-bitch who didn't like people hiking through his land. (Note: this entry just led to twenty solid minutes of Wikipedia-surfing. I love the Internet; I hate the Internet.
19. Clarksburg. The turning point of the world-famous hairpin turn!!
20. Salem. It's tough to pick just one image from historic Salem. Do you go with ships, old witches, new witches, literary sites, or the local packie? I went with old witches. Or at least old suspected witches.
21. Westfield. Stanley Park is a very nice place, with a garden and a pond and staircases and ducks. You could almost set a quirky indie English movie there.
22. Russell. Town #100!! Mostly known for being the town on the Mass Pike where you begin the long climb into the Berkshires, I commemorated it by taking a picture of the Mass Pike.
23. Montgomery. Interesting fact: in the last 75 years, the only people to successfully make it into downtown Montgomery are people trying to get to every town in Massachusetts. It's hard to get to.
24. Granville. Words like "Olde" and "Shoppe" raise red flags, and not just for me. However, here's the Olde Blacksmith Shoppe.
25. Southwick. Famous for being the town that sticks out into Connecticut for no apparent reason, Southwick is also home to the Congamond Lakes, which are damned hard to park at. I crossed the border 42 times before I finally gave up and drove to the other end for a fairly unsatisfying shot. At this location, I couldn't even make the unsatisfying claim of being in MA, yet being farther south than 0.01% of CT. Bummer.
26. Rutland. One of my rare pictures with people in them, since I attended the Pumpkin Paddle, in which people hollow out giant pumpkins and row around a lake in them. And yes, since you were asking, there is an outfit called the New England Giant Pumpkin Growers Association.
27. Holden. The impressive stone Gale Library. I stumped some Holden residents I knew when I asked what was scenic and picturesque. Again, seaside towns are so much easier.
28. Paxton. Moore State Park is really cool; it's got waterfalls and an old mill and waterfalls and is a nice place to walk around. Or have a furtive makeout session in a clearing. (Not on this trip. Years and years ago.)
29. Seekonk. I once again had to enlist a librarian's help, since the nature preserve I thought I was headed for turned out to be a birdfeeder and a loud family having a picnic. She sent me to the Old Grist Mill, which is a restaurant. More ducks were seen.
30. Rehoboth. More King Philip's War! This is Anawan Rock, where the capture of Chief Anawan ended the battling. Rehoboth proves that you can present an historic rock in this state tastefully, without a showy pavilion and unrequited hopes of excitement.
31. Somerset. The Braga Bridge whisks I-195 traffic into Fall River. Caution: if you're heading there to recreate this picture (why?), don't make a wrong turn and end up on the access road to the giant power plant, unless you're a fan of U-turns and squints from security guards.
32. Swansea. The Martin House Farm, which is nice if a bit anticlimactic after Anawan Rock.
110 down, 241 to go.
* Not to be taken literally
Posted by Michael at 11:36 AM | Comments (4)
May 18, 2007
Project 351: Worcester and Such
The pictures might look a little odd, in that the sun is shining, but a couple of weeks ago I got out and hacked away a little more at Project 351. This one began out in the Brookfields, which aren't terribly noteworthy. But they're 75% done, with a lakeside view in East Brookfield, the Town Hall of North Brookfield, and a marker in Brookfield that commemorates Joshua Spooner, who was murdered and chucked down a well in the Crime of the (18th) Century.
Next was Spencer, and the pleasant Howe State Park, named after the Howe Family, who invented a bunch of stuff and spent the rest of their life dealing with jerks who asked them Howe it all worked.
Then Leicester, where I'd read about the supposedly haunted Spider Gates Cemetery. It was tricky to find; it's set way off any road, but a nice lady with two dogs told me where to park and how to get there. It really wasn't that creepy, but the gates are pretty cool and the welcome sign does seem designed to discourage thrillseekers (you can also see my reflection in the sign - at least I hope it's MY reflection!). No ghosts or supernatural goings-on to report, but when I got back in the car, my iPod shuffle served up Michael Jackson's "Thriller" as the next tune.
Finally, I ended up in Worcester, where my delightful sister accompanied me on a trip to some of the sights. We stopped at Holy Cross (where you get a nice view of the city), the downtown area (with its inexplicable boy-riding-a-turtle statue), and the renovated Union Station (really hopping on a Sunday afternoon).
78 down, 273 to go!
Posted by Michael at 06:03 PM | Comments (3)
April 22, 2007
Project 351: The Southwest Corner
All week long, I was checking the weather forecast like it was a winning lottery ticket, peeking every five minutes just to make sure the numbers hadn't changed.
So Saturday (which was my birthday, if the #33 post below was too subtle) dawned sunny and high 60s and just absolutely perfect. Time to hit the road! I headed almost all the way out west on the Pike, and made my first stop in Tyringham as Santarella, famously known as The Gingerbread House. Then over some windy mountain roads to Monterey. What the pictures don't convey is how nice the Berkshires smelled. The air was crisp and clean, people were burning leaves or something off in the distance everywhere, and it was just fantastic. Of course, I wasn't downwind from any cows.
In Monterey is the old General Store (here's what they purport to sell, but I wasn't in the market for castor oil or cheese hoops. I saw a classic Monterey, MA, traffic jam, when three cars all pulled out at the same time.
(Monterey, incidentally, has its unusual name because it split off from Tyringham right about the time the U.S. was celebrating its victory in the Mexican War. The things you learn on the interwebz.)
Next stop was Sheffield, where there's a really cool hiking spot called Bartholomew's Cobble. Right up along the Housatonic River, there's a hill covered with huge rocks that apparently are geologically interesting (what I don't know about geology...) but definitely cool to look at and wander around. The soundtrack was provided by spring peepers. I took a lot of pictures there. And the park ranger, whose name I never got so I shall call him Bartholomew, seemed impressed when I told him about Project 351.
Also in Sheffield was the last battle of Shay's Rebellion, which is one of the many things in US/MA history I feel I ought to know more about.
Next town up was Egremont, which had the best quintessential Berkshires shot I came across all day, looking over Mill Pond to some mountains I assume are actually in New York.
Finally, the hardest landlocked town in Massachusetts to get to: Mount Washington. It's in the very southwest corner; it only borders Egremont and Sheffield; you can't get there from Sheffield because of the mountains, and the only way in is from Egremont over a winding mountain road. (I guess you can get in from CT or NY, but that seems like cheating). But it's worth it. The road down to Bash Bish Falls State Park was stunning. I've never driven in Colorado or Idaho, but I'd put Falls Road up against any scenic drive in the East.
Falls Road leads, as you may expect to a waterfall - Bish Bash Falls, the highest one in the state. There are two trails down to the falls; one is long but level, the other short but straight down (and then back up) an excruciatingly steep hill. Guess which one dumbass chose. My knees may be 33 by the calendar, but I think I was walking like a 67-year-old for a while after I got back to the car.
70 down, 281 to go! 20% done!
Posted by Michael at 09:44 PM | Comments (2)
March 24, 2007
Project 351: Salute Your Librarian
Is it mean to say that the southern suburbs of Boston are freaking boring? It isn't? Good.
First of all, the one thing that looked notable in Randolph, I took a picture of the wrong thing. Apparently, there's an 18th-Century house that belonged to colonial governor John Belcher, and a prosaic 19th-Century house that belonged to another guy with a similar name. And I screwed that one up.
Second of all, all roads in the area seem to lead to Stoughton, but none of them show much of anything worth taking a picture of. I was going to go the IKEA route and have a meatball lunch, but the crowds were...well, crowded, and I fled after taking only one picture, which I don't really count.
So where did I get pictures? Only four towns, and for two of them I had to go to the library for ideas. In Holbrook, I was going to settle for the Town Hall, but the nice lady at the library sent me down the street to the Little Red Schoolhouse, which is cute and now houses the Holbrook Historical Society.
And at the Avon Libary, the two nice ladies really racked their brains for ideas before coming up with Blanchard's Tavern, which was Town Hall, then restored, and may or may not be haunted. If only I could have gone in and settled it one way or the other. They also mentioned a cemetery I should check out. Avon...a little morbid.
Next stop was Brockton; I only passed through downtown (but I saw enough that I want to check it out again; in my defense, I was hungry) but did a little walking around D.W. Field Park, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. There's an observation tower, which was locked up. I have crummy luck with observation towers. Olmsted also designed The Rockery, which is Easton's unique take on the town common. Probably the coolest thing I saw all day.
Posted by Michael at 07:54 PM | Comments (5)
March 11, 2007
Project 351: A Surprising Amount of Nudity in Central Mass
That headline oughtta drive some traffic...
Anyway, the temperature is over 40 and I'm not in Austin, unlike some people, so it's time to hit the road and check a few more towns off Project 351.
First stop was Steele Farm in Boxborough, which looked pretty cool out of season. Unfortunately, it was my first encounter with mud of the day. But it got worse at the Fruitlands Museum in Harvard (the town, not the World's Greatest University®). I didn't go to the museum itself (I'm not entirely convinced it was open), but I did get a nice shot of the valley. Then I almost wasn't able to get my car out of the mud; I eventually had to swing around because I was too entrenched to back up. Now some might say the best strategy in a case like this is to stay in the mud for a few years and then declare victory anyway, but not me. (Here's the aftermath.)
Now, it's a good thing I do a little research before I head out on these jaunts. Otherwise, how would I know that Lancaster is the final resting place of "Sliding Billy" Hamilton, 19th-Century stolen base king and baseball Hall of Famer? Well, he is buried there, next to the Bolton/Lancaster line (and its rusty-ass sign). Also in Bolton is the impressive Public Library. Also in Lancaster is a fuzzy cow and a Charles Bulfinch-designed Unitarian church.
Next stop was downtown Clinton, which had an interesting leitmotif in its statuary. Whether at the fountain on the town common or on the steps of the Historical Society, there are a number of statues of thoughtful, bare-breasted maidens. I guess it's appropriate for a town named after our sexiest President.
When I was growing up, Clinton was the site of the biggest and closest municipal pool, so we'd truck some of the neighborhood kids up there a couple times a summer (Alas, no bare-breasted maidens hanging around there, one of the few and cosmetic differences between Clinton, Mass., and St-Tropez). And on the way there and back, we'd go past the giant dam keeping the Wachusett Reservoir out of everyone's houses. I vaguely remember an ongoing competition to see who could make the "dam" joke that came the closest to an Actual Bad Word without going over the line, but that might be wishful thinking on my part.
My last two stops weren't particularly memorable; there's the Bullard House in Berlin (now, as I'm sitting here typing this, I should have looked for a Berlin Wall) (and it's pronounced BURR-lin here, thank you) and the downtown rotary in Hudson, though it's interesting that Hudson chooses to remember its veterans and their sacrifices with a statue of a man wearing only a strategically-draped towel. And you thought soldiers in this war weren't getting enough armor.
61 down, 290 to go!
Posted by Michael at 05:38 PM | Comments (3)
February 26, 2007
Project 351: Along the Border
HELLO UNIVERSAL HUB READERS: Here's the entire set of Project 351 entries; scroll down to the bottom to see what this is all about.
Time for the latest installment of Project 351! Sunday I met up with the family for brunch at Rom's in Sturbridge. It was perfect, since I need regular doses of French toast and it had been a while.
Afterwards, we went our separate ways, and I meandered along the southern border of Massachusetts, stopping first in Southbridge at the impressive Notre Dame church. The next town along the border is Dudley, but I frankly hadn't written down any ideas for it, and a quick drive along the campus of Nichols College didn't find anything particularly scenic. So I'll be back in Dudley someday soon.
The next town is Webster, famous for its lake. It's called either Lake Webster (if you're a wimp), or Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, if you're being precise. The legend is that the name means "You fish on your side, I fish on my side, no one fishes in the middle", but that doesn't seem to be a very good translation. The lake itself was frozen over - people were walking on the ice, and one group seemed to have set up a little picnic area out in the middle of the lake. I make it a point not to walk on ice, so I just looked around for a sign with the lake name on it. No dice. I was ready to file Webster in the "Later" category, until I saw this strip mall with the name conveniently spelled out.
Next up is Douglas, where the MA/CT border turns into the MA/RI border, but it probably better known for being the town where my first car caught fire and died. I was taking the looooong way home from a trip to Worcester (there were some kids hanging out at my house that I was a little sick of), and driving through the Douglas forests, I saw smoke coming out from under the hood, then flames. Whoops. Luckily, this trip was uneventful, and I got a shot of the Jenckes Store in East Douglas, which is a museum but isn't open in the middle of February.
I don't know that I'd ever been to a National Corridor before, but there is one along the Blackstone River. The Blackstone Canal was a major industrial connection in the mid-19th Century, and parts of it still exist at the Blackstone River and Canal State Park, headquartered in Uxbridge. I definitely want to see this in warmer weather, but it was still cool to walk along the frozen canal and see the stone bridge in winter.
The next town is Millville. I saw a turnoff and parking area for the Millville Lock, so I stopped the car and started walking along the path. A good way down, it occurred to me that I didn't know where the Lock was or what it looked like (no map at the parking lot - that's a faux pas). And a big dog started barking nearby, so I did a 180. There was a neat little inexplicable tunnel along the path, and in Millville Center, there's an inexplicable stone tower. Millville - Town of Mystery!
Last stop was the town of Blackstone, and its impressive Blackstone Gorge. If it weren't winter, I would have wandered a little more - the Gorge is literally right along the state line, and it would be only the second time I've walked across a state line (the first being the bridge from Cincinnati to Covington). But not today.
53 down, 298 to go!
Posted by Michael at 10:46 PM | Comments (6)
February 03, 2007
Project 351: With Injuries!
A rare combination of decent weather, and no one in my apartment being sick, meant it was time to hit the road and make another dent in Project 351.
After an emergency stop in Sturbridge to refill my windshield-washer fluid (visibility was down to 6 inches), I cut through a corner of Connecticut and came back into Massachusetts in Monson. In the southwest corner of Monson is Peaked Mountain, which has great views from the top and today, had three inches of fresh powder. In my woefully-inadequate shoes, I nonetheless headed for the top.
Let me tell you: falling down in the snow is a lot easier on the way up than on the way down. Heading up, I only suffered a couple of stumbles; on the way down, I skidded into three honest-to-God falls on my ass (here's one landing site) and a few near-misses. Have I mentioned I hate snow? My left knee is still smarting.
Next stop was a thrilling picture of Hampden Town Hall, then up to Wilbraham. There, I stopped at the pleasant-looking Wilbraham & Monson Academy, where children were sledding and there's an impressive-looking building called Rich Hall. Wasn't that the guy who invented Sniglets?
I tried to get a good shot of Wilbraham's signature Friendly's Ice Cream sign, sculpted out of hedges and welcoming travelers on the Mas s Pike. I had a secondary approach all planned out thanks to Google Maps, but the view from the closest I could get was marred by trees. Bah. The hedges were all covered with snow, anyway.
Next stop was Palmer, with its historic Old Depot and a cool surprise. While I was parked downtown, I saw a sign for The Pease Collection of Historical Instruments. I couldn't tell from the outside if it was a shop or a museum, so I went in. It's a shop. I explained, briefly, Project 351 to the nice lady working there (she had looked a little surprised when I asked if I could take a few pictures), and wandered around her collection of antique musical instruments. If I had money, musical talent, or a pickup, I might have gotten something, but it was cool to check it out.
A swing through East Brookfield, to find any evidence of Podunk, and Auburn (I'm a sucker for Arby's), and back home to take a hot shower and get out of my soggy socks. I hate winter.
47 down, 304 to go!
Posted by Michael at 07:03 PM | Comments (2)
January 01, 2007
The Old Stone Church
When I took a photography class in high school, I went up to West Boylston to take pictures of this empty old stone church on the shore of Wachusett Reservoir. I thought my pictures would be really moody and Significant - I was starting to listen to The Cure at this point, mind you - but I don't think it really worked.
Anyway, it's still there, and I went back to take a shot and tick West Boylston off Project 351. Don't expect anything too spooky.
Posted by Michael at 11:21 PM | Comments (0)
December 29, 2006
Project 351: Saugus, Lynn, Nahant
Time for another foray into Project 351! I sort of took off at random this morning, and found myself on Route 1 in Saugus, that formerly-delightfully-tacky strip of kitschy Americana that's slowly turning into Everysuburb U.S.A. I missed the orange dinosaur and the Leaning Tower of Pizza. I was sad to see that the giant menacing Chinese restaurant on the hill was (A) not the Kowloon, and (B) closed and unapproachable. I did get shots of the actual Kowloon and the world-famous Hilltop, though, so there's hope for Saugus yet.
Then off Route 1 and into Saugus center, where the Saugus Iron Works is, sadly, closed for renovation. I did take a picture over the fence, and now I have time to read up on it and see if it's worth a return trip.
Next stop was Lynn. They say you never come out the way you went in, but I don't think that's true. Or maybe I was at the wrong end of town. I went for a hike in the Lynn Woods, where the trail maps are apparently all in cold storage for the winter. Yes, I know I could have printed one out. Anyway, I made it up to Burrell Hill and its Stone Tower, which was also presumably locked up for the winter.
I made my way through downtown Lynn without getting out and fully testing the couplet. After a wrong turn, I finally got on the parkway to Nahant, the town that sticks out into Massachusetts Bay that isn't Winthrop or Hull.
Nahant really, really doesn't encourage visitors. There are more No Parking signs than cars. I imagine there's a point to that in the summer, but I really didn't want to be the one moron who got towed in late December. I found what might have been the one 30-minute-parking spot available in town, and sprinted off to the beach.
Which was worth it. The beach I saw, down a slightly terrifying staircase, is called Forty Steps, and it's made up of large impressive rocks, seriously blue water, and a bazillion rocks to walk on. Don't try it without shoes, would be my advice to you if you could actually park there and try it.
A quick stop at Nahant Harbor, and then back home. 42 down, 309 to go!
Posted by Michael at 07:33 PM | Comments (0)
December 19, 2006
Project 351: Home Again
Saturday morning was sunny and warm (global warming ain't all bad), and I was due for a family get-together in the afternoon, so I figured I'd make a little more progress on Project 351.
First stop would have been Walden Pond, but I couldn't see anywhere to park that wouldn't cost $5. Since I'd only be there for six minutes, and since Thoreau said "That man is the richest whose pleasures are the cheapest", I decided to skip it. Maybe another day.
So off to Acton, where the Bunker Hill-esque Isaac Davis memorial towers over the common. If you believe Wikipedia, Davis was the first person in the American Revolution to be killed by British Regulars, at the Battle of Concord.
Next stop was Maynard, where some mills along the Assabet River have been transformed into Clock Tower Place, which houses a bunch of companies, possibly including Monster. What I was really hoping for was for a bolt of lightning to hit the clock tower and generate 1.21 gigawatts of electricity, but it wasn't to be.
There's not a lot in Stow - apple orchards and golf courses, neither of which photographs well in December - so I went with the default of the handsome church on the common. It was that or the "Ye Olde Beef'n'Ale" sign on Route 62.
Marlborough, besides being famous for its cigarettes, has an interesting connection to the Civil War. A militia group from Marlborough was involved in recapturing Harper's Ferry (not the bar in Allston); as a souvenir, they took the bell from John Brown's fort. They weren't able to ship it home during the war, so they left it in the care of a Maryland woman. Thirty years later, some of them were in the neighborhood. They went to visit the woman, and found out she'd been holding onto the bell the whole time. So they shipped it home, finally, and now it lives in a tower in the center of town. Certainly a better fate than John Brown's body.
Finally, Northborough. My old hometown. I went to see the default Northborough-photo location, the Aqueduct on Hudson Street. I've been told that that's too obvious and I should take a picture of the big rooster out on West Main Street, but I didn't have time on Saturday. Oh well.
39 down, 312 to go!
Posted by Michael at 08:24 AM | Comments (2)
November 28, 2006
Project 351: Out West, Part One
Four-day weekend? Good weather? Time to get cracking on Project 351. And this time, since no watercraft were involved, I brought my Mom along for the ride. She even brought her Street Pilot; it was nice to have my maps and innate sense of direction confirmed, especially in a British accent.
So we headed out West, up Route 2 past the Twin Cities of Fitchburg and Leominster ("This road is a deathtrap", said Mom 2/3 of the way there) and headed for the town of Orange.
Orange is just on the other side of Athol (later, we'll have a contest to see whether Athol or Hull generates more bad puns), and one of its landmarks is a Peace Statue called "It Shall Not Be Again". It depicts a World War I doughboy, just returned from Over There, possibly telling him the horrors of war, possibly flying a kite.
Then something you don't see in Eastern Mass. - unpaved significant roads. Up some hills, alongside some swamps, through dust and dirt. My poor car. But we emerged, battered and surviving, onto a paved road in Royalston, near Doane's Falls. It's pretty cool, and doesn't involve a lot of hiking. You can get there off Route 32, you don't have to take Mrs. Todd's shortcut.
Back through Orange to Route 2, over the French King Bridge over the Connecticut River. My one-pic-per-town policy kind of gives Gill the shaft, since we were only technically in Gill by a few feet. But I like the picture from the bridge, so there you go. Oddly, there's a parking turnoff right after the bridge, and in the middle of the parking turnoff, near nothing whatsoever, there's a handicap parking spot. Weird.
Next stop was the anchor for this trip; the world-famous Montague Bookmill, which I thought was just a great used-book store, but is actually a little complex with a music store, an antique store, art studio, and cafe. They even do a Game Night, which may help tide you over between the monthly Exploit Boston! Game Nights (like the one Tuesday, Dec. 5th) at Soul Fire in Allston.
We poked around the used books for a while (here's what I got), then hit the road. To decide whether to head southwest or southeast from Montague Center. Either way, it turns out, leads to Sunderland and Amherst. Didn't stop for pictures, but we did stop at a Friendly's for lunch. I was pleased to see that the staff at Friendly's still exudes their sort of pleasant, good-natured borderline incompetence.
One last photo stop at Winsor Dam, overlooking the Quabbin Reservoir, but I still haven't figured out exactly which town we were in at the time. So no 351 checkmarks there.
34 down, 317 to go! Here's the whole set.
Posted by Michael at 10:18 PM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2006
Rockland, Abington, Whitman
I did a quick jaunt to the South Shore today to knock three more towns off from Project 351.
First stop was Rockland, where the most notable thing I could find was the 1745 House, which has been moved from its original location, needs repair and is boarded shut. They can't all be worldbeaters.
Next was Abington, notable for being the first town in Masachusetts alphabetically. I saw on a map something called Island Grove Park, which looked pleasant and scenic. So I parked on a side road and walked into the woods, and saw a stagnant pool that looked much smaller in real life than it did on the map. Prepared to be disappointed, I trudged on a little further...and found the lake I expected, which is very nice and has a really cool footbridge across it. Never give up, I suppose is the lesson.
Finally, trivia! What famous dessert is associated with the town of Whitman?
Did you say Whitman's Samplers? That's so, so incorrect. I'm sorry. Whitman is actually the location of the Toll House, a longtime waystation between Boston and New Bedford. In the 1930s, the Toll House Inn was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Wakefield, and Mrs. Wakefield was apparently the first person to make chocolate-chip cookies. At least the most marketing-savvy person. The Toll House burned down in 1984, and it's now only a commemorative sign at a Wendy's. In lieu of a basket of piping-hot cookies, I got the grilled chicken combo meal. A little anticlimactic.
30 down, 321 to go!
Posted by Michael at 11:25 PM | Comments (0)
November 05, 2006
Quincy, Weymouth, Braintree
Another chip today into the mountain that is Project 351. Today, I went south, starting in Quincy. I'd only ever been there once; some friends and I were toying with the idea of trying to write a travel book themed on visiting the largest city in the U.S. that begins with each letter of the alphabet. We went to Quincy to write a sample chapter, but mostly we just goofed around, and the book "From Austin to Zanesville" will remain forever a concept. (Incidentally, the A-Z city thing is a great bar bet.)
But that's neither here nor there. First stop in Quincy was Marina Bay, where you get a really nice view of the Boston skyline (my picture doesn't really do it justice). Then to Quincy Center, where I went into the United First Parish Church. It's one of only three places where two former U.S. Presidents are buried (Arlington Cemetery and Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond are the other two). Usually, it's tough to get inside and actually see the graves, but my luck was in today, and there was a guide available to show me the Adams Family Crypt (I didn't try to make a Cousin It joke), and the interior of the church, whose rotunda is a replica of the one at Quincy Market.
I then headed down to the Fore River Shipyard and took a walk around the USS Salem, which patrolled the Mediterranean during the 1950s and is now a museum. On my first trip to Quincy, there was an old salt belowdecks who told us that the only true resting place for an old battleship is at the bottom of the sea. Well, our gain, I guess.
Then I crossed the impressive Fore River Bridge to Weymouth, which was frustrating. I was aiming for the Abigail Adams House, but I only saw one sign, a mile away, and had no idea if I passed it three times or not. I also drove around what appeared on my map to be a pond, but there was no inspiring view. So I decided to take a picture of Town Hall and be done with it.
Next was Braintree, which I really only knew as the place you go to get your check if you win the lottery, and the source of the ubiquitous radio ads for Dave Dinger Ford. But Braintree has a nice little common area, dominated by the compact but pretty campus of the Thayer Academy. This is not to be confused with the Thayer School in the Stephen King/Peter Straub novel The Talisman, where Jack meets his friend Richard and inadvertently plunges the entire campus into another dimension. This Thayer is a $27,000/year high school. It's free to walk around the campus, though.
27 down, 324 to go. Here's the whole set.
Posted by Michael at 11:22 PM | Comments (1)
October 21, 2006
Milton, Canton, Norwood
It's been a couple of weeks since I made any headway on Project 351. And since today was the kind of absolutely perfect crisp fall day that actually inspires me, I hit the road to add a few more towns.
First stop was Milton, where I foolishly thought I could drive leisurely up to the Blue Hill Observatory. Nope. If you want to go up there, you've got to climb the hill. Now alert readers may remember my previous hill-climbing adventure; this time I had a beverage, and plus it was about a fourth as high as Mount Monadnock. No problem. This time, I actually passed people instead of the other way around.
Of course, it's always disconcerting to get to the top of a strenuous climb and see hundreds of people picnicking at the summit. But the view is pretty amazing, and for $3, they let me up to the roof of the weather station.
Then for some reason, I decided to walk straight down the ski slope. I've never gone over a cliff before, and this is as close as I ever hope to get. One bad step and I'd be rolling the rest of the way down. But somehow I made it.
Next I drove around Canton for a little while, looking for something interesting. Finally I found the Canton Library, where the two folks working the desk told me I should go find the Viaduct, which was built in 1835(!). It's pretty impressive. Always trust your librarians.
Then Norwood, whose downtown has a common with a bandstand, and a Town Hall that looks like it was teleported off the B.C. campus. I tried to stop in Dedham on the way back, but they were having some town festival and I couldn't find anywhere to park near anything.
24 down, 327 to go. Here's the whole set.
Posted by Michael at 03:44 PM | Comments (2)
September 10, 2006
No Task Too Herculean
There's something about me that sets up projects for myself that are epic in scope, even though I know I have my share of trouble completing them in anything like a timely manner.
So with that in mind, and still full of inspiration via Flickr mapping tools (see previous post), I've reembarked on my quixotic quest to take a picture in each of Massachusetts' 351 cities and towns.
It's not going to be easy; I have to find something somewhat interesting in each town, I have to figure out how to get to Gosnold, and I have (realistically) only about 47 good, productive years left in me. But if the results are anything like my early-morning picture of the Tobin Bridge in Chelsea (which I think came out great for an untrained point-and-clicker like myself), I'll keep at it.
Posted by Michael at 01:40 AM | Comments (8)