Slightly Odd Fitchburg

  The Ultimate Guide to Pukwudgies! – Part 2 – Freetown Forest - Patreon Preview! Freetown Forest is a 5,000 acre forest that includes 25 miles of trails, a wading pool, a splash pond, grilling stations, athletic fields, a grand pavilion, picnic areas, scenic overlooks, and fully equipped restrooms. It’s open to hiking, mountain biking, cross-country skiing, swimming, hunting, fishing, horseback riding, and just plain, old country strolling. That’s not even mentioning the fact that it’s also home to an entire Wampanoag reservation. All of this is just on the surface, though. It’s the kind of information that’s reserved for tourists and weekend warriors. Travel beyond this superficial layer and you’ll find a land of lore and legend. You’ll inhabit an other world of being and nothingness. You’ll exist amongst the truth and the aspirational. That’s because, among other things, Freetown Forest is home to… "Yes, we're bow and arrow guys, too." Pukwudgies! What’s happening righ...

“Far and wide among the nations, spread the name and fame of Kwasind; No man dared to strive with Kwasind, No man could compete with Kwasind. But the mischievous Puk-Wudjies, They the envious Little People, They the fairies and the pygmies, plotted and conspired against him.” – Excerpt from The Song of Hiawatha – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow The Ultimate Guide to Pukwudgies! - Part 1 - Hockomock Swamp Pictured: Not Dagobah Just mention the name “Hockomock Swamp” in New England and you’re going to conjure images of ghosts, monsters, and lots and lots of mosquito bites. Those things are just on the surface, though. If you really know what’s going on then the person you’re talking to is going to be immediately reminded of the Pukwudgie. You don’t even have to be talking to someone to make it happen! Just say it to yourself, we’ll wait. See?   This guy gets it! The Pukwudgie is as much a part of New England as potholes and road construction. You can’t go more than a few minutes wit...

"For we must Consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our god in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world, we shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of god and all professors for Gods sake" - John Winthrop, Puritan lawyer and former governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Easter in New England and Other Non-Existent Things - Patreon Preview! Allow me to introduce you to John Winthrop:  "Ladies."   This fine fellow served as the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1630-1634, 1637-1640, 1642-1644, and finally from 1646-1679. In that time, he would work, along with his people, to create a "city upon a hill" that would have the eyes of the world on it. That high city was Massachusetts Bay and the people creating it were the Puritans. This is the...