Winter Tree Stroll
November 25, 2022 - January 1, 2023
We are excited to bring this very popular event back to the beautiful places in Groton. This year we have concentrated more decorations at three locations: The General Field, Hayes Woods, and Fitch-Woods. Be sure to visit them all over the winter holidays. Thank you very much to all of the local organizations and volunteers participating in this event and decorating trees!
Natural History Walk with Michelle Ruby
More hikes are coming. Review all upcoming events so you can take one in. Especially be sure to join Trustee Michelle Ruby on our Opt Outside hike on Friday 11/25, the day after Thanksgiving! Register here
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Hike at Wharton Plantation
By John D. Moores
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Eight lucky people enjoyed a magnificent sunny day, hiking through Wharton Plantation, located near the northeastern corner of Groton, MA. Wharton Plantation is over 600 acres, with just shy of ten miles of trails, ranging from wide cart paths to a rocky, twisty, up-and-down esker trail overlooking swampland. Several of the trails have imaginative names such as "Secret Squirrel" and "Sledgehammer;" names purported to have been the inspiration of the local mountain biking community. The property was the 1968 gift of William P. "Billy" Wharton to the New England Forestry Foundation (NEFF), which Wharton helped form near the end of World War II. Happily, the term "plantation" in this case refers to Wharton's vast re-planting of native trees.
The hike started north of the unpaved Rocky Hill Rd., on an easy, wide stretch of Dan Parker Rd., and then looped south onto the singletrack Secret Squirrel Trail back to the road. From there, the party crossed the road south to the Sledgehammer Trail. The entrance is deceptively smooth and flat, with little evidence of the scenic adventure awaiting. A 180-degree hairpin turn not far from the road amused the group as the front of the party was going one way past the rearward members who were traveling in the opposite direction. After this point, the trail becomes hillier, and eventually a lovely vista looking down on a swamp opens up, with a long descending rocky outcrop to the viewer's right. The trail swings down towards the swamp, passes through some young pines, and then climbs back up the esker. As is typical of November in New England, much of the path was covered with fallen leaves, concealing rocks, roots and small stumps, as well as mushrooms, which one party member was very good at finding. One of the more unusual features of the trail is in the southeast portion, where it crisscrosses the same stone wall 5 times! The southeast portion also sports a canopy of lovely tall pines. In spots, the ground was soft and fragrant with a thick layer of pine needles absorbing the sunlight.
READ MORE, and see more photos like the one of the tree trunk (above) with the interior branches exposed.
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What's on the reading list? |
Longtime book reviewer and GCT Advisory Council member Alice Cary suggests these new books.
Fellowship Point, by Alice Elliott Dark, is a rich, sprawling novel with the question of whether to establish a land trust at its center. Who knew that such an issue could be a page turner? Eighty-year-old Agnes Lee, who has been summering at Leeward Cottage off the Coast of Maine for years, is determined to
preserve 35 acres of undeveloped land known as the Sank (short for “sanctuary). Things get deliciously complicated as events unfold from 2000 through 2008, with storylines rearing up from the early 1960s. Dark is also the author of Think of England, and John Updike chose her short story “In the Gloaming” for
inclusion in The Best American Short Stories of the Century.
Pulitzer-Prize-winning writer Annie Proulx’s latest work is the fascinating Fen, Bog and Swamp: A ShortHistory of Peatland Destruction and Its Role in the Climate Crisis. Read about the various wetlands she describes, including Georgia’s Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, and then go explore some GCT properties.
For more, please see the list on the right!
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If you have not joined the GCT, now is a great time to do so. You can make a paperless donation online at our secure website.
Bonus: we have a new map! With every renewal or new membership (through the mail or online), you can request a 2022 edition of our beautiful new map of all conservation land in Groton.
As always, thank you for your support.
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Coming in 2023!
Mark your calendars for these GCT events coming early in 2023. Watch our Facebook and Instagram pages to register.
February 5, 2023 Eyes on Owls
March 3, 2023 Professor and curator Dr. Scott Edwards talks about biking and birding across America
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Dr. Scott Edwards on his COVID adventure, ~3800 mile, 76-day bicycle ride across the US. He will share his experiences - and the birds he saw - with us in March. |
More Books!
Wachusett and more in this thoughtful, nature-fueled memoir.
Here are three excellent picture books for young readers:
A modern-day Wampanoag grandmother tells her grandchildren the story of the first Thanksgiving from
A young girl and her grandmother pick berries in the Tongass National Forest in Berry Song, an exuberant celebration of the outdoors, indigenous heritage, and the importance of land stewardship.
Take your kids to the General Field and read them Emile and the Field, a quiet story about a boy who considers a nearby field to be his best friend. |
In Case You Missed It
This Chronicle NH segment tells the story of the Bode statue in Mason, NH. We believe Bode, enslaved by the Lawrences in Groton, was married to Zebina, a woman enslaved by the Moors Family. |
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