I came home sooner than I would have wanted, the journey over, a feeling that always seemed to settle upon me after a trek through hidden rural corners. I decompressed and began to process a trove of memories, sharing many of them with the Twelve Mile Circle audience. But some of those didn’t fit neatly into bundles so I collected them into their own indiscriminate pile.
CTMQ
By now I’m sure everyone figured out that I got to see Steve from CTMQ in person again. We met for dinner at a well-regarded restaurant, Millwright’s in Simsbury, Connecticut (map). We caught-up on a lot of things since our epic Connecticut Road Trip of years ago and swapped a couple of rare bottles of craft beer to enjoy later.
Go read Steve’s blog. His writing and insight is much better than mine.
Satan’s Kingdom
Reader “Joel” sent a message last March about a place he’d seen on a map of Northfield, Massachusetts. It was called Satan’s Kingdom. Indeed it was a real place and clearly included in the US Geological Survey’s Geographic Names Information System. There was even a Satan’s Kingdom Wildlife Management Area with a nice trail that followed “an old logging road from Old Vernon Rd. to the top of the ridge” with a “view of the valley.”
I tried my hardest to find the history of Satan’s Kingdom and how it earned its devilish name. The only real source I saw, such as it was, came from a segment aired on a local television station. A person who worked at the wildlife management area explained that the name traced back to colonial times. It wasn’t meant to reference anything truly satanic, rather it served as a warning to people long ago that they needed to be careful in an uncharted area. There might be hostile animals or other dangers. That explanation seemed a lot more plausible than legends of demons roaming the dark woods around Northfield.
Of course I had to visit Satan’s Kingdom and sift through the evidence firsthand. First I had to find it though. I’d seen photographs on the Intertubes although nobody specified the exact location. I took an educated guess and I happened to pick the right spot. It was time for me to do my good deed for the day — the sign was at the trailhead, specifically at latitude/longitude 42.705583,-72.492348. You’re welcome. Tell Beelzebub I said hello.
Breweries
Well, at least I didn’t dedicate an entire article to brewery visits like I’ve done before. My philosophy remained the same, that I needed to eat somewhere so it might as well be a place with decent beer. I visited ten breweries and/or brewpubs during the excursion, all but Harpoon for the first time.
- Old Forge Brewing; Danville, PA
- Redhook Brewery; Portsmouth, NH
- Harpoon Brewery; Windsor, VT
- Rock Art Brewery; Morrisville, VT
- Northampton Brewery; Northampton, MA
- The People’s Pint; Greenfield, MA
- Brutopia; Cranston, RI
- Willimantic Brewing; Willimantic, CT
- Mill House Brewing; Poughkeepsie, NY
- Hyde Park Brewing; Hyde Park, NY
Dr. Seuss
What a pleasure it was to stumble upon the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden at the Springfield Museums in Massachusetts (map).
“The five bronze sculptures include Dr. Seuss busily working at his drawing board with the Cat in the Hat standing at his side as his muse, and lots of other favorite Dr. Seuss characters such as Horton the Elephant, Yertle the Turtle, the Grinch and his dog Max, the Lorax, Gertrude McFuzz, Things One and Two, and the lovable Thidwick the Moose.”
The official website for the sculpture garden then went on to explain,
“Theodor Seuss Geisel was born on Howard Street in Springfield in 1904 and grew up on Fairfield Street in the city’s Forest Park neighborhood. His father was a parks commissioner and was in charge of the Forest ParkZoo, a regular playground for young Theodor Geisel. Springfield imagery can be seen throughout his work in the names of streets, the drawings of buildings, the names of his characters, and numerous other references.”
It’s been a long time since I read any Dr. Seuss tales although I remembered all of his characters fondly. The sculpture garden brought back a flood of pleasant childhood memories. Someday I’ll have to see if I can find any of those Springfield references. There must have been some pretty odd places in town if buildings in Springfield influenced the architecture of Dr. Seuss books.
Oh Yeah, Natural Beauty
My whirlwind tour did little justice to an appreciation of the natural beauty of New England. We drove from race-to-race, touring each afternoon as we could, then went to bed tired and early so we could prepare for the next race starting at 6:00 am. That didn’t give us nearly enough time to really dig in and enjoy all that the scenery had to offer. Everything was a quick drive-by, a blur.
Still, beauty sometimes appeared unexpectedly; a mountain view from a highway, a small town set deep within a hollow, a stream flowing through forest. The races were all held in very rural locations and sometimes the terrain provided wonderful backdrops, like these rapids in Vermont (map). I don’t think most of the runners noticed it though.
Then it was time to leave.
New England articles
- Give me a Sign
- Of Course Geo-oddities
- Did I Mention Doughnuts?
- A Little History Too
- Yes, More Bridges
- Roundup
See Also: The Complete Photo Album on Flickr
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