Farms: Old Connecticut Path: Waters Farm & Manchaug Pond -- West Sutton, MA
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Waters Farm, Manchaug Pond and the surrounding area in West Sutton have an important place in the story of the Old Connecticut Path. The Nipmuck people gathered on the shore of Manchaug Pond. They lived on the fertile lands that became Waters Farm and West Sutton. The earliest English travelers along the Old Connecticut Path passed through this area, traded with the natives, and paused to rest on the shores on Manchaug Pond. View the video to visit Waters farm and Manchaug Pond as it is today. The Waters family who lived here for 6 generations graciously donated this land as a preserve for future generations to enjoy. See the spectacular views and explore the quiet places that are found here. Learn about the Nipmuck people who lived here, the Praying Village established here by Reverend John Eliot, the devastation that resulted from the King Philip War, and the land speculation and English settlement on the Nipmuck lands after that war. See the traces left by the early English settlers as they marked their land, built their homes and worked the land. Waters Farm and Manchaug Pond provide a spectacular gateway to The Last Green Valley traversed by the Old Connecticut Path from West Sutton, MA to Tolland, CT. For more information, visit the Old Connecticut Path website at https://sites.google.com/site/oldconnecticutpath/ Send comments to oldconnecticutpath@gmail.com
Comments
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The site of the corruption of the natives.
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I was looking at the map in your vid of the area beyond Manchaug to Sutton, Grafton and towards Whitehall Reservoir. This is a route which at least in sections that I haven't seen before. How are you determining which route is correct? Are you relying upon local tradition or a particular researchers work? The only way that I can reconcile the various routes is that each individual author is documenting the path at a particular period in history and that the route changed significantly over time.
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Once again, you must be the first to view a newly posted video. Thanks for the comments. You are right that Ayres is not very definitive going east. Fortunately, there are others who provide more specific accounts of the route. I've started taking video for the eastern portion from Cambridge to Sutton. There are some twists, particularly between Hopkinton and Grafton that should make for an episode of trail history sleuthing. Stay tuned!
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Another interesting video. I look forward to your tracing the path as it moves east. I have found much conflicting info on the route of the path between Manchaug and Ashland depending upon who you are reading. Ayres doesn't seem to me to be very authoritative on the location of the path in this area. Keep up the good work.