CHAPTER XVII
TOWNS

NATICK.--THE FIRST INDIAN CHURCH IN NEW ENGLAND.--DESCRIPTION IN 1670.--DEPOSITION OF EBENEZER WARE.--NEWTON UPPER FALLS.--DEPOSITION OF NATHANIEL PARKER.--JAMAICA POND.--REV. THOMAS HOOKER TAKEN OVER THE ROAD.

NATICK

The name Natick is a word in the Indian language, signifying "the place of hills."

The first Indian church in New England was formed at South Natick. Here they built a town on the banks of the Charles River, "which consisted of three long streets; two on the Boston side of the river, and one on the other. To each house was attached a piece of ground. Most of the houses were built after the Indian fashion, altho there were several small houses after the English manner. One large house was erected in the English style, the lower apartment of which was employed as a school-room in the week, and as a place of worship on the Lord's day;...there was likewise a large handsome fort, of a circular figure, palisaded with trees."

What follows is from the "Memoirs of Eliot," by the Rev. Martin Moore, of Natick, written about 1670.

   "It lieth upon the Charles river, eighteen miles southwest from Boston, and ten miles northwest from Dedham.
   It hath twenty-nine families, which, computing five persons to a family, amount to one hundred and forty-five persons.
   In their acts of worship, for I have often been present with them, they demean themselves visibly with reverence, attention, modesty and solemnity; the men-kind sitting by themselves, and the womenkind by themselves, according to their age, quality and degree, in comely manner. And for my own pat, I have no doubt, but am fully satisfied, according to the judgment of charity, that divers of them do fear God and are true believers; but yet I will not deny there may be some of them hypocrites, that profess religion, and yet are not sound-hearted. But things that are secret belong to God; and things that are revealed, unto us and our children.
   In this they have residing some of their principal rulers, the chief whereof is named Waban, who is now above seventy years of age. He is a person of great prudence and piety. I do not know any Indian that excels him. Other rulers there are living there, as Nattous and Piam, Boohan and others. These are good men and prudent, but inferior to the first. The teachers of this town are Anthony and John Speen, who are grave and pious men.
   They have two constables belonging to this place, chosen yearly; and there is a marshal-general belonging to all the praying Indian towns, called Capt. Josiah, or Pennahanit. He doth attend the chief courts kept here, but he dwells at another place, Nashobah."

NEWTON UPPER FALLS

The question of building or rebuilding a bridge over Charles River above the falls was being agitated in 1693.

At a hearing November 14, 1693, a petition in opposition was presented from the inhabitants of Cambridge. Besides the burden of taxes, "bridge at the Upper Falls is not of any use; there being no highway thru Needham leading to it." (Mass. Arch., 121:231.)

Deposition of Ebenezer Ware. "I have known a Traveling Road through Needham, (then belonging to Dedham) sixty years ago, leading over Charles River, a little above the Upper Falls to the road in Newton, commonly called Dedham Road."

The above deposition extends backward in evidence, to about 1633. The Old Path is now traced to the Charles River at a point a little above Newton Upper Falls.

JAMAICA POND

"I have known the road from Dedham Road to & over Charles River a little above the Upper Falls to be of Publick use for Travelers above Sixty years and further I say not, That as I lived with Capt. Thos. Prentice I have heard him say that this road was Connecticut road and that it was laid out a great many years agoe, that I heard him say above sixty years agoe." Mass. Arch., 121:226. Mar. 1, 1742-3. Deposition of Nathaniel Parker.

The above is a clear statement, and in point of time may well go back a hundred years, and perhaps more, previous to the time of Parker's Deposition.

It was in 1642 that Woodward and Saffery passed over this path to establish a line between Massachusetts and Connecticut.

The surveying party started from Boston on the Dedham road, and entered the Connecticut Path along the north shore of Jamaica Pond.

The path has been disclosed in all its continuity, and persistence in its course. We find it in the thronged and busy street of the city, and the quiet, seldom-used country-road.

It is in the streets of thriving villages, and the quiet old town center; and it is revealed in the bushland and the forest. Along in pasture land "that rough thread of soil" has remained long undisturbed; and the park-like scenery, in places, affords much of suggestion for the imagination.

The following very vivid description, in imagination, of the progress of the Pilgrimage of Thomas Hooker, is quoted from Rev. William D. Love, in "Colonial History of Hartford."

It is applicable, in a way, to the other companies, who moved to Connecticut in 1636.

   "In 1636, the path that Thomas Hooker's company followed was the only one used by the English, and so continued for many years. It was the 'ordinary way' that Ludlow and Pinchon took to Boston in 1637, when Hooker and Stone went by the way of Providence, along the 'Pequot Path' from the Connecticut River.
Photos of Woddoquodduck    There was no better authority on this subject in early times than Rev. John Eliot, the 'Apostle to the Indians.'
   In 1650, he wrote of Springfield as follows: 'And this towne ouerland from the Bay layeth: 80: or: 90: myles southwest, and is the roade way to all the townes upon this river, and (that) lye more Southward.'
   It is with this "Old Bay Path" that the journeys of the founders of Hartford must be associated, and when we consider that a dozen or more parties had already traveled it, we realize the absurdity of supposing that Thomas Hooker's company would attempt to follow an untrodden path through the forest.
   We purpose now to attend Hooker's company on their pilgrimage from their Newtown home to Hartford. At last, their appointed day of departure arrived. All were ready. We may think of them as gathered at the sunrise hour on the north bank of the Charles River, where their pathway began. Perhaps the conch shell blew a signal, or some hardy guide fired his trusty rifle into the air: but, if we may judge them by their tearful farewells to old England, or their practice only a year later, when their pastor gave them his blessing, as their bravest warriors pushed their shallops out into the current of the Connecticut, the excitement of departure was hushed, and they stood with bowed heads, as their reverend leader commended them to the direction of Jehovah, who had guided a trusting Israel through the wilderness.
   It was a long and straggling procession that took the road westward, through Watertown.
   Some stalwart pioneer on horseback led the way, and guides with him made up the vanguard. Perhaps the cattle and flocks came next, driven by herders, Thomas Bull very likely in command. Then, in families or groups, as they chose, they followed on another--chivalrous husbands helping their mates, children in laughing parties, the lady's litter attended by her maids, their pastor with staff and pack, the elders in his company, and, in the read, the lingering young men, who plucked many a flower by the wayside, to gladden loving eyes. We can see them now, and hear the music of the cow-bells and cheer of their voices, as they move along arrayed in their homespun of simple Puritan fashion--as noble a company as were ever guided by the star of empire.
   Of their Watertown neighbors, some had gone before.
   There would be messages committed to the pilgrims, to carry to friends at Wethersfield. The road was for some miles 'the way into the country' that many of them knew. Here and there farms had been already granted. By and by, the log-cabins were few, as they passed out of inhabited bounds into the wilderness. If the company journeyed about ten miles a day, as Mather suggests, it was somewhere near the western border of Waltham that the guides halted beside some spring or brook, and began to prepare their camp. The cattle were gathered in some natural enclosure, and the herders began their milking. Then the parties arrived, one by one, weary, footsore and hungry, and made ready the silvern chamber of their choice. Out of the kettle that hung over the blazing camp-fire, they received into great porringers of milk their 'corn meal mush,' which must have been their staple fare; and all were satisfied. Then, as the shadows of the forest enshrouded them, their pastor lifted his voice in grateful prayer, the watch was set, their laughter subsided into whispers--it was night and the pilgrims slept. Thus the days and nights followed one another with their favors.
   The Connecticut Path, avoiding the lowlands along the Sudbury River, led through Weston, Wayland and Framingham, passing north of Cochituate Pond. Then it turned southward through the present borders of South Framingham, Ashland, Hopkinton and Westborough to Grafton. Here was Hassanemesit, an Indian village of Eliot fame. In early times, it was a favorite lodgingplace.
   Gov. John Winthrop Jr., spent the night there in 1645.
   Two or three miles further the path crossed 'Nipnet' or Blackstone River, one of the points that Woodward and Saffery marked on their map.
   Following on through the present town of Millbury, north of Singletary Pond, it entered the bounds of Oxford, turning to the westward at the center."

In Charlton, there is a section of about two miles in length, of the old path which has always borne the traditional name of "Bay Path."

"Along this path Thomas Hooker's party journeyed, day after day, until the Sabbath offered them a much needed rest.

No place on their route seemed more likely, in a computation of their progress, or more pleasing to the imagination, as their forest sanctuary, than the western slope of Fisk Hill in Sturbridge. Hither their path certainly led, and here tradition locates an ancient camping place. It may be fitly named 'the shadow of a great rock in a weary land,' for two fragments of an immense boulder, five feet high, were probably in early times the side walls of the traveller's hut.

On a rise of ground, there once stood a wide-spreading tree. Not far away, is a never failing spring. An Indian path diverging her to the southward, led through Woodstock to Mohegan.

In the near view to the southwest, is Leadmine Hill, for this is Tantiusque, the ancient Indian gateway to the west.

Here, also, in 1715, Governor Gurden Salstonstall located the corner of his grant of two thousand acres, running his lines to take in all the best land of this beautiful valley.

Far away on the horizon, is Steerage Rock, which the pilgrim company must pass as they descend to the Quinebaug River, which leads them on to Springfield.

On that Sabbath in 1636, the view on all sides was draped in many tints of summer green, and, underneath the cathedral arches of the forest, perhaps with friendly Indian attendants from nearby villages, this Puritan company worshiped, with prayer and praise, their Jehovah who had led them hitherto.

That path leads on down the path westward, over the brook, along the foot of Cemetery Hill, across 'Old Tantiusque Fordway,' and up the valley through Fiskdale. It passes the southeast corner of John Eliot's grant of one thousand acres, called 'Potepog.' Here he proposed to establish another Natick of 'Praying Indians.' Their prayers were interrupted by King Philip's War. But that did not invalidate the apostle's title to the land. Along this section of the way, there were once many Indian villages. The path passed north of Little Alum Pond, where the records fix it, on to 'Little Rest,' and north of Sherman Pond.

Here was that famous Indian stronghold, known as 'Quabaug Old Fort.' As the path passes north of steerage Rock and descends to the slop, the Quabaug or Chicopee River is seen, winding its way through the valley westward. Here the 'old road' has been traced by land grants, and the site of Richard Fellows' tavern, established in 1657 as 'a house for travellers,' has been marked. We can imagine the Newtown pilgrims, inured to travel and hardship, hastening onward with reviving spirits, as they drew near to Agawam. They scented with delight the aroma of the trees, as they passed over the 'Pine Plains' which the surveyors of 1642 noted, and ere long they reached the summit of the hill where the path broke from the forest's shade into the plantation's clearing. Thus the glories of the Connecticut valley, of which they had so often dreamed, burst upon their view, and they were among their friends of Roxbury.

At Windsor, Thomas Hooker's company were among friends.

Crossing the river at the ferry as they could, they straggled along the way southward, then a mere path with scarcely a wheel-track. The adventures of the wilderness had altered their appearance into that of sturdy pioneers, and, after the delay of greetings, or perhaps a woodman's feast, and a bivouac within a new palisado, they pursued their journey, across the rivulet, along 'the head of Plymouth meadow,' past the trading house, which Capt. Holmes had brought thither in his bark, under the threatening guns of the Dutchmen, onward into the North Meadow of Suckiaug and through it, to find themselves at last, though pilgrims from Newtown, at home in another Newtown, on the banks of the Great River."

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