The more I delve into local history the more intrigued I am with some lesser-known but just as interesting events.
For instance, take Native American history. Algonquin and Nipmuc tribes dominated the Windham area while south of here were the Mohicans. Here are two of the many tales that have survived through the years. One concerns bad feelings between the Narragansett’s and the Nipmuc’s predominately over territory. The tribal leaders decided to have a powwow and see whether they could settle their differences. That evening a big cookout was held in the vicinity of Webster Lake. How did it go? The evening went very badly as one tribe insulted the other over the quality and menu choices. When the Narragansett’s got huffy and left they were ambushed and a fight ensued followed by the Narragansett’s burning the Nipmuc’s Village. To this day legend has it fires are seen burning in the woods on the Thompson/Webster line and yet nothing is ever there.
A neighboring town to the east of Putnam is Chepachet, Rhode Island. A quintessential New England Town once described by H.P.Lovecraft as ”a veritable poem.” Originally called Sa-pat-set ended up as Chepachet. And here’s a most interesting tidbit. It’s one of two towns, in the whole country where an elephant murder took place. YUP! No joke. Sa-pat-set in the Algonquin language means “place to cross river.” It was here as the elephant was paraded through Main Street and over the bridge that someone who believed the press stories that his hide was so tough it could resist a bullet took aim. A shot rang out with tragic results as six youths fired from a nearby Grist Mill window. Ever since Chepachet recognizes May 25th as Elephant Day in remembrance of that tragic event of 1826.
Oh, the lake in Webster that has a long Indian name, difficult to pronounce but translated it means, “you fish on your side, we fish on our side and no one fishes in the middle”. There are three adjoining bodies of water. Tribal elders felt that would solve the dispute. Think we could try that in Washington?

As a child my parents used a gotcha saying when they tried to get me to stop using the word, ain’t! They would say the word ain’t ain’t in the dictionary. That was the first time I used a dictionary to try to prove them wrong. I doubt that there is a home today without a dictionary. We have three plus a thesaurus. With the advent of computers and smart phones everyone has access to one.

For years people would spell words using the phonetic sounds like tung for tongue. Wimmen for Women. Even documents today show such .spellings including those from Ellis Island. Actually, Webster argued for keeping some words spelled phonetically since they accurately indicated their pronunciation. He thought tung and wimmen were good examples.
Noah Webster came of age during the American Revolution. He strongly supported the Constitutional Convention and advocated for a distinctive American language. In 1806 he published the first truly American dictionary.
Webster was born in West Hartford. He spent a great deal of his life in Hartford until his death in New Haven where he is buried. Two brothers, George and Charles Merriam, bought the publishing rights from the Webster family, and to his day still publish The Merriam-Webster Dictionaries.
I just looked. Ain’t ain’t in my copy, is it in yours?

The interest in our Civil War has increased substantially in recent years. Doris Goodwin’s book A TEAM OF RIVALS and Bill O’Reilly’s KILLING LINCOLN, have generated increased awareness.
There was only one event in New England pertaining to the Civil War and that was the failed bank robbery in St. Albans, VT. Several southerners planned to flee to Canada following the heist, and slowly make it back to the south. They were captured exiting the bank by authorities.
There has been a lot written about battlefields and generals, wise and not so wise, field decisions. But there are other tales of real human tragedy and humor. For instance, a young CSA officer was very successful in keeping his men from retreating and thwarting a union advancement. The union officer called for a Sgt. Driscoll who was noted for his marksmanship. It was arranged that Driscoll would, as a sniper, kill the rebel officer. He fired at his target and was summoned to see his marksmanship. As the wounded officer lay dying he looked up at Driscoll and said, “Father!” This is one example of how divided families were.
An officer, on horseback rode up the Union Lines shouting for men to throw away their hardtack as it was the cause of much sickness. On his return he saw a young private eating some. The officer reprimanded the soldier saying did he not hear him give orders to throw away the hardtack. The young soldier said he did but it had crawled back on its own.
There are thousands of stories similar, some humorous and some truly not. I can’t stop without sharing a humorous one that’s personal. When my family was transferred to South Carolina, my grandson was having a party for the Cub Scouts in his troop. He has Civil War “stuff” and talk got around to the southern boys discussing their family’s involvement in the War of Northern Aggression. One of the items in his room was a photo of me with Lewis Dube, a great Lincoln impersonator. When asked if his family had served in the war, my grandson felt sad then he pointed to the photo of me and Lewis and said “no but my grandfather knew Abraham Lincoln.” Touché’.

Many think of New England as a scenic place with mountains, flowing rivers, farms, beautiful seashores with great restaurants that feature lobsters swimming in butter, and historic buildings once lived in by people like Paul Revere and others.
Well fasten your seatbelt. We have more than that so here goes. In Freeport, Maine there is an actual desert thanks to a large deposit of sand from a glacier. We rival England’s Stonehenge with our own in North Salem, New Hampshire left behind by unknown people.
Not only that we also have what England is noted for, Castles. Our own on the banks of the CT River built by thespian William Gillette the portrayer of Sherlock Holmes. The phrase “quintessentially New England” is popular. The above are not a “glove fit” for it and either is the P. T. Barnum Museum in Bridgeport. Or, the Crypt in Center Church on the Green in New Haven where, the basement is the final resting place for a number of notable people, including Benedict Arnold’s first wife and the grandparents of President Rutherford Hayes.
The Equinox Hotel in Manchester, Vermont has seen many guests since it opened in 1769. One of them has never left. According to tales, Mary Todd Lincoln, President Lincoln’s wife is reported to haunt the establishment.
Ah yes, white painted churches, mountains with blazing October foliage and history… Yes, that too.