Sunday, July 28, 2024

Visit with my Mom in Williamstown.

On the way home, I stopped to view the old "Fort Massachusetts" site.  I think it was better kept when I was a youngster, but I can't say for sure.

Fort Massachusetts was the westernmost in a line of forts built by British colonists to protect the northern border of Massachusetts from French and Indian forces in 1745. 

It was constructed along the banks of the Hoosac River in what is currently North Adams, Massachusetts by a company of Massachusetts militiamen led by Captain Ephraim Williams. 

It consisted of a wooden stockade with a guard tower at each corner and a central blockhouse which was designed to be defensible if the walls were breached.

In 1895, the North Adams Women's Club began raising funds to reconstruct the fort as a memorial site. 

The new fort was dedicated in 1933 and operated as a historical tourist site into the 1960s. 

It was eventually sold and torn down due to lack of funds and vandalism. 

The reconstructed chimney and a rock with a commemorative plaque remain on the site, in what is now the parking lot of the former North Adams Price Chopper. The historic site was conveyed to the City of North Adams by the Golub family in 2017.




And, a blast from the past....

Savoy General Store Marathon
July 28th, 2005 - Savoy, Massachusetts

Tippi and I ran the Savoy General Store Marathon.  It was lengthy, over 29-miles I believe.  From Haskins Road to the General Store, which brought us all the way over to Windsor Jambs, we had the company of "Max", a friendly dog we picked up at Loop & Haskins intersection. 

Tippi along the trails of Savoy, 2005.

Oddly, each time we came to an intersection on the trail, "Max" knew which way we were planning on turning (even though he lead).  He managed this for 9 - 10 miles.

Total for the day was roughly 29 - 30-miles in 6:17:52.  It was my 29th completed marathon, and Tippi's 3rd.  After finishing, I met Jane Phinney in the Savoy Town Offices;  she is the Savoy Town Clerk and is the author of  "Taking the High Road".