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  • Phran Read
  • 97 years ago…
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    • Cape Cod 2021, Life on the Edge
    • Peeskawso Peak, Monument Mountain, July, 2021
    • Read good books club at Fair Haven, June 2021
    • Marconi Station, Cape Cod, Aug. 2020
    • Birds at sea, Sandwich, Cape Cod
    • Cape Cod August 2020
    • Fort Hill, Cape Cod National Seashore

Photos

Peeskawso Peak, Monument Mountain, July, 2021

Peeskawso Peak,

Matthew and I visited the ancient and the brand new at the same time, Saturday July 24, 2021 when we summited* Monument Mountain on the northern outskirts of Great Barrington, MA. With a contour as identifiable as Mount Greylock’s, Monument Mountain is about as ancient a thing as you’ll find in the broader neighborhood of the Berkshires. (*At my age, to ascend higher than a few flights of stairs, without a nap break, constitutes a summiting.)

Matt on Monument Mountain, the Berkshires, July 2021; Dave Read photo.

And now it’s own most distinguishing characteristic, which was called Squaw Peak for at least a century and a half, has been re-branded as Peeskawso Peak, in a token nod of apology to the Mohican people, who are due much more from the descendants of the Williams family that dispossed them of so much of their land and forced their emigration to Wisconsin. (Yes, same Williams as set up the town and college).

Poet Dave Read takes the waters at the literary Lourdes of the Berkshires. Matt Lavalette photo.
Poet Dave Read takes the waters at the literary Lourdes of the Berkshires. Matt Lavalette photo.

When I got wind of the re-branding, I wrote this poem, to replace this one.

Peeskawso Peak

Come along William Culllen Bryant,
let us beckon Melville, Hawthorne to convene,
along with Umpachanee and Konkapot – all the best

Shall meet at Monument Mountain, and follow
Mohican Monument Trail, through the seasons
of the soul, to Peeskawso* Peak, and there to rest.

Dave Read

*Mohican for “virtuous woman.”

Read “Monument Mountain,”, by William Culllen Bryant.

Cobb Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Cape Cod, Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.

Cobb Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Cape Cod, Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.

Barnstable is a delightful little touristy town along Rt. 6A on the Bay side of the Cape. At the wrong time of day and with only my pocket-phone-camera to hand, I couldn’t resist a quick look around this old burying ground. Next visit shall be at a time more amenable to shadow and I’ll be aiming a Canon!

Cobb Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Cape Cod, Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cobb Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Cape Cod, Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cobb Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Cape Cod, Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cobb Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Cape Cod, Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cobb Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Cape Cod, Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cobb Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Cape Cod, Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cobb Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Cape Cod, Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cobb Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Cape Cod, Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cobb Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Cape Cod, Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cobb Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Cape Cod, Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cobb Hill Cemetery, Barnstable, Cape Cod, Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.

Mahanna Cobble photos by Dave Read, August 2020

Practically on the spur of the moment the other day, I made my initial amble up Mahanna Cobble. It is a gently rising hike that pays off with a fresh view of Yokun Ridge, and I think I recognized Monument Mountain? As the hike gets underway, behind the condos at Bousquet on Dan Fox Drive, there are views of Mount Greylock! I’ll return soon, wondering where there may be an area with a look toward Greylock, as well as Monument Mtn.

Mahanna Cobble

Marconi Station, Cape Cod National Seashore, August 2020

Marconi Station Cape Cod National Seashore, Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.

It was sixty years ago that I first saw the cliffs near Truro, in the time before the Cape Cod National Seashore was instituted. Marconi Station is a must see for anybody visiting Cape Cod. No crowds, mind-blowing vistas, dunes, birds, seals… It’s always good to think thrifty; there are 3 “Marconi” places – administration, beach, and station. Crowds of people headed for the beach @ $25/car! The station, where I saw 2-3 dozen visitors all afternoon, is free, and is 100-200 feet above the shore!

I have a recollection of descending the dunes in 1960 in five or six giant leaps and tumbles. This time, I went to the edge, saw where people do descend, but stayed put! In fact, I got the same feeling I’ve felt at Glacier Point, and at Wheeler Peak, and walking the Brooklyn Bridge. Must be some sticky-memory hormone released by that feeling at the intersection of dare/fear.

Marconi Station Cape Cod National Seashore, Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.

Birds at sea, Sandwich, Cape Cod

Good fun observing birds during their 8 a.m. feeding at Sandwich near the northeast terminus of the Cape Cod Canal, August 2020.

Cape Cod shorebirds and ducks feed in the morning. Aug. 2020 photo Dave Read.

Cape Cod August 2020

A week camping in Sandwich, near the Cape Cod Canal was a nice change of pace – and place, after spending the previous twenty such at Tanglewood, now silent and still in Trumperica. It was sixty years ago that I first saw the cliffs near Truro, in the time before the National Seashore was instituted. Marconi Station is a must see for anybody visiting Cape Cod. No crowds, mind-blowing vistas, dunes, birds, seals…

Cape Cod Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cape Cod Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cape Cod Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cape Cod Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cape Cod Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cape Cod Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cape Cod Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
Cape Cod Aug. 2020; Dave Read photo.
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