Category Archives: Columns

Published pieces I’ve written, primarily in The Recorder, Greenfield, Mass.

Why Not Dig Deeper Into Salmon Mystery?

Wedged inconspicuously into a slim, dim, and dusty space between a wall-length book cabinet and the northeast corner in my study hangs a framed, matted, five-by-seven-inch pen-and-ink sketch of a younger me signed by late Manchester Union Leader illustrator John Noga. Despite ultraviolet-protective glass, the paper has taken on a warm sepia tone that speaks […]

Gramly’s Mastodon Adventures Bearing Fruit

I feel like I’ve been swept into the mainstream of a raging archaeological/anthropological torrent that just won’t let go – no sturdy, overhanging tree limbs to snag or flotsam to maneuver to shore. Hopelessly suspended in this roaring swell, I hear interesting cobbles of information tumbling past me on the invisible streambed. All I can […]

Reevaluating New England Salmon

OK, at long last, time to revisit and reassess, as I promised many weeks ago, the uncertain topic of New England’s prehistoric and early-historic Atlantic salmon runs. This subject was a staple of my weekly Greenfield Recorder outdoor column “On the Trail” in the 1980s and 1990s, when an aggressive, ultimately unsuccessful Connecticut River Atlantic […]

Wadsworth Mayhew’s Signature Fishtail

Antique collecting can trigger the wildest, most unpredictable and fulfilling adventures – some hot and fruitful, others cold and barren. When an enticing, dangling thread of inquiry gets tugged and just keeps on giving, the eager anticipation of important discovery can be truly exhilarating. Case in point: a pair of 18th-century banister-back chairs I recently […]

Makings of a Wing-Shooter

I remember my introduction to wing-shooting like it happened yesterday – occurring in my South Deerfield hometown, mostly along the base of North Sugarloaf between Graves Street and Hillside Road. My late father was a sportsman of sorts, but not a hunter or fisherman. He loved team sports and was quite accomplished in football, basketball, […]

Nope. Not a Patten Family in Patten District

As English speakers, we all know that “best laid plans” saying aimed at “mice and men.” Lifted from 18th-century Scotsman Robert Burns’ poem To a Mouse, it reminds us that intentions can and “often” do “go awry.” Chalk this up as one of those. Not unusual among history sleuths who, in the process of researching […]

Merrimack Shad Diary

In the research game, a chase can be quickly rewarded. Always nice. Then again, important information sometimes appears unexpectedly, from the clear blue sky. Even better. Well, chalk up a recent discovery we’ll soon explore – pertaining to 18th-century migratory fish of the Merrimack River – as the latter. What led to my new finding […]

Squirrel Hunting Ain’t What it Used To Be

The Harvest Moon has passed, ushering into the midnight sky a new Hunter’s Moon to greet our annual fall hunting seasons. Well, actually, bear and squirrel hunters entered the woods a month ago, though I must say I’m not sure how many of either remain amongst us. Interest in squirrel hunting has waned, and bear […]

Where Did Summer Go?

Towering cornfields obscure roadside sightlines, purple loosestrife and goldenrod color marshes and scalped-hayfield rims, festive midways are clogged, and Labor Day has passed. Autumn is here. Wow! Where did summer go? Not complaining. Fall has for many decades been my favorite season – ever since I hung up my spikes, glove and bat from the […]

Falls River Has Become Fall River

A sharp, irritating, old thorn again found its way to my paw recently, placing me on a path I have previously traveled but never discussed in print. I guess now is the time to go there. So, let’s venture off on a little discovery mission to set the record straight and put a vexing question […]

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