Thowback Thursday - Uncle Harold Wait's Camp at Lake Sherman

A couple of weeks ago Paul and I went kayaking at Lake Sherman in Brimfield, MA.

Before Paul and I really got into doing genealogy, we went to the Wait Family Reunion in 2002. While we were there we met a lady (my grandfather's sister's son's wife, got that?) who was really into genealogy.  She brought her book that she was working on and went around gathering everyone's information.  

It was around 2003 that Paul and I started getting interested in genealogy.  Some time later in talking with my Aunt Esther about some of what we had found out she gave me this lady, Ann Bonneville's, email.  We corresponded back and forth and she eventually mailed us her book that she was still working on.  It had a lot of information and pictures that I had never seen.

One of the pictures in her book was of Uncle Harold's "camp" on Lake Sherman in Brimfield, MA.  

I remember talk of this camp.  My Dad used to love going there.  My Aunt Dot said she never liked going in the water there because there were blood suckers.  

This picture was from Ann's book.

Last fall I decided that I would like to try and find out if this camp still existed.  We found the lake, but couldn't identify the house.

My Dad told me years ago that he tried to find it and he had to hike from the road to get to it.  The picture we had was from the water, so I thought maybe we could find it from the kayaks.  Believe it or not, we found it and it didn't look much different than the picture we had.  

Through landmarks we were able to find the camp from the road.  No one was there at the time.  When we got home we looked up the deed and found that Uncle Harold's son Jim sold it in 1990.

It was so much fun actually finding this place.  I was really surprised that it was still there.  

In going through my grandmother's photo album this week I found this picture.

On the back of the picture, this was written in my grandmother's handwriting.  

1957  Camp at Lake Sherman, Brimfield Mass.  

Donald Merz Wait, Feb 6, 1900, my grandfather.

David Reed Wait, Jan 19, 1907, his brother.

Can I say it again?  I LOVE doing family history.  

Little door at Mystic Seaport

Every time we go for a ride I look for little doors.  I just love them.  I haven't found one in quite awhile but today while we were kayaking at Mystic Seaport I found one.  So cute!

Paul's 6 lb bass

Today we went kayaking at West Lake in Sandisfield, MA.  I wanted to look for frogs and Paul wanted to fish.  No frogs were seen, but Paul caught a 6 lb. bass.

The last time Paul got a fishing license was, in think, in 2010.  Last night on his 65th birthday, he went on-line and ordered the license which was half-price.

At least there is one good thing about turning 65, LOL!

In reference to a previous post of a covered bridge in Vermont

***  UPDATE  -  Saturday 6-28-2014  ***********************************************

As promised, we took a picture from roughly the same vantage point. Dense vegetation made it impossible to take it from the exact same place. Paul had to actually walk quite a way out on the existing railroad bridge to take the shot. In both pictures, you can see the existing railroad bridge in the lower right corner. You can see the obsolete abutments for the covered bridge and the long gone railroad bridge on the other side of the river. The abutment for the railroad bridge is taller and partly covered with greenery. The bridge in the modern picture with the car on it is altogether new.

***  UPDATE  *********************************************************

We kayaked around this area and made new discoveries.  We talked to the owner of the canoe/kayak rental place that occupies the north side of the West River there.  He actually owns the obsolete abutments on that side of the West River. He was quick to realize that the postcard picture was taken from the south side of the West River. We had assumed that it was taken from the north side because the railroad bridge was on the left.  The bridge in the postcard picture was actually the long gone West River Railroad bridge. You can see the taller West River Railroad bridge abutments right next to the covered bridge abutments.

The picture was probably taken from the south side of the existing railroad bridge which also existed at the time of the picture (someone may have called this the Boston and Maine Railroad bridge ?). You can see what is probably part of the abutment for this bridge that still exists in the lower right hand corner of the postcard picture.  We plan to take a picture from the same vantage point and publish it with the postcard picture. Stay tuned.

Paul and Debbie 6-22-2014

**********************************************************************

Back on August 17, 2010, I wrote this post called Covered Bridge.  I was comparing a postcard from the 1920's that was in my grandmother's photo album, to a modern day covered bridge, Creamery bridge in Brattleboro, VT.  I assumed that they were the same bridge because the Creamery bridge is very close to where my grandparents lived in Brattleboro when my Aunt Dot was born.

Someone named Phil B left a comment on my blog pointing out that the pictures were two different bridges.  Ever since then I have been wanting to find the correct bridge in the postcard.  Whenever I thought about it when we were in Brattleboro, I either didn't have the postcard with me, or I didn't feel like trying to find it on my blog.  A few days ago Paul and I took a ride to Vermont and we looked for that bridge.  Paul is really good about finding places.  The postcard said that it was over the West River in Brattleboro, so using a map, he found the bridge.

This is the postcard ~

This is what the new bridge looks like today.  It is called the Vermont Veterans Memorial Bridge (Rt 5) ~

We found the railroad bridge over the West River and walked down to the bank and found, in between the new bridge and the railroad bridge, what we think are most likely the concrete abutments of the covered bridge.  This is where the West River empties into the Connecticut River.

I love doing things like this, finding remnants of what used to be old things.  

I wish I knew how to contact Phil B to say thank you for pointing that out and also to show him that I found the correct bridge!

Selfie from a kayak

A new type of selfie? Taken in the porthole of an old iron ship at Mystic Seaport. Kind of tricky to take as you are drifting by with the current.

Getting back into kayaking

Our kayaking over the past few years has been, sadly, almost non-existent. We started kayaking in 2004 and that summer we went out about 30 times. Granted, it was our first year, but still.  We averaged about 12-15 times over the next five years or so. 

In 2010 we went out 5 times, and then in 2011 one time, and 2012 one time! I'm not sure why except life gets complicated and if you don't make a definite effort to do something, it just doesn't happen.

So...we are going to try to remedy that this year. We both really love kayaking but it takes effort to just get out there and do it.

So far this summer we have been out twice. The first time was May 30th; we went to West Lake in Sandisfield, MA.

This is the lake with all the frogs, and where I saw a frog frenzy a few years ago.  There were mating frogs everywhere.  I was a little afraid that they were going to jump into the boat.  No such action this year though.  I think we were too late.  It was a beautiful day and it seemed so good to be out on the water again.

I have a couple of fun apps on my iPhone that I had fun playing with in the kayak.  One is InstaWeather, and the other is InstaPlace. 

The picture below shows InstaWeather.  Even if you are in a place with no cell coverage, you can bring the picture into it at a later time.  I had fun playing with that.  The only problem is that I need a case for my phone with a strap to put on my wrist so I don't drop it in the water!

For Marley's birthday this year she got a kayak.  When we first started kayaking she was three years old and could fit very easily in Paul's kayak.  Not so for the last couple of years.  Paul has had to tow her on a raft and that limits us taking her to where she can swim. 

On June 6th we took Marley kayaking to try out her new kayak (the blue and white one in the middle).

Toby, Mark and Mason went with us too.  This was Mason's first time in a kayak.  He loved it.  Marley did really well for her first time. 

We went to York Lake in Sandisfield State Forest. 

There is a little roped off swimming area, picnic tables with grills, and bathrooms.  The perfect place for kids. 

It was a cloudy afternoon, sprinkled on our way out there, but cleared up while we had a picnic and then kayaked for about two hours. 

It rained all the way home! 

These two pictures were taken with InstaPlace. 

We stopped at the Scoop in Granville and had ice cream on the way home. 

So....we are off to a good start.  Let's hope it continues!

New kayaking places

A friend of Paul's told him about four new kayaking places in Western Massachusetts. It was too cold and windy to go kayaking today so we decided to check them out.

The first one was Twining Pond in Tolland.





The next one was Noyes Pond in Tolland.





The next was Hayes Pond in Sandisfield.



And the last was Lower Spectacle Pond in Sandisfield.





It was fun to try and find these ponds today. Aside from the fact that I really like kayaking, I also enjoy the beautiful rides that we go on to get to these places.

P.S. Three new post offices

Pine Meadow, CT


Riverton, CT


Enfield St. Station, Enfield CT

First time kayaking this season!

It was so unseasonably warm this past week that Paul and I decided to go kayaking today. We have never been out this early in the season. The earliest that we have ever been kayaking was April 9th in 2005, and that was only because Paul was going to be having hand surgery at the end of the month and wanted to get in as much kayaking as he could. That year we went to the same lake that we went to today, and at that time the lake was mostly frozen. We could only kayak around the edges.

Not so today. Even though it wasn't as warm as the previous week, the lake was totally unfrozen. Very weird!



We went to Thousand Acre Swamp in New Marlborough. I particularly wanted to check out the little handmade wooden boat that I have been keeping track of there. We started kayaking in 2004 and Thousand Acre Swamp was one of the first places that we kayaked. This is the first time that I saw this little boat.



Somehow it just intrigued me and I have been taking pictures of it every year as it has been breaking up. We never got there last year (would you believe we only kayaked once last year?) and I wanted to see what shape it was in. We had to really search for it. There wasn't much left to it. The water level was low and I could see some of it on the bottom of the lake.







We didn't stay out too long as it was cloudy and pretty cold, but it was sooooo good to be out on the water again!

P.S. More post offices -

Sandisfield, MA


Southfield/New Marlborough, MA

Kayaking with Marley at Lake Mashapaug

Would you believe that today was the first time that we have been kayaking this summer?


I didn't want the summer to go by without taking Marley to Lake Mashapaug at least once. It was a little cool today but at least it was sunny.






We went to our usual haunts on the lake, one of which is the rocks....




She had brought her scuba diving mask, snorkel, and flippers to use today. She had a lot of fun with them until she lost the mask. Paul tried diving to find it, but this is a very deep lake and he never found it.






She also had her yearly kayaking lesson. She did great this year (except for the time when she felt she was going off course, panicked, and jumped right out of the kayak!!).






She paddled all around this little cove.




We swam for quite awhile. Paul stayed in the water longer than I did; it was a little chilly for me even though the water was still warm.





These days are always so much fun.