Blog de Puree » travel

Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg and the Nipmuc Indians

paul — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 13:13:40 +0000

In central Massachusetts, on the southern end of Worcester County, east of the town of Webster, lies Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg.

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A couple of Internet sources explain that the lake’s name is Nipmuc (Algonquian) for “You fish on your side; I fish on my side; nobody fishes in the middle.” I suspect that the Native American name of the lake stems from fishing disputes among local Nipmuc Indian villages and how they resolved border and fishing disputes. (It’s a shame politicians these days can’t come up with such a logical solution. We stand to learn a lot from our Native American cultures.)

Today, the lake is commonly known as Lake Webster, but honestly, that’s no fun at all. If you go to the lake, there’s a large sign with the lake’s Nipmuc name on it and it claims to be the home of the Nipmuc Indians, although the tribe covered a large area in the New England region.

Some info about the Nipmuc Indians

“Nipmuc Indians are the original people of central New England, and are among the “Eastern Woodlands” or Algonquian Indians of the Eastern United States. Before the arrival of European settlers in the 1600s, the Nipmuc (or “Fresh Water People”) lived in numerous band encampments, or ‘villages’, near bodies of fresh water in a territory (called ‘Nipnet’) which extended from the present day Vermont and New Hampshire borders, through Worcester County in Massachusetts, into northern Rhode Island, and into northeastern Connecticut as far south as Plainfield” – Nipmuc Indian Association of Connecticut

Who can say that lake’s name five times really fast?

Virgin Galactic may have America’s first spaceport in New Mexico

paul — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 14:04:26 +0000

In an almost scifi start to the new year, SpaceFellowship.com writes New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson announced “Virgin Galactic has signed a 20 year lease agreement with the State of New Mexico. Virgin Galactic’s world headquarters will be established in New Mexico and its operations will be located at New Mexico’s Spaceport America, the nation’s first purpose-built commercial spaceport.”

Governor Richardson believes that the agreement, which came a few days after the FAA “issued a launch license to the New Mexico Spaceport Authority,” will make New Mexico the home of commercial space travel.

The signing of the agreement coincides with the start of Virgin Galactic’s test program of the WhiteKnightTwo launch vehicle in the Mojave Desert.

This is pretty cool news on many levels and I’m excited to see a commercial space program get off the ground. Virgin Galactic is one step closer to bringing space travel to the common citizen.

Sippin’ in Salem

paul — Tue, 08 Aug 2006 00:51:41 +0000

Randye and I couldn’t have asked for better weather this past weekend. On Saturday, I was weeding a heinous strip of crab grass in our woodchips when our friend Mike called. “Hey,” he said, “I’m heading up to Salem to meet some friends to hang out at a local bar and today is the Maritime Festival. Care to hang out and check out an old ship or two?”

Well, duh. Old boats and booze in witch city? No brainer. So Randye and I showered up and headed off to the action. When we arrived, we met up with Mike and some of his friends at a local hang out called the Lobster Shanty.

From there, we headed to the old Salem piers and boarded the sloop Providence, its most recent claim to fame being filmed in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man’s Chest. The ship, a 110 foot replica of a Revolutionary War sloop that was originally christened Katy, and was the first command of John Paul Jones.

The sloop was favored by pirates for its speed, shallow draft and ability to pack plenty of cannon for its size. In the movie, the Providence played the part of a merchant ship that was attacked by the Krackon. When the Katy was first commissioned, she too was a merchant and later became a privateer and U.S. warship.

After Randye and Mike witnessed my 30 minute peppering of the crew with a million questions, we made a roundabout way to a dinner of Indian cuisine. Then it was time to hit up a few of the local watering holes.

Also of interest, was one of Mike’s friends who joined us and is a practicing witch. Very nice, and very patient–yes, I peppered her with a thousand questions as well–she gave us a unique perspective of Salem through a witch’s eyes.