It’s really funny how this whole travelling and exploring thing works. Just when you think you have scraped the bottom of the barrel and have nowhere left to check out the universe steps in and guides you. Today was no different. I had decided to another google search and didn’t expect to come up with anything close to home but I was surprised this new location popped right with only 4 reviews. Why not, let’s check it out. I grabbed my mom, who needs to get out more, and we made a beeline to this new fascinating destination.
Jewell Hill is a no longer used dairy farm that still has a big hay barn and a few other structures on the property. Trails wind in different directions and are VERY well maintained. But finding it was a little difficult. It’s on Crocker Road and if you drive up Crocker Road from the paved side you will find parking just beyond a speed sign that lowers to speed limit to I think 10 MPH and a farmhouse to the left. If you reach dirt road you’ve gone too far! but really the parking lot was big and open and well-marked. Several cars were already parked there.
This place is GORGEOUS. Without even leaving the parking lot there’s a delightful view of a mountain in the distance. Of course the Autumn trees were giving their last colorful gasp today and the pastural scenery between all this was just so peaceful and fresh. First we walked up to the barn to check it out as it’s very close to the parking lot. We then made our way to the Southern Loop which is the blue trail. I had chosen this trail in particular after looking at the map and deciding it looked the least up hill and not too far (.6 of a mile for the loop bit.) Both me and my mother are in dire need of getting back into shape!
Since we made our way from the barn (taking half the Crocker Farm Trail, and then a good part of the Jewell Hill Trail before reaching the Southern Loop Trail) and not the direct route from the parking lot we were met with a mild but extremely steady incline which proved enough for both of us! We’re both out of shape, getting older, with joint problems so this would likely be nothing to someone young and healthy. Still, if you want an easier route take the trail at the beginning of the parking lot adjacent to the road. It will bring you right to the Southern Loop Trail while skipping a good part of the incline!
The trails here were very well maintained! And scenic! I really felt at peace here. There was just the right amount of diversity between the pasturelands, the little creek, and the forest. I will say it did get muddy at parts! But still, this place was awesome! So lovingly maintained! Several people were here walking their dogs and enjoying one of the last warm days of Autumn. I will definitely go back and check out some of the other trails as well as recommend this place to others looking for some easy to easy-moderate hiking. What a hidden gem! Even better on the way home I found two other trailheads with multiple trails!! I shall be back!
It’s the first day of October which means my favorite holiday of the year is coming up – Halloween. In celebration of this I have decided to make this month’s travels themed. So welcome to the first entry of my Haunted New England Tour! I will try my best to go to locations that are haunted, creepy, abandoned, surrounded by local myths and legends, stalked by cryptozoological beasts, or part of our brutal history. Of course there will be a number of cemeteries and this month could be a great way to get all you history and psychology buffs involved as New England is the site of many murders and mysteries! I shouldn’t have any problem finding new places to go!
I am starting out with a familiar stomping ground for me – the graveyard behind the town common in Ashby. If you’re wondering what the difference between a graveyard and a cemetery is I am told cemeteries exist on their own while graveyards are consecrated ground adjoining a church. It took me way too long to figure out what this particular graveyard was called. I had to stare at Google street view for quite a while! But the Church is the First Parish Church (Unitarian Universalists) and the graveyard behind it is called 
But anyway this cemetery is mostly slate stones which are the older stones you can find here, mostly dating to the 1700’s. These stones were particularly beautiful as they clearly had several different artists, all adding their own unique signature styles to familiar symbology. This was the first time I found a triple-headed stone. There’s usually one or two double-headed stones here and there, most often married couples or more grimly the gravesites of slaves, infants, or peasants (as double stones are cheaper than two separate stones…) From what I could guess these appeared to be siblings, all children, all dying in the third year of their life. Another sad find was a double stone for a twenty three year old woman in the late 1700’s who died four days after giving birth and one day after her infant died. Was this due to complications, disease, or a broken heart? We may never know but there did seem an inordinate amount of children here, even considering the time period.
Because of its age this graveyard is littered with Revolutionary War soldiers. I have become accustomed to seeing their stones, usually easy to spot because of their metal war plaques and the small American flags that are placed at each. During my first visit here I noticed a very lonely little stone at the very back left corner. It was just a square marble post, looking more like a property marker than a gravestone. It was showered in pennies. In New England this is an old tradition that denotes respect for an important historical figure. Who could it be? I wandered closer and read the stone, “PRINCE ESTABROOK NEGRO GREATON’S CO. 3 MASS REGT REV. WAR.” I must admit this confused me greatly. Was Negro his last name or was he black? And if he was black… we had black revolutionary war soldiers?! I didn’t have a penny to leave that first time I visited but I did today and it seemed to mean a little more because I knew who it was now after looking his story up.
Prince Estabrook was indeed a black man and also a slave. On April 19, 1775, after requesting and being granted legal permission from his owner, he became the first black man to become a revolutionary war soldier (yes, I said first, not only.) He fought and was wounded in the battle of Lexington and Concord, the first battle of the Revolutionary War. His service was on and off from there until the end of the war. We know shockingly little other than that. We have no idea why he volunteered to fight for a country which was enslaving him, we have pretty much no details of his personal life, only that after he eventually won his freedom he lived in Ashby Massachusetts with the son of his previous owner, dying at around ninety years of age. He does not appear to have been honored in any special way during his life and on his death he was buried outside the graveyard’s official boundaries, forever segregated. This explains why his stone was so… isolated. It was moved at some point in recent history to at least be within the graveyard’s official grounds. Only in 2008 did he get recognition being mentioned on a memorial facing the Lexington Green where he fought.
