The weather was perfect today, sunny but not too hot, and I was getting itchy feet to go somewhere so I decided on Benson Park which was once a popular zoo that closed, I think in the 1980’s, and then rotted for a good long time before the town decided to make it into a lovely park. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I’d been promised I could play in empty zoo enclosures so I was in.
I have been to plenty of roadside zoos and I figured that’s what this would be… I figured it’d be some rotted fencing jutting out of an embankment in the woods somewhere but actually it’s smack dab in the middle of civilization and has a huge parking lot to boot. Upon entering I noticed three things: A nursing home, not affiliated but still right there, a dog park in what was probably a zoo cage at one point, and a TON of kids playing on brand new playground equipment. So this old zoo somehow became a place to house old people, dogs, and children. Seemed odd but oddly fitting…
I wandered where I pleased. Although there were trails here with names they were insanely poorly marked, and by that I mean pretty much not marked at all except for one wooded section that might make city dwellers think they’d die if they wandered off too far… That was the best though, as it was in the far corner and super quiet. The vegetation had grown so out of control it grew around and over the paths making this sort of whimsical lush green tunnel. Swamp lands abounded, as did vague signs about being on the moose path. I had a weird moment of realization that this once could have been the home of tigers and wildebeest, things that should have never lived in this part of the world, things that could easily kill. Were their ghosts still lingering?
There wasn’t much left to the old zoo but the buildings that remained were under reconstruction. I got to walk up to an idle ticket booth, an “elephant house” turned gift store, some sort of cage I am hoping the elephant didn’t live in, and another very depressing wrought iron prison used for the gorilla. Apparently they had one silver back gorilla, living in solitary isolation in a cage I would find the appropriate size for a small flock of chickens. That is where I left off and the place made me feel SAD. I could just imagine the poor beast pacing the tiny concrete floor in his own Victorian Hell. Say what you will about zoos – at least the ones these days aren’t that damn depressing!
As an added bonus I got to spend some time with some really tame Canadian geese and their awkward and ugly little goslings, almost as big as their parents but still sporting little tufts of fuzz. This was delightful surprise and made me ache to be back living on a free range farm. It reminded me what a peaceful and fulfilling experience it is to live among the animals. It has once again solidified my determination to make this a reality in the future. Sigh, someday!
If you are enjoying Catching Marbles please consider adding a dollar or two to my limited gas money fund so I can continue going on adventures and sharing them with you! Thank you!
Today I decided to check out some prison camp ruins rumored to be in Rutland State Park in Massachusetts. The directions said they were on Prison Camp Road, which was easy enough to remember but what they don’t tell you is the park is FULL of primitive dirt roads going in all directions, most of which the GPS does not recognize, and they aren’t labelled either. So this place was somewhat difficult to find but not too bad. It was a lucky day and the road I needed wasn’t gated off due to seasonal flooding as many were. The prison ruins are visible from the road and since you can only drive five miles an hour without breaking an axle it’s hard to miss.
Hikers who knew where they were going seemed to be using the roads to amble down rather than drive – which is a wonderful idea if you have a map! I drove around for a long time and passed several bridges and rivers and a few rock formations that were just to die for. This place seemed to have it all and we were out in the middle of nowhere. For as peaceful at it was there was also a very wild and untamed sense about it – maybe this was because of the occasional bits and pieces of other ruins that dotted the roads here and there – like a staircase to nowhere which was probably someone’s house at some point in history.
UPDATE: As of July 12, 2021 half of the staircase at Madame Sherri’s castle has collapsed and there are no plans to restore it or preserve the remaining steps. The below blog entry was written before these events and we hope you can all still enjoy hiking in the area and looking at the rest of the ruins. For more information on the collapse see 
Madame Sherri’s castle is a ruin out in the middle of the woods that looks like a castle. In actuality it was a mansion built in the 1930’s to host flamboyant parties for an eccentric actress named Madame Sherri. Locals will tell you with a spark f mischief in their eye that the castle may have been a bit more than a place to party… they claim it was a brothel. Now I don’t know too much about that but what I do know is it fell into disrepair and then burned down in the 1960’s. Now all that is left of it is a stunning rock staircase that goes nowhere and other bits and pieces of the walls and foundation. Even better there is a state forest surrounding it and lots of lovely trails to hike all around it. I took Annie’s Loop Trail today. It was… a moderate hike… Lots of hills, roots jutting out of the ground, some flooding, and lots of rocks that needed to be climbed over. With that being said I was passed by no less than four ladies in their golden years, a visibly pregnant woman, and a series of small dogs… so the trail couldn’t have been that bad! One of the women was sure to stop me and randomly tell me I was pretty. This made me smile. You meet the sweetest people on these trails sometime! This was just a reminder – if you can make someone’s day with such a small gesture, do it!
