Through the East Quabbin Land Trust newsletter, I learned that a nature hike sponsored by the Oakham 250th Anniversary Committee and led by Oakham residents Caren Caljouw and Ron Wolanin was scheduled for this afternoon.  So at 1 pm, I parked at the intersection of Spencer and Flint Roads in Oakham, and joined a group of over 30 people who also wanted to tramp through the woods on a fine late summer day.  Caren and Ron were superb leaders, and I feel like I learned a lot during the three-hour walk.  I’ve tried to organize and transcribe my notes accurately into the brief summary below:

Health Warnings

• Eastern Equine Encephalitis and West Nile Virus are transmitted by mosquito bites
• West Nile Virus has been verified in this area in crows and robins, species which congregate in large flocks
• Humans should take appropriate precautions by using insect repellent

The Season

• Birds and other species like dragonflies are migrating south
• Now is the peak time to see migrating broadwing hawks; 20,000 per day have been recorded
• Monarch butterflies are heading toward Mexico

The Forest and the Area

• This is a transitional hardwood forest, dominated by species like Yellow Birch and Beech
• Also common are Red Maple and Red and Black Oak; White Oak is also present
• American Chestnut was the dominant species until a fungus wiped it out
• This tract of State-owned (DCR) land comprises about 670 acres; it is part of a total protected area of around 3000 acres, some of which is in private hands
• Blazed with yellow triangles, the Mid-State Trail extends 95 miles from Mount Watatic near the New Hampshire border to the Connecticut-Rhode Island border; the mid-point is in Oakham
• Other trails in this area include snowmobile trails and trails used by the Boy Scouts

Colonial Settlement

• Land on both sides of the trail we walked belonged at one point to Levi Lincoln
• Levi Lincoln Sr owned four houses in Oakham and 100 acres but did not live here; he practiced law in Worcester, served as US Attorney General and acting Secretary of State under President Thomas Jefferson, was elected Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor and later became Acting Governor
• The Lincoln family of Worcester, distantly related to Abraham Lincoln’s branch, were prominent in local and national politics in the 18th and 19th centuries
• Levi Lincoln Sr defended Bathsheba Spooner and her co-conspirators, but he lost the case and the four were hanged in Worcester
• He also defended the rights of the slave Quock Walker; he won this case, which led to the ruling that slavery in Massachusetts was unconstitutional
• The land which we walked through was farmed for many years, as evidenced by stone foundations of houses and barns

Harper Homestead Foundation

Flint Barn Foundation

• Prominent Oakham citizens included William Harper and John Flint
• Native Americans used this area as a summer camping ground
• Relations between the colonists and Native Americans remained amicable, as one story relates that a settler helped a wounded Native American survive through the winter until his companions returned for him the following year
• Oakham used to be part of Rutland; the early settlers owned square lots of 250 acres

Botany

• Witch Hazel can be distilled into a lotion; the name has nothing to do with witches but rather is derived from the same word which gave us wicker, the Old English wice, meaning “pliant” or “bendable”
• Filbert nuts (Corylus americana) are highly prized by squirrels
• Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers are so-called because they drill into trees like this one to eat sap

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker drill pattern

• Massachusetts has around 13 species of oak trees
• Red Oak and Black Oak are closely related; their wood was used for barrel staves for containers for storing dry products; the leaves have pointed lobes; the acorns sprout in the spring; acorns mature on a two year cycle
• White Oak wood was used for barrel staves for containers for storing wet products such as rum and water; the leaves have rounded lobes; the acorns sprout in the fall; acorns mature on a one year cycle
• The acorns of the Red, Black, and White Oak are different enough to be identifiable
• Mast years for oak acorns are NOT triggered by weather events
• Indian Pipe (Monotropa uniflora), a plant with no chlorophyll, has a symbiotic relationship with both the fungus and the trees living nearby, with the mushroom providing trace elements and the trees sugars
• Lichens were used to make dyes; they are inedible because our bodies can’t digest them
• Yellow Birch (Betula alleghaniensis) trees are found in old growth forests on Mount Wachusett; the tree produces an organic ester called methyl salicylate which causes it to smell like wintergreen
• Indian Cucumber is edible; it exhibits foliar flagging; the fuzz on the stems discourages ants
• Trailing Arbutus (Epigaea repens), or Mayflower, is the Massachusetts state flower
• Solomon’s Seal is a member of the lily family; it has blue berries in the fall
• Sheep Laurel (Kalmia angustifolia), a rhododendron, has lovely spring flowers but is toxic to grazing animals
• Baneberry (Actaea rubra), as its name implies, is not good to eat and is in fact quite poisonous
• Jack-in-the-Pulpit is either male or female, but individuals often change gender
• False Solomon’s Seal has a plume of flowers on top and red berries; it is used to make tea
• Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) is a pioneer species; the bark is easily identified because it looks like burnt potato chips

Black Cherry bark

• Eastern White Pine has needles in groups of five; it grows tall and straight; a double pine is caused by insect damage
• Lycopodium clavatum, or Princess Pine, is in the same plant family that produced all the coal in North America; the spores were used as flash powder in early photography
• Partridge Berry is also known as Squaw Berry, as it was used by Native American women to help with childbirth; the flowers are doubles, so the fruits show double navels

Partridge Berry

• Lady’s Slipper is pollinated by bees, but only about 10% of plants actually seed; seeds are dispersed by the wind, but they need a soil fungus (Rhizoctonia) to supply nutrients; they grow in acidic soil
• Invasives, such as Japanese Barberry and Oriental Bittersweet, are often found in disturbed areas, which is to say areas that had human habitation

Geology

• The Indian Cave formation is so-called because it is believed to be where the wounded Native American spent the winter; it is clearly of glacial origin

Indian Cave

Indian Cave

• Sampson’s (or Samson’s) Pebble is a glacial erratic, which means that the rock composition doesn’t match its substrate; it is one of many in the area

Glacial Erratic

• Retreating glaciers around 17,000 years ago deposited these boulders
• Glacial lakes in this area are often oriented north-south