Read Ebook {PDF EPUB} Native American Legends by Matthew Reynolds The Story of the Yawgoog Trails. Caution: Hikers should be very careful, by wearing at least 400 square inches (2,580 square centimeters) of blaze orange material, such as a vest, when hiking in the Pachaug State Forest during Connecticut's deer hunting season (September through February). Hunting is prohibited in Yawgoog. Hikers should also be careful to walk single-file on the left side of roads, facing oncoming traffic. Hell Hollow is a valley on the Voluntown/Plainfield border in the Pachaug State Forest; Hell Hollow Pond lies within the valley. The blue-blazed Quinebaug and Pachaug trails, maintained by the Connecticut Forest and Park Association (CFPA), run through the area. Hell Hollow has a reputation of being haunted, but this reputation might not be deserved. Part of the valley's mystery originates from its curious name, but demonic names are somewhat common in Connecticut; there are over 25 places with "Devil" or "Satan" in their names (Donohue and Petersen; Philips pp. 125-126). It appears that the valley, like Mount Misery to the south, was named because of its poor land; the rocky soil imposed a hard life on those who settled and farmed there. In 1929 Daniel L. Phillips wrote: Much of [the land] was not very desirable country -- on the north it included Hell Hollow and Mount Misery, and on the south the ledges of Coalpit Hill, but between these sections lay a stretch of river with its wealth of water-power and the site of the village of Voluntown. (p. 49) The poor land quality is the reason why the Pachaug State Forest is so large. The state purchased much of it during the Great Depression in the 1920s and 1930s. Less productive land was more likely to be sold to the state while better land was kept by the owners; much of the better land is still farmed to this day. An article in The Hartford Courant of October 18, 1935, notes: In this whole area, [Allen W. Manchester, Regional Director of the federal Resettlement Administration] said, there are but 30 families now living, all of them in the tract around Voluntown where the largest purchases will be made. The land there is stony, sandy and hilly, poorly suited for farming. Only two of the 30 families make a living wholly from the land and they do not want to try it again. The others are part-time farming families, about half of them of native Yankee stock. Some are newcomers who have bought small farms in a "desperate attempt to find a living." They have been "even less successful than those who have been failing for years on the same type of lands." Life in this area has always been a struggle for a bare existence, Mr. Manchester said. The Connecticut General Court sent a committee to look it over in 1700 and got a report that it was not suitable for settlement. Nonetheless, soldiers who had served in the wars against the Indians were given the land as payment. Voluntown, said the director, means volunteer town, after these early settlers." Names which early settlers attached to the land still survive. Among them are Bare Hill, Mount Misery, Stone Hill and Hell Hollow. . Although there are these 30 farm homes in the area 70 per cent of the land is woods or brush. The average size of the occupied farms is about 100 acres [40.5 hectares], little of it tillable. ("Moving 30 Families" p. 24) While probably not applicable here, in 1888 H. Clay Trumbull discussed another reason as to how other places earned demonic names, based upon the church-going habits, or lack thereof, of those living in them: In all our country townships, particularly so in our Atlantic coast states, each church is a centre of light, illuminating the disk of a larger or smaller circle. Beyond the circumference of these circles, and in the interstitial spaces between them, there are regions of moral dimness, if not of absolute darkness, because of the lack of direct influence from the church upon the dwellers there. Some of these neighborhoods are known by such designations as "Hell Hollow," or "Devil's Corner," "Sodom," and the like. Still more of them are recognized simply as neglected or unevagelized districts. (pp. 203-204) The above does not appear to be the case for this location, as an old church is just 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) away on the Sterling/Voluntown border in the village of Ekonk -- about a 30-minute walk. A group of rock formations known as "Devil's Den" can be seen northeast of Hell Hollow Pond, on the southwest side of the dirt Flat Rock Road on the Quinebaug Trail; the formations exist beside Hell Hollow Brook (CFPA pp. 241, 244; Donohue and Petersen; Hughes and Allen p. 452). This "Devil's Den" should not be confused with the large "Devil's Den" cavern which existed near the village of Oneco in Sterling, Connecticut; it appears that the large cavern was destroyed by granite quarrying in the nineteenth century (Heermance p. 268; Larned vol. 2 pp. 429-430, 570- 571; Pease and Niles p. 222; Philips pp. 123-124). Rock formations are often fancifully associated with the underworld. There are several legends about hauntings in Hell Hollow; a false , but prominent, one relates to a girl named Maud who lived near the pond. Some mistakenly believe she was a witch, but Eileen McNamara reported on the real tragedy in the The Day on October 26, 2003: Her name was Maud Reynolds, and in the late 1800s she lived briefly with her parents, Gilbert and Lucy Reynolds, on the family's farm on Hell Hollow Road. She died in October of 1890, less than three months shy of her second birthday. It was one of several tragedies to befall her parents. The doctor who filed her death certificate in Town Hall stated that Maud died of diphtheria, a leading cause of death in the United States in the 19th century. It swells throat tissues, making it difficult for its victims to breath [sic], eventually leading to heart failure, paralysis and sometimes death. A vaccine has long since eradicated diphtheria in this country. A Reynolds descendant said the family contested that finding and always believed the baby choked to death on a piece of apple. Her parents found her dead in her bed on the morning of Oct. 12, 1890, said Pat Brenek, a Reynolds family descendant. They found the apple she had been eating, the marks of her baby teeth still clearly visible in it. Long after, Brenek said, they kept the apple preserved in a bottle of alcohol, so they could see her teeth impressions. Mary Rose Deveau, a Griswold historian who has researched Maud's death, wonders if both the apple story and the diphtheria diagnosis might be true. It's possible, Deveau said, that Maud had the disease and the swelling in her throat caused her to choke on the apple. No matter what the case, she was the third child of Lucy and Gilbert Reynolds to die in Hell Hollow, all within a few years of one another. . [Two of Maud's brothers] are buried in the family cemetery, located in the woods across Hell Hollow Road from Maud's grave. When she was growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, said Brenek, her grandmother often took her to visit the cemetery and Maud's grave. The family plot, however, is now itself buried beneath decaying leaves and forest undergrowth. Brenek doesn't know why Maud wasn't buried in the family cemetery. One story locals tell is that Lucy Reynolds, who was a midwife, was so devastated by her baby's death that she refused to bury Maud in the family plot. Instead, she had Maud laid to rest closer to the home, at the top of a small rise near the farmhouse, where she could easily see the cross that marked the baby's grave. "It makes sense. From a two-story house it would be real easy to see that grave," said Joseph Tatro. Tatro's father and uncles grew up on nearby Tatro Road and knew the Reynolds. Tatro, 55, also grew up on Tatro Road and still hunts and fishes in the Hell Hollow area. He grew up hearing the stories about Maud's family. He also heard the witch and ghost stories growing up. "It's a bunch of bull," he said. Brenek agreed. "It's silly. She was just a baby, and I don't know how all these stories about her being a witch got started." . That Maud is buried in a solitary grave in such a desolate spot in the woods is probably also partly the reason for the persistent ghost stories about her, said Deveau. At the time of her death, however, Hell Hollow, like much of the Pachaug area, was comprised of family farms and rolling fields. There were no forestlands, and Maud's tiny grave was at the edge of a field, near the road. It was a stone's throw from her parents' home. . Today, Maud's grave rests under a bower of pine trees. Maples, ash and oaks grow in thick stands on either sides of Hell Hollow Road. There is no grave marker, though a jumble of rocks is nearby. Someone has formed circles with several of the rocks. Graffiti of obscenities and odd markings are spray-painted on trees and rocks. . All that's left of the family's home, just down the hill, is a barely discernable stone foundation overgrown by grass and trees. Bright fall leaves float in the water at the bottom of a well shaft near the foundation. During the 1950s and 1960s locals persisted in stealing Maud's gravestone, a 5-foot-tall cement cross, Tatro said. A relative from New London would always replace it, but eventually gave up, he recalled. At some point, someone placed a sign on her grave warning would-be vandals that they would be cursed. The warning probably helped to boost the witch legend, Tatro said. . The ghost stories, Deveau said, diminish Maud's humanity and her memory. "That poor little girl," Deveau said. "And that's really all she was, just a little girl." (pp. A1, A6) It is important to note that the newspaper article clearly indicates that the Reynolds grave sites are in Hell Hollow in Voluntown and that they have been unmarked for decades. A broken concrete marker with "Maude" imprinted on it exists beyond Hell Hollow on an old homestead in the nearby town of Sterling, near the Cedar Swamp Cemetery. The Sterling marker may be a hoax aimed at paranormal investigators, as concrete is not a traditional material for headstones. The dates on the marker are also much earlier than the 1890 date mentioned in the article. Furthermore, the marker is not mentioned in historical cemetery transcriptions. In 2013 a gravestone was found in the former Voluntown Methodist Church (Shea). A separate legend concerns a screaming ghost in the forest. The ghost is said to be that of a Native American woman murdered by British soldiers in colonial times. A more likely explanation would be frightening human-like screams known to be produced by fishers and foxes; both of these elusive animals can be active in daytime. These legends and others were discussed in The Hauntings of Pachaug Forest , a chapbook produced by David Trifilo and subsequently published in 2005 in The Haunted Violin , a collection of stories compiled by Edward Lodi. Trifilo did not cite sources. Trifilo has apparently made some conflicting statements; in The Hauntings he claims to have seen a ghost elsewhere in the forest (pp. 91-92), yet the McNamara article states, "Trifilo puts little stock in the ghost legends" (p. A6). Earlier published accounts of the alleged hauntings do not seem to exist, making the legends even more questionable. While Hell Hollow is not likely to be haunted, it is a pleasant area to hike through. Driving Directions to Hell Hollow Pond from Yawgoog: Turn left at the intersection of Route 138 (Spring Street/Rockville Road) and Camp Yawgoog Road and proceed west about 5.5 miles (8.8 kilometers) to the junction with Route 165 in Connecticut. Turn left (west) onto the combined Route 138/165 (Beach Pond Road) and travel 1.1 miles (1.8 kilometers). Turn right (north) onto Scenic Route 49 (Ekonk Hill Road) for 5.2 miles (8.4 kilometers), then turn left (west) onto Hell Hollow Road in Sterling, at the oval Pachaug Trail sign. Head west then southwest 1.3 miles (2.1 kilometers) to the small parking area at the pond in Voluntown, to the right (north). Note: A portion of Hell Hollow Road may be closed in winter. The blue-blazed Pachaug Trail follows Hell Hollow Road from Route 49 to the Sterling/Voluntown/Plainfield border (0.6 mile/0.9 kilometer), where it leaves the road by turning right (northwest) into the Pachaug State Forest in Plainfield; the trail later crosses Hell Hollow Road near the parking area at the pond in Voluntown. The blue-blazed Quinebaug Trail crosses Hell Hollow Road just southwest of the pond. These trails are connected by a yellow-blazed path northeast of the pond, forming a loop. For more trail information, please consult the CFPA's Connecticut Walk Book East . Matthew Reynolds - Author. Matthew Reynolds is known as a critic and scholar, author of The Realms of Verse and of many essays in the LRB and TLS, editor of Dante in English and of Manzoni’s The Betrothed . He spent time in London, Cambridge, Pisa and Paris before settling in Oxford where he lectures at the University and is a Fellow of St Anne’s College. He lives with his unruly family in a thoroughly imperfect interior. Featured books by Matthew Reynolds. Designs for a Happy Home. Author: Matthew Reynolds Format: Paperback Release Date: 03/05/2010. Longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2010. The Desmond Elliott Prize is an annual award for a first novel written in English and published in the UK. Worth £10,000 to the winner, the prize is named after the literary agent and publisher, Desmond Elliott. Click here to find out more. What begins as a light-hearted look at Alizia’s world, almost slightly mocking in tone, becomes a much deeper novel that reels you in and makes fall for her charm. Other books by Matthew Reynolds. Likenesses. Author: Matthew Reynolds Format: Paperback Release Date: 30/09/2020. This book explores the palimpsestic realm of translation, illustration and interpretation in the act of reading, with examples from Dante to the sculptor Rachel Whiteread. Reynolds Matthew shows that the practice of reading readings suggests tactics for criticism in general. Prismatic Translation. Author: Matthew Reynolds Format: Hardback Release Date: 30/12/2019. Prismatic Translation by Matthew Reynolds. Translation: A Very Short Introduction. Author: Matthew Reynolds Format: Ebook Release Date: 20/10/2016. Translation is everywhere, and matters to everybody. Translation doesn't only give us foreign news, dubbed films and instructions for using the microwave: without it, there would be no world religions, and our literatures, our cultures, and our languages would be unrecognisable. In this Very Short Introduction, Matthew Reynolds gives an authoritative and thought-provoking account of the field, from ancient Akkadian to World English, from St Jerome to Google Translate. He shows how translation determines meaning, how it matters in commerce, empire, conflict and resistance, and why it is fundamental to literature and the arts. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable. The World Was All Before Them. Author: Matthew Reynolds Format: Paperback Release Date: 13/02/2014. There are more than seven billion people on the planet. They have, on average, over 100 billion nerve cells in their brains and 5 litres of blood pumping through their bodies. Their skeletons are made up of 206 bones and their hearts beat approximately 72 times per minute. They are connected to each other in more ways than they can possibly imagine. Philip is one of them. Sue is another. This is their story. It is the story of one year and two lives and what it means to live in them. It is a story about love and courage, risk and betrayal. It is a story that will make you look at the world with new eyes. The Little Boy and the Rattlesnake. The little boy was walking down a path and he came across a rattlesnake. The rattlesnake was getting old. He asked, "Please little boy, can you take me to the top of the mountain? I hope to see the sunset one last time before I die." The little boy answered "No Mr. Rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you'll bite me and I'll die." The rattlesnake said, "No, I promise. I won't bite you. Just please take me up to the mountain." The little boy thought about it and finally picked up that rattlesnake and took it close to his chest and carried it up to the top of the mountain. They sat there and watched the sunset together. It was so beautiful. Then after sunset the rattlesnake turned to the little boy and asked, "Can I go home now? I am tired, and I am old." The little boy picked up the rattlesnake and again took it to his chest and held it tightly and safely. He came all the way down the mountain holding the snake carefully and took it to his home to give him some food and a place to sleep. The next day the rattlesnake turned to the boy and asked, "Please little boy, will you take me back to my home now? It is time for me to leave this world, and I would like to be at my home now." The little boy felt he had been safe all this time and the snake had kept his word, so he would take it home as asked. He carefully picked up the snake, took it close to his chest, and carried him back to the woods, to his home to die. Just before he laid the rattlesnake down, the rattlesnake turned and bit him in the chest. The little boy cried out and threw the snake upon the ground. "Mr. Snake, why did you do that? Now I will surely die!" The rattlesnake looked up at him and grinned, "You knew what I was when you picked me up." Here is the same story. Told slightly differently. Often times young boys were sent from the village in search of a vision. This was the case of one particular young native boy. He started to go up to the top of a mountain in search of his vision. And as he climbed up the mountain, the air got cooler and cooler. And he came upon a snake laying in the path. The snake was shivering, and said to the boy. "Please help me. I can't move, I am so cold that I can no longer make it any further down the mountain." The boy said to the snake "No way! You're a snake, if I pick you up, you'll bite me!" The snake replied. "No, no I won't, I promise I won't bite you if you'll only pick me up and help get me down the mountain." So the young boy picked up the snake, put him in his shirt, and continued climbing to the top of the mountain in search of his vision. When he got back down to the bottom of the mountain, he reached in, took out the snake, and the snake bit the young boy. The boy replied to the snake "Hey! You bit me, you said that if I'd help you out, that you wouldn't bite me!" The snake replied "But you knew what I was when you picked me up!" Legends of America. Exploring history, destinations, people, & legends of this great country since 2003. Oklahoma – Indian Territory. Greetings From Oklahoma Postcard Available HERE. From Indian Territory to outlaws to the Dust Bowl Days and the birth of Route 66, Oklahoma is steeped in history. This beautiful state deserves much exploration as you exit the Interstate and explore its many hidden treasures. Mile-for-mile, Oklahoma has the most diverse geography of any in the nation, with pine-covered mountains, alabaster caverns, cypress swamps, and tallgrass prairies. Boasting more man-made lakes than any other state, Oklahoma also provides a haven for the angler, camper, and outdoor enthusiast. For the historian, Oklahoma tells the story of the struggles of the Native American as they were forced on the Trail of Tears in the 1830s and other routes in the 19th Century and proudly presents its Indian history, culture and flavor throughout the state. For history lovers of a later era, Route 66 through Oklahoma has more miles of the old pavement than any of the seven remaining states laying claim to a piece of the Mother Road. Enjoy your travels in Oklahoma and welcome to Indian Territory Legends. Kathy R. Weiser-Alexander Owner/Editor. Meadow Gold Sign in Tulsa, Oklahoma by Kathy Weiser-Alexander. The Oklahoma state flag honors more than 60 groups of Native Americans and their ancestors. The blue field comes from a flag carried by Choctaw soldiers during the Civil War. The center shield is the battle shield of an Osage warrior. It is made of buffalo hide and decorated with eagle feathers. Two symbols of peace lie across the shield. One is the calumet, or peace pipe. The other is an olive branch. Crosses on the shield are Native American signs for stars, representing high ideals. How The Mockingbird Became The Best Singer. When X-chol-col-chek, the mockingbird, was young, her family was very poor, and she could only dress in dingy feathers. Since she was hatched, however, X-col had displayed a magnificent voice. She wanted to take singing lessons but could not afford them. The mockingbird was fortunate to obtain work with a rich and noble family of cardinals. That winter, a famous singing professor, Dr. Xcau, the melodious blackbird, came to Maya Land. The father cardinal immediately imagined that his daughter, Col-pol-che, could become a fine singer. She was lazy vain and hated to study. But by promising her many fine gifts, the father convinced her to try singing lessons. When Col-pol-che went with Dr. Xcau to a quiet part of the woods to begin her music course, X-col followed and hid in the bushes to listen and learn. Then she raced back to finish her chores. For weeks, the professor tried to make the girl cardinal sing sweetly, but without success. He soon realized she had neither the voice nor the ambition. He was afraid to tell her wealthy father after such a long time, having accepted a lot of money. So, he finally flew far away an forgot the whole affair. Meanwhile, X-col had been practicing. One morning, Col-pol-che happened to hear her and was very surprised at her little maid's ability. That same day, the father cardinal decided his daughter should give a concert for their friends. The indolent girl was terrified, yet she dared not tell her parents that she couldn't sing. She thought of the mockingbird's lovely voice and decided to ask her for help. The two birds asked Colote, the woodpecker, to bore a hole into the tree trunk where Col-pol-che would perch. Then the mockingbird would hide inside. While Col-pol-che pretended to be singing, the real voice would come from X-col within. On the day of the concert, all the nobles, singers, artists and musicians among the birds came. Col-pol-che hopped out on a limb of the purple- flowering tree chosen by her father, bowed to the audience and opened her bill. The most exquisite voice ever heard in the Maya World came pouring out and echoed through the woods. The birds in the audience flapped their wings and cried for curtain call after curtain call. The father, however, was not applauding. He had discovered the truth just before the concert began when he saw X-col crawl into the little hole. When the applause ended and the cardinal finished many bows, her father flew up beside her and asked for silence. He hopped over to the hole and called the mockingbird to come out. The small, colorless bird was trembling with fright, but Col-pol-che's father gently led her to a perch in front of the entire audience. Then he explained that his daughter had tricked everyone, including him. "It was really this shy little 'nightingale' who sang the whole time,"he announced. The crowd went wild and demanded that X-col sing again. This time, outside and free of her fright, the mockingbird sang as never before and won every bird's heart. From that time on, all her descendants inherited her lovely voice, but the cardinals have never learned how to sing. "The moral of this legend is about ability, identity and the pursuit of dreams."