B E B E R E

In spite of the awful weather last weekend, My intrepid photographer and I ended up getting out and enjoying a bit of nature, anyway. Saturday, we had orignially intended to go to Monadnock. Instead, we ended up staying nearer to home. Our first stop after breakfast (IHOP on Rte 1 - hadn't been to an IHOP in years. I miss them.) was the Saugus Iron Works - the first ironworks in North America. Of course, it being a National Parks Service site, we got a great tour, complete with a nail-making demonstration at the end.

The Saugus Iron Works only was active for 22 years: bickering between owners, fraud (aah, Corporate America) and tension between the Foundry workers and the Puritan colony all contributed to its end. Several of the workers moved on and started their own foundries, continuing what Saugus had started, and laying the foundation for the modern American Iron and Steel industries.

After Saugus, we paid a visit to the Lynn Woods reservation. Although the conditions weren't ideal, we did enjoy a nice bit of a hike around one section of the park. After a few miles of wandering, a number of photo opportunities and the chance to see such sights as the Stone Tower and Dungeon Rock, we decided to call it quits and head home. We did make note to come back again at another point, as there's so much more to explore, and the bit we did get to see was impressive.