Four-Footed Neighbors

- May 23, 2014

Sheep barn on Ashgrove Rd

By Brother Stavros

Visitors to New Skete pass a sign that says “Ash Grove” as they leave the village of Cambridge heading east. The road brings them through a very picturesque valley that has maintained its rural character. It extends eastward into Vermont, ending at the slopes of three 3,000 foot-ish mountains of the “Taghanic” range. The Nuns’ monastery sits on the brow of a hill close to the village; the Monks’ monastery perches on higher ground above a south-trending dale known as Pumpkin Hook, anglicized from the name of the small Pompa-nuck native tribe.

Ash Grove takes its name not from the tree but from an Irish Methodist preacher, Thomas Ashton, who with the more famous Rev. Philip Embury established a small faith community in 1770. They were mostly sheep farmers. The little church is gone, but the cemetery remains. It holds the Ashton family graves.

Sheep on the original Ashton Farm

Pumpkin Hook, by contrast, was industrialized for its day. Its creek powered a cotton mill that was to inspire the great mills of Lowell, Massachusetts. By the mid-1800s a clock factory, a comb factory, a woolen mill, a gun smithy, and a flax mill were all established. The last hint of this era was a little mill that made wooden paintbrush handles, run by the Collamer brothers just across the road from the Sisters. It ceased operating over a decade ago.

When the Monks arrived in the area in 1966, we quickly adapted to the rural environment and learned farming skills, such as animal husbandry, which would later be useful in our breeding of German Shepherd dogs.

The cheesecake bakery and the dog facilities continue the economic mix of our forebears in this

Dick Dempsey, the Nuns' neighbor, calls
these two Scotch Highland longhorns
Jack and Jill. Dick looks after our
cars and trucks.

southeastern corner of Washington County. However, if you continue south past New Skete Lane on Chestnut Hill and before the road climbs into the pass, note the romping creek that made the settlers prosperous. Some stone foundations are just barely visible.

I recently set out, now that early Spring festoons the valley with a variety of color, to make a digital profile of our hoofed neighbors. Next time you visit, slow down and look around—they might be watching you.