NOTE: “Peculiar Work,” the title of this blog, is borrowed from an article written by Massachusetts surveyor and cartographer Edward G. Chamberlain a century ago. He was describing his unique avocation, the rewards of which could only be measured by his own rigorous standards. The following essay about Chamberlain is included in my 2012 book,…Continue readingConcentric Cartography
I walked the Bay Circuit Trail in a series of day hikes during 2013 and 2014, starting at the ocean north of Boston and finishing at the ocean in Duxbury south of Boston. The trail is an estimated 230 miles long, but I covered almost twice that distance as I walked back to my starting…Continue readingWalking through Lowell with Jack Kerouac
In April 2021, I helped organize an on-line “virtual symposium” with a small group to discuss a theme we described as “Civic Responsibility and the Conservationist.” The event was instigated by Alan French, a Massachusetts businessman (now retired) and activist (still very active), who spearheaded the completion of the Bay Circuit Trail, a 230-mile walking…Continue readingCommunity and “the Care of the Countryside”: Benton MacKaye’s Original Conception of the Appalachian Trail