Tracking William Wood: Aptucxet Trading Post

Today I visited Aptucxet Trading Post in Bourne for the second time this summer. This is the place where, in 1631, one of the men who survived the Garrett shipwreck on Scusset Beach eventually died. In 1634, author William Wood wrote about this shipwreck in New England's Prospect. I believe he also visited the trading house, and that's why I was there. A tour was in progress when I arrived, so I strolled around the grounds and
poked around the garden where a hummingbird greeted me, reminding me that William Wood also wrote a description of this tiny feathered flier. "The humbird is one of the wonders of the country, being no bigger than a hornet, yet hath all the dimensions of a bird, as bill and wings, with quills, spider-like legs, small claws," Wood wrote. "As she flies, she makes a humming noise like a humble-bee: wherefore she is called the humbird."

Sassafras with its three differently shaped leaves: mitten-shaped, oval, and three-pronged.

Some of the plants growing in Aptucxet's garden also reminded me of Wood. A couple of huge sassafras trees, from which colonists made root tea, shaded the yard, and squash grew at the roots of corn stalks in native fashion. "The ground affords very good kitchen gardens for turnips, parsnips, carrots, radishes, and pumpions [pumpkins], muskmellon, isquouterquahses [Algonquian for squashes], cucumbers, onions, and whatsover grows well in England grows as well there, many things being better and larger," Wood wrote.

corn and squash

Beth is the lead docent at Aptucxet Trading Post, a position she shares with her daughter. We met a couple of weeks ago when I first went searching for answers to questions about William Wood's wanderings. The description he wrote of the path where he got lost on his way to Plymouth Colony seemed familiar when I read it, and I wondered if he might have been on the Megansett Trail. Beth had a map of the trail, which I photographed. Beth and I talked for an hour before she mentioned her name, after which we immediately realized that my longtime friend from the Sandwich Public Library, Lauren Robinson, is her sister. When I recovered from my surprise, we talked for another hour. Today I had the pleasure of meeting Lauren's daugther, Mavis, when she arrived at the trading post with her golden retriever.

Beth Ellis

The Megansett Trail runs north and south, top to bottom, on the map below. Like the other native trails, it's highlighted in red. The trading post appears below the words Buzzards Bay and below the Manomet River which the Cape Cod Canal replaced. Wood wrote that the Narragansetts (from Rhode Island) walked along the Megansett Trail to Plymouth, where they bought shoes. Most likely they canoed from Rhode Island, through Buzzards Bay, and then up the Manomet River, stopping at the trading post on their way. (Dutch traders sailing from New Amsterdam followed the same route.) The Megansett Trail leads past Sacrifice Rock and Great Herring Pond where the Herring Pond Wampanoag tribe lived.

When Wood got lost, he was likely trying to get from the trading post to Plymouth. He writes that he left his compass at home, but luckily, he was discovered by local Indians, probably Herring Pond tribe members, who welcomed him into their homes overnight and guided him to Plymouth the next morning. "The doubtful traveler hath oftentimes been much beholding to them [the Indians] for their guidance through the unbeaten wilderness," Wood wrote. "Myself in particular can do no less in the due acknowledgement of their love than speak their commendations..."