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• 1 2017-05-29T18:40:48+00:00 Remove 2: The trail to Menimesit 22 gallery 2019-05-30T14:53:10+00:00 During Rowlandson's second "remove," Monoco traveled with his warriors and the Lancaster captives west along a familiar trail, which would take them through his home territory of Weshawkim and Wachusett to the Nipmuc sanctuary of Menimesit. Monoco would have known this trail well, but Mary Rowlandson, who rarely traveled beyond Lancaster or "the Bay towns," described it as a "vast and desolate wilderness," although she was less than ten miles from her home. With no knowledge of the Nipmuc interior, she "knew not whither" (where) they went. The trail that they traveled was ideal for Monoco's purpose. With marshes and swamps to one side and forested hills to the other, the environment prevented colonial troops from accessing the trail and discouraged captives from escaping. The trail gained in elevation as they moved toward the foothills of Mount Wachusett. Although the terrain may have seemed daunting to Rowlandson, those forests and wetlands provided generous fishing and gathering during the warmer months. After passing through the foothills, Monoco's party would have come to the east branch of the Ware River, following it to its confluence with the main branch, also known as the river to Menimesit. 

  Click here to view these locations in the map of Mary Rowlandson's removes or in the interactive story map. 

• 1 ../awikhigan/../media/images/george-hill-street-sign-IMG-CL.jpg 2017-05-29T18:40:48+00:00 Remove 1: George Hill 10 image_header 2019-05-30T15:32:42+00:00 Rowlandson's first "Remove" was at George Hill, located in present day Lancaster. The raiding party, led by the Monoco, and their captives, including Rowlandson, climbed about a mile, according to Rowlandson, and spent the first night on this hill above the English settlement.
  
  The abandoned house where they camped was likely the former trading post of Thomas King. The town of Lancaster had its origins in an agreement between King and the leader Showanon to foster trade at Nashway. Showanon was trading pelts at Boston when he first invited the trader to build a post near the Nashaway confluence, a traditional crossroads, which would provide a central location for Nipmuc and Penacook trappers to exchange their beaver and other pelts for English goods, including the guns and ammunition which facilitated hunting for both trade and subsistence.
  
  Although this initial exchange was based in reciprocity, other traders, drawn to the fertile confluence, pulled local Native men into debt, especially as the beaver population declined, the demand in Europe for beaver hats exceeding the supply of pelts. The traders sometimes held local leaders responsible for paying the debts of their kin. For example, Nanacocomuck, a leader at Wachusett, was imprisoned for two years in Boston when some of his kinsmen were unable to pay the debts they had incurred when they leveraged future pelts. Nanacocomuck was released only when his father and brother, the sachems Passaconaway and Wanalancet, agreed to sell their own fertile land at Wicasauke Island, on the river Molôdemak (Merrimack River). 
  
  As they left George Hill, Monoco and his company traveled through his home territory of Weshawkim, the town situated between two ponds, where many Nashaway people lived. By the time of the war, Lancaster's settlers and bounds were encroaching upon this territory, impacting the subsistence of the people who lived by the ponds. 
  
  Today, there is an orchard at the top of George Hill, and, while doing research, we took advantage of the seasonal blueberry picking opportunity. Blueberries were among the most important summertime foods that the people of Nashaway gathered, not only a delicious staple, which could be eaten fresh, dried, or cooked in stews, but a medicine that increased immunity and supplied vital nutrients.  

  Click here to view these locations in the map of Mary Rowlandson's removes or in the interactive story map.