Posted on 04/05/2009 6:27:26 PM PDT by JoeProBono
The Littleton Historical Society’s event last week drew a crowd of close to a hundred people to hear a presentation by Littleton resident Daniel Boudillion.
His main topic of research concerned the numerous New England locales incorporating the word “Tophet” into their name, in particular eight Massachusetts swamps so named by the Puritans. Illustrating his remarks with slides, Boudillion began by noting that the word “Tophet” was peculiar to the Puritans of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which was chartered in 1629.
The Puritan Bible of choice was the Geneva Bible, a translation that used the word Tophet to depict a “place of burning,” a graphic depiction of hell, he noted.
Because the Pilgrims were “practical people in a hostile land, beset by wolves, Indians, starvation, diseases and harsh winters,” they were not given to fanciful, exaggerated, or metaphorical names when it came to matters of survival, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at wickedlocal.com ...
Tophet Swamp in Carlisle
Ooh-—kay?
The local paper is called The Mosquito...they get so big and ferocious there, you need to keep your dogs in the house at sundown or they will carry them off ;^)
Clearly I know nothing about careful writing but do you think somewhere in the course of this story we could learn the names of these swamps? Would a list be too much to ask for? The writer even went so far as to list the towns where the swamps are but still couldn't quite give us the names of the places this story is all about.
So whats the mystery?
Later, the name was changed to Adamant. But the local pond is still called Sodom Pond.
They still have an annual Blackfly Festival every spring.
I can't seem to find a photo of the pond, but here's a print called "Joepyeweed at Sodom Pond," a flowering meadow on the shore, by a local photographer.
That looks like part of the Great Brook reservation - my border collie and I go hiking there all the time. Carlisle has a lot of great places for hiking.
Beats me, it seems to be a poorly written story.
People of the Puritan persuasion were know to be great visionaries, often seeing well into the future through intuition and “feelings they got in their bones.”
One notable Puritan, Goodman Scholl was well known for using his feet as a conduit for his prophesies. In particular, the gout in his left foot would cause him to see through the pain in his big toe, which he referred to as his “Tophet”.....
The mystery to me is that no one mentioned Cotton Mather’s *other*, somewhat more infamous “notable contribution” to history.
Swamp Gas? (naturally occuring methane ignited by static electricity or lightning).
The author of the piece is Pam Hays.
Is there a reason why you never credit the authors?
This topic was posted , thanks JoeProBono.
Where you been, man?
Joe has been missing since Sept 2018.
Is he still with us?
Ya don't say?
*groan*
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