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Cottage Window LbNA #16355

Owner:Adoptable
Plant date:Jul 3, 2005
Location:
City:Mashpee
County:Barnstable
State:Massachusetts
Boxes:1
Planted by:XrisFiles
Found by: grammyandgrumpy
Last found:Feb 27, 2009
Status:FFFFFF
Last edited:Jul 3, 2005
Place: Lowell Holly Reservation
Difficulty: Fairly Easy
Time: As much as 1.5 hrs; less if you're walking from the seasonal parking lot, and even less from the beach.


The Lowell Holly Reservation is part of the Trustees of Reservations, a conservation organization that protects over 50,000 acres of land in Massachusetts. This particular reservation was donated in 1942 by Abbot Lawrence Lowell. The reservation is located primarily in Mashpee, MA (and partly in Sandwich, MA) and is located on a peninsula of land between Mashpee Pond and Wakeby Pond that was once known as Conaumet Neck. For more information about the Lowell Holly Reservation, check out http://www.thetrustees.org/pages/316_lowell_holly.cfm.

My family has owned property on Mashpee Pond since the early 1960s when my grandparents, who had tired of camping at Peter’s Pond Park in Sandwich, decided to look for some waterfront property to buy where they could camp on their own. The property they acquired already had a cottage sitting on it, and that cottage came with two windows that, although not exactly alike, are very similar to one another and give the place a unique feel. The smaller window has become something of a family symbol, and so I combined my desire to make a stamp of that window and my desire to place a box in a beautiful wooded walking area in which I spent some time as a child (we once rowed down the lake and wandered around the reservation barefoot – not the best idea with all those holly trees!).

These trails can get somewhat muddy in spots, and when the irresponsible town of Mashpee allows the water level of the lake to get too high (controlled by boards at the entrance to Mashpee River which flows out of the lake), the trail could in a couple spots be down right wet, so you may want appropriate footwear. Also, during the warmer months be sure to bring along a supply of insect repellent, preferably the kind that's rated for use in the deep woods. You'll want to spray some on you before you get going, and probably again sometime during your walk.


How to Get There:
MEMORIAL DAY TO LABOR DAY: From Route 6, take exit 2 onto Route 130 south and follow for 1.5 mi. Turn left onto Cotuit Road and follow for 3.4 mi. Then turn right onto South Sandwich Road and follow for 0.7 mi. Turn right onto a road marked by a white sign that reads “Carpe Diem” and follow to seasonal entrance and parking area (20 cars). There is a parking fee on the weekends and holidays. During the week there is no fee, but you must be out of the lot by 5pm because they close the gates without warning. BY BOAT: Launch your boat from the Mashpee Boat Ramp off Route 130 and motor/sail/paddle/row to the opposite end of Mashpee Pond. Park nearest the posted sign that is farthest to the right as you face the beach from your boat. YEAR-ROUND: Same directions as above, but, after turning right onto South Sandwich Road, follow for 0.6 mi to year-round entrance and parking area (6 cars) on right.


Instructions:
FROM THE YEAR ROUND PARKING LOT: From the sign board at the edge of the parking lot, follow the white-marked trail into the woods (the markers are white-painted squares of wood nailed onto trees about 8’ high). Shortly after crossing a ditch, bear right at a fork in the path, continuing to follow the white-marked trail. About 15 minutes into your walk you will come to a second fork. Again, bear right following the white-marked trail. When you come to a T at the water’s edge, turn left (or go for a swim). From here you can see Cleveland Island (aka “Stayonnit” Island) which has its own letterbox. Continue along the shoreline past two sitting benches and then bear left into the seasonal parking area.

FROM THE SEASONAL PARKING AREA: From the parking lot, walk towards the water towards a beech tree of many trunks and much graffiti. Before going down the slope to the water, turn left and head to the start/continuation of the white-marked trail. When the trail forks bear right to continue on the white-marked trail, following the shore of Wakeby Pond. At the next fork you will again bear right to begin a large loop on the white-marked trail.

After walking about 20min from the seasonal lot, you will climb a steep hill and shortly thereafter you will need to bear right at a fork in the trail to stay on the white-marked trail. You will come to a large beech tree on your left with what looks like an eye in its bark (but not carved in, I don’t think). You will then come to a fork in the path. Turning right will take you out one of the peninsular knolls in the reservation, which juts out into Wakeby Pond. Turning left will keep you on the white-marked trail. Ergo, turn left.

You will come to a major intersection with a large triangle (the points of which face 60, 180, and 300 degrees) between the intersecting paths, in the middle of which sit three fair-sized beech trees. The eastern-most point of this triangle (the point nearest you as you enter the intersection) is between a large rhododendron bush and very large twin beech tree. Bear right at this intersection.

You will come to a large pine tree of many trunks and limbs, not all of which are still alive. From the root sticking out of the ground next to this tree, walk 51 steps to another root that sits to the right of another pine tree with one dead trunk that is wrapped by a larger living trunk (note that at the 14th step you will pass a dead pine tree with a white marker). You will then be at the top of a hill in a very pine-needly area. Walk 35 steps to the nadir of the valley (between the hill you were just on and the next one ahead of you). Make a 90 degree turn to your right. Take a compass reading of 300 degrees and be facing a fair-sized beech tree which, at about half-way up its height, sprouts into about four different branches. Walk 19 steps to the beech tree (but not going completely straight, as you’ll need to circumvent a small pine shrub that’s in your way). The trunk of the tree is actually in the shape of an L. The Cottage Window Letterbox is hidden in a hollow where the trunk goes from vertical to horizontal. The box is accessible from either side of the tree. Please rehide with sticks and leaves.

To get to the second peninsular knoll (between Mashpee and Wakeby Ponds) go back to the path and turn right. (If you have time, it's a beautiful walk, and in the summer it's fun to swim off the sand bar at the end of the peninsula.) To return to the parking area, go back to the path and turn left. Backtrack to the large triangle intersection and bear right to put yourself back on the white-marked trail loop (although the white marks are not immediately noticeable). At the next intersection take a right to get to the beach at the end of Mashpee Pond, or turn left to continue on the white-marked trail back towards the parking area. You will know that you have completed the loop when you pass a trail going off to your left at a sharp angle. Continue straight to get back to the seasonal parking lot.

FROM THE BEACH AT THE END OF MASHPEE POND: Enter the woods at the path near the sign. Pass a footpath on your right that goes up a fairly large hill. At the first major intersection turn left. This will take you to the major “triangle” intersection mentioned above. From this direction, bear left to head towards the letterbox. Find the large pine tree of many trunks and limbs and follow the directions above.