All in the Family Run

With Heather's sights set firmly on April 17th and a certain 26.2 mile course from Hopkinton to Boston, that means 2017 weekend runs are long runs, and long runs are a good opportunity to explore the wilds around Stonehill College in Easton, where Heather is currently tearing up academia.

So devoted brother Andrew and mapmaker father laced up our sneakers to join Heather as she explored all new roads - and off-roads - in a community that doesn't believe in convenience stores, gas stations, or any type of modern amenity that could supply a runner with a drink during a long morning of vigorous exercise.

A couple of shots on the Stonehill campus before we started our exploration.

Finally, into the sheep pasture that we've driven by hundreds of times, but never had the wherewoolthal to explore - until now. 

What is the Sheep Pasture?

Funny you should ask.  Here, from the Natural Resources Trust of Easton's website is the explanation:

In 1973, the NRT was invited by Elise Ames Parker to use her former residence, Sheep Pasture, as a 115-acre classroom for its environmental programs and the study of nature in an outdoor setting.  With the availability of this classroom came exciting new ways for the organization to implement its mission.  A program of community gardens was introduced and managed.  Farm buildings were repaired and farm animals acquired.  A newsletter was published.  In October of 1973, the third grade class from the North Easton Grammar School walked down Main Street to Sheep Pasture for its first environmental education program.  That third-grade class pioneered a trail to the establishment of a new outdoor learning laboratory that continues today.  In 1979, the NRT became the owner of Sheep Pasture through Mrs. Parker's generous bequest.  Twenty years later, the NRT purchased 40 additional acres that had been a part of the original estate from Mrs. Parker's grandson.  That purchase increased Sheep Pasture's size to 154 acres. 

All I know is that it provided for some damn fine trail running in the middle of the winter. 

From there, it was up the hill in Easton to explore Borderland State Park. 

Never heard of that either?  Then allow this blog to continue to educate: (we try to provide an educational experience here at Wicked Good, in addition to frivolity and mindless banter)

Borderland State Park, according to the state's MassParks website, is one of the most historically significant tracts of publicly owned land in Massachusetts.  Created in the early 1900s by artist and suffragist Blanche Ames and her botanist husband Oakes, Borderlands' 1,570 acres offers many of the same pleasures that the Ames family enjoyed: walking, horseback riding on woodland trails, fishing and canoeing on the ponds, and in winter, ice-skating and sledding.

We Cooks added running to the slate of offerings.

Further into Borderland - and we didn't even have the chance to explore any of the offshoot trails that wind around the pond and pastures - we came upon the actual Borderland.

Which, it turns out, is a gorgeous stone mansion.

In 1906, the Ameses purchased land on the border of Easton and Sharon.  The country estate they named Borderland remained in the family for 65 years, until in 1971, two years after Blanche's death, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts acquired the estate and opened it as a state park.

The family's home, a three-story stone mansion built in 1910 welcomes guests into the northern entrance to the Borderlands.  Its 20 rooms are furnished as they were when the Ameses lived there.

We, of course, had to run a lap around its grounds, just for posterity's sake.

From there, after continuing to be unable to find any type of liquid sustenance anywhere, we headed back toward Stonehill, with a detour through the Oliver Ames Parker trails, another set of terrific trails through 36 acres of greenspace.  Parker was a former governor of Massachusetts, don'tcha know.

Andrew, meanwhile, was getting desperate for a drink, and considering all options at this point. 

Back on campus, past the Mansion on the Hill, it was time to wrap up this 12+ mile adventure.

Luckily, there were drinks aplenty back at Heather's dorm, where Skyhawks pride was flying high. 

All of this marvelous family time was followed by the omelette bar at Roche Common on campus.  Worth the drive down and a 12-mile run just for that.

Keep on plugging away, Heather!  Next time, though, when we go exploring the history of Easton, we're bringing our own drinks.