Tripping on Travel: Webster Lake, Webster, Massachusetts

1 year ago
24

One of the declarations made by some early European, Christian settlers in New England, was that they were on a mission to preach the holy scriptures to the people of the "New World". The people they were referring to included native, North American indian tribes. And there were several identified in the historic record of New England. One of which, was the Nipmucs. As my footage of my travels on April 11, 2023 begins in volume one of this series regarding Webster, Massachusetts, I cross the Massachusetts border from Connecticut as I travel north on Rt 193. One can see the Welcome to Massachusetts and Webster town line signs as I pass them. Until one comes upon the larger green sign titled with the long version of the original name for the lake and the statement that it's the home of the Nipmucs. From that point, I turn right onto Point Breeze Rd and then drive to the end of Loveland Rd. As I proceed with subsequent volumes of this series, you may come to learn that it WAS the home of the Nipmucs, but is no longer. The historic record tells us the original Nipmuc name of the lake was a shorter "Lake Chaubunagungamaug", as it appeared in the earliest local records. But as time went on and people scrutinized it's meaning, local maps were produced that sometimes showed it with a longer name. As well, as Wikipedia puts it, "Today, 'Webster Lake' may be the name most used, but some (including many residents of Webster) take pride in reeling off the longer version." And why not? "The exaggerated name 'Lake Char­gogg­a­gogg­man­chaugg­a­gogg­chau­bun­a­gung­a­maugg' (/ˌleɪk tʃɚˈɡɒɡəɡɒɡ ˌmænˈtʃɔːɡəɡɒɡ tʃəˌbʌnəˈɡʌŋɡəmɔːɡ/) is a 45-letter alternative name for this body of fresh water, often cited as the longest place name in the United States and one of the longest in the world." If you ever catch wind of a Nipmuck reservation nearby the lake, one should know that it's only defined by 2.5 acres of land, and it's not supportive of permanent residency. It's used as a meeting place and cultural center, and also a place for the internment of Native American remains.

References:
Wikipedia, Lake Chaubunagungamaug
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Chaubunagungamaug

Wikipedia, Chaubunagungamaug_Reservation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaubunagungamaug_Reservation

Astronaut In A Submarine by | e s c p | https://escp-music.bandcamp.com
Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons / Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Maps of routes by Bing Maps. My only task was to trace my driving route from A (start) to B (end) to match the footage that follows it.

Other Graffiti Forensics channels and pages
http://www.youtube.com/c/GraffitiForensics
https://www.facebook.com/GForensics/
https://www.bitchute.com/channel/graffitiforensics/

Loading comments...