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Lynn is pleasantly situated
on the northern shore of Massachusetts Bay, between the cities of
Salem and Boston. It extends six miles on the sea shore, and
five miles into the woods. The southern portion of the town is
a long narrow prairie, defended on the north by a chain of high
rocky hills, beyond which is an extensive range of woodland.
It is surrounded by abundance of water; having the river Saugus on
the west, the Harbor on the south, the Ocean on the southeast, and
the Lakes of Lynn on the north. From the centre of the
southern side, a beach of sand extends two miles into the ocean; at
the end of which are two peninsular islands called 'the
Nahants.' This beach forms one side of the harbor, and
protects it from the ocean. When great storms beat on this
beach, and on the cliffs of Nahant, they make a roaring which may be
heard six miles.
Lynn is emphatically a region of
romance and beauty. Her wide-spread and variegated shores -
her extended beaches - her beautiful Nahant - her craggy cliffs,
that overhang the sea - her hills of porphyry - her woodland lakes -
her wild secluded vales - her lovely groves, where sings the
whip-poor-will, furnish fruitful themes for inexhaustible
descriptions; while the legends of her forest kings and their vast
tribes - 'their feather-cinctured chiefs and dusky loves' will be
rich themes of song a hundred ages hence.
Lynn, as it now exists, is much smaller than it was before the towns
of Saugus, Lynnfield, Reading, and South Reading were separated from
it. It is now bounded on the west by Saugus, on the northwest
by Lynnfield, on the north and east by Danvers and Salem. The
old County road passes through the northern part, the Salem turnpike
through the centre, and the Rail-road from Portland to Boston
through the southern part. The distance to Salem, on the
northeast, is five miles; to Boston, on the southwest, nine
miles. It contains 9360 acres, or fourteen square miles; and
the boundary line measures thirty-four miles. It presents a
bold and rocky shore, consisting of craggy and precipitous cliffs,
interspersed with numerous bays, coves and beaches, which furnish a
pleasing and picturesque variety. Above these rise little
verdant mounds and lofty barren rocks, and high hills clothed with
woods of evergreen. The first settlers found the town,
including Nahant, chiefly covered by forests of aged trees, which
had never been disturbed but by the storms of centuries. On
the tops of ancient oaks, which grew upon the cliffs, the eagles
built their nests; the wild-cat and the bear rested in their
branches; and the fox and the wolf prowled beneath. The
squirrel made his home undisturbed in the nut-tree; the wood pigeon
murmured his sweet notes in the glen; and the beaver constructed his
dam across the wild brook. The ponds and streams were filled
with fish; and the harbor was covered by sea-fowl, which laid their
eggs on the cliffs and on the sands of the beach.
The Indian name of the town was Saugus;
and by that name it was know for eight years. The root of this
word signifies great or extended; and it was
probably applied to the Long Beach. Wood, in his early Map of
New England, places the word 'Saugus' on Sagamore Hill. The
river on the west was called by the Indians 'Abousett' -
the word Saugus being applied to it by the white men. It was
called the river at Saugus, and the river of Saugus, and finally the
Saugus river; the original name 'Abousett' being lost, until I had
the pleasure of restoring it. This river has its source in
Reading pond, about ten miles from the sea. For the first half
of its course, it is only sufficient for a mill stream, but becomes
broader towards its mouth, where it is more than a quarter of a mile
wide. It is crossed by four bridges - that at the ironworks
being about 60 feet in length, that on the Old Boston road about two
hundred feet on the Turnpike 480 feet, and on the rail-road 1550
feet in length. It is very crooked in its course, flowing
three miles in the distance of one. In several places, after
making a circuitous route of half a mile, it returns to within a few
rods of the place whence it deviated. The harbor, into which
it flows, is spacious, but shoal, and does not easily admit large
vessels.
Nahant is the original name of
the peninsula on the south of Lynn, which has become so
celebrated. This is probably the Indian term
Nahanteu, a dual word, signifying two united, or
twins. This name is peculiarly appropriate, and is an instance
of the felicity of Indian appellations; for the two islands, like
the Siamese twins, are not only connected together by the short
beach, but both are chained to the man land by the long beach.
When the early settlers spoke of the larger promontory, they called
it Nahant; but more commonly after the manner of the Indians, who
talked of both together, as twin brothers, they called them 'the
Nahants.'
Great Nahant is two miles in
length, and about half a mile in breadth, containing five hundred
acres; and is six and one quarter miles in circumstance. It is
surrounded by steep, craggy cliffs, rising from twenty to sixty feet
above the tide, with a considerable depth of water below. The
rocks present a great variety of color - white, green, blue, red,
purple, and gray - and in some places very black and shining, having
the appearance of iron. The cliffs are pierced by many deep
fissures, caverns, and grottos; and between these are numerous
coves, and beeches of fine, shining, silvery sand, crowned by ridges
of various colored pebbles, interspersed with sea-shells.
Above the cliffs, the promontory swells into mounds from sixty to
ninety feet in height. There are many remarkable cliffs and
caves around Nahant, which are very interesting to the lovers of
natural curiosities.
The swallows' cave
is a passage beneath a high cliff, on the southeastern part of
Nahant. The entrance is eight feet high and ten wide.
Inside, it is fourteen feet wide, and nearly twenty feet in
height. Toward the centre it becomes narrower, and at the
distance of seventy-two feet, opens into the sea. It may be
entered about half tide, and passing through, you may ascend to the
height above, without returning through the cave. At high tide
the water rushes through with great fury. The swallows
formerly inhabited this cave in great numbers, and built their nests
on the irregularities of the rock above, but the multitude of
visitors have frightened them mostly
away.
In delineating this delightful
cavern, many a vision of early romance rises lovelily before me,
And presses forward to be in
my
song,
But must not now-
It is
not allowable for a serious historian to indulge in discursions of
fancy, else might I record many a legend of love and constancy,
which has been transmitted down from the olden time, in connexion
with this rude and romantic scenery. Here came the Indian
maid, in all her artlessness of beauty, to lave her limbs in the
enamored water. Here came Wenuchus and Yawata, and other
daughters of the forest, to indulge the gushings of their love,
which they had learned, not in the pages of Burns or Byron, but in
God's beautiful book of the unsophisticated human heart. Here
too, the cliffs, now washed by the pure waves, and dried by many a
summer sun, have been purpled by the blood of human slaughter; and
perhaps this very cavern has sheltered some Indian mother or
daughter from the tomahawk of the remorseless foe of her
nation. Here also, in later times, have lovers pledged their
warm and fond affection - happy if the succeeding realities of life
have not frustrated the vision of happiness here
formed.
Southward from the Swallows' Cave is Pea Island, an irregular rock,
about twenty rods broad. It has some soil on it, on which the
sea pea grows. It is united to the Swallows' Cliff by a little
isthmus, or beach of sand, thirteen rods
long.
Eastward from Pea Island are two
long, low, black ledges, lying in the water, and covered at high
tides, called the Shag Rocks. Several vessels have been
wrecked on them.
Passing from the
Swallows' Cave along the rocks, near the edge of the water, to the
western side of the same cliff, you come to Irene's Grotto - a tall
arc, singularly grotesque and beautiful, leading to a large room in
the rock. This is one of the greatest curiosities on Nahant,
and was formerly much more so until sacrilegious hands broke down
part of the roof above, to obtain stone for
building.
Eastward from Swallows' Cave
is Pulpit Rock - a vast block about thirty feet in height, and
nearly twenty feet square, standing boldly out in the tide. On
the top is an opening, forming a seat; but from the steepness of the
rock on all sides, it is difficult of access. The upper
portion of the rock has a striking resemblance to a pile of great
books. This rock is so peculiarly unique in its situation and
character, that if drawings were made of it from three sides, they
would scarcely be supposed to represent the same
object.
The Natural Bridge is near
Pulpit Rock. It is a portion of the cliff forming an arch
across a deep gorge, from which you look down upon the rocks and
tide, twenty feet below.
Near East Point
is a great gorge, overhung by a precipice on either side, called the
Cauldron Cliff, in which, especially during great storms, the water
boils with tremendous force and fury. On the right of this,
descending another way, is the Roaring Cavern; having an aperture
beneath the rock, through which you hear the roaring of the Cauldron
Cliff.
On the northeastern side of
Nahant, at the extremity of Cedar Point, is Castle Rock, an immense
pile, bearing a strong resemblance to the ruins of an old
castle. The battlements and buttresses are strongly outlined;
and the square openings in the sides, especially when thrown into
deep shadow appear like doors, windows, and embrasures. Indeed
the whole of Nahant has the appearance of a strongly fortified
place.
Northwest from Castle Rock is the
Spouting Horn. It is a winding fissure in the lower projecting
bed of the cliff, in the form of a horn, passing into a deep cavern
under the rock. The water is driven through a tunnel, formed
by two walls of rock, about one hundred feet, and is then forced
into the cavern, from which it is spouted, with great violence, in
foam and spray. In a great easterly storm, at half flood, when
the tide is coming in with all its power, the water is driven into
this opening with a force that seems to jar the foundation of the
solid rock; and each wave makes a sound like subterranean
thunder. The cliff rises abruptly forty feet above, but there
is a good descent to the mouth of the
tunnel.
Westward from the Spouting Horn
is a large black ledge, called the Iron Mine, from its great
resemblance to that mineral. It embraces a singular cavity,
called the Dashing Rock.
At the
Northwestern extremity of Nahant, is John's Peril, a vast fissure in
the cliff, forty feet perpendicular. It received its name from
the following anecdote: John
Breed, one of the early inhabitants of Nahant, one
day attempted to drive his team between a rock on the hill and this
cliff. The passage being narrow, and finding his team in great
peril, he hastily unfastened his oxen; and the cart, falling down
the precipice, was dashed in pieces on the rocks
below.
Directly in front of Nahant,
at the distance of three-fourths of a mile on the east, is Egg
Rock. It rises abruptly from the sea, eighty-six feet in
height. Its shape is oval, being forty-five rods in length,
and twelve in breadth, containing about three acres. Near the
summit is half an acre of excellent soil covered with rank
grass. The gulls lay their eggs here in abundance, whence the
rock derives its name. The approach to this rock is dangerous,
except in calm weather, and there is but one good landing place,
which is on the western side. Its shape and colors are highly
picturesque. Viewed from the north, it has the semblance of a
couchant lion, lying out in front of the town to protect it from the
approach of a foreign enemy - meet emblem of the spirit which
slumbers on our shores!
South of Nahant
is a dangerous rock, covered at high tide, called Sunk Rock.
On the western side, at the entrance of the harbor, is a cluster of
rocks, called the Lobster Rocks.
Little
Nahant is one hundred and forty rods long, and seventy broad,
containing forty acres. It is a hill, consisting of two
graceful elevations, rising eighty feet above the sea, and defended
by great battlements of rock, from twenty to sixty feet in
height. On the southern side are two deep gorges, called the
Great and Little Furnace. Between these is Mary's Grotto, a
spacious room, twenty-four feet square, and twenty in height opening
into the sea. It was formerly completely roofed by a great
arched rock; but some of those persons who have no veneration for
the sublime works of Nature, have broken down a large portion of
it. On the north side of Little Nahant is a fissure called the
Wolf's Cave.
Little Nahant is connected
to Great Nahant by Nahant Beach, which is somewhat more than half a
mile in length, of great smoothness and
beauty.
Lynn Beach, which connects the
Nahants to the main land, is two miles in length on the eastern
side, and two and a half miles on the western. It is an
isthmus, or causeway, of fine, shining, gray sand, forming a curve,
and rising so high in the centre as generally to prevent the tide
from passing over. On the western side it slopes to the
harbor, and on the eastern side to the ocean. The ocean side
is most beautiful, as here the tide flows out about thirty-three
rods, leaving a smooth, polished surface of compact sand, so hard
that the horse's hoof scarcely makes a print, and the wheel passes
without sound. It frequently retains sufficient lustre after
the tide has left it, to give it the appearance of a mirror; and on
a cloudy day, the traveler may see the perfect image of his horse
reflected beneath, with the clouds below, and can easily imagine
himself to be passing, like a spirit, through a world of shadows - a
brightly mirrored emblem of his real
existence!
It is difficult - perhaps
impossible, to convey to the mind of a reader who has never
witnessed the prospect, an idea of the beauty and sublimity of this
beach, and of the absolute magnificence of the surrounding
scenery. A floor of sand, two miles in length, and more than
nine hundred feet in breadth, at low tide, bounded on two sides by
the water and the sky, and presenting a surface so extensive that
two million of people might stand upon it, is certainly a view which
the universe cannot parallel. This beach is composed of
movable particles of sand, so small that two thousand of them would
not make a grain as large as the head of a pin; yet these movable
atoms have withstood the whole immense power of the Atlantic ocean
for centuries - perhaps from the
creation!
There are five beaches on the
shores of Lynn, and sixteen around Nahant. The names of these,
beginning at the east, are Phillips' - Whale - Swampscot - Humfrey's
- Lynn - Nahant - Stoney - Bass - Canoe - Bathing - Pea Island -
Joseph's - Curlew - Crystal - Dorothy's - Pond - Lewis's - Coral -
Reed - Johnson's - and Black Rock Beaches. These together have
an extent of nine miles, and most of them are smooth and
beautiful. Great quantities of kelp and rock weed are thrown
upon these beaches by storms, which are gathered by the farmers for
the enrichment of their lands.
Swampscot
is the original Indian name of the fishing village at the eastern
part of the town. This is a place of great natural beauty,
bearing a stron resemblance to the Bay of Naples. On the west
of Swampscot is a pleasant rock, called 'Black Will's Cliff,' from
an Indian Sagamore who resided there. On the east is a low and
very dangerous ledge of rocks, extending into the sea, called Dread
Ledge. The cliffs, coves, and beaches at Swampscot are
admirably picturesque, and vie with those of Nahant in romantic
beauty.
There are numerous building
sites of surpassing loveliness, not only at Nahant and Swampscot,
but throughout the whole town; and when a better taste in
architecture shall prevail, and the town becomes as highly
ornamented by art as it has been by nature, it will perhaps be
surpassed by no town in the Union. I have long endeavoured to
introduce a style of architecture which shall be in harmony with the
wild and natural beauty of the scenery - a style in which the
cottages shall appear to grow out of the rocks, and to be born of
the woods. In some instances I have succeeded, but most people
have been too busy in other occupations to study a cultivated and
harmonizing taste. When a style of rural refinement shall prevail -
when the hills and cliffs shall be adorned with buildings in
accordance with the scenery around - and when men, insted of cutting
down every tree and shrub, shall re-clothe nature with the
drapery of her appropriate foliage, Lynn will appear much more
lovely and interesting than at present.
The eminences in different parts of the town, furnish a great
variety of pleasing prospects. High Rock, near the centre of
the town, is an abrupt cliff, one hundred and seventy feet in
height. The view from this rock is very extensive and
beautiful. On the east is the pleasant village of Swampscot,
with its cluster of slender masts, and its beach covered with boats
- Baker's Island with its light - the white towers of Marblehead -
and the distant headland of Cape Ann. On the right is Bunker
Hill, with its obelisk of granite - the majestic dome, and the lofty
spires of Boston - the beautiful green islands, with the forts and
light houses in the bay - and far beyond, the Blue Hills, softly
mingling with sky. On the north is a vast range of hill and
forest, above which rises the misty summit of Wachusett.
Before you is the town of Lynn, with its white houses and green
trees - the rail-road cars gliding as if by magic across the
landscape - the Long Beach, stretching out in its beauty - the dark
rocks of Nahant, crowned with romantic cottages - Egg Rock in its
solitary dignity - and the vast ocean, spreading out in
its interminable grandeur. There too may be seen a
hundred dorys of the fishermen, skimming lightly on the waves - the
Swampscot jiggers, bounding like sea birds over the billows - a
hundred ships ploughing the deep waters - and the mighty streamers
wending their way to and from England. The whole is a
splendid panorama of the magnificent Bay of Massachusetts!
Lover's Leap is a beautiful and
romantic elevation, one mile northwest from High Rock. It is a
steep cliff, on the side of a hill clothed with wood, one
hundred and thirty-three feet in height - that is, thirty-three feet
to the base of the hill, and one hundred feet above. It
furnishes a pleasant view of a large portion of the
town.
Pine Hill is half a mile West from
Lover's Leap. It is two hundred and twenty-four feet in
height. The southwestern extremity of this hill is called
Sadler's Rock, which is one hundred and sixty-six feet high. A
small distance northward of this, is a cliff, by the road side,
which was struck by lighting in 1807, when a portion of the rock,
about six tons weight, was split off, and thrown nearly two hundred
feet; the bolt leaving its deep traces down the side of the
rock. A few rods beyond, where the road is crossed by a brook,
is a flat rock, in which is impressed the print of a cloven foot,
apparently that of a cow or moose. A stone, lying near, bears
the deep impress of a child's feet.
Sagamore Hill is a very pleasant eminence at the northern end
of Long Beach, sixty-six feet in height. It slopes to the
harbor on one side, and to the ocean on the other, and has the town
lying beautifully in the back ground. Half a mile eastward is
Red Rock, which forms a very pretty little promonotory in the
ocean. Many spots in the hills and forests of Lynn are
beautifully wild and romantic. There is a delightful walk on
the eastern bank of Saugus river, which passes through one of the
loveliest pine groves imaginable. On the eastern side of this
river also is the Pirate's Glen, respecting which a legend will be
found in the following pages. The view from Round Hill in
Saugus is delightful.
There are eight
ponds in Lynn, several of which are large, having the appearance of
little lakes. Their names are, Cedar - Tomlin's - Flax - Lily
- Floating Bridge - Phillips' - Ingalls' - and Bear Pond on
Nahant. The first three of these are connected with
Saugus River by Strawberry Brook, on which are many mills and
factories. The margins of some of these lakes are very
pleasant, and will probably, at some more tasteful period, be
adorned with beautiful villas and delightful cottages. The
water in Tomlin's Pond is sixty feet above the ocean. Floating
Bridge Pond is crossed by a bridge which floats on the water.
It is four hundred and fifty-six feet in length, and is quite a
curiousity, reminding one of the Persian bridge of boats across the
Hellespont.
Springs are abundant - some
of them exceedingly cold and pure, and good water is easily
obtained. A mineral spring exists near the eastern border of
the town, the waters of which are celebrated for their medicinal
virtues. There are several fine springs on Nahant,
particularly North Spring, which is remarkably cold, flowing from an
aperture beneath a cliff, into which the sun never shines. One
of the early inhabitants of Nahant, having a violent fever, asked
for water, which as usual was denied him; but watching an
oppurtunit, he escaped from his bed, ran half a mile to the spring,
drank as much water as he wanted, and immediately recovered. A
curious boiling spring, called Holyoke Spring, surrounded by
willows, is found in a meadow, near the western end of Holyoke
street. Another boiling spring may be seen in the clay meadow,
near the centre of Saugus. There is also a mineral spring in
the western part of that town, near the Malden
line.
Lynn furnishes an admirable study
for the geologist. The northern part of town abounds with
rocky hills, composed of porphyry, greenstone, and sienite.
Porphyry commences at Red Rock, and passing through the town in a
curve toward the northwest, forms a range of hills, including High
Rock, Lover's Leap, and Sadler's Rock. The term porphyry
is derived from a Greek word signifying purple. It is composed
feldspar and quartz, and is of various colors - purple, red, gray,
brown, and black. It gives fire with steel, and is susceptible
of a high polish; the best specimens being very beautiful, equaling
the porphyry of the ancients. The western portion of the town
comprises ledges and hills of brecciated porphyry; that is, porphyry
which has been broken in fragments, and then cemented by a
fluid. The porphyry formation continues on through
Saugus. Near the Pirate's Glen is a ledge, which is being
disintergrated into very coarse gravel, having the appearance
of pumice, or rotton stone. Specimens of clinkstone porphyry
are found, which, when struck, give out a metallic
sound. At Lover's Leap, and some other ledges, the
porphyry seems to be subsiding into fine hornstone. At
Sadler's Rock, it is of a very delicate
purple.
The hills, in the eastern
section of the town, including the ledges and cliffs at Swampscot,
consist of a coarse-grained greenstone, composed of hornblende and
feldspar. In opening these ledges, dendrites of manganese have
been found, beautifully disposed in the form of trees and
shrubs. This tract of greenstone extends through the town,
north of the porphyry hills. In many places it is beautifully
veined with quartz, and other substances. A little north from
the Iron Works in Saugus, is a great ledge by the roadside, with a
singular vein passing through it, having the appearance of a flight
of stairs. On the eastern bank of the river, southward from
the Iron Works, is a wild, tremendous ledge, from which many
vast fragments have fallen, and others seem ready to topple on
the head of the beholder.
The northern
section of the town comprises fine beds of granite, of a grayish
color, composed of feldspar, hornblende, and quartz. It has
its name from Siena, in Egypt. It is found in great variety,
from very fine to very coarse, and is used for building, and
for mill-stones. From the presence of iron ore, it frequently
attracts the compass, and occasions much difficulty in
surveying. At one place in the Lynn woods, the north end of
the needle pointed south; and at another, it went round forty times
in a minute.
Granite occurs, but
chiefly in roundish masses, or boulders, composed of feldspar,
quartz, and mica. It is not so frequent as formerly, the best
specimens having been used for building. It is remarkable,
that nearly all these boulders appear to have been brought, by a
strong flood, from a considerable distance north; and many of them
were left, in very peculiar and sometimes surprising positions,
on the tops of the highest hills and ledges. One of these,
near the Salem line, rested on the angular point of a rock, and
was a great curiosity, until that rage for destructiveness,
which exists in some people, caused it to be blown down by
powder. Another boulder, fourteen feet in diameter, weighing
one hundred and thirty tons, lay on the very summit of the cliff
next east from Sadler's Rock. It appeared to repose so loosely
that a strong wind might rock it, yet it required fifteen men with
leavers to roll it down. A boulder of breccia, on the boundary
line between Lynn and Saugus, rests on a ledge of breccia of a
different character, and appears to have been removed from its
original situation in the north. It is twelve feet in
diameter, weighing eighty-three tons. On this line also is a
still greater curiousity - a vast rock of greenhouse, which appears
to have been brought from its bed in the north, and placed on the
summit of a hill, where it forms a picturesque object. It was
originally sixteen fee in diameter, weighing two hundred tons;
but several large portions have been detached, either by frost or
lightening, perhaps both. It must have been a tremendous
torrent, which could have removed rocks of such magnitude, and
placed them on such elevations. Many boulders of granite now
lie on the summit of Little Nahant. The cliffs at this place
are greenstone, and on the western end are several specimens of
pudding stone. A conglomerate rock, or boulder of breccia, of
a very peculiar character, lies in the tide, on the south side of
Little Nahant. It is a spheroid, eighteen feet in diameter,
weighing two hundred and sixty tons. Its singular disposition
of colors renders it a great curiousity.
The western and southern portions of Great Nahant are composed of
fine and coarse grained greenstones, and greenstone porphyry.
The hills and ledges on the northern side are sienite; and on the
northeast, they are coarse-grained greenstone, blending into
sienite. The southeastern portion is composed of stratified
rocks of argillaceous limestone, and argillaceous slate, variously
combined, and traversed by immense veins of greenstone. The
rocks, in ths part, present a very peculiar appearance, both in
their combination and disposition; consisting of immense masses, and
irregular fragments, cracked and broken in every direction.
Were we to suppose a portion of one of the asteroids, in an ignited
state, to have been precipitated through the atmosphere, from the
southeast, and striking the earth in an angle of forty degrees, to
have been shivered into an infinite number of fragments, it would
probably present the appearance which Nahant now exhibits.
There must have been some tremendous up-heaving to have produced
such results; and it is not improbable that a volcano has more than
once been busy among the foundations of
Nahant.
On the northern shore is a vast
ledge of pure hornblende, so very black and shing as to have
deceived early voyagers and founders, that it was a mine of iron
ore. A very curious vein of fine greenstone, two inches in
thickness, passes through this ledge, for more than two hundred
feet, in a direction from southeast to northwest. Eastward
from this, the rock is traversed by veins of various colors, and in
different directions; evidentaly produced by the actions of
fire. The primitive rock appears to have been strongly heated,
and to have cracked in cooling. A fissure was thus formed,
through which a liquid mass was erupted; which again heated the
rock, and as it cooled, formed another fissure in a traverse
direction. This was filled by a third substance; a similar
process followed; and the original rock, and the preceding veins,
were traversed by a fourth formation.
At Nahant are found porphyry, gneiss,
and hornstone. It also presents regular strata of foliated
feldspar; and, perhaps, the only instance in New England, in which
trap rock exhibits such parallel divisions. Here also are
found jasper, chalcedony, and agate; with prase, prehnite, chert,
chlorite, datholite, dolomite, quartz, epidote, rhomb spar,
carbonate of lime, and lignified asbestos. At Crystal Beach
are fine specimens of crystallized corundum, probably the only
locality of this mineral in the United States. These crystals
are in six-sided prisms, terminated by hexagonal pyramids, half an
inch in diameter, and from two to five inches in length, single and
in clusters. Swallow's Cave is composed of greenstone; Pulpit
Rock of argillacious slate; Castle Rock of greenstone; Egg Rock of
compact feldspar. Mineral teeth are formed by the fushion of
pure feldspar.
In Saugus are found most
of the rocks common to Lynn. Here are rocks of red and
green jasper, with antimony, and bog iron ore in abundance. An
account of the Iron Furnace anciently established here, will be
found in the following pages. Lead ore has also been
discovered, in the western part of the town, on land owned by
Benjamin Franklin Newhall. In the northern
part of the town, sulphate of iron is found. Extensive beds of
very fine clay exist near the centre of the town, which have been
wrought into pottery. In 1630, a very singular discovery was
made near the old tavern on the west of Saugus River. It
consisted of a mass of very fine and beautiful blue sand, which lay
in a hard gravel bed, about one foot below the surface. There
were about eight quarts of it. This sand has a very sharp
grit, yet it is as fine as can easily be imagined, and as blue as
the bluest pigment. Viewed through a magnifying glass, it
appears bright and sparkling, like the finest possible particles of
silver. At Lynnfield, an extensive quarry of serpentine has
been opened.
A large portion of Lynn
bears strong evidence both of alluvial and diluvial
formations. That part between the porhyry hills and the
harbor, is chiefly composed of strata of sand, clay, and gravel,
covered by loam and soil. The clay and gravel vary in
thickness from two to fifteen feet. On the borders of
Saugus River are extensive tracts of salt marsh, the mud of which is
from two to twenty feet in depth; and it is probable that this
portion was once covered by the ocean. There are also
evidences that a much larger quantity of water has at some time been
discharged by the Saugus River; and this accords with an Indian
tradition. Just above the iron works, the river diverges
toward the west; but a great valley continues toward the
north. Whoever is curious to trace this valley
several miles, may be satisfied that a great flood has at some
time passed through it; and prhaps it was this torrent which brought
the boulders, and swept down the soil which now constitutes the bed
of the marshes.
These great tracts of
marsh, called by the first settlers, Rumney Marsh, are in Lynn,
Saugus, and Chelsea. They lie between the porphyry hills and
the sea, and are about a mile in breadth, and nearly three miles in
extent. The western portion of these marshes are protected by
Chelsea Beach, a long ridge of sand which has been thrown up by the
tide, and lies against their southern margin. The eastern
section is defended from the sea by the Lynn Beach, which lies a
mile distant, with the harbor inside. Throughout this region
of marsh are trunks of great trees, chiefly pines, imbedded
from two to four feet beneath the surface, and in a good state of
preservation. The salt water frequently covers these marshes
from two to three feet. Many of these trees lie in a direction
from north to south, as if they had been blown down by a strong
north wind, on the spot where they grew. But that is probably
the direction in which they would have been deposited, if brought
down by a great northern current. Others lie in different
directions. If we suppose these trees to have grown where they
now lie, we have the singular anomaly of a vast forest of great
trees, growing from two to six feet below the high tides of salt
water. Nor will it assist us any to suppose, that this forest
was protected from the sea by a great ridge or beach; for a river
comes down from the north, and they must then have grown at a
greater depth beneath fresh water. The probability that
they were brought from their original forest by a great northern
current, is strengthened by the fact, that on the west of these
marshes is a great region of mounds of sand and gravel, from twenty
to one hundred feet in height, in digging through which, portions of
trees have been found. Another fact will be interesting to the
geologist, that though all the neighboring hills are covered with
trees, these mounds, though clothed with grass, are destitute
of foliage; and William Wood, more than two
centuries ago, describes them as 'upland grasse, without tree or
shrub.'
An alluvion commences at
Humfrey's Beach, and passes up Stacey's Brook, beneath which is
another fine stratum of clay. In this tract are some rich peat
meadows, which were formerly ponds. The peat is a formation of
decomposed vegetables, and is dug by a kind of long spade, which
cuts it into regular solids, about four inches square, and two feet
in length. It is then piled and dried for fuel, and produces a
constant and intense heat. A meadow between Orange and Chatham
streets contains an alluvial deposit of rich black soil, twelve feet
in depth. In digging to the depth of three feet, the trunk of
a large oak was found; and at the depth of six feet, a stratum
of leaves and burnt wood. In various other places, the fallen
trunks of great trees have been found, from three to six feet
below the surface, with large trees growing above them. In the
north part of Lynn, and in Saugus, are several large swamps,
remarkable for the great depth of vegetable matter, and for the
wonderful preservation of wood in them. Many acres of these
swamps have been cleared, and several hundred cords of wood taken
from them, and charred into good coal. And still beneath these
depths appears to be a 'lower deep,' filled with wood partially
decayed. The whole southern section of the town, also,
presents strong evidences of great geological changes. Whoever
visists Chelsea Beach, which extends westward from Lynn Harbor, may
perceive that a new beach has been thrown up, outside the old one;
and the appearance gives great confidence in the Indian tradition,
that this beach was thrown up by a great storm, in a single
night. The Lynn BEach was once much further out than at
present; and within it was a swamp, covered by large pines and
cedars, forming an isthmus from Lynn to Nahant. The beach was
thrown up against the eastern shore of this isthmus, and a
succession of great storm tides have driven it in, until the whole
isthmus has been submerged by water and sand. By my own
surveys, I find that this beach has moved five rods within twelve
years, and now covers many acres of marchy ground, which were on the
western side. After great storms, portions of this marsh,
covered by the stumps of trees, frequently appear on the eastern
side. This beach has been so much injured, there is reason to
apprehend that the tides may sweep over and destroy it.
Such an event is greatly to be deprecated, both as it regaeds its
beauty and utility; for the existence of the harbor depends on
its durability. If the plan be completed, which I proposed, of
making a barrier of cedar, it may be saved. I hope that public
spirit enough may be found, to preserve this great natural
curiousity for the admiration of future
generations.
Most of
the trees and plants common to New England, are found at Lynn, and
some which are rare and valuable. The principal trees are
white and pitch pine, white and red cedar, oak, walnut, maple,
birch, and hemlock. One of the most common shrubs is the
barberry; the root of which is used in dying yellow, and the
fruit is an excellent preserve. Many tons of sumach are
annually gathered, and used in the manufacture of morocco
leather. Whortleberries are very plenty in the pastures, and
many hundred bushels are annually gathered. Blueberries,
raspberries, blackberries, and cranberries, are also common.
The forests, fields, and meadows, are rich in the abundance and
variety of medicinal plants, and the town presents a fine field for
the botanist.
Great numbers of wild
birds, of almost every kind, frequent the woods and waters of
Lynn. Numerous sea-fowl afford amusement to the sportsman; and
there is scarcely a bird common to North America, which does not, at
some season of the year, gratify our ears with its song, or delight
our eyes by its plumage. A great variety of fishes, also, are
found in the waters. Haddock, halibut, cod, bass, and
mackerel, are taken in abundance in boats; and nippers and tautog
are caught by dozens, with hook and line, from the cliffs of
Nahant. Hundreds, and sometimes thousands of lobsters, are
daily taken in the summer, by traps which are set around the shores;
and alewives in abundance are caught in the streams in the month of
May. To give a particular description of all the animal and
vegetable productions, would be to write a volumn. In the
coves around Nahant, that very singular vegetable animal, called the
sea-anemone, or rose fish, is found. They grow on the rocks in
the deep pools, and when extended, are from six to eight inches in
length, furnished with antenna, or feelers, which they put out to
seek for their food; but if touched, they shrink close to the rock,
and remain folded like a rose. On summer evenings, the meadows
exhibit a beautiful appearance, being alluminated by thousands of
fire-flies, which appear to take ineffable delight in enlivening the
gloom by their phosphoric radiance. One of them in a dark
room, will emit sufficient light to read the finest
print.
Some portions of the
soil are very fertile, but generally it is rather hard and
acidulous. The pastures produce barberries, the woodlands
grapes; the meadows are filled with cranberries, the marshes with
samphire; and the fields, when neglected, run into sorrel.
Much dependance is placed upon sea-weeds for the enrichment of the
lands; but the soil would bw much more permanently improved by the
rich mud from the bed of the harbor.
The
climate is subject to sudden changes, and great extremes of heat and
cold, being strangely mixed up with beautiful sunlight and horrid
storms, moonshiny evenings and long days of cold rain, bright blue
sky and impenetrable fogs. European poets tell us of the
charms of May, and the song of the nightingale, our pleasant month
is June, and the whip-poor-will is our bird of love. The
months of June, July, and August are usually delightful; and in
October and November we have the Indian summer. The
temperature is then soft and agreeable, and a pleasng haze fills the
atmosphere. Sometimes the sky is 'darkly, deeply, beautifully
blue;' and sunset is often so gorgeously glorious, that the art of
the painter cannot portray it. The months of May and September
usually abound with chilly rain storms, and dismal drizzly
days. After these succeed the two pleasantest portions of the
year. The cold season continues from December to April, and we
have snow in each of these months, from three inches to three
feet in depth. As winter approaches, the forests are
arrayed in the most spledid and beautiful colors; exhibiting
almost every variety of shade, from pale green, and dark brown, to
bright yellow and deep scarlet. Not only are single leaves
thus colored, but whole trees and masses of foliage are vividly
tinctured with the most pleasing and variegated hues. In
winter, the weather is often, for many days together, exceedingly
cold, and the moonlight most intensely
brilliant.
The unequal refraction of the
atmosphere frequently occasions peculiar and curious appearances on
the water. Sometimes the sun, when it rises through a dense
atmosphere, appears greatly elongated in its vertical
diameter. Presently it appears double, the two parts being
connected togeather by a neck. At length two suns are
distinctly seen; the refracted sun appearing wholly above the water,
before the true sun has risen. I have repeatedly seen and
admired this surprising and exceedingly beautiful phenomenon.
Some critics, because Pentheus saw two suns rising over Thebes, have
drawn the inference that he could not have been a member of the
temperance society; but his vision might have been merely assisted
by refaction. This mirage, or loom, frequently causes Nahant,
Egg Rock, and vessels on the coast, to appear nearly twice their
natural height, and sometimes to seem actually elevated in the air,
so as to leave a space beneath them. Portions of the south
shore, also, which are commonly invisible, appear plainly in
sight.
It was undoubtedlly this effect
of the mirage which occasioned the story of the Phantom Ship at New
Haven, and the Flying Dutchman. On a pleasant Sunday
afternoon, in the summer of 1843, I saw several vessels sailing
off Nahant, reflected in the manner represented above. The
atmosphere was dense, yet transparent, and there were several strata
of thin vapory clouds lightly suspended over the watr, on which the
vessels were brightly mirrored. The refracted images were as
clearly portrayed as the real vessels beneath; and a drawing can but
imperfectly represent the exceeding beauty of the
mirage.
The temperature of Nahant, being
moderated by sea-breezes, so as to be cooler in summer and milder in
winter, than the main land, is regarded as being highly cunductive
to health. It is delightful in summer to ramble round this
romantic peninsula, and to examine at leisure its interesting
curiousities - to hear the waves rippling the colored pebbles of the
beaches, and see them gliding over the projecting ledges in fanciful
cascades - to behold the plovers and sand pipers running along the
beaches, the seal slumbering upon the outer rocks, the white gulls
soaring overhead, the porpoises pursuing their rude gambols along
the shore, and the curlew, the loon, the black duck, and the coot -
the brant, with his dappled neck, and the oldwife, with her strange,
wild, vocal melody, swimming gracefully in the coves, and rising and
sinking with the swell of the tide. The moonlight evenings
here are exceedingly lovely; and the phosphoric radiance of the
billows, in dark nights, making the waters look like a sea of fire,
- exhibits a scene of wonderful beauty.
But, however delightful Nahant may appear in summer, it is surpassed
by the grandeur and sublimity of a winter storm. When the
strong east wind has been sweeping over the Atlantic for several
days, and the billows, wrought up to fury, are foaming along like
living mountains - breaking upon the precipitous cliffs, - dashing
into the rough gorges, - thundering in the subterranean caverns of
rock, and throwing the white foam and spray, like vast columns of
smoke, hundreds of feet into the air, above the tallest cliffs, _ an
appearance is presented which the wildest imagination cannot
surpass. Then the ocean - checked in its headlong career
by a simple bar of sand - as if mad with its detention, roars
like protracted thunder; and the wild sea-birds, borne along by the
furious waters, are dashed to death against the cliffs!
Standing at such an hour upon the rocks, I have seen the waves bend
bars of iron, an inch in diameter, double - float rocks of granite,
sixteen feet in length, as if they were timbers of wood, - and the
wind, seizing the white gull in its irresistible embrace, bear her,
shrieking, many miles into the Lynn woods! In summer,
a day at Nahant is delightful - but a storm in winter is
glorious!
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