This cache has been placed as part of the Long Pond Trail Series. A peaceful walk along Long Pond in Sturbridge Mass. Containing "winter friendly" geocaches along the way.
In 1644, in an effort to encourage industry, the Massachusetts Bay colony granted the governor's son, John Winthrop Jr., "the hill at Tantousq, about 60 miles westward, in which the black lead is, and liberty to purchase some land there of the Indians." Various versions of the place name "Tantousq" or "Tantasqua" have been used since that time, and it is generally believed that it is derived from the Nipmuck name for the area where the main Indian trail crossed a stream today called Cedar Creek (a spot very near to the Oliver Wight House, part of today's Old Sturbridge Village Lodges). Primarily interested in the mine and its economic benefits, the English seem to have adapted the name "Tantasqua" to identify the mine rather than the stream crossing. Later that same year, the younger Winthrop purchased the mine from the Nipmucks with three different deeds, including one from Bucksham, "Chief Sachem and right owner of Tantiusques . . . . " Bucksham granted to Winthrop all the lands within a 10-mile radius of the mine but reserved "for myself and my people liberty of fishing and hunting and convenient planting in the said grounds, ponds and rivers." (above from OSV website)
Title Working The Sturbridge Graphite Mine (Part II) Author J.Edward Hood; Donald Weinhardt
The entire text can be read HERE at OSV's Website.
