I wrote an article that appeared in today’s Boston Globe called “This could only happen in Massachusetts, believe it or not.” The article is based on my recent book, Weird Massachusetts. The Travel Editor asked me to give a whirlwind tour of Bay State oddities.
I made one goof in the printed version of the article (the online version has since been fixed). In discussing the Quabbin Reservoir I wrote that five towns were displaced. It was actually four: Dana, Greenwich, Enfield, and Prescott. Though if you count all the named villages in and around these towns, it’s over a dozen: North Dana, North Prescott, Atkinson Hollow, Greenwich Village, Packardville, Nichewaug, Millington, Bobbinville, Coolyville, Smith’s Village, and Doubleday. I got the facts right in my book (which includes an interview with a former resident), but messed up on the number in the article. I’m sorry for the mistake.
Also, to all those people who wrote in saying they thought the translation of Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg was actually, “You fish on your side of the lake, I fish on my side, and no one fishes in the middle,” that’s what the bumper stickers say, and that’s in the spirit of the meaning, however the most literal translation is: “Englishmen at Manchaug at the fishing place at the boundary.”
Stay weird.
-Jeff