John Topping – A Walk Reminds How Blessed We Are To Have Such Enriching Lives

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The following letter was submitted to local newspapers and is shared with us here by the author John Topping.

We live in Charlestown and have for over 20 years, we recently moved from the east side to the west side. Where we used to live was close to the town “dump” so we used to take all our trash there. Now that we are further away we have most of our trash picked up, but there is some recycle stuff that they do not pick up so we collect that and every 2 to 3 months we take it to the dump. Yesterday (Saturday, December, 10) was such a day. Usually we do it when we are doing other “errands” but not yesterday.

Nearby is a lovely ex-farm that is now a nature preserve called “South Farm”, which used to be our favorite local place to go for walks. We have not been there for many years what with my bad hip, its surgery, then the pandemic, and then house hunting and moving …. SO we decide to go for a walk there …. It was really lovely … a bright sunny and mild day …. we walked for about an hour (1 1/2 to 2 miles?). As I had when walking on Moonstone beach at Thanksgiving, I had that wonderful feeling of “thankfulness” that I am well and healthy enough at my age (80 next June) to do this and so appreciate and enjoy it.

The preserve covers 87 acres consisting of 2 large fields and lots of surrounding woodland with several trails through them, a small pond and some wetlands. When it was a working farm it had a lovely old sheep-sheering barn. For safety reasons the town knocked down the lovely old timbers leaving the stone walls and built a brand new shed-like replica on them … this is now starting to weather and look better. As was usual in those days, transportation was by horse and cart and so cemeteries were small and very local. This “farm” has one with about 20 or so graves in it. The former farmers were Finnish and they built a stone/brick sauna, part of which will stands ….. See my photos below, and this link: https://charlestowncitizens.org/2015/03/15/south-farm-preserve/ … which also lists the 15 or so other nature preserves that we are so blessed to have in Charlestown. We plan to try to walk all of these in the next year or so.

When we arrived at the (very small, 5 or 6 car) parking lot on Old Coach Rd we met 2 researchers from URI (University of Rhode Island) just leaving with some equipment that they had been using to do research on the control of invasive species … they and my wife Frances had a spirited conversation as this is one of the areas of great interest to Fran, she even gives talks on it (in the interest of full disclosure she also volunteers as vice chair of the Charlestown Planning Commission). The researchers really liked to meet knowledgeable members of the public that valued their work.

After our walk we decided to lunch out … and decided on a nearby very small cafe owned and operated by local native Americans called “The Sly Fox Den Too”, at the junction of Routes 2 and 112. Its menu has lots of general US items plus several Native American ones. We had: “The Indigenous”: two eggs, home fries, venison, served on Indian fry bread. Very good. Their “mission” is: “Sly Fox Den is not just a restaurant but a cultural center that educates the public on Indigenous food ways, culture and history. At Sly Fox Den Restaurant we specialize in the food that has always been here, and the traditional techniques in farming, hunting, fishing, and cooking that make that food possible” …. For more information on this go to: https://slyfoxdenrestaurant.com/new-home

So what started out as a routine trip to dump trash turned into a lovely day-out experience.