Naultag, the middle of nowhere

When Sean Taggart first meets Caitlin Harrington, his initial impression is that she's too sophisticated for a small town. "She didn’t belong in the middle of nowhere, which was pretty much the exact map location for Naultag, Massachusetts."

This is Lake Lashaway - the "model" for Lake Naultag

I patterned Naultag after my hometowns. I grew up in North Brookfield, moved to Brookfield, then moved back to North Brookfield. We're pretty close to the town line for East Brookfield. And I've worked in West Brookfield. Sounds like a lot of Brookfields, doesn't it? They're just four small towns smack-dab in the middle of the state. Chock full of everything you'd expect in an area that used to be very rural and is slowly creeping toward suburban. 

In this post, I want to give readers a peek at what Naultag might look like. So here are some pictures of the Brookfields. As you read She's Mine you just may recognize some landmarks.

the pond on Brickyard Road - yes, it's a real place!

Main Street, North Brookfield

First Congregational Church of North Brookfield

Asparagus & Flower Heritage Festival 

the new Police Station in North Brookfield, MA

Haston Library, Main Street, North Brookfield, MA

Merriam-Gilbert Library, West Brookfield, MA

Explore more of Naultag and get to know Caitlin Harrington, Sean Taggart and the rest of the residents in She's Mine, now available on Amazon

Mud Season Is Upon Us!

The snows are melting and the flooding has begun! The road in front of our house is alternately massive puddles or deep wallows of mud. But it's all good, because it means spring is just around the corner!

We live on one of the few dirt roads in town. It's also "technically" a private road, which means only limited amounts of town money can be spent on maintaining/upkeeping the road. The alternative is to pave it but that means widening (and we'd all lose a great deal of our yards). So we put up with the mud in the spring, the dust in the summer and the ice in the winter.




Below is a picture of the pond on Brickyard Road, so named for somewhat obvious reasons. About 200 to 250 years ago, this section of town was involved in the business of making bricks. This pond was once a brick pit - where clay was dug for use in making bricks. Now beavers have moved in, bringing new life to the once almost-still pond. In the spring the water comes within milimeters of overflowing the road.

 



It won't be long before the trees leaf out and flowers start blooming. Then, driving further along Brickyard Road you'll see this green-canopied lane.