Around the Corner – Bear’s Den

Once upon a time. . .

Around the corner from The Bear’s Den Falls, the river wraps around the remains of a grist mill, once powered by an overshot water wheel.  Now only a few foundation stones remain, but the Den is here – a piece of history hidden amongst the hills in New Salem, MA.  You can hardly see the sluice now, but the river still wraps itself around its outlines.

Before the grist mill, local legends say that the a chief of the Wampanoag Indians, Metacomet, met here with the Nipmuck during King Philip’s War in 1675.  It’s almost possible to imagine it, on a frigid winter morning, all alone by the running stream, with the new sun at one’s back.

“Around the Corner – Bear’s Den” is an original oil painting, 40″x30,” oil on stretched and gessoed canvas, mounted in a 1/4″ black floater frame.