A Quick Tour Of Tyrhingham, Massachusetts

Our hike up Tyringham Cobble was over and it had been nice mini-adventure for a wintry Monday afternoon. I loaded Fergus and Seamus back into the car and we drove back down to the town of Tyringham, Massachusetts to begin our drive home. But the homes in Tyringham were very "old New England" as well as large and expensive. So I decided that I couldn't drive away without snapping a few photos of town's buildings. This first house is at the foot of the hill which leads up to Tyringham Cobble:

Even the Post Office was distinctive, a natural stone building with red tile roof:

Three houses near the Post Office:

A very well cared for home with a carriage house and privacy fence, with Tyringham Cobble in the background:

Only a short distance from the "town" (if a collection of 5 or 6 homes could be called such), the houses became more countrified:

And many, perhaps most, had barns. This home's barn was attached in the old New England manner which took the rugged winters into consideration:

Large sugar maples alongside the road, with a spacious country home and barn:

This house struck me as very much like the Shaker buildings in nearby Lebanon, New York and Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Perhaps there is a connection by way of the architects:

The lawns were huge and no doubt were cow pastures and hay fields not too long ago:

This home was so huge that it could have been an institution of some sort. It also had a look reminiscent of Shaker architecture:

Quintessential old rural New England:

A beautiful home, but I was even more impressed by its huge and ancient sugar maples:

And finally, a barn which was still used to house horses. This was the last photo I took. Our hike was over and it was time to get back to Albany and finish my day. I still had several hours of chorus practice that evening:

Hiking Tyringham Cobble - Part 7

The dogs and I had enjoyed our hike on Tyringham Cobble but were now almost to the end. I knew from my internet search previews that there was a unique rock formation called "Bunny Rock" which people often photographed, but we'd somehow missed it. I felt as if I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere. But then, rounding a bend, the famous Bunny Rock loomed up ahead of us:

When we'd reached it, I climbed up onto its lower portion and snapped a photo of the town and valley below us. I confess that I never did see any bunny in it:

Leaving Bunny Rock, we continued through the wintry woodland and passed another downed tree which the loggers had converted to firewood ready for splitting:

"This was fun, Dad. Can we go all the way around the cobble one more time?":

We continued angling downhill towards the trail head. In order to avoid a steep, snowy and much used section of trail, I opted to stay in the deeper snow and make my own trail. You can tell by my slide mark how well that worked for me. The only thing hurt was my dignity:

We're approaching civilization now. The cow pasture lies just below the barbed wire:

I could see the red barn near the trail head in the field below:

We stepped over (or, in Fergus' case, under) a sagging spot in the fence and struck off in the direction of the trail head:

Fergus is such a well behaved dog when he's tired!:"

The dogs trotted over to the barn and became so enchanted by the bovine smells that they refused to come when called, at least for a minute or two. But when I began walking toward them, they realized I was in a mood to put a decisive end to disobedience and quickly came running to me as if to say, "Oh, was that you who was calling us? We thought it was someone else, but now that we know it's you we're happy to obey."

This is the end of the hike, but of course I couldn't resist taking photos of some of the grand homes in Tyringham as we began our journey back to Albany. I'll make one more post showing the houses of the village before moving on to a different subject: