Yesterday Cathy and I headed up to Cape Ann to visit Tim and Meg and explore Dogtown Commons, the nature preserve that makes up much of the inland area of Gloucester. It has a colorful history stretching back to the early colonists, full of tales of the pirates, witches, and widows who supposedly inhabited it.

One of our goals was to track down Babson’s Boulders, a string of large stones with inspirational sayings engraved on them, commissioned by the millionaire philanthropist Roger Babson during the Great Depression. Since I’m applying for a job right now, I was particularly interested in finding the “Get a Job” stone, hoping to tap into its good luck properties. According to the geocache desciption we used to locate the rock:

Local legend and lore says that if you are seeking employment that you should kiss the large boulder found at these coordinates and pour a fifth of Bourbon on it for better luck on your search.

Not having any bourbon might hurt my chances a bit, but I still feel good about making the pilgrimage.

We ended the day at Halibut Point, hoping to catch some action from Tropical Storm Ophelia, but there wasn’t much sign of her. Nonetheless, the views were as great as they alway are.