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Three Hub Mystery group Members visited the Boston African American Museum on Beacon Hill. It is housed in two buildings.
Above we are pictured in the restored meeting house that was built in 1806 by the black community that lived in the area. It served as an African Baptist Church, a meeting house, and the locale for the first school for black children.
A guide explained that it was a safe place for early abolutionists to speak freely and many did.T he second building, The Abiel Smith School, the first public school for black children, opened in 1835. Now it houses an exhibit honoring the highlights of black Boston.
We then went to Antonio's Cucina for a delicous Italian lunch.
Merle W
Spring has sprung and four TOHG took advantage of the nice weather to ride the Clipper City Trail in Newburyport.
One of the most scenic rail trails in New England, the trail parallels the Merrimack River as it winds past downtown Newburyport before it heads inland. Along the way the trail boasts numerous sculptures, murals, swings, benches, gardens of various sorts and even a kids train.
The trail is paved and mostly flat making for an easy and enjoyable ride. After we finished our ride we joined three Gang members for an alfresco lunch at the Riverside Cafe. A great day for a ride and to get together with Gang members.
Alan U
Golf on the Cape this year at Blue Rock Golf Course was very different than a number of past years. The sun was shining; it was a cool but comfortable day, unlike the past few years when we played through rain and wind. So to say the least we had a great day as far as the weather was concerned. Although no individual scores were reported everyone had a nice day.
After the round a number of us gathered at Captain Parker’s Pub to replay all the great shots that had been made.
Paul M.
King Philip's Overlook
Six hiking group members enjoyed a walk at Rocky Narrows reservation is Sherborn, MA. In 1897, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., transferred to The Trustees a 21-acre parcel on the Charles River known as Rocky Narrows, often called the Gates of the Charles. This became the first reservation in The Trustees' system, recognized for its mixed hardwood and evergreen forest and its 50-foot rock walls shaped roughly 650 million years ago.
Today, visitors explore Rocky Narrows and the adjacent Sherborn Town Forest through an extensive trail network. The landscape highlights the 80-mile Charles River at one of its most scenic stretches, where it flows gently between ancient cliffs and steep wooded hillsides.
We walked about four miles stopping at King Philip's Overlook in Sherborn Town Forest, where we looked down on the Charles River from which King Phillip supposedly watched for colonial soldiers in the last major uprising of indigenous people.
Most of the three mile trail is easy and well maintained but there are some hills, particularly in the Rocky Narrows stretch.
After the hike, we met at Jacob's Kitchen in Sherborn for salads and sandwiches.
Neil S
Well what's a Gang bike ride without a coffee stop? When we returned to our starting point most of us went off to the nearby Coffee Connection while a couple of others had ventured off trail in Cumberland to another coffee shop.
North Mystery Group viewed the beautiful Fuller Garden in North Hampton on a lovely warm May Day. We had the place to ourselves and thoroughly enjoyed the peaceful spring setting.
The formal rose gardens designed in the Colonial Revival style were commissioned during the late 1920s by Massachusetts Governor Alvan T. Fuller and designed by the Olmstead Firm as an ornament to his summer estate. The meticulously maintained rose gardens with hundreds of varieties begin their season long bloom cycle in late June and continue through October. The Japanese garden is usually in bloom in May and English the perennial plantings provide a continuous array of color and interest from spring until fall. A DAHLIA display garden also is full of color all season. The gardens are lined within large sculpted hedges, and the rose beds are framed in an array of superbly kept turf paths.
Afterwards we enjoyed a delicious lunch at Petey’s Summer Seafood restaurant in nearby Rye, NH.
Sheila P
Twelve hiking group members met to walk around Walden Pond in Concord. We saw the site of Thoreau’s cabin as well as a replica of his cabin built near the Visitor Center. The new bath house and improved beach area is about to be opened. There were a few swimmers both human and ducks including a family of four ducklings with their parents. After the walk we met at the deli in Verrill Farm for lunch. Unfortunately, no working camera/phone or photographer came along.
Neal S
Eighteen Gang members enjoyed a beautiful day riding from Amesbury to Seabrook NH to the Newburyport line. The trail consisted of paved, gravel and short on road portions as it wound from downtown Amesbury, through woods and eventually to a salt march at the Salisbury/Newburyport line.
Along the way we stopped at the exact spot where the last successful New England train robbery occurred in July 1926. The bandits escaped with $65,000 worth over $1 million dollars today in 2026. We also talked about how the “Ghost Trail” got its name.
The trail was surprisingly quiet so it seemed we had the trails all to ourselves. And what bike ride is complete without a coffee stop at the end where we enjoyed some camaraderie?
Sixteen TOHG members met at the Mt. Auburn Cemetery for a guided tour conducted by Chloe a member of the cemetery staff. The rain predicted for Wednesday held off till afternoon and we had a beautiful tour with flowers and trees at their seasonal best. Chloe provided interesting details about the history the cemetery and some of its occupants.
The cemetery was founded in 1831 around an Egyptian motif and all plants are native or Asian. We climbed the hill to the tower which provides an excellent view of the Cambridge and Boston skyline. Some of the sites we saw included the Isabel Stewart Gardner gravesite, the holding area used to store bodies awaiting burial during the winter months, Lake Auburn, and a tree with knees (growths of their roots going straight up out of the ground).
Twelve members of the group went to Greg’s Restaurant for lunch.
Ten TOHG members chose a beautiful sunny day to ride both the western and eastern portions of the Independence Greenway. Starting on the western section we rode alongside part of the Ipswich River, past an active quarry where gravel is mined and continued past Crystal Pond where we saw Canada Geese with their goslings.
We next picked up the eastern part of the Greenway near Northshore Mall riding west where the trail ends at a couple of cemeteries, about 10 miles total for both sections.
And what’s a Gang bike ride without coffee? We finished at Cafe Nero for refreshment and conversation al fresco.
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