It was a beautiful day. I wore a pull over “hoodie” but tossed my winter coat in the car just in case. I didn’t need it.
It looks like the Herring Run for 2011 has come to an end, as fast as it started, it seems to be over. I drove over to the Middleboro Herring Run today and there was not a fish in sight. The gulls were also absent. After all the activity of the last few days it was almost spooky!
I went on to Plymouth to see if I could find the fish ladder there. I was told there was one just a few hundred yards from Plymouth Rock. What I found was a hidden gem in plain sight!
Everybody knows about Plymouth Rock and the Mayflower II and even Plimouth Plantation but nobody ever mentioned the Town Brook and the little park called Brewster Gardens to me.
I parked at a meter on the waterfront not far from Plymouth Rock and started looking for a brook or stream connected to the harbor that fish might use to migrate to their spawning pond. I admired the little decorative benches along the way. I took some pictures of the shadows they cast on the sidewalk. I liked the patterns they made.
Crossing the road there was a park and that is where I found the brook. There were lots of people out and about. They were walking their dogs or feeding the ducks..in spite of a sign saying not to. This, it turns out, is Brewster Gardens.
I checked out some of the statues then crossed the little bridge to a path that followed the brook. As I wandered along I took pictures of the area. It was so lovely and the sky was so blue.
It didn’t seem like a very long walk before I came to the Jenny Grist Mill. This presented a lot of photo ops. The lady in the ice cream and souvenir shop told me to continue on to the top of the hill where I would see a pond. She said there were tons of photo ops there too. She was right.
I walked around the pond getting pictures of ducks and a swan. The swan was on shore and seemed to be doing some form of Swan Tai-chi or yoga. It was quite comical to watch. Once the swan wandered off, I headed back to the car. I wasn’t sure how long I had been but I had only put enough money in for an 1 1/2 hours.
Back at the waterfront I saw a couple more ducks and stopped to get their picture before I returned to the car. That’s when I saw a terrific scene. A flock of ducks was coming into the harbor but they weren’t flying…they were swimming. They looked like a tiny armada. It was the cutest thing. Definitely worth watching.
Once they got a little closer I got a better picture. I believe they are Merganser ducks.
As what almost always happens after I stumble onto something, I will do a little research on the park and it’s statues and the Grist Mill and fill you in on my findings.