62 NATURAL HISTORY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF GROTON, MASS. 



General Field — often mentioned in the early town- 

 records, refers to land owned in severalty by the proprietors 

 of Groton, who kept it as one field, for reasons not now under- 

 stood. It was upland, and lay in the southwest part of the 

 town, near the river. It appears to have been allotted to the 

 proprietors, according to the number of acre-rights which 

 each one owned. Perhaps it was land already cleared when 

 the first settlers came. 



Tin: Gift — a. parcel of land near Reedy Meadow, not 

 distinctly identified. 



Till-: HAWTREES — mentioned several times in the early 

 records, and referring, doubtless, to some native shrubs or 

 trees ; for instance, Zachery Sawtell had meadow-land " Neare 

 the hawtrees " confirmed to him on November 18, 1670. It 

 evidently became the name of a limited district or neighbor- 

 hood in the north part of the town, and from it undoubtedly 

 Hawtree Brook was named. Professor Asa Gray, the dis- 

 tinguished botanist, wrote me many years ago that there were 

 three or four species of wild hawthorn in Massachusetts. 

 He says: "One of the forms of the Black or Pear Thorn 

 (Cratcegtts tomentosd) would be the likeliest for Groton, or 

 perhaps the Cockspur Thorn. The former has the more 

 edible fruit, and would be sure to attract attention." 



HAZEN SWAMP — near the mouth of Cold Spring Brook. 



1 1 axle Grove — the neighborhood of the east bank of the 

 Nashua River above Fitch's Bridge. The Groton Farmers' 

 and Mechanics' Club owns a tract of land in this Grove, where 

 it holds annual exhibitions. Its display of fruit, flowers and 

 vegetables, with that of its horses, cows and poultry, is some- 

 what famous in the towns around. 



HrCKS's HOLE — a small piece of meadow, lying north of 

 Reedy Meadow. 



High Plain — on the north side of the Baddacook road, 

 in the neighborhood of the pond. It lies in the angle of the 

 roads, west of the house of John Johnson, Jr., as laid down on 

 the map of Groton, made from a survey during the years 1828 

 and 1S29. 



