TWO BALLOON DESCENTS IN GROTON. 1 59 



that day, a balloon ascension was made from Boston Common 

 by Samuel King, in company with his sister Mrs. Porter, and 

 Edwin Bradbury Haskell, of" The Boston Herald " newspaper. 

 The party left the Common, shortly after six o'clock in the 

 afternoon, in the balloon known as " The Queen of the Air; " 

 and the descent was made a little after one o'clock in the 

 morning, on the hill, immediately south of Snake Hill and 

 contiguous to it, in the open field behind Sumner Graves's 

 house, in the south part of Groton. "The Boston Daily 

 Advertiser," July 6, i860, gives the following account of 

 the trip : 



"The Queen of the Air" went over the harbor, Charlestown, 

 Cambridge, through the valley of Charles river, touching a ledge 

 in Waltham, and finally landed in Groton, at one o'clock yesterday 

 morning. At the time they landed, it was rainy and uncomfortable. 

 The aeronauts were unfortunate in getting shelter. After applying 

 to several of the residents, finally they found a good Samaritan in 

 the person of Mr. Valencourt Stone, who came out with a lantern, and 

 piloted the balloonists to his house, and paid them great attention. 



Eleven years later, the same aeronaut made an ascent from 

 Fitchburg, on September 27, 1871, under the patronage of 

 the Worcester North Agricultural Society, and came down 

 on this identical hill. The landing was made near Mr. 

 Graves's house, on the west side of the road to Harvard, while 

 the previous landing was on the east side of the road, nearer 

 the summit. His descent at this particular spot was not influ- 

 enced by design, any further than that it was a cleared field, 

 and a good place to alight. On the first occasion Mr. King 

 came down in the night time, and, of course, received no clear 

 impressions of the neighborhood. Approaching the hill dur- 

 ing the second trip, he did not recognize it as the place of his 

 former landing ; nor was he aware of the fact until told by 

 one of the bystanders, after the descent. 



I remember seeing the balloon, on the afternoon in ques- 

 tion, floating along through the air, just before the descent, 

 at which time Mr, King was busily engaged in waving the 

 American flag, distinctly visible to a large number of persons 

 gazing at the novel sight. 



