flat lands, with farms and orchards scattered here and there, 
and two road bridges are passed before the upper Topsfield 
Marshes are reached. These marshes are about a mile 
and a half in length. Fish Brook enters at their lower end 
just above the third bridge below Howe. 
Up to this point the journey has been through Middleton 
and a corner of Boxford Township, but Topsfield is reached 
somewhere in these upper marshes. From a short distance 
below the third bridge, on for the next mile or so, the river 
winds through a most charming course, varied again by 
narrow short marshes, several backwaters, and both steep 
and gentle slopes running here and there to the river. The 
Pingree Pines are the first landmark on the right, and then 
comes the middle Topsfield bridge. A scant hundred yards 
beyond, the river passes under a beautiful stone arch over 
which runs the Newbury port Turnpike. Below the Turnpike 
bridge is a short, broad, straight stretch, the longest straight 
line thus far. Then comes Pingree Hill on the right and 
low open ground on the left. After a few corkscrew turns 
through some willows and a long curve around the edge of a 
big backwater, the river flows under the Valley Road Bridge 
and the railroad trestle of the Georgetown Branch of the 
Boston and Maine Railroad. At this railroad bridge the 
river enters the great Wenham Swamp, through which it 
twists and turns for many miles in a most bewildering fashion. 
On the left as the river enters the marshes is the Proctor 
estate, a great wonderland to the lover of trees, shrubs and 
rock gardens, and on the right, after passing the entrance of 
the Salem water supply canal, and a generous mile by river 
below the railroad, is an island of about five or six acres in 
area, situated in the swamp. Clear in the center and along 
the river, and otherwise rimmed with hardwoods, — this is 
“The Pines.” The island is owned by Mr. T. Emerson 
Proctor whose generosity affords us an excellent camp site 
each year. In 1907 the center of the island was partially 
covered with gray birches, but these were cleared several 
years ago and seedling pines set out over the entire area. 
In a few years the clearing will be no more. 
After the camp is pitched, a picnic supper is eaten. Each 
H 
