Run to Hicks Bridge

I'm back in New England again, visiting family. I slipped out this morning into the chilled, damp and salty air for a short run down to Hicks Bridge. The seasons take their time in New England; leaves and blossoms are just breaking forth from the buds.

Running down Drift Road is a journey into another era. Horse pastures, apple orchards and granite walls break up the woodlands and marsh.

Mary Hicks was a single mom with 11 children when she bought the land by today's bridge in 1710. She obtained the town's first liquor license, and built a tavern and home on the West side of the river. A ferry ran here, until her son built a toll bridge in 1738, charging travelers a steep price to cross the river. In the early 19th century a shipyard was located here that built many of the whalers of Nantucket in the golden age of the whaling industry.

4 miles total. It was a fantastic run. I'm feeling strong and back to my old self, ready to begin training for something big.