A few months ago, I read The Last Fish Tale which was a history of Gloucester, Massachusetts and its fishing industry. This nonfiction book also told of the surrounding area including Dogtown which was an abandoned village north of Gloucester. This piqued my interest in Dogtown and subsequently I ordered this book via an online trading site.
This was a fictionalized account of the last residents of Dogtown in the early 19th century as it nears its last day. It tells the story of various people who lived a very hard existence there and tried to eke out a living. This included several women that made their livelihood by doing odd chores, housekeeping, farming, or prostitution. Also included are two African Americans that went to Dogtown to live in peace away from the rest of the world. One of them, Cornelius, has an affair with a single white woman who lives alone, Judy, but because he is afraid of discovery abandons her for his and her safety. He ends up being the last resident of Dogtown and wound up in a poorhouse before he died. And then there is Ruth, a black woman who tries to pass herself off as a man whose mother came from Africa on a slave ship. There are instances of love and caring throughout the novel but also prejudice and coldheartedness by residents of both Dogtown and nearby Gloucester.
Overall, I enjoyed the stories of the Dogtown residents. Maybe someday I will visit the area. I know there are still hiking trails that go through the area and some people think that Dogtown is a haunted ghost town.
This was a fictionalized account of the last residents of Dogtown in the early 19th century as it nears its last day. It tells the story of various people who lived a very hard existence there and tried to eke out a living. This included several women that made their livelihood by doing odd chores, housekeeping, farming, or prostitution. Also included are two African Americans that went to Dogtown to live in peace away from the rest of the world. One of them, Cornelius, has an affair with a single white woman who lives alone, Judy, but because he is afraid of discovery abandons her for his and her safety. He ends up being the last resident of Dogtown and wound up in a poorhouse before he died. And then there is Ruth, a black woman who tries to pass herself off as a man whose mother came from Africa on a slave ship. There are instances of love and caring throughout the novel but also prejudice and coldheartedness by residents of both Dogtown and nearby Gloucester.
Overall, I enjoyed the stories of the Dogtown residents. Maybe someday I will visit the area. I know there are still hiking trails that go through the area and some people think that Dogtown is a haunted ghost town.
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