Gibbet Hill


Gibbet Hill
This week, my wife and I visited my parents in Nashua, NH. We took my Mom for a drive back to our hometown of Groton, MA, and I got the image shown of Gibbet Hill.
The hill is named for the English gibbet (pronounced JIB-bet), a gallows generally situated on a hill for public executions. Although there are some local legends and rumors, there are no substantiated claims of executions on the hill; Gibbet Hill was more likely named after a hill in England. A farmhouse built by my 9x great grandfather John Lawrence in 1690 still stands at the base of the hill.
The hill is a wonderful location to view the town from, and it has received some fame from the 2019 film adaptation of Little Women, starring Emma Watson, as one key scene is filmed on top of the hill.
It was fun be back in Groton if only briefly, and while many things change, the landscape remains – a beautiful combination of rolling hills, stone walls, fences and trees. It is a special place.