Transmogrify

An item from the collections at Governor’s Academy, in Byfield, MA, named and founded in memory of MA Gov. William Dummer.

trans·​mog·​ri·​fy tran(t)s-ˈmä-grə-ˌfī  (transitive verb)

: to change or alter greatly and often with grotesque or humorous effect (Merriam-Webster)

Consider the subject of the photograph above, identified as a 3” x 4 1/2” section of wood from the original 1724 construction of Fort Dummer within the colonial bounds of what later became Brattleboro, traditionally known as Wantastegok. This display is celebrated as a precious artifact of the lasting imprint of British colonial incursion against intact Land Relationships in this place. It can be viewed in this manner - transmogrified from another state of being, from tree to lumber, from subject to object - or it can be seen in another light.

A sketch of Fort Dummer made by working from an as-built drawing in made by site visitors in 1741 (caption on sketch seems to be dated in error).

The continued survivance (a term crafted by Gerald Vizenor) of this small testament to being-in-place is also substantive evidence of the flourishing pasaakwak/red pine forests on fire- and flood-wrought plains of ancient glacial outwash, coeval with their original indigenous inhabitants. This fragment of the tree's body, evidence of communal and reciprocal land relationships in practice there at Kwenimskodak (the Long Meadow), both precedes and survives the Fort itself and what it represents in the colonizing narrative.

These thoughts were first shared in formative fashion on Facebook here, by the blog administrator.