Dogtown

In rich first person narrative, Dogtown tells the strange, dark story of a wilderness ghost town that has enthralled artists, writers, and eccentrics and of a brutal murder committed there Documenting its history and lore, East explores the possibility that certain landscapes wield their own unique power. The area known as Dogtown an isolated colonial ruin and the surrounding 3,600 acre woodland in historic seaside Gloucester, Massachusetts has always exerted a powerful influence over artists, writers, eccentrics, and nature lovers But its history is woven through with tales of hallucinations, pirates, ghost sightings, witches, drifters, and violence A 1984 murder there continues to loom large in Gloucester s collective psyche a mentally disturbed local man crushed the skull of a schoolteacher as she walked the woodsIn alternating chapters, East interlaces the story of this murder with Dogtown s bizarre history The colonial settlement was a haven for former slaves, prostitutes, and witches until it was abandoned 180 years ago Since then, Dogtown has inspired various people, including a millionaire who carved Protestant precepts into its boulders the Modernist painter Marsden Hartley, whom Dogtown saved from a crippling depression the drug addled poet Charles Olson a coven of witches that still holds ceremonies there today and the murderer, who spent much of his life in Dogtown s woodsThe murder tapped a vein of thinking that has quietly endured in Gloucester for centuries some people rallied around Dogtown protectively, but others blamed it for the tragedyIn luminous, insightful prose, Dogtown tells an evocative tale of a community both haunted and bound together by its love of this strange, forgotten place and its denizens. New Read Kindle ePUB Dogtown by Elyssa East – kino-fada.fr Meandering and surprisingly boring, focusing too much on minutia In 1984 a woman was murdered in Dogtown, the abandoned interior of an island Elyssa is entranced by the area because of a minor painter, and goes there to research the area and the murder case.There s a lot of problems with this First of all Dogtown isn t really a ghost town as she writes it It s the ruins of a town in the middle of an island, and she stretches the ruins a bit There s a lot of TALK about how mystical and super Meandering and surprisingly boring, focusing too much on minutia In 1984 a woman was murdered in Dogtown, the abandoned interior of an island Elyssa is entranced by the area because of a minor painter, and goes there to research the area and the murder case.There s a lot of problems with this First of all Dogtown isn t really a ghost town as she writes it It s the ruins of a town in the middle of an island, and she stretches the ruins a bit There s a lot of TALK about how mystica...There was such a wealth of material here, but sadly it was not well handled by the author In the hands of a better writer someone like Richard Preston, for example , this had the potential to be a great book, but as it was, it felt naive and clumsy and overly self referential Disappointing One last note on this book I do think that some places are magnets for badness, although I don t know why Is it supernatural Is it that once a place gets a reputation, it attracts the wrong kind of peop There was such a wealth of material here, but sadly it was not well handled by the author In the hands of a better writer someone like Richard Preston, for example , this had the potential to be a great book, but as it was, it felt naive and clumsy and overly self referential Disappointing One last note on this book I do think that some places are magnets for badness, although I don t know why Is it supernatural Is it that once a place gets a reputation, it attracts the wrong kind of people Is it simple geography, i.e that densely wooded areas provide better cover for people who want to do nasty things I don t know, but I do think that my hometown is one of these places, a kind of matrix of vileness From the Wikipedia entry on serial killer Ed Kemper At the time of Kemper s murder spree in Sant...Dogtown is a decayed colonial ruin nestled in the wilderness outside Gloucester, Massachusetts Although it was officially abandoned in 1839, after its last resident was carted away to the poorhouse, this rural slum continues to attract people sensitive to its powerful charm It inspired several of Beat poet Charles Olson s famous Maximus poems, and Modernist painter Marsden Hartley felt a crippling depression recede after he committed Dogtown s unique scenery to canvas Dogtown Death and Encha Dogtown is a decayed colon...I bought this in my local independent book store on a Monday I already knew I was going to Gloucester that evening We had dinner at the Causeway which is the most amazing townie, BYOB place where you getfood fish than you can possibly eat at one sitting for a good price We dined with a couple and their near two year old who are good friends, after which, we went to Tony s recording studio so my guy and he could rehearse a couple of songs After that, we went to the Monday night jam at t I bought this in my local independent book store on a Monday I already knew I was going to Gloucester that evening We had dinner at the Causeway which is the most amazing townie, BYOB place where you getfood fish than you can possibly eat at one sitting for a good price We dined with a couple and their near two year old who are good friends, after which, we went to Tony s recording studio so my guy and he could rehearse a couple of songs After that, we went to the Monday night jam at the Rhumb Line, a nice cozy bar in downtown Gloucester, populated by young dancing girls in mini skirts, a plethora of talented musicians, and grizzled old timers, my kind of place Right out of the gate, East states that her initial fascination came though Marsden Hartley s paintings of Dogtown Marsden Hartley is in my top 3 American painters, I cannot put them in order, but they would include, well, ok 4 American painters.Ha...ISBN 1416587047 I chose to read this one for several reasons Love ghost towns My grandmother was infatuated with Gloucester Dogtown Sounds like my kind of place Enchantment Cool Dogtown has many stories In recent history, there was the murder of a local woman Long ago, there were tales of witches Both of those stories, along with others, are woven into this book as author Elyssa East ventures into this abandoned area, now largely reclaimed by nature, in her search for the Dogtown of ISBN 1416587047 I chose to read this on...East gives the history of a now abandoned wilderness on the coast of New England called Dogtown In alternating chapters, she describes a murder trial from the 1980s and the evolution of this wilderness from the 1600s through the present Dogtown has inspired painters and writers and madmen, and has seen its fair share of infamy, from pirates to witches to murderers It s an interesting area, but the author doesn t quite do it justice The true crime sections are, sadly, kind of boring, as these East gives the history of a now abandoned wilderness on the coast of New England called Dogtown In alternating chapters, she describes a murder trial from the 1980s and the evolution of this wilderness from the 1600s through the present Dogtown has inspired painters and writers and madmen, and has seen its fair share of infamy, from pirates to witches to murderers It s an interesting area, but the author doesn t quite do it justice The true crime sections are, sadly, kind of boring, as these stories are all too common and this one didn t have any particular twists to make itintriguing The sections about the history of Dogtown are mostly about the author s trips to the area, which she made to recover from various personal events And while the evolution of the area might be interesting in another s hands, here it was also kind of boring She jumps around between d...A strange history of a strange place Dogtown is an isolated spot of land, completely surrounded by Gloucester and Rockport East does an excellent job of describing the eeriness that is present when you walk through the woods of Dogtown She also does an excellent job chronicling the history of the place and Gloucester itself The book is basically divided into three areas the history of Gloucester and Dogtown the murder and subsequent trial for Anne Natti and East s search for herself in D A strange history of a strange place Dogtown is an isolated spot of land, completely surrounded by Gloucester and Rockport East does an excellent job of descri...I totally enjoyed this book This book is creepy I have to admit, there was a point I put this book down, and I didn t return to it for a solid week it creeped me out so bad This was an extremely graphic description of a murder the writing was so clear and vivid I felt I d watched it.I d never heard of Dogtown before, and I think I ll skip if I ever get a chance to visit This is a very talented writer, the language is beautifully crafted, the insight is solid, and the combined effect, for m I totally enjoyed this book This book is c...Ok so I don t usually like non fiction and this was no exception I thought I d take a chance and see what happened Maybe I would like it Um, no It s not that the book wasn t interesting at times It was Especially the part about the murder of Anne Nati I did like learning about Dogtown Gloucester However, some of the details were just too much and my mind easily wandered during my reading If you like historical fiction about small towns and you...Very sensationalist book about Dogtown in Cape Ann, Massachusetts There aren t all THAT many books about Dogtown, but this focused too much on a murder that happened out there in the 1980s Honestly, I could careless about what happened in Dogtown in the 1980s I want to know what was going on out there in the 1780s Yes, the place is pretty eerie, especially when nobody else is around, but increasingly if you walk around in Dogtown you will stumble on some people having sex in the woods, not t Very sensationalist book about Dogtown in Cape Ann, Massachusetts There aren t all THAT many books about Dogtown, but this focused too much on a murder that happened out there in the 1980s Honestly, I could careless about what happened in Dogtown in the 1980s I want to know what was going on out there in the 1780s Yes, the place is pretty eerie, especially when nobody else is around, but increasingly if you walk arou...

• English
• 06 November 2018
Elyssa East
• Hardcover
• 304 pages
• 1416587047
• Elyssa East
• Dogtown