The Protector of the Patch

Usually I tell you the tall about our Turkeyboxing Day ventures on Thanksgiving, but today, I wanna tell you about a story behind a letterboxing I planted today. It is not a turkey related stamp, but still rather seasonal. It is the story of the Protector of the Patch.

The year was 1796. The town was Manchester, New Hampshire, where a fellow by the name of General John Stark lived with his wife, Molly, and 11 children. On the Stark plantation, they would grow their own pumpkins to carve and bake with. It was much cheaper to do this as the other local farmers charged to much for their produce. They actually had done this for about 20 years before they decided to get into the farming business and started growing a much larger pumpkin patch. The first year they did this, they first started giving them away to their friends and family. As the season grew late, they still had a rather large amount of pumpkins left and decided they should try to sell them before they spoil.

It wasn't until they tried to sell them, that one of the Stark children, started seeing a figure in the pumpkin patch. This was scary figure, made up of a skeleton body, with a large pumpkin head. He never said anything, but the look on it's face was enough to scary anyone away. The child ran into the house and found General Stark. They both went outside to find no one in the patch. The next day, one of the Stark daughters went outside to pick a pumpkin from the patch, not easily scared by the story told the night prior, only to find the same figure standing there once she began to bend over to pick a pumpkin. Not only did she see the figure, but everyone was watching from the windows of the house. The whole family now saw the figure, soon dubbed, the "Protector of the Patch."

Word quickly spread around Manchester about this "Protector." Folk from all over town would venture out to the Stark residence to see it for themselves. No one ever saw the figure in the patch. After awhile, the story of the "Protector" grew old. No one had ever seen this figure except the Stark family. The Stark family soon found the town staring at them where ever they went. Dirty looks and comments flew through the air as they would walk by.

The Stark family quickly abandoned the pumpkin patch and let the rest of the pumpkins spoil. Since that time when everyone of the Stark family saw the figure standing in the patch, they never saw it again. After all the pumpkins rotted to the ground, General John Stark went out to the patch and turned the soil. This would be the last year they would ever grow pumpkins. As a matter of fact, this would be the last year they would ever have pumpkins at the plantation, grown anywhere.

You can find the box I planted for this story I just made up, in Manchester, NH.
Protector of the Patch