In the days of my long ago youth, a good friend who was MUCH older than myself, mentioned taking a motor tour at the Norcross Sanctuary in Hampden County. Along this tour was a location called Tunket Cave, which was the correct name of a site given in Clay Perry's renown books on New England caves. Perry had mistakenly labeled it Plunkett Cave but my friend mentioned tunket alluded to the sound of a counterfeiting operation that operated in the vicinity long ago.
Somewhere around 20 years ago, I visited the property finding out the motor tours had been discontinued. Flash forward to present day, and they once again exist! So after seeing them advertised for at least several years, I finally got myself booked in. It is an extremely jam packed hour and a half (or slightly more) with all sorts of botanical and other natural science information. The history of the area is also covered to a large degree. Who settled the area. Who lived there. Anecdotes of their lives.
A close up Tunket Cave (this is the correct spelling) was not ensued due to it being inhabited by a number of porcupines. But our illustrious guide provided another possible origin to the name "tunket". It apparently is also a synonym for "Hell".
After the tour, I tried to revisit nearby Cat Rocks. It had been 17 years since my last trip there. Unfortunately, like with so many areas, access was posted with the well known "No Trespassing" signage. But on the way home, back in Hampshire County, I waded through the Westfield River in search of a massive boulder brought to my attention by a friend. It IS a big one! Among the largest in all of Western Massachusetts.
