A literary walk through Dogtown

The journey of Elyssa East, a young woman from Georgia who found herself entranced with the work of an American artist, led her to the enchanted wilderness of Dogtown, where she learned its stories of life and death.

Now, after a decade of research covering nearly four centuries, East is sharing these stories in a newly published book, "Dogtown: Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town."

Dogtown, an area of 3,000 acres in the interior of the island of Cape Ann, has both a primitive landscape as well as a history steeped in lore that includes pirates, slavery and witchcraft as well as murder.

As a college art history student, East recalls facing a daunting assignment — to copy a painting as a still life.

But she sought to reproduce her interpretation of a painting that haunted her memory; it was "Mountains in Stone, Dogtown" by Marsden Hartley (1877-1943), and it was one in a series of paintings Hartley did of Gloucester's Dogtown.

Hartley, whose work sells for millions of dollars at auction, also wrote about Dogtown, a place he called "majestically lovely" and something of a cross between Easter Island and Stonehenge.

East knew about Hartley's reincarnation from nearly failed health after he reluctantly returned to New England in 1931. She, too, felt at times she needed a reincarnation when she had some health setbacks. An avid hiker and outdoor enthusiast, East badly injured her hip while back-country skiing on Mount Washington, forcing her to cancel a pilgrimage in Spain and curtail her outdoor endeavors, which included triathlons.

Instead, when she found out that Hartley's Dogtown was indeed a real place — and relatively near where she was living in Portland, Maine — she would take a trip that would change her life in other ways.

"At first, I thought it was like the Outer Hebrides, or something far away in Scotland or Iceland. I didn't think it was in America," she recalled. But then she saw a reference to Dogtown in a guide book and learned Hartley painted that image on Cape Ann.

"I thought I will go find this place. I didn't know if it was adventure or foolhardy," she said in an interview from New York City where she lives today.

So, one day in 1999, East set out in search of Dogtown, and vividly paints a word picture of her first visit to Gloucester and Dogtown, a trip which gave her an eerie introduction.

"Dogtown is as much a labyrinth of stories as it is a jumble of alternating topography; I was about to discover that it is easy to get lost in both," East wrote in the book's prologue.

After finding a map of Dogtown in Dogtown Book Shop, she bounded back to her pick-up truck and went in search of an entrance to the island wilderness. Several residents she met that day told her they had never been to Dogtown, or said they didn't go there "anymore."

East did not know at that point about the grisly murder of Anne Natti.

On the morning of June 25, 1984, Natti, a teacher, set off to cross Dogtown during a downpour to visit a friend in Rockport. An avid hiker, she would walk through Dogtown rain or shine. But on this day, she would never again leave the wooded area alive.

Natti had been beaten to death by the 6-foot 8-inch Peter C. Hodgkins Jr., a 31-year old dockworker who spent much of his time in Dogtown. He bashed her head in with a rock before dragging her deeper into the woods and burying her under mud. Her dog Woofer, which was with her at the time, led her husband Erik Natti to the site later that day.

After a trial, Hodgkins was found guilty of first-degree murder and assault with intent to rob. He received the maximum penalty of life in prison without parole in Cedar Junction in Walpole where he remains today.

"If I had known then what I do now, I might not have been in such a rush (to get there)," East wrote. "... Years after this initial trip to Dogtown, I pieced together what transpired that 1984 day, and the reasons why this rare colonial ruin had become neglected like a secret meant to be kept and hopefully forgotten."

On that first trip, East had hoped to find the place Hartley immortalized in his painting of Dogtown she replicated in her college project. Hartley's writings also enthralled East.

"I loved Hartley's stories so much. He wrote such beautiful things about Dogtown. But the story that Dogtown changed his life and helped heal him, I found so compelling," she said. "Every time we travel to a new place, we yearn for change and possibly healing."

What she found was not what she expected.

"It's not your stereotypical pretty place," she noted. "There's swamps and bogs and tons of rocks everywhere. But somehow it made it seem more authentic. Although I was still in some physical pain, I found Dogtown gentle enough to walk around in and feel like I was in some far-flung wilderness."

East would find a need for healing in the ensuing years when her life would face many more changes.

"In 2001, I moved to New York, I still had this injury and that same year, six members of my family died. This loss was something I was experiencing and the story in the book is very much about loss. But my loss was nothing compared to those who knew and loved Ann Natti."

East knew Hartley regained his failing health, and recharged his spirit and career, through his Dogtown experience. She, too, would return to Gloucester and Dogtown in the ensuing years in search of something, though she knew not exactly what.

She met dozens of Gloucester residents, many with whom she has forged lasting friendships. She spent years researching the colonial history of Dogtown. But she didn't think a book was going to work out for many reasons, in part, because of the historical complexity of the wilderness and the challenge of bringing to life an enigmatic place that dates back centuries.

But the manner in which people told her about the Natti murder brought the past and present together.

Her intellectual curiosity drove her to continue delving into the Dogtown story. She began at Portland Public Library in Maine where she found the book, "The Saga of Cape Ann." Her research took her to the Gloucester Archives, Cape Ann Historical Society, Sawyer Free Library and to the homes of many residents as she followed up on every detail that came her way.

Her research took her to the Columbia University library where she found numerous books on Hartley and the late Gloucester poet Charles Olson. She traveled to the Charles Olson Archives at the University of Connecticut. She also went to the John Adams Courthouse in Boston and the Salem Courthouse to read the trial records related to the murder.

During her research, East found there were close to 100 "dogtowns" across the country, often populated by destitute residents. Many were dangerous spots, and some were over-run with dogs.

In the case of Gloucester's Dogtown, East found that as early as the mid-1600s, settlers were living along what is now its periphery. In 1721, the town government divided the land into 43 parcels, which would become heart of Dogtown, or the Commons Settlement.

Sarah Dunlap, co-chairman of the Gloucester Archives, said she was impressed with East and her tenacity to be thorough. Dunlap read the book, and even found some surprises.

"Some of the things she had put together, I had never put together before. The whole sequence of the events that led to the settling and de-population of Dogtown were never so clear to me," said Dunlap. "It's a beautiful tapestry of the history and the people of Gloucester, that is sort of hinged on the history of Dogtown. She did an incredible job and the book is based on solid research."

Dunlap remembers well the Natti murder.

"Many of my friends were friends of the Nattis," she said. "(The murder) certainly effected me. I used to walk through the woods all the time, but it took 10 years before I started walking there again."

Peter Anastas, a Gloucester author, also came to know East.

"The tension achieved by alternating the chapters on Dogtown history and lore, and Hartley and Olson, with those on the Natti murder is extraordinary," he said. "East treats the Natti murder and its principals with tact and sensitivity, weaving those strands into the larger narrative."

Anastas, a Gloucester native, applauded the author for understanding the essence of the community.

"She writes beautifully about Gloucester itself, the people and the folkways," he said. "She didn't just breeze in and out like so many others have; she stayed put and forged important links with the place and its people.

"All of this is reflected in the book's depth," he added. "I hope natives will take to heart East's love of Dogtown and her concern about its future and our stewardship of the area."

East gets that Gloucester is a community that gives a certain amount of latitude to people who are different and might be seen as strange in other communities, said Anastas.

"She understands that Dogtown meant different things to different people," he said. "The poets and painters saw it in one way and the hunters, who have played a major role in saving Dogtown, saw it in an equally important way."

Both Anastas and Dunlap said this new book is another in which the author has a note about preservation.

Bestselling authors Mark Kurlansky and Sebastian Junger wrote books about Gloucester that have been read by readers all over the world.

"Each has tried to help us see how valuable the place we live in is," Anastas said, "and how important it is to preserve the very qualities that keep this place what it is in a world that is changing beyond recognition."

Gail McCarthy can be reached at 978-283-7000, x3445, or via e-mail at gmccarthy@gloucestertimes.com

IF YOU GO

What: An author event featuring "Dogtown: Death and Enchantment in a New England Ghost Town" by Elyssa East.

When and where: Wednesday, Dec. 16, at 7 p.m. at Rockport Public Library at 17 School St. in Rockport; and Jan. 9 at 2 p.m. at the Cape Ann Museum, 27 Pleasant St. in Gloucester.

For more information: Visit www.dogtownthebook.com

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