Dear Insiders,
Sorry – I don't know the meaning of The Grut (the mysterious graffiti on a sign off Westbourne Street we recently wrote about) – but I can tell you that in the early 1960s this path through the woods was referred to as the pucker-brush.
At that time, the Concord High cross-country course started and finished in back of the high school on North Fruit Street.
The last part of the course came out of White Park at the new round-about, up Centre Street to Westbourne Road, then down through the pucker-brush to the end of North Fruit Street to the finish in back of the school.
At that time the houses at either end of the path were not yet built and the path was rough, narrow and grown in with brambles. I don't know who named it the pucker-brush – it was just known by everyone on the team as the pucker-brush. Perhaps Coach Bill Luti provided the name.
Enjoy your paper,
Bob Estabrook
