What lies beneath Marshfield? PART ONE

Have you ever heard the legend of the cave? For generations, tales have persisted that beneath Marshfield lay a grotto of extraordinary breadth and depth, connecting many of the buildings around the square. The stories range from outlandish to downright plausible, with no one able to put an “X” on a spot of known entry. Rumors of alleged openings, some still supposedly in use, follow every building with a lower level. The only thing found thus far that even closely denotes an entrance is/was an old cistern in the back of the Ritz, which served in the theater days as part of an arcane cooling system. It is unknown whether it survived the remodel, but pictures of it can be seen at the museum. Scouring the rock outcroppings in the park and springs around the city yields nothing, but every old-timer you ask, can relate, with a twinkle in his eye, about somebody long dead, “who coulda told ya.”