in Just – spring when the world is mud – luscious……… (E.E. Cummings) Blossoming trees and fiddlehead ferns, Sheep Pasture 2023. I am stuck on Spring and how beautiful Sheep Pasture is in this season. The Ames children, Elise, Olivia, Oliver Jr., and Richard, who lived in the mansion at Sheep Pasture developed an appreciation of nature there. Their nurse Matilda Golden taught them names of wildflowers. “Bunny Woods organized outdoor games and helped the children catch snakes. Coachman John Swift taught the children the names of birds as he drove them around the property in a pony cart. The cook Sophie Nelson was in charge of curing and taming injured birds.” (Quote from plaque at Sheep Pasture.) Clearly the hired help was very important in the lives of the children, influencing them greatly. The coachman’s children, Lizzie and Bertha often played with the Ames children. Oliver Ames House, Sheep Pasture. Built 1893-4. On the estate were stables, garages, a pony barn, kennels, three henhouses, a squash court, playhouse, barn, corncrib, and apple orchards. The grounds were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, who had rhododendrons brought in for what is today’s Rhododendron Trail. According to Hazel Varella and Elise A. Parker who wrote Growing up at Sheep Pasture, there were fourteen servants. Parkes the butler, the cook Sophie Nelson, an assistant cook, kitchen maid, parlor maid, girl’s maid, two chambermaids, two laundresses, lady’s maid, two footman and a choreman. To the children it seemed the help was present every day of the year. Most likely they had very little time off. The Ameses were wealthy, but these were certainly different times. The house was built in 1893-4 and the children born in 1892, 1893, 1895, and 1896. Their youngest years were at the turn of the century, prior to both World Wars, the Depression, and an increasingly ‘modern’ society. Chickens, Sheep Pasture. April, 2023.
When Oliver Ames was at home for a day, “he would go out to the hickory tree in the front of the house, blow his whistle, and start walking.” (Growing up at Sheep Pasture) He didn’t look back but expected his children to be following him, and apparently they always were. Today the NRT continues the tradition of fostering respect for nature with night walks, educational school programs, summer camp, farm animals, the spring farm festival, and community gardens. Although I’ve been there an untold number of times, I always find something new and worthy of note. A sunny spring day is joyous- just like an Emily Dickenson poem: The sun just touched the morning; The morning, happy thing, Supposed he had come to dwell, And life would all be spring.
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The small book titled Billy Rock. The Museum’s April 16th Open House was dedicated to Sheep Pasture and the NRT. Interim Curator Arielle Nathanson put together a nice, well-researched exhibit that was well attended. I’ve included some pictures People on the rock face at Sheep Pasture. It is much more overgrown today. The potato cellar at Sheep Pasture. The entrance is currently barred but it wasn’t when I was young. We would dare each other to go all the way in. It was damp and creepy. Adorable photo of two young residents of Sheep Pasture. Olivia & Elise. Sheep Pasture was built during 1893-94. At one time sheep grazed in the meadow, hence the name. The grounds were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The mansion was demolished in 1946. Mrs. Elise Ames Parker bequeathed the majority of Sheep Pasture to the Natural Resources Trust.
When the sun caught A bluebird in flight I breathed deep with The relief that is spring Anne Wooster Drury [email protected] There will be an Open House on Sunday April 16th. More information to come. Thank you to Fr. Anthony V. Szakaly, CSC, and Director of Campus Ministry at Stonehill College for clearing up where the architectural features on Rhododendron Drive pictured in the last newsletter came from. Mr. Ken Percy also came forward with the correct answer. The heavy stone pieces were from the old main gate to the estate that led from Washington Street onto Rhododendron Drive. The wrought iron gates with the Ames seal are located on campus near Boland Hall. Mystery solved. The gates to Stonehouse Hill House when Rhododendron Drive was the main entrance. Now a different type of mystery. Many people enjoy being scared. People like to speculate on the supernatural. Who played with a Ouija board? Told scary stories around a campfire? I remember as a teenager visiting the cemetery behind Unity Church on Halloween night to see if I could hear the "Wailing Woman". I didn't. I admit to enjoying Halloween festivities- as long as they are not gruesome. Last October the Ames Free Library hosted a fundraiser where S.P.I.R.I.T.S. of New England led a ghost hunting tour to look for paranormal activity at Queset House. Easton has a long history of ghost stories. Prior to 1900 when it burned down, the Shepard House on Bay Road, near the intersection with Randall Street, was believed to be haunted. The house was possibly built about the time of the Revolutionary War and served at one time as a tavern; it was a stop on the stagecoach route between Newport and Boston. It was no longer serving as a tavern when the fire broke out in 1900 and the owners at that time, Frederic Griffin, and his wife, fortunately, were not at home. The ghost is said to belong to a one-time occupant who had hanged himself there. This ghost made himself known in various ways and was persistent enough that there was difficulty attracting tenants. Strange things happened in the house but the ghost itself was never seen. Sometimes the family that lived there was frightened by what sounded like “a wagon-load of stones falling from a great height onto the roof”. A chronic problem was tenants finding themselves suddenly awakened in their sleep and lying on the floor of the room. The cords on the corded bedstead had been removed- without cutting or breaking. A joke by a playful ghost? Wheaton Farm is at the center of many ghost stories. One story dates from 1957 when John Webster and his friend Gregory Knowlton saw a female ghost rise from the mist, float across Bay Road, and enter a barn without opening the door. John and his friend were driving on Bay Road from Norton to Easton. They were in an area of older homes, one of which had previously been an inn. It was a dark and foggy night. The two men stopped the car and tried to enter the barn, but it was padlocked. They saw nothing when they looked in the windows. Both men agreed they had seen the same thing- a woman with blond hair, wearing white, with a flickering hurricane lamp in her right hand. Although they drove back and forth on the road for some time but saw nothing else. Afterwards they would return, on foggy nights, hoping to see the woman, but never saw the apparition again. The Wheaton House, Bay Road, Easton, MA. Barn across the street from Wheaton House. Is the ghost still in there? There are many stories about Nathan Selee of the Poquanticut area who was, among other things, apparently clairvoyant. There is an unsettling story about Mr. Selee refusing to tell the fortune of a young woman whose house he was visiting and shortly afterwards telling a companion that if the woman could see her future, she wouldn’t have asked about it. She died the next week. Nathan’s sister, Thankful (Selee) Buck, was supposedly a witch, although if so, perhaps a good witch. She and her daughters were said to recite incantations at midnight and pour water from one pan to another. There were tales she could turn into a black cat. One time, a neighbor of Thankful's admitted to becoming angry at a mischievous black cat and hitting it about the head, only to discover the next day that Thankful was missing an eye. It wasn't the only story that claimed she could change shape and turn into a black cat. Sign on the corner of Mill Street and Rockland. When people heard the mill running at night some attributed it to satanic imps.
People have always enjoyed these types of tales, and although skeptical, I do also. There are many other stories that have stood the test of time: the “Blue Mist” at Stonehill (the ghost of Fred Ames), “Doctor” William Webster’s haunted house in Unionville, and several connected to Queset House. I’m curious if any readers have supernatural experiences of their own connected to Easton. If so, I would love to hear about them. The streetlight catches A black cat on the drive Stepping without sound And undetermined intent Anne Wooster Drury [email protected] “The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.” ― Albert Einstein, Anyone who knows me, knows I love a good mystery. Louise Penny and Kate Ellis aside, one of the reasons I love studying and teaching history is because the study of history is simply uncovering the mysteries of the past. Whether digging into the ground or into a book, there are always intriguing clues, though often only a partial answer is revealed- a glimpse at a long-ago life, culture, reality. Rhododendron Drive. A hint of spring in the air. Stonehill College. I was drawn to the woods at Stonehill College by tales of the John Dailey homestead that was uncovered over 20 years ago by Stonehill professors and students. Beginning in 1999 an excavation was begun ‘deep in the woods’ off Rhododendron Drive, now Blessed Basil Moreau Drive.* John Dailey came to Easton, very early, before 1708. According to Chaffin, “he lived east of the brook near Stone-House Hill, between where the old road once ran and the present road now runs.” He was a hogreeve or hog constable, on the lookout for wandering domestic pigs. The excavated foundation showed Dailey's home to be about 250 square feet. It was also established where the well, animal pens, and midden (refuse heap) were located. The artifacts are archived at Stonehill College. I’m still looking for the site, which was allowed to revert back to nature, (more about that in another newsletter), but over the period of a few days I explored much of the wooded campus, being careful, of course, to stay off of any paved roads. In the lower right-hand corner of this circa 1750 map can be seen John Dailey’s name. His property would have been on the current Stonehill College campus. To the west of Jos. Crossman's would become Main Street and North Easton Village. While it is wonderful and appropriate that many Ames buildings have been renovated and/or repurposed; it is nice to see some artifacts let to 'just be', whether on purpose or by default. The photo below shows abandoned architectural features resting peacefully along Rhododendron Drive. The rhododendrons themselves were imported from England. Leftovers from Stone House Hill House? (Now Donahue Hall.) Seen along the right-hand side of Rhododendron Drive walking from Washington Street. Also mysterious on campus is the collection of huge boulders in an area near the Belmont Street entrance that have been linked to the late 17th century, the era of King Philip, chief of the Wampanoags. Some call it King Philip's Cave and believe King Philip himself hid out there during the First Indian War (1675-6). There was a student excavation at that site in 1957. Additional artifacts are dated to between 1500 BC and 500 AD. Some ‘cave-like’ formations. The area was strewn with large boulders. There was graffiti on some, and remains of a campfire nearby. Still more to learn- off St Andre Drive, also near Belmont Street, are examples of millstones that were quarried and carved for the J.O. Dean Grist Mill that was located at the intersection of Route 138 and Depot St. Only hand tools were used to carve them. One of several millstones, some unfinished. This expedition is over for now, but stay tuned for more mysteries- of another nature altogether! “The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.” ― Anais Nin Anne Wooster Drury [email protected] *Basil Moreau (1799-1873) was the founder of the Congregation of the Holy Cross. The Congregation purchased the estate of Frederick Lothrop Ames in 1935 to be used as a seminary. Stonehill College was founded in 1948. Some information was gathered from the Stonehill Alumni Magazine, Fall 1999, and stonehillcollege.edu. If it’s spring that must mean baseball! The Easton Historical Society and Museum will have its monthly Open House on Sunday, March 19th from 11:00 to 4:30. Featured will be Easton’s very first Little League baseball charter from 1952. The first four teams in the league were: Fernandes (Supermarket), Lions (The Lions Club), Pioneers (The Pioneer Club), and Huskies (The Easton Huskies Club). All games were played at Frothingham Park. A few years later Easton’s Little League expanded to six teams with Howard’s Insurance and Easton Pharmacy joining in. Below is a schedule of the 1953 season with names of all the players, coaches, and leadership. So many familiar names, and we urge all of you and your families to attend if possible. A few guest speakers will join us and pictures from the very early days will be on display. We will have photos, schedules from the 50s, 60s and beyond. We are looking for donations of any artifacts you may have that would add to this history. Hats, gloves, bats, helmets, pictures and uniforms for our display and archives. We are looking for a very exciting day! Refreshments will be served. Thank you, Jonathan Coe (Howard’s Insurance 1962-64) Schedule, 1953. More baseball! The Easton Huskies and the Cranberry League "Excellence In Amatuer Baseball Since Eisenhower Was President" With spring comes the advent of baseball season. For those who love baseball, there is much to look forward to. Fields at Militia Park, Oliver Ames, and Frothingham Park will come alive once again. Grass will turn green; chalk lines will be put down. It is a happy time. Sadly, though, Easton’s well-known semi-pro baseball team, the Easton Huskies, is for now, history. According to Ed Hands in Easton's Neighborhoods, the Easton Huskies grew out of a twilight league created in the 1930's. The best players from the various teams played against other towns on Sundays. In 1939 after being criticized for their 'motley' appearance in mismatched uniforms, Connie Spillane, Bill Baxter, and others chose a town uniform and the team name Easton Huskies. In 1960 Connie founded the Cranberry Baseball League, which was a ‘wooden bat’ league. The Cranberry League was a member of the American Amateur Baseball Congress, Stan Musial Division. Players were amateur, collegiate, or former professional athletes who competed at a very high level. Connie Spillane, a multi-sport athlete and graduate of Oliver Ames, was a powerful force in baseball in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island for over 70 years. Connie passed away in 2003. Home field for the Huskies was Frothingham Park. Annual Memorial Service for Louis A. Frothingham and his wife, Mary Ames Frothingham on the Sunday before the Huskies season opener, May 1998. Pictured: their grandson David Ames, OA teacher Ed Hands, OA student Erin Pope, and Park Superintendent Buddy Wooster. In 1973 when Connie Spillane retired from coaching, he was followed by Bob Richards, Bob Gibson, Peter Johnson, and Bill Baxter. Beginning in 1985, Easton resident Bob Wooster took over as player-coach for the Easton Huskies (1985-1997), and then coach (1997-2010). Bob began his baseball career playing Little League for Howard Insurance and went on to play baseball (and basketball) for Oliver Ames. “Wooster is arguably the best all-around baseball player in OA history.” (Easton Public Schools Town of Easton Massachusetts). After a stellar career at Stonehill College Bob went on to the Cleveland Indians where he made it as far as their Double A team. With Bob as coach, the Huskies won five Massachusetts Stan Musial titles and travelled to the Stan Musial World Series four times. Coach Bob Wooster. Many Easton athletes have played for the Huskies, too many to mention here. A few old-timers mentioned at the 50th anniversary celebration in 1990 were Clyde Craig, Al Gomes, and Gil Heino. Keeping a coach was difficult after Bob left. Both Chris Welch and John Ferrara stepped up, but currently the organization is without a coach. Much time and work is involved in managing a semi-pro team. Watching a Huskies game at Frothingham Park was a nice way to spend a summer day. Maybe sometime in the future, fans will once again fill the stands, wooden benches, folding chairs and grassy slopes, and watch another Sunday afternoon Huskies doubleheader. Easton Huskies celebrate after a win.
Anne Wooster Drury ehsnewsletter12 http://www.cranberryleague.com/, (Frothingham Memorial Park), Easton'sNeighborhoods by Ed Hands (Easton Public Schools Town of Easton Massachusetts), [email protected] The Easton Historical Society and Museum will be having our monthly open house featuring Easton’s very first Little League baseball charter in 1952. This will be on Sunday, March 19th from 11-4:30 at our Museum.
We would like to invite all and especially the members of the very first team members that played and participated. A few guest speakers and displays of pictures of the very early days will be there. The first 4 teams in the league were: Fernandes(super market), Lions (The Lions club), Pioneers( The Pioneer club, and Huskies(The Easton Huskies club). All games were played at Frothingham Park. A few years later Easton’s LL expanded to 6 teams with Howard’s Insurance and Easton Pharmacy joining in. Below is a schedule of the 1953 season with names of all the players, coaches and leadership. So many familiar names and urge all of them and their families to attend if possible. We will also have pictures, schedules from the 50s, 60s and beyond. We are looking for donations of any artifacts you may have that would add to this history. Hats, gloves, bats, helmets, pictures and uniforms for our display and archives. We are looking for a very exciting day! Refreshments will be served. Thank you, Jonathan Coe (Howard’s Insurance 1962-64) Update on 'Corner Store': Thank you to EHS member and former Easton resident Ed Leonard for this photo of Mrs. Pomeroy's store. Before the Corner Store, Mrs. Pomeroy had a store near the bottom of Columbus Ave. (east end of the street, north side) not far from the present store 'The Peach', which sold bread, milk, candy and some canned vegetables. This was in the 1940's, perhaps into the 1950's. Her house was second below the intersection with Hayward Street with an uphill driveway that she had to walk up to get to her store. It was/is 13 Columbus Ave. Ed grew up at 17 Columbus Ave in the 40's and 50's and remembers it well. Thank you, Ed. The photo shows Mrs. Pomeroy's store in winter with snow on the roof. It juts out beyond the houses and is at the bottom of the street. The dog is Ed's dog Teddy. If anyone remembers Mrs. Pomeroy's store we would be interested to know. This photo was taken in 1947.The trees planted along the street were gifts of the Ames family. Union Villa The Union Villa Restaurant is a landmark in the Unionville section of Easton. I remember sitting in a booth and eating steamer clams when I was in college, and in later years picking up delicious bar pizza for the family. My father liked pepper and onion. Buddy’s Union-Villa, 190 Washington Street. The Villa has a long history; as far back as the 1920’s food has been served at the location. First, John Dyer of Union Street built a permanent ice cream and sandwich shop next door to the Easton Grange Hall on Washington Street, known as Dyer's Homemade Ice Cream and Sandwich Shop. Prior to that Dyer had peddled food door to door in his horse drawn wagon. By 1936 John Spillane and William Flynn opened a restaurant on the same location known as the Union Villa restaurant and Dance Hall. In 1931 John Dyer had a food booth at the Brockton Fair. He was known for his long beard and creative advertising. Washington Street was also known as State Road.
In 1949 the building was known as "Spillane's Union Villa Restaurant, Washington Street, No. Easton, Mass." In 1952, Dyer’s estate sold the entire property to John J. and Elizabeth F. Spillane. After her husband died Elizabeth Spillane, with her son, John J. Spillane, Jr., continued the tradition of the Union Villa Restaurant and Dance Hall. Elizabeth Spillane commuted by bus from Brockton to run the restaurant. In the late 1940's and early 1950's the restaurant was popular with students from the newly created Stonehill College. In 1975, Easton residents, Buddy and Kay Richard, purchased the property and restaurant to operate as Buddy's Union Villa. In 2016 scenes from the movie ‘Stronger’ were filmed in the Villa. The movie was based on a book by the same name written by Boston Marathon survivor Jeff Baumen. Actor Jake Gyllenhaal starred in the movie. Today, Buddy’s five children run the restaurant. It continues to be a popular local bar and pizza restaurant. The following is a quote from Boston's Hidden Restaurants, "The pizza is really something special at Buddy's, however, and its old-fashioned atmosphere is of the type that becomes more and more difficult to find in the Greater Boston area and beyond as the years go by." So go to Buddy's and get yourself some pizza! The dried-up bird’s nest remarks To the gloom in the potato cellar That only the thin green stalks of The briar bushes retain any color Anne Wooster Drury [email protected] We want to know your thoughts...please complete the survey so we can improve our museum.
Your ideas and opinions are important to us. Thank you so much! https://qfreeaccountssjc1.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8doN6wzjQNp5EAm Upcoming: There will be an Open House at the Museum on Sunday February 19, 2023. Fox Mountain Growing up in Easton and having a father who liked to take us on regular walks through the woods, swamps, fields, if off-trail all the better, I’ve been to many natural spots around town, I’ve been lost in cranberry bogs, tangled in briars. But recently a mystery presented itself. I saw a place on a map that I was not aware of and had never been to, Fox Mountain. Fox Mountain is located east of Poquanticut Ave. Relying on my GPS, I set out to find Fox Mountain Lot, as it’s called, and became thoroughly confused. I drove up and down a stretch of Poquanticut many times looking for the entrance. As it turned out, my GPS was just wrong. In talking to my brother, I found out he’d been to Fox Mountain in the past. He led me quite a bit (southeast of Clover Valley Farm) down the road from where my GPS directed. We drove into a driveway connected to a private home and indeed, at the end of the driveway, not easily seen from the road was a Natural Resources Trust sign and nearby a Bay Circuit Trail marker, as this walk is part of the Bay Circuit trail. There was enough room for a few cars to park. Finally! Sign at end of private driveway. The sign says Beaver Brook Management Area. This piece of land consists of about 99 acres that act as drainage for part of Beaver Brook. “Some of the land, which is owned by NRT, continues down to Beaver Dam Road and the stream continues south, eventually emptying into Old Pond. It is claimed the last bear in Easton was shot on Fox Mountain Lot, which is part of this area. The area consists of both swamp and upland and has several access points.” (Easton Conservation Commission) According to Chaffin, in the years after the bear was killed, Fox-Mountain Rock was a popular home to foxes. This beech forest is on the Fox Mountain trail which makes uppart of the Bay Circuit Trail as it winds through Easton. What I wasn’t expecting was a stone marker in memory of Pvt. U.S.M.C. Edward F. Smith, an Easton resident killed in the Vietnam War in 1967, at the head of the trail. There was a lovely biography about him encased in a plastic sleeve attached to a tree, which I read, and began my walk in a somber mood, grateful that I was able to be here on this sunny winter day. Of course, Fox Mountain isn’t a mountain, but an area of higher ground; there are many beech trees there, and stone walls. At the beginning of the trail, in two places, were well-built bridges over Beaver Brook, which was flowing quickly. Off to the left of the path was an area of high ground, basically a heap of large rocks or boulders. Climbing up to the highest point, I felt I was quite a bit above the forest floor looking down. This was difficult, though, to capture in a photo. Highest point. Fox-Mountain Rock, I suppose.
I stopped walking at what I believed was the edge of the lot. There was a stone wall and beyond that, the power lines. I turned around and walked back, glad I had finally found Fox Mountain. The trail was clearly marked with white rectangles on trees and the occasional Bay Circuit symbol. *The coordinates that you can use in navigation applications to get to find Fox Mountain Lot are 42.0429268 ,-71.1374247 I stand in awe of the bare trees That in some other lifetime Chose to bind themselves to the soil Knowing what winter was Anne Wooster Drury [email protected] More 1960’s Growing up on Sheridan Street in North Easton it was possible to walk to various stores, both on Main Street and otherwise. The store I most often frequented as a child in the1960’s was the Corner Store that was located at the bottom of Columbus Ave. My cousins lived just a few houses up the street from the store and we often walked from there. Side story, when I was in elementary school we used to play in the middle of Columbus Ave. We would draw in chalk in the middle of the street, not sure what game that was? I remember neighborhood boys making go-carts and driving them down the street; we would just shout, ‘car’ if we saw one coming. The owner of the Corner Store at the time was Dick Southworth; he was also a postman I believe. Candy cigarettes were popular, we played at smoking. Colored liquid in wax bottles, wax lips, Bazooka bubblegum for two cents. I believe (memory can be tricky) I recall when popsicles went from five cents to seven cents. Sky Bars were a favorite of mine, four different fillings wrapped in chocolate. The Corner Store. Later to become Casey’s, Tedeschi’s, Little Peach. Now, The Peach. Tom Barnhill’s Five & Ten was located on Main Street. I remember buying Christmas presents for my brothers and sisters there. It was dark and dusty inside. Creaky old floors. For a short time, I worked there- Tom Barnhill was our neighbor on Sheridan Street. I remember being told to watch out for shoplifters. Apparently, neighborhood kids were known to do such a thing(!) When the store closed, or when Tom Barnhill died, I don’t clearly remember, we acquired his large brass cash register. It sat on our hearth for decades. I remember waiting in the station wagon in the narrow drive outside Harvey’s Market on Main Street, with three, four, or five younger siblings, while my mother went inside to buy a pound of hamburger. We had hamburger at least twice a week, broiled, in meatloaf, American Chop Suey or a dish my mother made up, called South American Meat Cakes- hamburger with onions and gravy. It sounded exotic; we didn't know until years later that there was no such thing as South American Meat Cakes. She seemed to take forever in there. I disliked stopping at Harvey’s. The Easton Pharmacy was a staple on Main Street before chains like CVS or Walgreens came to town. It’s where we picked up prescriptions and other drug store items. As a teenager I recall buying nail polish or a lipstick. Easton Pharmacy, 108 Main Street, North Easton, MA, 1950’s. Starting in the 1950’s through 1970’s, James A. Zarrella operated the Easton Pharmacy at 108 Main Street. Easton Historical Society. Further down the street was Howard’s Insurance, O’Connor’s News Store and Barnhill’s 5 & 10. 106-108 Main Street today. Mind Body Barre Yoga Studio. The top photo: Manuel Silva’s shoe repair shop. Harvey’s Market is on the right. Easton Historical Society.In the bottom photo: Today the building houses Shangri La Salon and Day Spa. I don’t live on Sheridan Street anymore but still walk down Main Street, though I am more likely to stop at The Farmer’s Daughter or La Cucina restaurant. And I stop by The Peach for wine or snacks. Though Easton has changed a great deal, it’s still a place I like to call home. Fusilli pasta tossed with artichoke hearts,
Roasted red and yellow tomato, Kalamata olives, Red onion, roasted red peppers, olive oil and Balsamic vinegar, served over greens Anne Wooster Drury [email protected] |
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