Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people, Part 2

Author:
Publication date: 1937
Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company
Number of Pages: 802

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Practically every city and town in Massachusetts has sufficient water area for skating. Several ponds or lakes on State reservations and forests are kept cleared during the season.

'Tobogganing has a few facilities, widely scattered over the State. On most State reservation lands, no constructed chutes are necessary because natural conditions, dependent on suitable snow cover, are sufficient. The same is true for most municipal parks.

Snowshoeing is dependent on the quality and condition of snow. Since it . requires no special areas or trails, there are adequate opportunities for it in every section of the State when there is snow. Existing foot trails or minor back roads may be used.

Hiking: Perhaps the best-known hiking route is the Appalachian Trail (see Tour 9), extending from the Connecticut boundary to the Vermont line and forming a link in the route from Georgia to Maine. There is also the Wachusett-Watatic Trail (see Tour IIA), covering a distance of more than twenty miles from the Mount Wachusett Reservation to a point near the New Hampshire line, where it connects with the Wapack Trail. The State forests and reservations provide a total of 225 miles of local trails, constructed by the Department of Conservation in co-operation with the National Park Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps dur- ing the past four years. The Metropolitan District Commission has de- veloped a number of trails on its reservations, particularly the Blue Hills (see Tour 25) and Middlesex Fells (see Tour 5).

Several organizations are actively engaged in the promotion and con- struction of foot trails, preparation of guide books, and the establishment of trail shelters. Prominent among these are the Berkshire Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Connecticut Valley Trails Confer- ence, the Massachusetts Forest and Park Association, the outing clubs of colleges and preparatory schools, the American Youth Hostel, Inc., the New England Trails Conference, and the Massachusetts Department of Conservation.

Riding: Bridle trails in Massachusetts consist of several local municipal units, some few miles developed on the State forests and reservations, a few miles developed by the Metropolitan District Commission on their reservations and parkways, and the Capes-to-the-Berkshires Trail (see Tour 12), a through trail 450 miles in length. Throughout the State there are many miles of old wood roads and minor back roads which serve as

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bridle paths. Excluding these roads, there are more than 500 miles of existing bridle trails in Massachusetts. Eighty-six riding academies and many local outing clubs are distributed throughout the State. Many of these are on or near the Capes-to-the-Berkshires Trail, and offer shelter to horse and rider.

Bicycling: There are no bicycle trails as such in Massachusetts. The American Youth Hostel, Inc., has laid out a bicycle loop trip through New England, utilizing back roads and portions of the Capes-to-the- Berkshires Trail.

Hunting: Hunting is permitted in 64 State forests, comprising more than 150,000 acres. In thirty of these forests, hunting is strictly regulated by permit; and portions of ten forests, comprising approximately 3200 acres, are set aside for game preserves, on which no hunting is allowed. Public lands available for public hunting (State forest lands) are widely dis- tributed throughout the State, with the largest percentage, both in num- ber and acreage, in the central and western portions. The Division of Fisheries and Game carries on extensive stocking of covers, particularly with quail, pheasants, hares, and rabbits. Game preserves, under a vari- ety of classifications and organizations, are numerous. The State con- tains 33 or more preserves, varying in size from 12 to 8600 acres, and representing a total of approximately 21,300 acres. Included in the total are the various State reservations, under the control of County and Special Commissioners, which unless otherwise specified are closed to hunting. There are four game farms, varying in size from 23 to 132 acres, and comprising a total of 364 acres. All are under the direct control of the Division of Fisheries and Game of the Department of Conservation, 20 Somerset St., Boston. For hunting license consult the Division, or the local game warden.

Fishing: While a large part of the brook fishing is still in private unposted land, more and more streams seem destined to be closed to the public by individuals and private clubs. However, opportunity for public fishing is fairly extensive. Under the General Laws of Massachusetts, the Di- rector of the Division of Fisheries and Game is permitted to acquire, by gift or lease, fishing rights and privileges in any brook or stream in the Commonwealth, with rights of ingress and egress, unless it is a source of or tributary to a public water supply. There are eleven such areas in the State, comprising some eighty miles of stream. In addition to these streams, the ponds of the State, with the exception of those used for water supply, are public for the purpose of fishing, hunting, and boating. There are 1302 such ponds, of which approximately two hundred are used for water-supply purposes. Certain others are controlled either by the Divi- sion of Fisheries and Game for breeding purposes, or by cities and towns. For fishing license, consult the Division, 20 Somerset St., Boston, or the local game warden.

For salt-water fishing no license is required. At most harbors, boats and equipment are available to parties for deep-sea fishing. During the

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summer deep-sea fishing excursion boats leave T Wharf, Boston (foot of State Street) daily. Surf-casting is increasing in popularity, and equip- ment and instruction are available at many resorts.

TRANSPORTATION

JOSIAH QUINCY in his Journal thus describes a trip from Boston to New York in 1773: 'I set out from Boston in the line of stages of an en- terprising Yankee, Pease by name, considered a method of transportation of wonderful expedition. The journey to New York took up a week .... We reached our resting place for the night, if no accident intervened, at Io o'clock, and after a frugal supper, went to bed with a notice that we should be called at three, which generally proved to be half past two, and then, whether it snowed or rained, the traveler must rise and make ready ... and proceed on his way over bad roads, sometimes getting out to help the coachman lift the coach out of a quagmire or rut, and arriving in New York after a week's hard traveling, wondering at the ease, as well as the expedition with which our journey was effected.'

At the time that Josiah made his memorable journey, little progress in transportation methods had been made since the founding of the Plym- outh Colony. Though primitive forms of wheeled vehicles were used as early as 1650, the colonists usually traveled on horseback, and few at- tempts were made by them to improve the condition of the roads. Action taken at early town meetings to compel able-bodied men to work on the roads or pay tax money to hire substitutes did not suffice to keep the roads in good condition. Road-building in the early days was simply not considered an important undertaking. The first settlements were made on the coast, and the colonists maintained communication largely by water because it was more convenient for them.

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries more traveling by land was done in the winter than during any other season of the year. Sleighs drawn by oxen or horses were used on small streams and frozen rivers.

By the year 1683 a few private coaches began to appear in the larger towns, like Boston and New York. The earliest were of three types: one was patterned after the heavy two-horse family carriage used in England; the others were better adapted to conditions in America, and drawn by one horse. Road conditions did not permit their use outside the limits of the towns.

Some of the wealthier inhabitants in the larger towns began to use sedan chairs, but public opinion in the Colony decidedly frowned on the use of such vehicles. Governor Winthrop had received a sedan chair as a gift, but he did not dare to use it.

During the second half of the eighteenth century, stagecoach service was established between a few of the larger communities along the New England coasts, such as Boston and Providence.

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The first stagecoaches were crude in form. They usually had four wooden benches without any backs, seating a maximum of nine pas- sengers. Baggage was placed either on the passengers' knees or under their legs. The coach had a top usually made of some heavy woven material, with leather curtains at the sides and rear. It had no springs, and the traveler who had not to hobble when he arrived at his destination was very fortunate and very rare.

The end of the Revolutionary War marked the opening of a new era. People began at last to recognize the need of adequate transportation facilities. New industries established in different sections of the State, and expanding municipalities demanded better facilities for moving people and freight overland.

The question was, however, who was to build the roads? The War had impoverished the local communities and the State. Neither was finan- cially able to undertake the construction of roads which demanded an outlay of millions of dollars. Out of these difficulties grew a new method of private financing and control, whereby the roads were built by private companies incorporated under acts passed by the State Legislature. These roads, called turnpikes, were constructed by private capital, pri- vately owned, and operated for the revenue derived from the collection of tolls.

Both the rates of toll and the number of gates that could be erected were fixed in the charters granted to the various corporations. The gates were erected at intervals of about ten miles, and rates had to be displayed on large signs. Certain persons were exempt from paying toll: Any person going to or from his usual place of public worship; any person passing with his horses, team, or cattle to or from his farm, in connection with work to be performed there; any person passing on military duty. If the toll-gatherer were not present to receive the toll, the gate had to be left open and everybody was permitted to pass without paying.

The opening of the turnpikes was followed by the establishment of regular stagecoach lines between all sections of Massachusetts. In 1801, one hundred and sixteen coaches arrived and departed from Boston each week. There were twenty-six lines to as many different places. The run- ning time to New York was then about forty hours, and some lines re- duced the time between cities by traveling all night instead of stopping at a tavern.

The improved type of stagecoach used between 1800 and 1840 was built of wood and sole leather, and was shaped somewhat like a football. It had no springs, but was swung on several thick strips of leather riveted together and called thoroughbraces; the average coach seated nine pas- sengers and was usually drawn by four horses. In these new coaches strips of leather were nailed lengthwise to provide backs for the benches. Meanwhile the top of the coach had assumed a flat shape, and, with the installation of railings, baggage could be carried on the roof. The 'Con- cord Coach,' first built in Concord, New Hampshire, about 1828, was considered the acme of luxury. So highly were these coaches regarded by the traveling public that the railroads used them mounted on railway trucks, as their first passenger coaches.

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In the winter time, the stagecoach lines often placed their vehicles on sled bodies instead of on wheels, and thus maintained their service with but a small decrease in speed. On occasions when the coach was too heavy to be drawn through the snow, its use was temporarily abandoned in favor of small, open, boxlike conveyances, with the travelers exposed to every inclemency of the weather.

Distances were commonly reckoned in miles intervening between taverns, and not, as one would expect, between towns. Taverns were the important landmarks of any journey. There the weary passengers alighted to seek refreshment and stretch their cramped limbs while assembled townsfolk pressed about them and questioned them eagerly about the news from the outside world.

About 1800 a new and radically different method of transportation was devised. This was the canal. The stagecoach was not adapted to freight traffic. A number of surveys were made, but nothing was done. Despite popular enthusiasm, only one large canal, the Middlesex, com- pleted in 1808 and extending from the Merrimack River near Lowell to the Charles River in Boston, was built in Massachusetts, and its period of usefulness was very short. The rapid railroad development all over the State from 1835 to 1850 solved the problem.

In spite of advantages which were obvious to the foresighted, Massa- chusetts was slower than some other sections of the country in accepting the new method of transportation. Just as the first coaches to appear on the streets were severely censured, so were the first railroads. Puritanism was always suspicious of anything that made for physical comfort. Many people were sincerely convinced that the use of these iron highways would lower the prevailing standards of morality.

During the building of the Western Railroad from Worcester to Springfield in 1837, so much adverse criticism was directed against this project that the owners of the road sent a letter to all the churches of the State asking that sermons be preached on the beneficial moral effect of railroads.

The first three important New England railroads were all completed in 1835 in this State. They were the Boston and Lowell, the Boston and. Providence, and the Boston and Worcester.

The reaction of the people to the new method of transportation is found in the newspapers of the day. In the issue of the Maine Farmer of July 18, 1835, a newspaper published in Worcester, there is the following comment concerning the trip between Boston and Worcester: 'The usual passage is performed in two and a half or three hours, including stops - A few years ago, 14 miles an hour would have been considered rapid traveling .... So great are the advantages gained, that already one of the principal dealers here has offered to lay a side track from the road to his own storehouse ... A person in business here informed me that he left Worcester one day at 12 o'clock, arrived in Boston, had one and a quarter hours to transact his business, returned by the four o'clock car, and ar- rived here at seven o'clock in the evening - thus traveling 88 miles in eight and three quarter hours .... Some of the passenger cars on this

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road are very elegant, and will hold from twenty to thirty persons. The motion of the cars upon the road is so easy that I saw a little child walking from seat to seat, as if in a parlor.'

Parallel to the development of steam railroads was that of a similar type of intercity transportation. The first street railway in Massachusetts was built in Boston in 1836. Horse-car systems were replaced about 1890 by the use of electricity as a motive power. Then came the automobile, and an entirely new and revolutionary method of transportation slowly began to undermine both the street railways and the railroads, culminat- ing in the employment of busses both for local and long-distance passenger and freight service.

An integral part of the success of the new method was the development of an improved highway system throughout the State. After the failure in 1850 of most of the turnpikes, the roads had reverted to the control of the cities and towns in which they were located. In 1893 the Legisla- ture established the Massachusetts Highway Commission as the result of an investigation which disclosed that the roads of the State were in a deplorable condition. The Commission was authorized to take over, lay out, and maintain roads, and to unite the more important cities by trunk lines of large traffic capacity. The first State appropriation, amounting to $300,000, was made in 1894. By 1916 a total of $11,767,000 had been spent. Obviously some portion of this gathering cost had to be turned back in some way to those who benefited. The old turnpike toll in a different form is paid by motorists of today. In 1925 the State Legislature established the Highway Fund, whereby the proceeds of motor-vehicle fees and fines and of the tax on gasoline are pledged to the construction and maintenance of both State and local highways. During the past twenty-five years the cost of new road construction in Massa- chusetts has been approximately $105,000,000.

Today five types of transportation, all highly developed, are open to the traveler in Massachusetts. The most expeditious is by air. Josiah Quincy, who thought a week was a remarkably short time for the journey from Boston to New York, would hardly have believed that a century and a half later the traveler would board a plane at Boston and make a happy landing at Newark Airport on the edge of New York City in eighty-four minutes.

Besides Boston, thirty-six cities of Massachusetts have airplane landing facilities, and seaplane landings can be made at Boston, Gloucester, Squantum, and New Bedford. In 1937 recognized commercial air service was provided by two large airlines, one of which connects Boston, via New York and via Albany, with all the other important air routes of the country, and the other of which reaches the cities of upper New England. During the summer seaplanes fly between Boston, Provincetown, Hyan- nis, Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard.

Next in speed, but with certain superior elements of practicability, come the railroads. At present three major lines serve Massachusetts and link it with the south and southwest, the west, and the north; and five others operate within the State.

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Next in speed to the railroad but with more flexibility and usually at less cost, passenger and freight service are given by bus and truck lines, which cover the State with a fine network. Three main operators, con- trolled by three railroads, and several lesser lines handle the long-distance traffic, while about one hundred and sixty bus lines are engaged in intra- state traffic.

The development of motor transportation has seriously curtailed the operation of street railways, especially interurban and suburban lines. The street railway mileage has been steadily decreasing since 1920. Although the Boston Elevated Railway, the largest line in the State, which serves the thickly settled Greater Boston district, has been able to retain much of its suburban traffic through its tunnel lines, it also operates an increasingly large number of motor coaches.

The private automobile began to be a factor in transportation following the World War. In 1920, 223, 112 automobiles were registered in Massa- chusetts; the number has steadily increased, and the average during the past few years has been near the 900,000 mark. For the automobile traveler, as well as for bus and trucking companies, the interior road- way system offers easy access to all important points. Four United States highways (20, 3, I to the north, and I to the south) radiate from Boston, besides a large number of other main roads. Routes 1, 3, 202, 5, and 7 are the major north and south arteries of the State; number 20 is the main western line. The total highway mileage in 1935 was 18,802, in- cluding 2400 miles of State highways. Inland water transportation is negligible except that through the Cape Cod Canal, which considerably reduces the time and increases the safety of the passage between Boston and New York. Forty-one steamship lines give foreign service out of the port of Boston, and twenty lines give domestic or coastwise service. A steamship line operates daily between Fall River and New York; another olies between New Bedford, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket via Woods Hole, and summer steamers run from New Bedford to New York and from Boston to Provincetown. Passenger service by steamship be- tween Boston and Portland was discontinued about 1935. The Common- wealth has several smaller ports besides Boston, the most important in volume of traffic being Fall River, followed by New Bedford, Beverly, Salem, and Lynn, in this order. Boston has the largest drydock on the continent, constructed by the Commonwealth and later sold to the United States Government.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Events arc arranged first by frequency of occurrence (Annual, Seasonal, Bi-Annual), and next by date within cities, which are grouped together.

ANNUAL

(nfd = no fixed date)

Jan. last Sat.

Boston

Knights of Columbus Track Meet, Boston Garden, North Station.

Jan. 20 to Feb.

Boston

Chinese New Year.

19 (I day)

Jan. nfd

Springfield

Springfield Art League, exhibit at Museum of Fine Arts.

Jan. I Stoughton

Old Stoughton Musical Society Concert, Town Hall.

Feb. Ist wk

Boston

N.E. Sportsmen's and Boat Show, Me- chanics Bldg., Huntington Ave.

Feb. Ist Sat.

Boston

Boston Athletic Association Games, Bos- ton Garden, North Station.

Feb. nfd

Boston

Boston Society of Independent Artists, no-jury exhibit, Boston Art Club, 150 Newbury St.

Feb. last 2 wks

Boston

Feb. 21-22

Boston

Feb.

Boston

International Music Festival, Symphony Hall, Huntington Ave.

Feb. 22

Boston

'Handshake ceremony,' State House.

Feb. Ist & last

Melrose

Winter Carnivals on Mt. Hood Reserva- tion sponsored by National Ski Assn.

March

last wk

Boston

Spring Flower Show, Massachusetts Horticultural Society, Mechanics Build- ing, Huntington Ave.

March

March Ist 2 wks

South Boston Worcester

Evacuation Day. Ceremonies and Parade. Spring Flower Show, Worcester Horti- cultural Society, Horticultural Hall, 30 Elm St.

April 19

Boston

Patriots' Day. Celebration and Mara- thon.

April last wk

Boston

Pension Fund Concert of Boston Sym- phony Orchestra, Symphony Hall, Huntington Ave.

Boston Society of Water Color Painters, exhibit, Vose Galleries, 559 Boylston St. Eastern Dog Club Show, Mechanics Bldg., Huntington Ave.

week-ends

Calendar of Events

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April

Lexington Provincetown

Revolutionary Pageant on Common. Portuguese festival in honor of Santo Christo.

May 5

Boston

Opening of Boston Symphony 'Pops' concerts continuing to July 3, at Sym- phony Hall, Huntington Ave.

May

Ist wk

Boston

National Music Week celebrated by Bos- ton Public Schools.

May

Ist Sun.

Boston

Annual Concert of Boston Music School Settlement, Jordan Hall, Huntington Ave.

May

Ist wk

Boston

Ford Hall Forum Banquet, Ford Hall, Ashburton Place.

May May Day

Boston

Labor groups and others celebrate with music and speeches on Common.

May last 3 wks

Boston

'Paradise of Blossoms,' Arnold Arbore- tum.

May nfd

Boston

May Ist wk

Boston

Tournament sponsored by National Guild of Piano Teachers, Steinert Hall, Boylston St.

May Ist Sat.

Cambridge

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Open House.

May 3 Sundays

Gloucester

May nfd

Ipswich

May 3d wk

Lawrence

Three Day Carnival sponsored by Inter- national Institute. Fourteen or more national groups appear in folk costumes to re-enact native pageantry. Portuguese religious celebration.

May 6th Sun. New Bedford

after Easter

May mid-May

Wellesley

Wellesley College celebrates 'Float Night' on Lake Waban. Nashoba Apple Blossom Festival.

May nfd (2 days)

Westford

June Ist Mon. Boston

Installation of Officers and Drum Parade of Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company, on Common.

June mid-June

Boston

Peony and Rose Show, Horticultural Hall, Massachusetts Ave.

June nfd I wk

June 19

Boston Boston National Home Show, Mechanics Brookline Building, Huntington Ave. Opening of State Singles Tennis Champ- ionship Tournament, Longwood Cricket Club.

June 16-26

Cambridge

June 2d Tues. Cambridge

Harvard Commencement exercises, Har- vard Yard, Cambridge; Class Day at Harvard Stadium, Brighton. Alumni Reunion at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

April nfd

American Unitarian Associations' Con- vention, 'May Meetings.'

Portuguese Festival of Penticost at Church of Our Lady of Good Voyage. Rights for 'Alewife run' sold to highest bidder.

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Calendar of Events

June 16

Charlestown

Bunker Hill Banquet, Armory, Bunker Hill St.

June 17

Charlestown Concord

June 28 to July 23

June near 15

Northampton

Bunker Hill Day Celebration and Parade. Choral Programs by students of Concord Summer School of Music, usually in Unitarian Church. Gaily decorated floats on Paradise Pond, stage for Smith College Glee Club Con- cert, Class Day.

July

Ist Sat. and Sun.

Bridgewater

Portuguese celebrate Holy Ghost Festival.

July near Ist

Dennis

Boston

Opening of two-month season of summer stock company at Cape Playhouse. Esplanade concerts by members of Boston Symphony Orchestra.

July Near Ist to end of month

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Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people, Part 2

Author: Publication date: 1937 Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company Number of Pages: 802

Author:
Publication date: 1937
Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company
Number of Pages: 802