USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people > Part 36
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There were in 1890 about 1500 power stations throughout the country operating on the alternating current system, with only two companies producing the machines. The Stanley Electrical Manufacturing Com- pany of Pittsfield was organized in 1907 into a corporation to supply these stations first with transformers and later with generators, switch- boards, and motors. The rapid growth of this corporation, which erected a new plant in 1912 employing one sixth of Pittsfield's population, be- came a strain on the city's limited supply of capital, and threats of its withdrawal from Pittsfield were a constant source of apprehension.
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Main Street and Village Green
This disaster seemed imminent when, in 1930, the corporation was absorbed by the General Electric Company. The latter, however, to the great relief of the city, immediately announced that it had no in- tention of moving the plant away. On the contrary the bringing in of a new and practically unlimited supply of capital foreshadowed con- tinued expansion.
L. from East St. on Merrill Rd.
19. The Canoe Meadows at Umkamet's Crossing, near the railroad bridge over the Housatonic River, were the site of an Indian fort and landing place for the Red Men in the ancient days when they came to visit the burial mounds of their ancestors - now obliterated by the march of progress and the overflow of the rivers.
R. from Merrill Rd. on Dalton Ave.
20. The Government Mill (private) is a branch of Crane & Co. of Dalton, manufacturers of paper for currency and United States bonds.
Retrace Dalton Ave .; R. from Dalton Ave. on Crane Ave .; R. from Crane Ave. on North St.
To the south from the crest of the hill on North St., a bird's-eye view of the entire city may be had. On the far side may be seen the Bosquet Ski Run (small fee), distinguishable in summer by the broad, bare swath curving down from the opposite mountain-top through the woods that clothe its slope.
L. from North St. on Hancock Rd.
2I. Pontoosuc Lake Park (picnicking grounds, public bathing; boats and fishing equipment for hire), with its splendid white pines, is on the banks of Pontoosuc Lake, an Indian name meaning 'Place of Winter Deer.' Legend says that an Indian brave, while paddling across the lake to meet his sweetheart, was slain by a jealous suitor. The distracted maiden flung herself into the lake, following her lover to his watery grave. Even today, it is said, a spectral canoe with a shadowy paddler is sometimes seen to glide over the lake at midnight, darting from point · to point. It is the frenzied lover searching for, but never finding, the drowned form of his betrothed.
L. from Hancock Rd. on Churchill St .; R. from Churchill St. on Sham- rock Blvd.
22. The Pittsfield State Forest (camping and picnicking), covering 2127 acres, lies partly in Hancock and partly in Lanesborough. Several foot trails lead about the Forest, while the Skyline Trail, in process of being built, follows an ancient Indian hunting path along the crest of the Taconics, north to south. Ghost Trail and Honwee Trail, two ski trails, were recently constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps, and plans are under way to provide facilities for all winter sports.
At the entrance to the camp area of the Civilian Conservation Corps is Goodrich Cave, forgotten for 40 years, its entrance blocked by boulders
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Plymouth
and a wash of sand and gravel. It was rediscovered by a worker on the 'Massachusetts Guide' and reopened, disclosing a large chamber be- neath a shelf of limestone. Here, according to old inhabitants, a band of lawless youths used to hide for weeks, subsisting by raids on near-by farms, and making counterfeit half-dollars from stolen spoons, lead pipes, and quicksilver in a handmade mould.
Near-by is Lulu Cascade, a pretty fall of water on Lulu Brook.
High above the Cascades, on Honwee Mountain, is Berry Pond, the highest natural body of water in Massachusetts. Not far distant is a majestic view of the New York Taconics rising in the west with the Catskill Mountains on the horizon. The pond is the source of a brook which flows down the west side of the mountain through Goodrich Hollow, a secluded and lovely vale. Here, in May, are woods pink and white with mountain laurel; in June come the red and white azaleas; the deep wine-colored velvet of the September sumach is a color-theme for the gorgeous orchestration of later autumn.
PLYMOUTH . The Colony's First 'Main Street'
Town: Alt. 29, pop. 13,183, sett. and incorp. 1620.
Railroad Station: Park Ave. for N.Y., N.H. & H. R.R.
Bus Station: Park Ave. for New England Transportation Co.
Accommodations: One hotel all year round; three during summer months; tourist houses.
Annual Events: Pilgrim's Progress; every Friday in August, march of Pilgrim descendants.
Information: Chamber of Commerce, Leyden St., opposite Post Office.
PLYMOUTH, its white beaches stretching for eighteen miles along the inner shore of Massachusetts Bay, is known as one of New England's famous vacation spots. Here the 'South Shore' becomes Cape Cod. Inland hummocky hills of tumbled pines are dotted with ponds and brooks running into Plymouth Harbor or Buzzard's Bay. Here, too, are bird sanctuaries and game preserves, the Myles Standish Forest, and the Town Forest. Erosion of the outer slopes of its coastal hills has left the boulders and bluffs of Manomet and lagoons and beaches of glistening white sand set against the sparkling blue sea.
Plymouth's main street is now a thoroughfare, bustling with shops and commerce as befits the county seat, but in many other ways, as a de-
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lightful bit of old New England, the town remains the same. (Even as late as 1840, Christmas, banned by the Pilgrim Fathers, was not ob- served. Newcomers who put wreaths in their windows were commented upon and called "piscopals.') Ancient houses, few of them remodeled or modernized, line the ancient streets of the center, setting a tone which triumphs still over the outlying modern residential areas; and the old Pilgrim stock, though now in the minority, still dominates the com- munity.
After the Civil War, the rise of manufacturing brought an influx of immigrants - German, French, Italian, and Portuguese - who now make up a quarter of the town. Today, with thirteen thousand people, the town has a score of mills, small factories, and ropeworks. As there is little good top soil, farming has not flourished, except poultry-raising, dairy farming, fancy stock breeding, and cranberry culture.
In the year 1620, the 'Mayflower,' bound for Virginia, was blown far north of her course and cast among the roaring breakers and dangerous shoals of Cape Cod. It anchored in what today is Provincetown Harbor, and finding that terrain unfriendly, about a month later the Pilgrims set sail for the mainland. They were tossed about by a storm and nearly wrecked, but at nightfall they landed on an island in Plymouth Harbor.
On December 21 (new style calendar), 1620, with seventeen men, oc- curred the 'Landing of the Pilgrims' at their first settlement. The legends surrounding the landing are picturesque, but seem to have little basis in substantiated fact.
The majority of the Pilgrims, indeed, remained aboard ship for the better part of a month until shelters could be erected ashore. Snow covered the decks of the vessel; exposure and insanitation increased, and sickness grew apace. Scurvy and ship fever raged, and juniper was burned aboard to dispel the noisome smells of death. Sometimes two or three died in a single day. By March nearly half the company was dead.
There was never actual starvation, for berries, wild fowl, and shellfish abounded; but great disaster befell the little community in their second year when the ship 'Fortune,' carrying over their entire yield of furs and produce, was captured by the French as a prize.
Early difficulties were not all material; the more important ones were spiritual. To the horror of the community, it was discovered that Lyford, their pastor, had been exiled from England as unfit for the ministry.
'The circumstances,' writes the good Governor Bradford, 'I forbear, for they would offend chaste ears to hear them related.'
Moreover, Lyford was soon convicted at court of writing 'slanderous letters,' disparaging Plymouth Colony and the country. This gave great pain to the London adventurers, who, to increase their revenues, depended on finding persons in England willing to go as colonists. It also damaged the pride of the Pilgrim Fathers beyond repair. Later Thomas Morton recounted the manner of Lyford's deportation :
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His exile was arranged after a solomne invention in this manner. A lane of mus- keteers was made and hee compelled in scorne to passe along betweene, and to receave a bob upon the bumme by every musketier. And then aboard a shallop and so conveyed to Wessaguscus shore.
Lyford was succeeded by 'one Mr. Rogers a young man for minister,' who within twelve months 'proving crazied in his brain, they were forced to be at further charge in sending him back after losing all the cost expended in bringing him over which was not small.'
Finally, the congregation secured the services of one Reverend Smith, a pastor who had been discarded by the Salem Colony; though it is related that he too was of odd temperament, even supposed by some to be insane.
Now Thomas Morton, a companion of Captain Wollaston, set up a rival trading colony near-by at what is now Wollaston, in Quincy. The staid Pilgrims were duly horrified by the 'Merrymount' revels, but Morton flourished in his wickedness like the green bay tree. He sold rum and guns; and with these to be got in exchange for their furs, the Indians practically refused to take any amount of the Plymouth wampum and trinkets. At last, however, Miles Standish proceeded to Merrymount, seized Morton prisoner, and deported him to England.
In spite of all such zeal, by 1642 the piety among the 'Pure and Un- spottyd Lambs of the Lord' of Plymouth seemed at a low ebb, and severe measures were taken to combat the powers of evil. For nearly fifty years there were but forty-eight freemen, all of whom had to be church members. They controlled all the affairs of the town, and it would have been hardly human if occasionally piety had not been made the handmaid of profit.
At the end of a century after the landing, Plymouth had a population of two thousand, comfortably supported by agriculture, navigation, and commerce. Already, too, settlers from the mother town had founded or were founding other prosperous communities in the environs, extending as far as Eastham on Cape Cod and the present city of Fall River near the Rhode Island Line. Whale-fishing, begun about 1690 and abandoned about 1840, occupied many of these daughter towns, notably Wareham and the Cape Cod towns.
By the turn of the nineteenth century, stagecoaches ran from Boston to Plymouth, and thence in various directions. Alongside the wharves were seventy-six ships, brigs, and schooners. By 1830 the population was nearly five thousand. A hundred ships engaged in coastwise trade and fishing, especially for cod and mackerel. Four vessels went whaling. The town had forty ships, five iron mills, two cotton mills, and three ropeworks. Among these was the Plymouth Cordage Company, which today is one of the largest in the world.
Honor was brought to the town by one of its most distinguished citizens, Dr. Charles Jackson, who was awarded twenty-five hundred francs by the French Academy of Science as the co-discoverer of etherization.
HARBOR
PLYMOUTH
St
St
6
U
7
St
Watct
St
4
St
Ave
Chilton St.
Brewster
10
8
3
9
14
St
Bradford St
Lincoln
St
Park
16 17
Court
St
St
St
15
19
Cushman St
St
Clyfton St
S Russell
Church
St
Allerton
St
Allerton
St
Spring
IS
St
18
Highland
Davis
High
Summer
Samoset
PI
20
2
St
Union
Carver
St
Fremont
North
St
13
Water
Sandwich
2
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School
St
Pleasant
St
PLYMOUTH
High
St
TOUR
Lothrop
Leyden St
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FOOT TOUR - 2.5 m.
NW. from Town Square on Main St .; straight ahead on Court St. (State 3). I. The Tabitha Plasket House (home of one of the earliest schools) is located adjacent to Pilgrim Hall. It is said to have been built by Consider How- land, grandson of John Howland in 1722, but it has the appearance of having been built at a much later date - possibly 50 years. It is a large two-story white frame house, early Colonial, with four chimneys. Much of it is still intact, including the wide floor boards and H and L type hinges.
2. Pilgrim Hall (open weekdays 9-5, Sun. 12-5, April-Nov.), on the corner of Chilton St., is a granite building in the Greek revival style, dedicated to the memory of the Pilgrims. Erected in 1824, it has since been enlarged, and its Doric portico re-erected from plans by McKim, Mead and White. At the east end of the Hall is the famous painting 'The Landing of the Pilgrims' by Henry Sargent. On the north wall is the original of Robert F. Weir's 'Embarkation of the Pilgrims from Delft Haven.' From this study Weir produced the larger painting for the Cap- itol rotunda in Washington. Among historical articles in the Hall are: the patent of Plymouth Colony; the chairs of Elder Brewster and Gover- nor Carver; the Peregrine White cradle, in which slept the first white child born in Massachusetts; the Bible of Governor Bradford, printed in Geneva in 1592.
Retrace Court St .; L. from Court St. on North St.
3. The Lindens, in front of the Public Library, were imported and planted in 1760 by Colonel George Watson.
4. The Edward Winslow House (private), on the corner of Winslow St., was built in 1754 by Edward Winslow, great-grandson of Governor Edward Winslow of the 'Mayflower' company, and brother of General John Winslow. Little is left of the original house, which in the 1890's was enlarged to manorial proportions with a formal garden added.
PLYMOUTH MAP INDEX
I. Tabitha Plasket House
2. Pilgrim Hall
3. Lindens
4. Edward Winslow House
5. Pilgrim Mother Fountain
6. Plymouth Rock
7. Cole's Hill
8. Leyden St.
9. Site of the first 'Common House'
IO. House of the Rev. Nathaniel Leonard
II. Burial Hill
12. Sites of some of the first houses
13. Brewster Gardens
14. Antiquarian House
15. John Howland House
16. William Harlow House
17. Kendall Holmes House
18. National Monument to the Fore- fathers
19. William Crowe House
20. Myles Standish State Forest
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Main Street and Village Green
5. The Pilgrim Mother Fountain, at the corner of Water St., was erected as a tribute to the Pilgrim mothers, historically so much less vocal than the fathers, but certainly quite as deserving of admiration.
R. from North St. on Water St.
6. Plymouth Rock, with the date 1620 carved upon it, reposes under a magnificent granite portico of classical design. Two thirds of the rock is underground, and an iron fence protects the remainder from souvenir chippers. Historians have for the most part exploded the landing myth, but popular sentiment clings to the long-hallowed stepping-stone.
Retrace Water St .; L. from Water St. on North St .; L. from North St. on Carver St.
7. Cole's Hill was the scene of the secret night burials of those who died during the first year of the settlement. Corn was planted over their graves so that the Indians should not know how many of their number had perished. A sculptured sarcophagus now contains many of the exhumed bones. An imposing Statue of Massasoit, the Pilgrims' friend, crowns the hill.
R. from Carver St. on Leyden St.
8. The first houses erected by the Pilgrims stood on 'First St.' - now Leyden St. 'The Meersteads and Garden Plots' allotted to the early" settlers, and on which the houses were built, sloped thence to the Town Brook - the 'very Sweet brook mentioned by the first explorers.'
9. Opposite the end of Carver St. is the Site of the First 'Common House,' marked by tablet. It was used as a shelter by the Pilgrims on their frequent trips to and from the 'Mayflower' before it sailed on the return voyage to England, April 15, 1621. Later it was used as a store- house. In that house on February 27, 1621, the right of popular suffrage was exercised and Miles Standish was chosen Captain by popular vote.
IO. The House of the Rev. Nathaniel Leonard (1734) (private), across from the Common House site, is an early white house with a rainbow roof.
Straight ahead into Town Square and Church St.
II. Burial Hill (at head of Town Sq.) was long used both as a place of de- fense and as a place of worship. On its summit are the sites of the Watch- Tower and Old Fort. The site of the Old Powder House on Burial Hill is marked by a small round brick house claimed to be a replica of the original.
12. The Sites of Some of the First Houses built in 1621 are along the south side of this square. These houses were started as common property but were finished by the people who were to occupy them: the Allertons, Winslows, Cookes, and others.
12a. The Richard Sparrow House (1640) (open; adm. 25g), Summer St., corner of Spring St., is a restored house with red clapboards and shingles and early English diamond-shaped windows.
S. from Town Sq. on Market St .; R. from Market St. on Sandwich St .; L. from Sandwich St. on Water St.
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Plymouth
13. Brewster Gardens provide a pleasant setting for the Statue of the Pilgrim Maid, dedicated to 'those intrepid English women whose courage and fortitude brought a new nation into being.' In Brewster Gardens are also the Ship Anne Memorial and the Pilgrim Spring, the latter a delightful spot to visit.
14. The Antiquarian House (open weekdays 10-5, Sun. 2-5; closed in winter), 126 Water St., was built in 1809, and is completely furnished in its period. The kitchen has century-old cookbooks, a children's play- room has old-fashioned dolls and toys, and there is an old-fashioned garden.
Retrace Water St .; L. from Water St. on Sandwich St.
15. The John Howland House (1666) (open daily; adm. 25g) is opposite the southwesterly end of Water St. This two-and-a-half-story structure, painted red, with hip roof and central chimney, was restored in 1913.
16. The William Harlow House (open summer, weekdays 9-6, Sun. 2-5; adm. 25¢), 119 Sandwich St., was built in 1677 of timber taken from the Old Fort on Burial Hill. It is solidly constructed and clings close to the crest of a knoll; the smooth lines of the low gambrel roof melt into the slope of the ground from which it seems to have sprung. Overshadowing it is an ancient tree that was only a seedling when the house was already old. Recently this house has been acquired and authentically furnished in its own period by the Plymouth Antiquarian Society, which during the summer months keeps open house at the Harlow House and re- enacts the early domestic life of the Pilgrims. Flax grown in the garden at the rear of the house is harvested and prepared for spinning. Corn is planted by the school-children, who, following the old custom, place a herring in each hill.
L. from Sandwich St. into Winter St.
17. The Kendall Holmes House (open, free), Winter St., was built by Wil- liam Harlow in 1666. It has been little changed. The old stairway and rooms on the lower floor as well as the chambers above preserve the original plan. There are open fireplaces and an old oven, and a great central chimney.
POINTS OF INTEREST IN THE ENVIRONS
18. The National Monument to the Forefathers is an immense and im- pressive memorial. The principal figure represents Faith, hand pointing to Heaven. At the base are four wings representing Morality, Law, Education, and Freedom. On the face of each wing are slabs of marble carved in bold relief to depict: the Departure from Delft Haven, the Signing of the Compact, the Landing of the Pilgrims, and the Treaty with Massasoit.
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Main Street and Village Green
19. The William Crowe House (not open), about 3 miles north from the center, is claimed to be the oldest house in Plymouth, the rear portion dating to 1664. It is a two-story white house of early American design, enclosed by a weather-beaten picket fence.
20. The Myles Standish State Forest (8000 acres), one of the oldest in the State, was established in 1916 under the State Forest Commission. Picnic and camping areas (small fee), with individual fireplaces and tables, are open to the public on College, Charge, and Fearing Ponds.
PROVINCETOWN . Way Up Along
Town: Alt. II, pop. 4071, sett. shortly before 1700, incorp. 1727.
Railroad Station: N.Y., N.H. & H. R.R., Bradford St., east of Pilgrim Monu- ment.
Bus Station: Same.
Piers: Town Wharf, Bay State S.S. Co., Monument Wharf, Commercial St., west of Town Wharf, Cape Cod S.S. Co. Steel Pier.
Local Bus: Busses run, Commercial St., length of town, supposedly every 20 minutes in summer time, fare 5¢, 25¢ sightseeing; no winter service.
Accommodations: Hotels and tourist homes. All rates higher in summer.
Swimming: All beaches private on Bay Side within limits of village center; public outside these limits.
HERE, where Cape Cod goes down to the sea with a last flourish of sandy beachland, nestles the best known and perhaps the most colorful of its old villages, Provincetown.
On the Cape, travelers have observed, 'They call a house a house, but a house with a shed is a village.' Provincetown, compact neighborhood of Portuguese fishermen, of artists and writers, and of old Yankee families, is by comparison a city. And its career from Old Colony days has had a touch of urbanity that sets it apart from its neighbor towns. Of interest historically as the first landing-place of the Pilgrims, the town has also been a center of whaling, an important fishing port, and in modern times the location of a famous art colony.
Much of the ancient flavor of Provincetown has been saved, especially in the old houses, the prim white cottages and staid Colonials that line its narrow streets, and in the bright gardens, the wharves, fish-sheds and vessels that still carry on with net and trawl.
The village is 'only two streets wide,' but for nearly four miles it skirts
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Provincetown
the inner shore of the Cape; and from there out, Long Point extends like a sandy finger crooked around the harbor. Here, at Long Point, is the tip of Cape Cod, punctuated with a lighthouse. The remainder of the township - broad dunelands reaching 'up-back' to the outer or Atlantic shore - is called the Province Lands, and is owned by the Common- wealth.
The visitor who drives down the 122 miles from Boston, including the 65 miles on US 6 from the Cape Cod Canal, is well out to sea when he reaches Provincetown - 55 miles from 'the mainland,' on a sandspit where bedrock has never been found. Geologists say Provincetown owes its very underpinnings to the sea, having been left here as Father Neptune's own personal sandpile 30,000 years ago.
If so, the town has been acknowledging its debt ever since. Province- towners say their village covers the waterfront - when the waterfront is not covering it. 'The good God,' wrote Cotton Mather, after a visit here, 'gives this people to suck of the abundance of the seas.' But the seas, one might add, have been playing the town for a sucker from the start - invading it, battering its stone breakwaters, sneaking up on it to deliver a smashing southeaster against the bulkheads along its water- front, in a hundred ways plotting to collect that 30,000-year debt. Sand, wind, and tide are accessories before the fact, ever conspiring to fold the dunes over upon the little village, to drive it into its own harbor.
Historically, Provincetown has had an ancient crow to pick with Ply- mouth.
'Plymouth Rock? That's the name of a chicken,' the proud old Cape Cod Yankee will snort. 'The spot where the "Mayflower" people first stepped on American soil is right here in Provincetown, and you ought to freeze on to that fact in your guide book, for it's been rising three hundred years now, and most off-Cape folks don't seem to know it yet!' After falling 'amongst deangerous shoulds and roring breakers' off what is now Chatham, the 'Mayflower' did indeed drop anchor in 'ye Cape- harbor [Provincetown] wher they ridd in saftie,' November II, 1620. That same day the first party of Pilgrims came ashore in America, and the ship lay at anchor five weeks here before her people decided to try settlement at Plymouth.
Provincetown has placed a stone marker where those men climbed out of their shallop, waded across the icy flats and 'fell upon their knees & blessed ye God of heaven, who had brought them over ye vast & furious ocean.' It has scattered other markers around too, to remind the nation that the Pilgrims came here - first. There is even a great stone tower for that purpose. And yet, Provincetown still has to tell Americans from points west of the Cape Cod Canal that the 'stern and rockbound coast,' across the Bay in Plymouth, was merely an after- thought of the 'Mayflower' company! Provincetown has a great stone tower. Plymouth has a poem.
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Main Street and Village Green
Historians believe that before the Pilgrims came, Basques and other daring fishermen visited these shores; and there has long been the theory, without tangible support, that it was to Cape Cod the Norsemen sailed in their voyages of the early eleventh century. Gosnold, who sailed around the Cape in 1602, named the tip-end Cape Cod. Other explorers gave it other names, but 'Cape Cod' had clicked, and as Mather wrote, it is a name the Cape will never lose 'till the shoals of codfish be seen swimming on the highest hills.'
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