Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people, Part 38

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

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In 1883 a little shop in Braintree Fore River experimented in marine engines. The business grew so fast that in 1884 it was forced to remove to Quincy Fore River. In 1913 it came into the possession of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation. During the world war thirty-six destroyers were built here. Today, as Quincy's main industrial unit it stands on a par with the greatest shipyards of the world, having built every conceivable type of vessel from the seven-masted schooner 'Thomas W. Lawson' to the giant airplane carrier 'Lexington.'

TOUR - 14 m.

NW. from the junction of the Southern Artery (State 3) on Hancock St. I. Adams and Son (R), at the edge of Merrymount Park, near the corner of Fenno St., sculptor Bruce Wilder Saville (1893- ), is a granite monument bearing a bronze bas-relief of John Adams and John Quincy Adams.

R. from Hancock St. on East Squantum St .; straight ahead on Dorchester St. which terminates in a rustic park, Chapel Rocks.

2. Squaw Rock, at the eastern end of the park, is the extremity of Squan- tum Peninsula. According to one tale, an Indian woman fell into the sea from the rock, which then became known as Squaw Rock and the whole district was called Squaw Tumble or Squan-Tum. Another account ex- plains the name of the rock by the fact that it resembles an Indian pro- file, and states that Governor Winthrop named the region after Squanto, the Englishman's friend.

The ledges of the hill behind the rock are composed of 'Roxbury pudding- stone,' an interesting conglomerate found in the environs of Boston.

Retrace Dorchester St. into East Squantum St .; L. from East Squantum St. on Quincy Shore Drive; R. from Quincy Shore Drive on Davis St .; R. from Davis St. on Muirhead St.

3. The Colonel Josiah Quincy House (private), 20 Muirhead St., was erected in 1770. This square yellow house with white block quoins and pillared portico was, until the middle of the 19th century, a gentleman's farmhouse, surrounded by rolling pasture. At the age of forty, Colonel Josiah Quincy (1709-1784) exchanged the career of successful shipbuilder for that of country gentleman. He was the father of Josiah Quincy, Jr., who horrified his parent by his defense of the British soldiers involved in

Furnace

Brook

Oval

Furnace

Parkway

Edmunds Rd

O 2 3

ook

Grant

Bridge

Butler

Lane

Merry

Lane

Dimmock

Glendale

Quarry

Presidents

Upland

Granite

Hancock

School

Elm

QUINCY

TOUR

Federal

Franklin

Phipps

Adams

mount Rd

Carrolls

Whitwell

Coddington

Washington

Water

Town

Brook

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Quincy

the Boston Massacre. The house was presently inherited by a third Josiah Quincy, who was successively Mayor of Boston, Congressman, and President of Harvard College.

Straight ahead from Muirhead St. into Beach St .; L. from Beach St. on Han- cock St .; R. from Hancock St. on Bridge St .; straight ahead on Adams St.

4. The Vassal-Adams Mansion (R), (open summer weekdays 9-5; adm. 25g), is a white clapboard Georgian Colonial house with five chim- neys, and one brick end painted white. It was built in 1731, was the resi- dence of Presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, and remained a private home of the Adams family until 1927.

L. from Adams St. on Furnace Brook Parkway; R. from Furnace Brook Parkway on Copeland St.

5. The Granite Quarry, across the tracks from the West Quincy R.R. Station, unmistakable by its high walls of stone detritus and its derricks, is the erstwhile center of New England's granite quarrying. The stone for Bunker Hill Monument came from here, as well as for countless buildings in Boston. This quarry is now only moderately active, as composition building materials have superseded natural granite.

Retrace on Copeland St.

6. The Co-operative Market, 32 Copeland St., founded over a quarter of a century ago by the Finnish residents of Quincy, transacts annually a busi- ness in excess of $100,000.

Copeland St. terminates in Water St .; R. from Water St. on Franklin St.

7. The John Adams Birthplace (open weekdays 9-6, April 19-Nov. 1; adm. 25g), Adams Sq., is also a small red clapboard salt-box farmhouse built in 1681, enclosed by an ancient pole fence with turnstile, with small steep winding stairway, huge central chimney, and mammoth fireplace. One of the chambers has a false front at its fireplace, the entire panel from floor to ceiling swinging to reveal a space by the chimney large enough to hold a man in concealment. The central ceiling beams are hand-hewn. The inverted gunstock post used in the frame of the house distributes its weight equally. In the kitchen is the bole of the giant cedar tree which witnessed the notorious Merrymount revels.

QUINCY MAP INDEX

I. Adams and Son

2. Squaw Rock

3. Colonel Josiah Quincy House

4. Vassal-Adams Mansion

5. Granite Quarry

6. Co-operative Market

7. John Adams Birthplace

8. John Quincy Adams Birthplace

9. Abigail Adams Stone Cairn

IO. Robert Burns Statue

II. Granite Trust Building

I2. Stone Temple

13. Old Cemetery

14. Crane Memorial Public Library

15. Dorothy Quincy Mansion

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Main Street and Village Green

8. The John Quincy Adams Birthplace (open weekdays 9-6, April 19- Nov. 1; adm. 25g), adjacent, built in 1716, is a red clapboard salt-box farmhouse with huge central chimney.

9. The Abigail Adams Stone Cairn (L), opposite 353 Franklin St., a duplicate of the Miles Standish Cairn, marks the spot on the summit of the hill where, during the Battle of Bunker Hill, Mrs. John Adams with her little son, John Quincy Adams, prayed for the safety of the Colonial soldiers.

Retrace on Franklin St.

IO. The Robert Burns Statue, School and Franklin Sts., was erected by the Burns Memorial Association of Quincy to honor the poet who 'as a lover of Freedom and Democracy penned an ode to Washington.'

R. from Franklin St. into School St .; L. from School St. into Hancock St. II. The Granite Trust Building (tower open) is Quincy's skyscraper.

12. The Stone Temple, 'Church of the Presidents,' 1266 Hancock St., now a Unitarian church, was built in 1828 of Quincy granite, and was designed by Alexander Parris in the style of the Greek revival. Its white colon- naded portico with pediment and the open cupola soften the severe mass of the structure. The name is derived from the fact that John Adams and John Quincy Adams worshiped and are buried here (crypt open upon application to sexton).

13. The Old Cemetery, opposite, dates from 1666, and is the burial place of many members of the Quincy and Adams families.

14. The Crane Memorial Public Library, at the rear of the Stone Temple, commissioned in 1880, is considered the best of H. H. Richardson's work in this field. The single low mass of the front is not broken by the gable over the entrance, and the stair turret is unemphasized. Romanesque to some degree, the design is also bold Richardsonian, with a notably original handling of fenestration, and the dominant Richardson theme - stress upon function and material - powerfully expressed.

15. The Dorothy Quincy Mansion (open daily, April 19-Nov. 1; adm. 25¢), 34 Butler Rd. (corner of Hancock St.), a spacious hip-roofed mansion built in 1706-09, was the birthplace and home of the spirited girl who became the wife of John Hancock. A feature of the house is a secret chamber which repeatedly afforded asylum to pursued Colonial troopers.

REVER E . A Beach Beside a City

City: Alt. 15, pop. 35,319, sett. about 1630, incorp. town 1871, city 1914 Railroad Station: Revere Center for B. & M. R.R. Bus Stations: Revere Center and Point of Pines for Greyhound Bus Lines. Accommodations: Several inns and overnight cabins on the Boulevard.

Swimming: The largest beach in New England; Ocean Pier Swimming Pool (adm. 50g), Ocean Pier.

Dog Racing: Wonderland Park.

Information: Chamber of Commerce, Beach St.

REVERE is a city bordering a beach. Block after block stretch out the crowded habitations of those who from the Fourth of July till Labor Day will house or feed or amuse the vast throngs who cannot frequent expen- sive resorts and who take their sea air and their bright lights where they can afford it. The three-mile stretch of broad, sandy beach is one of the best in Massachusetts. Hundreds of amusement palaces line the prom- enade. On the sands, thousands of sun-bathers lounge and caper; thou- sands more frolic in the surf. Histrionic barkers cater to the carnival spirit of holiday throngs. High overhead, sinuous roller coasters stuffed with shrieking humanity dive into abysmal depths. And everywhere there is music - the swaying rhythm of the dance hall, the hoarse strains of the steam organ, the blaring syncopation of the loudspeaker, the unceas- ing beat of 'canned music.'

In view of its democratic present, the beginnings of Revere were distinctly aristocratic. Back in 1636, the town of Boston parceled off a surplus of undistributed land, part of which lay within the confines of what is now Revere. The first landowner of Revere was Sir Henry Vane, son of a Privy Councillor of England. Chosen Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he received an allotment of two hundred acres of Rumney Marsh, as Revere was then called. But his term of office was brief; handsome Harry Vane was a romantic idealist; his openly stated convic- tion that all creeds should have equal rights in New England appalled the clergy. Sir Harry sailed back to England and Rumney Marsh became the property of a dozen or so wealthy gentlemen who, for the most part, left it in the hands of tenants or servants.

The titles to these lands extended only to the beach. In 1812, in a law- suit regarding the town's jurisdiction in the matter of digging clams at low tide when, the defense maintained, the floor of the ocean was exposed, the town won the case on the premise that 'if the sea rolled back to the Azores, it would do nothing more than expose undeveloped territory in the town of Chelsea.'

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Main Street and Village Green

The necessity for reclaiming large areas of marsh and sea grass dis- couraged settlers, and until 1710, when the first church was erected at Rumney Marsh, community life in this locality progressed slowly.

For about a hundred years after 1739, when Chelsea separated from Bos- ton, Rumney Marsh was the northern part of Chelsea. In 1852, Pullen Point broke away as the town of Winthrop. For the next twenty-five years North Chelsea was at a complete standstill; then, changing its name to Revere in honor of the famous patriot, it experienced a rebirth. The Narrow Gauge Railroad running out to its white sandy shore lifted Revere out of oblivion and gave it its place in the sun.

POINTS OF INTEREST

I. Revere Beach (State bathhouse, moderate fee), Revere Beach Parkway, is one of Boston's two Coney Islands.

2. The Masonic Temple, southeast corner of Eustis and Beach Sts., was originally The Church of Christ in Rumney Marsh, built in 1710. Its first pastor, the Rev. Thomas Cheever, was suspended from his ministry in a neighboring parish for breaking two of the Ten Commandments. At Rum- ney Marsh, however, he was greatly beloved for his championship of other sinners, and lived to the mellow age of 91, still eloquent in the pulpit and active in good works.

3. The Hastings House (private), southwest corner of Eustis and Beach Sts., was built in 1782, and preserves the flavor of a typical old New Eng- land farmstead. This effect is created in part by its rambling, weather- worn comfortable ells and gables; in part by its grass-grown yard shaded by old trees; and in part by the two huge clumps of very old lilac bushes at its front entrance.

4. The Slade Spice Mill (open weekdays 10-4), Revere Beach Parkway near Broadway, a small, red wooden building, was until 1934 a tidewater mill, and one of the old millstones is preserved within, and can still be turned. Spice has been ground here for over a century, and the visitor is greeted at once, on opening the door, by the pungent smell of mingled nutmeg, cinnamon, clove, pepper (red, white, and black), thyme, mar- joram, and anise, much of which comes from the far-off Spice Isles of Java. A fine buff-colored dust permeates the air. The workers look healthy, however, and say that only white pepper makes them sneeze.

5. A Granite Tablet, corner of Revere Beach Parkway and Railroad St., commemorates the so-called Battle of Chelsea Creek, May 27, 1775. In the spring of 1775, the British, in need of fresh meat, food, and forage, overawed the farmers in and about Chelsea Creek into selling them such supplies. The Committee of Safety ordered the patriots of Chelsea and thereabouts to move back their cattle, sheep, and horses from the coast line. Hog and Noddle Islands (now East Boston) were at that time sep-

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Salem

arated from each other and from the mainland by narrow sea inlets, easily forded at low tide. The patriots had just cleared off Hog Island, and were preparing to do likewise at Noddle Island when up Chelsea Creek to the east came the British schooner 'Diana' and opened fire upon the very damply 'embattled farmers.' Fortunately up came rein- forcements, and at their head Israel Putnam, America's 'Cincinnatus of the Plow' who led his men out waist-deep into the water and returned the attack so vigorously that the British, after losing several men, aban- doned their ship and rowed home in small boats. The 'Diana' was stripped and then burned by the Continentals, who could not use it themselves as the British were holding Boston Harbor. Chelsea Creek, though little more than a spirited skirmish, was of chief import because it seemed to be the first real American victory of the Revolution, and engendered in the ranks of the Continentals an invincible confidence.

SALE M . New England's Treasure-House

City: Alt. 13, pop. 43,472, sett. 1626-28, incorp. town 1630, city 1836. Railroad Stations: B. & M. R.R., Washington & Norman Sts. Airport: Winter Island, U.S. Coast Guard base, private.

Bus Stations: Greyhound, at Harmon & Kimball's on Central St.

Piers: Salem Willows Pier, Salem Willows, launches to Marblehead and North Shore in summer. Congress St. Bridge, launch for Baker's Island (summer only).

Accommodations: Several hotels open year round, with no change in rates during tourist season.

Information: Hotel Hawthorne.

SALEM is one of the historic treasure-houses of New England. Here are the haunting shades, not only of Nathaniel Hawthorne, but also of every character Hawthorne created, of his old houses impregnated with super- natural influences, and of the eerie atmosphere that still lingers in the narrow streets which the master of delicate implications frequented. Here are the more robust memories of docks and wharves from which poured crude wealth in fish and ships' supplies, and into which, after many turnovers of cargo, flowed all the exotic treasure of the Indies and China. Here stored in old landmarks is the romance of swift clipper ships, of bellying sails, of masts stripped for the gale, of sailors' oaths and sailors' roaring chanteys, of ambition and avarice, of mansions built by merchant princes and delicate women nurtured in them.

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Main Street and Village Green

Salem also possesses architectural treasures so numerous and so varied as to re-create in an almost complete synopsis the development of the Colonial architecture of New England. From the seventeenth-century house, accidentally beautiful in its expression of function, to the sophisti- cated maturity of Samuel McIntire's superb Federal mansions, eloquent expressions of each period are scattered throughout the city. Though chiefly concentrated about Washington Square, and on Essex, Federal, and Chestnut Streets, they occur sporadically throughout the old dis- tricts of Salem. McIntire, a native genius, labored here throughout his life; many of his superb houses retain their original beauty, and the dwell- ings of the great maritime period after his death partake of the dignity and delicacy of detail of the examples which he created. Salem cannot be neglected either by the student of the American tradition in architecture or by the lover of beautiful houses.

Salem's name is the Hebrew Sholom, meaning Peace, but never did a city have less of the spirit of peace. It was founded by intellectual revolt, and nurtured in dissension.

In 1626 Roger Conant and a group of emigrants from Cape Ann, after the failure of the Dorchester Company's fishing settlement there, chose this sheltered site to found a community where they might fish and farm, think their own thoughts, and hold their own religious opinions. But two years later Governor Endicott and a group of followers arrived and trouble began. The Governor was an autocrat; the newcomers thought well of themselves; Conant and his friends smarted under their assump- tion of superiority; there were wranglings about property rights and com- munity regulations. Ultimately the differences were 'adjusted,' and in 1630 the name Salem was adopted to celebrate peace. Peace, however, turned out to be only the briefest truce. Quarrels broke out hotter than before. Conant, with his followers, packed up, and, abandoning the homes and gardens it had taken them nine years to build and cultivate, moved across the North River.

As the town grew and man became more confident in his dealings with nature and less conscious of physical dependence on God, a decline of religion threatened. Calvinism made a desperate effort to retake the lost trenches and hold what it still had by preaching hell-fire with redoubled energy. This proving inadequate, it turned to persecutions of the Quakers, causing Roger Williams, the pastor, to flee to escape banish- ment in the winter of 1635-36. The Quakers, however, known to be harm- less and peaceable folk, found too many sympathizers. Witchcraft per- secutions, already popular in Europe, were far more fruitful.

In 1692, among the servants of the Reverend Samuel Parris was a West Indian slave named Tituba, with a talent for voodoo tales which she ex- ercised not wisely but too well. Her auditors were young girls, and quite naturally Tituba's grisly tales scared them into fits. When bedtime came after a secret séance with Tituba they shuddered and screamed and saw things in dark corners. Examined by the village physician, they were de-

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Salem

clared bewitched. The little wretches accused Tituba and two unpopular old women. They were questioned with deep gravity; the tale was em- broidered; Tituba and the others were charged with consorting with the Devil and sentenced to death.

For a year thereafter in Salem and neighboring towns, the witchcraft pestilence raged. Nineteen persons were hanged on Gallows Hill, and at least two died in prison. No one was safe. The saintly Mrs. Hale, wife of the Beverly minister, was accused. Even the wife of Governor Phips was suspected for sympathizing with a prisoner; but that finished the matter.

Agricultural pursuits predominated in early Salem. Slowly, however, during the seventeenth century, commerce and industry got a foothold. The protected harbor encouraged trade. By the beginning of the eight- eenth century, shipbuilding and allied industries were thriving and ex- tensive trade relations with the West Indies and European ports had been established. As its city seal, Salem adopted the motto, 'The wealth of the Indies to the uttermost gulf.'

The Revolutionary War turned seafaring Salem to privateering. The latter was profitable at first, but during the strict British blockade it proved ruinous. Moreover, at the close of the war England prohibited all relations with British controlled markets and Salem vessels were forced to rely on a meager coastwise trade.

Then the pendulum swung. The great Chinese market was discovered and Salem entered upon its career of maritime glory. In 1785 the stout ship 'Grand Turk' sailed out of Salem harbor, China-bound. Following her in rapid succession a fleet of thirty-four vessels were put into service between Salem and distant Cathay.

Rarely did they sail direct for the Orient. Around the Horn they went, with ports of call along the Northern Pacific Coast for valuable furs, and in the Hawaiian Islands for fresh supplies and sandalwood, before they set out to do their real trading in China. Then around the Cape of Good Hope and home, often touching at European ports. And all the way shrewd Yankee captains drove profitable bargains, often turning over their cargoes a dozen times. Profits of several hundred per cent were not uncommon. Huge wealth was piled up. Promotion was rapid. Wages were high. Often a captain had made his fortune and retired by the time he was thirty years of age. Many merchants in the Far East believed Salem to be a separate country of fabulous wealth.

The result of this rapid commercial development was a cultural expan- sion in the life of the city, and the growth of a romantic background pe- culiarly its own. Something of Oriental luxury and richness flowed into Yankee Salem. From Canton, the Dutch East Indies, from the Philip- pines and Mauritius, came rich and assorted cargoes of tea, chinaware, nankeens, silks, fans, feathers, embroidered shawls, coffee, spices, and with them glamorous tales of a different way of life in an ancient and

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Main Street and Village Green

fabulous country. Joseph Hergesheimer's novel 'Java Head' portrays this period of Salem's glory.

In 1812 the city was again seriously affected by a war and its ensuing depression. Before it could recover again, the Erie Canal was opened and New York entered the lists as a serious competitor in foreign and inland trade. Moreover, Salem Harbor was not deep enough for the new vessels of large draught.

From this period onward, Salem's position in the world of commerce slowly faded out, to be replaced by the growth of industry. In 1848 the Naumkeag Steam Cotton Mills were established, and after the Civil War numerous tanneries, paint, and shoe factories were founded. The great fire of 1914 destroyed a large part of the industrial district and many concerns moved to other towns; but Salem is still industrially active in the production of cotton goods, shoes, radio tubes, and games.

TOUR 1-2.3 m.

West from Washington Square on Essex St.

I. The Gardner-White-Pingree House (property of the Essex Institute; open Wed. and Sat. afternoons or by appointment; fee 50g), 128 Essex St., built in 1810, was among the last works of the architectural genius Sam- uel McIntire, and is conceded to be his finest work in brick. The house is square, with a low third story capped by a cornice and balustraded parapet. It has a symmetrical arrangement of marble-headed windows, a graceful elliptical porch, and the severity of the high façade is softened by broad bands of white marble at each floor level. The interior work is exceptionally fine.

McIntire, born in Salem in 1757, learned the trade of carpenter and joiner from his father, a successful housewright. His initiative and ambi- tion made him the most highly skilled American woodcarver of his time. Permanent monuments to his memory are the finely wrought Federal houses of Salem, their uncompromising lines lightened and enriched by Palladian windows, porches with delicate fluted columns, and magnificent carved woodwork.

2. The Essex Institute (open weekdays except holidays 9-5; adm. free), 132 Essex St., includes a library and a museum. The former contains the Ward China Library - probably the finest on China and the Chinese in the United States - logbooks and sea journals, and county and town his- tories. Exhibits in the museum consist of Colonial portraits and paintings, miniatures and silhouettes, and three period rooms, a kitchen typical of 1750 and a bedroom and a parlor of 1800.

The John Ward House (property of the Essex Institute; open daily in sum- mer except Sun. and holidays 9-5; adm. 25g) stands in the shady grounds to the rear of the main buildings of the Institute. It was built in 1684

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Salem

with wide clapboards, a lean-to roof, and an overhanging second story. In the garden are reconstructions of an Old Cobbler's Shop, a 'Cent Shop' and a Weaving Room.

3. The Peabody Museum (open weekdays 9-5; Sundays 2-5; adm. free), Essex St., was endowed by George Peabody as the permanent repository of a marine collection, including a circle of reflection presented by Na- poleon to his navigation instructor; a sextant which served Livingstone in the mazes of the Congo; and ship models, nautical instruments, and whaling implements.

L. from Essex St. on Derby Square.

4. The Old Town Hall (open 9-5), opposite the Salem Five Cent Savings Bank, was built in 1816, and its ground floor was used as a market for more than one hundred years. Architecturally the hall is simple and dig- nified. Characterized by a gable roof with pedimental treatment accented by a fan window, the structure is interesting chiefly for its pleasant sym- metrical arrangement of round-headed windows and door, with a Palla- dian window as the central feature.

Retrace Derby Sq .; L. from Derby Sq. on Essex St.

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Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people, Part 38

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