Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people, Part 42

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

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Another native of Watertown, Charles Pratt (1830-91), founded Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. In Watertown, also, James Russell Lowell courted Maria White. Here Celia Thaxter wrote poetry which was popular in its day. Ellen Robbins painted china coveted by the most stylish cupboards of New England, and Harriet Hosmer achieved a place in sculpture. Watertown was also the home of Anne Whitney, who wrote undistinguished poetry until she was forty years of age and then became a sculptor. Her statue of Samuel Adams stands in Adams Square, Boston; her 'Charles Sumner' is in Cambridge; and best known is her 'Leif Eric- son' on Commonwealth Avenue.

TOUR - 6.5 m.

NE. from Watertown Square on Mi. Auburn St.

I. A stone tablet, corner of Mt. Auburn and Marshall Sts., identifies the Site Where the Provincial Congress Sat in 1775.

L. from Mt. Auburn St. on Marshall St.

2. Marshall Fowle House (open on request), 28 Marshall St., was recently

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purchased by the Watertown Historical Society. In this large rectangular building of clapboarding, painted yellow and fronted by a small lawn, Mercy Warren entertained General Washington. Here, it is claimed, General Warren spent his last night before the Battle of Bunker Hill. Better established, however, is the claim of the Hunt House (on the other side of the river, off Galen St. - not worth a visit). Here General Warren boarded for a time. In her diary Mrs. Betsy Hunt Palmer wrote: 'He was a handsome man and wore a tie wig, he had a fine color in his face and light blue eyes. He dined with us and while at dinner said, "Come, my little girl, drink a glass of wine with me for the last time, for I am going on the hill tomorrow and I shall never come off!"'

R. from Marshall St. on Spring St .; straight ahead on Common St .; R. from Common St. on Belmont St.

3. The Oakley Country Club (open to the public), 410 Belmont St., which was built as a summer residence for James Otis in 1700, is owned by the Watertown Historical Society. It contains a circular stair and one of the few remaining oval rooms in New England. Beneath the floor of the huge beamed kitchen is a dry well believed to have been used as a hiding-place from the Indians.

R. from Belmont St. on Arlington St.

4. The Old Cemetery, Grove St. at Coolidge Square, dates back to 1642. Here are the graves of the Coolidges and the Garfields, ancestors of two Presidents.

R. from Arlington St. on Mt. Auburn St .; L. from Mt. Auburn St. on School St .; L. from School St. on Arsenal St.

5. U.S. Arsenal (not open to the public). During the World War the Ar- senal was enlarged by $24,000,000 worth of new buildings devoted to the manufacture of ordnance, employing over 3000 persons.

Retrace on Arsenal St .; L. from Arsenal St. on School St .; straight ahead on Charles River Rd .; R. from Charles River Rd. on Irving St .; R. from Irving St. on Riverside St.

6. Perkins Institution and Massachusetts School for the Blind (open week- days; free) was founded in 1829, opened in South Boston in 1832, and re- moved to Watertown in 1912. Its first director was Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, assisted by his wife Julia Ward Howe, the abolitionist, best known now as the author of 'The Battle-Hymn of the Republic.' Helen Keller spent part of a year here.

The grounds, 35 acres, form a park on a terraced knoll overlooking the Charles River. The buildings, in Tudor-Gothic style, are grouped about four garden closes. A tower above the Charles stands out boldly against the sky, offering an excellent view of the river and adjacent sections of Cambridge and Newton. A Museum (open weekdays 9-5; Sat. 9-12) con- tains exhibits of fish, birds, reptiles, minerals, and plants.

General education from kindergarten through high school is offered, with emphasis upon arts and crafts. A Braille library of 25,000 volumes is

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used in the school, with free circulation among the adult blind of New England. Training courses for teachers of the blind, offered in conjunc- tion with Harvard University, draw students from all parts of the world. Retrace Riverside St .; L. from Riverside St. on Irving St .; R. from Irving St. to Charles River Rd.

7. Overlooking the river stands a bronze statue of Sir Richard Saltonstall by Henry Hudson Kitson. A bronze plaque on the left wing of the base shows in bas-relief the historic exchange of a base for a 'biscuit cake' - the friendly first meeting of Roger Clap and the local Indians, an episode also depicted on the Town Seal. On the right wing a similar plaque de- picts Judge Phillips's protest against 'Taxation without Representation.' On the river bank near-by is the spot where Roger Clap landed with a party from Nantasket on board the 'Mary and John.'

Here also is the site of one of the first bridges in New England, now re- placed by a modern structure spanning the Charles River. Close by was the ancient ford approached by the 'Old Mill Road' from Cambridge. One hundred rods above the ford and 100 rods below it were weirs to pro- tect the fisheries.

Straight ahead to Watertown Square; straight ahead across Watertown Square into Main St.

8. The Abijah White House (occasionally open on request), 249 Main St., is largely a restoration. In this beautiful square Colonial house of pink brick overgrown with ivy and surrounded by shrubbery, with its four great chimneys and handsome porch with granite steps, was born Maria White, who later became Mrs. James Russell Lowell.

9. The Celia Thaxter House (private) is diagonally opposite at 262 Main St. An oblong house of faded yellow clapboards with a hip roof, the birthplace of the poet, stands in a small neat yard enclosed by an iron picket fence.

Io. The Captain Abraham Browne House (open; adm. 15g), 562 Main St. The weather-beaten house, behind its green hedge and shadowing pines, is largely a restoration; but the original part, built in 1663, and its chim- ney, remains. Its three-part casement windows are claimed to be the only ones extant in New England. In the kitchen an old fireplace is fitted with the original utensils, great pots, roasting spit, crane, ladles and other equipment.

L. from Main St. on Gore St.

II. The beautiful Governor Christopher Gore Estate is bisected by the Watertown-Waltham line (see WALTHAM).

WELLESLEY . Town of Schools - and a College

Town: Alt. 140, pop. 13,376, sett. 1660, incorp. 1881.

Railroad Stations: Wellesley Farms, off Glen Rd .; Wellesley Hills, 335 Washing- ton St .; Wellesley, foot of Grove St. at Wellesley Square, for B. & A. R.R. Accommodations: One hotel at reasonable rates.

Water Sports: Canoeing, boating, swimming, and bathing in Lake Waban and Lake Morse.

Information: Public Library, Town Hall Building.

WELLESLEY is chiefly known as the seat of Wellesley College. Its proximity to Boston, however, its convenient rural atmosphere, pleas- ant homes, the beauty of the college campus, the delightful drives, and hills which offer charming vistas at every turn, combine to make Welles- ley a most attractive residential town. Though it is by no means a man- ufacturing center, several industrial establishments are situated here. As long ago as 1704 a sawmill was set up. Later on paper mills, hosiery mills, in 1880 a shoddy mill, a shoe factory, a paint factory, and a chemical factory developed. At present the industries of the town are the making of electrical machinery, hosiery, and shoddy. For the most part, however, Wellesley comprises farms and residences.

The name Wellesley is an adaptation of the family name of Samuel Welles, a Harvard graduate and son of a graduate of Yale, who in 1763 established his home here, within the limits of the town of Natick. In 1881, Samuel Welles's grandson-in-law, H. Hollis Hunnewell, bought the vast Welles estate from the several heirs who then owned it, and gave to it the name of Wellesley.

The first white settler to establish himself in this region was Andrew Dewing, who erected a garrison house in 1660. In the spring of 1881 a petition was granted whereby the settlement became a separate town. That it was poor compared with other communities is clear from the ab- sence of fine old houses of the Colonial period. The farmers, who com- prised nearly the whole population, did not cultivate large tracts of ground, but depended chiefly upon a sale of wood, bark, hoop-poles, and fagots to supply them with the necessities they could not raise. About the middle of the nineteenth century, however, the town took a new lease of life. In 1883 sidewalks were laid, a watering cart was put into service, and a fire department was organized. A board of health was established in 1889.

About this same time the town was given its present trend by the foun- dation in 1871 of a Female Seminary, later to be Wellesley College. Henry Fowle Durant, the founder, was a resident of Hanover, New

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Hampshire, and a graduate of Harvard. His purpose in creating the Seminary was not only to offer young women opportunities for education equivalent to those provided for men, but also 'to establish an institution for the greater glory of God.' On August 18, 1871, the cornerstone of the first building was laid by Mrs. Durant. On September 8, 1875, the school, now officially Wellesley College, opened its doors to three hundred and fourteen students. Two hundred were turned away for lack of room. The main building contained the first laboratories for scientific investiga- tion made available for women in the United States.

The college offers the baccalaureate degree of A.B., the graduate degree of M.A., and the degree of M.S. in Hygiene and Physical Education. It is neither sectional nor sectarian. Although Christian in influence and instruction, it makes no distinctions of race or faith. About seventy per cent of the students have homes outside New England and represent the nations of the world. The enrollment averages about fifteen hundred students. Wellesley contributes toward the support of the American School of Classical Studies in Athens and in Rome, the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole, and the Women's Table at the Zoological Station in Naples.

As usually happens when a college occupies a town, preparatory schools cluster about it. In Wellesley, Dana Hall, a girls' preparatory school, opened its doors to thirty students four years after the founding of the college. It now has (1937) an enrollment of about one hundred and sixty-five. Pine Manor, a junior college, established in 1911, has (1937) some one hundred and fifty students. Ten Acre (1910), a school for younger girls, with an enrollment of seventy pupils, is also well known.

The town has many names with important historical, scientific, and liter- ary associations. Isaac Spoge, illustrator of Grey's 'Botany,' a friend and collaborator of Audubon, was a resident of Wellesley. Alexander Graham Bell lived here at the time of his invention of the telephone. Dr. W. T. C. Morton, co-discoverer of the use of ether in surgery, was a member of the community. Agnes Edwards Rothery and Katharine Lee Bates, writers, were graduates of Wellesley College.

TOUR -11.2 m.

W. from Wellesley Square on Central St.

I. The Wellesley College Campus embraces 400 acres of undulating hills covered with velvety greensward and shady groves.

A disastrous fire in 1914 destroyed the old College Hall, the laboratories, classrooms, offices, auditorium, and dormitories housing 216 students. The halls of science, dormitories, recreation center, lecture halls, and administration building which replace them have been so fitted to the

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rolling contours of the campus that they seem an integral part of its beauty.

The architecture of the new Wellesley is a modern adaptation of the Gothic, and is probably at its best in Hetty H. R. Green Hall, the Administration building. To the left of the fine entrance is a large reception hall known as the 'blue lounge' because of its predominant color - the deep, rich Wellesley blue. At the ends of the room are murals painted by Albert Herter and given by Caroline Hazard, Wellesley's fifth president, in memory of the poet Katharine Lee Bates, an alumna. The murals were inspired by Miss Bates's best-known poem, 'America the Beauti- ful.'

Sage Hall, a large modern brick building, is devoted to the biological sciences, botany and zoology. It borders on a courtyard enclosed by fourteen botany green- houses and the Zoology Vivarium.

The Whitin Observatory (open only on special occasions) is a low, white building surmounted by two small revolving domes. It contains an attractive study hall and several smaller study rooms; at the farther end of the building is a dimly lighted room with two telescopes trained on the heavens.

The Houghton Memorial Chapel shows the Gothic influence.

The Farnsworth Art Museum (open during the college year, weekdays, 8-5.30; Sun. 2-5) contains exceptionally fine Italian and Siamese paintings, and specimens of Egyptian materials and lace, as well as representations of contemporary art.

Tower Court is the largest dormitory in the campus. Near-by are Severance, Crawe- ford, and Claflin Halls. The latter contains carved figures on the balcony above the Great Hall representing the Mad Hatter, the Red Queen, the March Hare, and the Red King, and once in each college generation the students in Claflin give an 'Alice in Wonderland' skit.

Alumnae Hall (1925), designed by Cram and Ferguson, contains a spacious white- paneled ballroom and a theater with a seating capacity of 1500. It is late Tudor in style, with some early Renaissance detail in parts of the building.

The Library, erected through the generosity of Andrew Carnegie, has a collection of about 155,000 volumes. The entrance is through heavy bronze doors designed by Evelyn Beatrice Longman.

L. from Central St. into Pond Rd.

2. Lake Waban is the scene of many of Wellesley College student outdoor activities. Here are held crew practice and the races; here the students row about or paddle canoes; here in mid-May is held Float Night, when the sloping shores form a natural amphitheater from which to enjoy the moonlit pageant.

3. The Welles House (private), corner of Washington St., is a two-story frame structure with four large chimneys. Built in 1763, it was once the home of Samuel Welles, in whose honor the town was named.

L. from Pond Rd. into Washington St.

4. The Hunnewell Gardens, on the grounds of the Hunnewell Mansion (1852), were laid out in the Italian style, and cover six terraces rising 400 feet above the level of Lake Waban. These gardens contain over two acres of shrubs and flowers of great variety and beauty.

5. A tablet on a Boulder beside the door of the town library reads: 'Here lived W. T. C. Morton. He gave the world the use of ether in surgery. A.D. 1846.' The historic Wellesley Buttonwood Tree figures ironically in the story of one of humanity's greatest benefactors. On this tree, which

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formerly stood on the southerly side of Washington St., east of Welles- ley Square, Dr. Morton was hanged in effigy as an expression of the popu- lar resentment of his fellow townsmen at his failure to pay his bills.

R. from Washington St. into Wellesley Ave.

6. Babson Institute, founded in 1919, aims to provide a thorough and practical training in business fundamentals, business ethics, and executive control. From a humble beginning in a single residence, the Institute now consists of 12 large brick buildings of Colonial design situated in Babson Park - a tract of 135 acres covering one of the highest points of land in Wellesley.

In the Coleman Map Building (open weekdays throughout the year, 8-5; Sat. Sun. and holidays 2-6, between April 19 and last Sun. in Oct.), the largest building on the campus of Babson Institute, is being erected a large relief map of the United States. This map is built on a spherical surface in exact proportion to the actual curvature of the earth. It is 63 feet long (east and west) by 46 feet in width (north and south), and covers an area of 3000 square feet. When completed this map will show in proportional relief the exact topographical elevations of the country.

L. from Wellesley Ave. into Brookside Rd .; R. from Brookside Rd. into Oak- land St.

7. The Ware House (1720) (private), at corner of Oakland St. and Brook- side Rd., is a two-story structure with clapboarded walls and slate roof, extensively remodeled, but retaining the old beams, corner posts, wall paneling, and wide pine floor boarding.

L. from Oakland St. into Hunnewell St .; L. from Hunnewell St. into Cedar St.

8. The Slack House (private), corner of Cedar and Walnut Sts., is a two- story white house built before 1775 as a place of refuge for the family of Benjamin Slack of Roxbury. Despite alterations the Slack house still retains much of its initial character, and contains the old Dutch oven, fireplaces, and some of the original beams.

WEYMOUTH. Aggregate of Villages

Town: Alt. 42, pop. 21,748, sett. 1630, incorp. 1635.

Railroad Stations: Weymouth Station, Commercial St., Weymouth Heights Station, North St., East Weymouth Station, Station St., and South Wey- mouth Station, Pond St., for N.Y., N.H. & H. R.R.

Accommodations: Two hotels at reasonable rates.

Water Sports: Whitman Pond, Weymouth Great Pond for canoeing, Hingham

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Weymouth

Bay for motor boat trips and sailing. Wessaguset Yacht Club (adm. by invita- tion), and King Cove Yacht Club (adm. by invitation).

Riding: Weymouth Pond Bridle Trail, Pine Grove Park, Cedar Park, and Massasoit Trail. Horses may be hired at sections near these paths.

Information: Tufts Library, 60 Washington St.

WEYMOUTH is an aggregate of a half-dozen villages, each composed of a compact industrial center surrounded by its own residential section and outlying fields. At Weymouth Landing the appearance is still that of a seaport, for here on the tidal Fore River are the old wharves. Toward South Weymouth lies a great pine grove, an oasis of quiet, possibly two square miles in extent.

For nearly two hundred years Weymouth, the second settlement in Massachusetts, was a fishing and agricultural community with productive farms and celebrated dairies. Gradually mills polluted the waters and prevented the fish from ascending to the ponds; there was no more fishing; the source of fertilizer was cut off, and this had a deleterious effect upon the farms.

As early as 1697 a tannery was established. In 1853 James Sylvester Clapp founded the Clapp Shoe Company, which for four generations has re- mained in the same family. Clapp's native shrewdness brought about the transition from outmoded processes and materials to the then recently developed use of French kid and patent kid in the manufacture of shoes; and his organization was a pioneer in the replacement of steam power by electricity. Later came the Stetson Shoe Company, an additional source of civic prosperity.

In 1771 iron ore was found in the ponds of the town, and the manufacture of iron commodities, especially nails, was begun. Weymouth also pos- sessed a hammock factory, a fireworks factory, established in 1850, and a heel factory. Today, next to shoemaking, granite-quarrying and electric power production are most important.

TOUR - 23 m.

N. from Weymouth Square on Commercial St.

I. The Samuel Arnold House (private), 75 Commercial St. (old number 17, still on the house), built about 1803, was later known as the Cowing House. Samuel Arnold was the son of a prominent tavern-keeper who then lived opposite. This large brick mansion with white stone trim is the only 'three-decker' among the old houses of Weymouth.

L. from Commercial St. into Church St .; L. from Church St. into North St. (Weymouth Heights); L. from North St. into Bridge St.

-----

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Main Street and Village Green

2. The Abigail Adams Birthplace (1740) (private), 450 Bridge St. Only a portion remains of the original dwelling where Abigail Smith Adams, daughter of a Weymouth clergyman and later the wife of President John Adams, was born.

R. from Bridge St. into Birchbrow Ave. (North Weymouth); L. from Birch- brow Ave. into Babcock Ave.

3. At King's Cove the ships 'Charity' and 'Swan' landed in 1622 with the first Weymouth colonists. The nascent community, obliged to hang a young man who had committed a crime against the Indians yet unable to spare the offender's muscle, solved the dilemma by hanging an innocent bedridden comrade (whether with or without the martyr's consent is not quite clear), thus tricking the savages and saving an able-bodied citizen. The town historian denies that this heinous act was really committed, but true or not, the original story is embedded in Butler's 'Hudibras,' where it delighted England, ever a bit critical of the peccadilloes of her colonies.

Retrace on Babcock Ave .; R. from Babcock Ave. into Birchbrow Ave .; R. from Birchbrow Ave. into Bridge St.

4. The Power Plant of the Edison Electric Illuminating Company (open on application), on the westerly bank of the Fore River, designed by Stone and Webster, supplies Greater Boston and other Massachusetts towns with electricity. The enclosed corridor outside the building is 180 feet high. It conveys 1000 tons of coal daily, which are never touched by hand from the time of unloading until, after passing through the roaring furnaces of the interior, they return as ashes. The burning furnaces may be inspected through a heavy shield of blue glass. The interior of the plant is immaculate in white glazed brick and polished brass.

Retrace on Bridge St .; R. from Bridge St. into North St .; straight ahead from North St. into Commercial St .; L. from Commercial St. into first un- marked road after Church St.

5. The Emery House (private), crowning the summit of King Oak Hill, resembles on a small scale, Mt. Vernon, George Washington's Virginia home.

Retrace unmarked road; L. from unmarked road on Commercial St .; straight ahead from Commercial St. into Middle St.

6. The Town Hall is a modern structure, influenced by the Old State House in Boston. The British Lion and Unicorn of the east gable in Boston are replaced on the gable here by a large sundial of terra cotta. Adjoining, and fronting the high school, is the finely imaginative Memorial of All Wars, an open-air auditorium.

R. from Middle St. into Essex St .; R. from Essex St. into unmarked road, almost opposite Spring St., best traversed by foot, although passable by car.

7. House Rock, a boulder as large as a small house, sometimes referred to as the Weymouth Sphinx, stands up commandingly upon two heavy

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stone prongs, between which a low arch affords room for a small person to crawl through under the boulder. The faintly discernible profile in its side has been variously considered to resemble the Egyptian Sphinx and Queen Victoria. This is the largest boulder left in Massachusetts by the glaciers.

Retrace on unmarked road; L. from unmarked road into Essex St .; L. from Essex St. into Middle St .; R. from Middle St. into Charles St.

8. The Clapp Shoe Company (visitors not allowed), a four-story gray building away from any industrial center, has an old-time air of native independent enterprise. Through the windows may be seen workers in denim or leather aprons, the traditional dress of the guild.

L. from Charles St. into Lake St .; straight ahead from Lake St. into Shawmut St .; R. from Shawmut St. into Pleasant St. (East Weymouth); L. from Pleasant St. on Washington St. (State 3).

9. The Old Toll House (private), 1284 Washington St., a one-story stone building with a red-shingled roof, was built in 1800 by Bela Pratt, a Revolutionary patriot and ancestor of the famous sculptor.

Retrace Washington St .; L. from Washington St. into Pleasant St .; L. from Pleasant St. into Pine St.

IO. Mt. Hope Cemetery and Bird Sanctuary, at the junction of Pine and Elm Sts., is a happy symbol of life in death. To the elms within are attached bird-houses, recalling Bryant's wish:

'The oriole should build and tell His love-tale close beside my cell.'

R. from Pine St. into Elm St. (L. if the visitor's car has entered the cemetery and retraced); L. from Elm St. into Pleasant St .; R. from Pleasant St. into Park Ave.

II. The Old Indian Trail, a delightful wooded walk of a mile or more, begins inconspicuously before the front door of 76 Park Ave.

Retrace on Park Ave .; R. from Park Ave. into Pleasant St.

12. The Fogg Library (open weekdays except Wed. 2-6), Columbian Square, South Weymouth, houses the splendid collections of the Wey- mouth Historical Society. Dedicated in 1898, it is a two-story structure in the Italian Renaissance style, of Weymouth seam-faced granite.

Owned by one of the members of the Society, but not on exhibition, is a small Confederate flag which has a pleasant history concerning a fiery little Barbara Fritchie of Warrentown, Virginia, and Captain James L. Bates of Weymouth.

On the lawn of the library is an Indian corn-mill, a bowl a foot in diameter hollowed in a granite block.

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Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people, Part 42

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