USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people > Part 47
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Left from Lynn on Nahant St. and right on Nahant Rd. to the narrow isthmus of Long Beach, 0.4 m., where Longfellow and Emerson once walked together. It was at Nahant that Longfellow wrote 'The Golden Fleece' and part of 'Hiawatha.' Here also Professor Louis Agassiz wrote 'Journey Through Brazil' and John Lothrop Motley began work on his 'Rise of the Dutch Republic.'
A bridle path follows the beach, gay on a warm day with gay-suited bathers, to LITTLE NAHANT (alt. 46), 2.1 m. A road (L) makes a complete circle of Little Nahant. A spread of ocean, several beaches, and the city of Lynn in the back- ground form an impressive panorama.
Nahant Rd. continues along Short Beach, passing (L) the U.S. Coast Guard Sta- tion, 2.5 m., where visitors are permitted to inspect the various life-saving devices. Off Short Beach (also popular with bathers) lies (L) Egg Rock, the reputed home of a sea serpent 'as big round as a wine pipe and 15 fathoms or more in length.'
Bearing (L) from Short Beach up the hill, Naliant Rd. runs through an Avenue of Elms planted by Frederic Tudor, the 'Ice King,' about 1825.
NAHANT, 3.7 m. (town, alt. 90, pop. 1748, sett. 1630, incorp. 1853). Nahant is a high rocky isle once covered with trees, where the lonely haywards of early days guarded hedges and fences against damage by cattle and strays. Nahant and Little Nahant were sold in 1730 by the Indian Chief Poquanum to a Lynn farmer, Thomas Dexter, for a suit of clothes, two stone pestles, and a jew's-harp.
Here in 1802 Joseph Johnson erected a tavern called The Castle, and informed 'the public in general and valetudinarians and sportsmen in particular' that he was 'furnished with every good thing to cheer the heart, to brace the frame, or to pamper the appetite.' The success of this venture and the establishment of steam- boat service to Boston in 1817 caused Nahant to develop rapidly as a fashionable watering place.
Off Nahant Rd., south of the Center, is a public footpath winding down to the sea, along which are views of the coastline and some odd rock formations. The estate of the late Senator Henry Cabot Lodge (private) is on Cliff St.
On Swallow's Cave Rd. fled fugitive Indians during King Philip's War, to Swal- low's Cave (private property), a natural recess in the rocky shore. Victims of the witchcraft persecution also took refuge here.
Right from Swallow's Cave Rd. on Vernon St. is the junction with Cliff St. (later Willow); left here to the links of the Nahant Golf Club, 1.6 m. (adm. by invitation). On the grounds is Bear Pond, into which John Breed, an early settler, is said to have been chased by a bear and where he stayed until rescued.
At 1.9 m. is Fort Ruckman (closed to visitors), a unit of the coastal defense; here are stationed electrically operated barbette guns designed to protect Boston Harbor.
State 1A southwest of Lynn passes through a congested shoe factory district, and at 31.8 m. crosses the General C. E. Edwards Memorial Bridge (1936) over the Saugus River.
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From Newburyport to Everett
POINT OF PINES (alt. 8, City of Revere), 32 m. is a summer colony at the north end of Revere Beach.
At 34.5 m. is a rotary traffic circle (Beach St.).
I. Right from the traffic circle on Beach St. is REVERE, 0.9 m. (see REVERE).
2. Left from the traffic circle Route CI provides an express route to BOSTON through the Sumner Tunnel (toll 15g per car).
3. Left from the traffic circle on Beach St. to the Revere Beach Parkway, 0.5 m .; right here to Eliot Circle, 0.9 m .; right from the circle on Winthrop Parkway; right on Revere St. at 1.9 m.
At 2.4 m. (R) is Fort Banks Government Reservation (open by permission), the key fort in the intricate network of Boston Harbor defense. Spacious mounded lawns conceal artillery and winding subterranean passages stored with ordnance.
At 2.5 m. on Revere St. is the junction with Shirley St. on which (L) is the Deane Winthrop House (open Tues., Wed., Fri., 2-5; adm. 10c), a pitched-roof, two-story frame building with central chimney, built in 1637, by Captain William Pierce, a skipper of the 'Mayflower.' Purchased in 1647 by Deane Winthrop, it contains the Winthrop family relics, a collection of portraits, and objects of historical significance.
Straight ahead from Revere St. on Winthrop St. to WINTHROP, 3 m. (town, alt. 36, pop. 17,001, sett. 1635, incorp. 1852), named for Governor Winthrop. The region first appears in the records as Pullen Point because fishermen passing through the channel now called Shirley Gut were forced to land and pull their boats against the strong current.
Straight ahead from the village on Winthrop St. to Washington St., 0.3 m .; left here to Shirley St., 0.9 m .; right on Shirley St. at 1 m. is the junction with Moore St. on which (L) is Shore Drive, where flood tides in winter and early spring, whipped by northeasters, hurl spray 40 feet or so in the air against the sea wall.
At 1.2 m. on Shirley St., left on Terrace Ave., which becomes Harbor View Ave., to the summit of Great Head, 0.4 m., a drumlin rising 105 feet above the sea.
POINT SHIRLEY (alt. 17, Town of Winthrop) (fishing; deep-sea fishing trips; yacht races) is at 1.9 m. on Shirley St. A small settlement at Shirley Point, named for the Royal Governor, came into being in 1753 as a fishing enterprise. This failed, however, and the buildings were used to shelter Boston victims of the smallpox epidemic of 1765, and later yet by a party of Acadian refugees.
Tafts Inn (open), Tafts Ave., is on the site of the original Taft House. This hos- telry, renowned for its fish and game dinners, was headquarters for the Atlantic Club, attended by Longfellow, Emerson, James Russell Lowell, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and other men of prominence. The Reed House (1753), 7 Siren St., is a two-story house erected by a group of men who sought a co-operative livelihood from the sea. The John Hancock House (open by arrangement), 49 Siren St., is a two-story, red-brick house with two chimneys; it was built in 1756 as the summer home of the wealthy Boston merchant.
State 1A follows the Revere Beach Parkway.
At 37.1 m. is the junction with Washington Ave.
Left on Washington Ave. is CHELSEA, 0.9 m. (see CHELSEA).
At 38.4 m. is EVERETT (see EVERETT) and the junction with US 1 (see Tour 1).
TOUR 1 B : From DEDHAM to NORTH ATTLEBOROUGH, 20.8 m., State 1A.
Via Norwood, Walpole, Norfolk, Wrentham, and Plainville. N.Y., N.H. & H. R.R. parallels the route at intervals.
Macadam and concrete highway, mostly three-lane. Passable year round.
STATE 1A runs through country of predominantly rural character. Winding country roads afford delightful side trips. At the southern end, the region is more sparsely settled.
State 1A branches right from US 1 (see Tour 1) 0.9 m. south of the Boston city limits on the Jamaicaway.
DEDHAM, 0.1 m. (see DEDHAM).
State 1A passes through a residential area that gradually thins out to scattered groups of houses.
NORWOOD, 4.1 m. (town, alt. 149, pop. 15,574, sett. 1678, incorp. 1872), is a residential and manufacturing town which has attracted a number of immigrants, chiefly Canadians, Irish, and Scandinavians; these form approximately one-third of the population and are in general employed in book-printing, sheepskin-tanning, and the production of roofing. The section comprising the present town was purchased from the Indian Chicataubot about 1630.
Manasseh Cutler, later famous as a preacher and for his connection with the Ohio Land Company, taught school here and married the daughter of the local pastor. Frank G. Allen, who came to Norwood at the age of 22 as an employee of the tanning mill and eventually became president of the company, was elected Governor of the Commonwealth, 1929-30. Norwood is unusual in that it has a town manager.
The Norwood Memorial Municipal Building, an impressive structure of Gothic design. It has a 170-foot tower containing 52 bells. On the lawn is a German field-gun captured during the World War.
The massive tower of Saint Catherine's, a gray-brick church on Nahatan St., is also designed in the Gothic style.
The Day House (open Sun. 3-5; other days by application), 93 Day St., headquarters of the Norwood Historical Society, is built of light brown stuccoed brick with exposed timbers in the English manner.
The Morrill Memorial Library, corner of Beacon and Walpole Sts., is a building of gray stone in the Romanesque style. On the lawn is a Boulder bearing the following inscription:
427
From Dedham to North Attleborough
Near this spot Capt. Aaron Guild On April 19, 1775 Left plow in furrow, oxen standing And departing for Lexington Arrived in time to fire upon The retreating British.
The Plimpton Press (open on request - 10 A.M. preferred; guide furnished), Lenox St., extending over several blocks, is housed in a mammoth red frame building, dominated by a large bell-tower. This press is capable of producing over 50,000 volumes a day.
On Washington St. is the Norwood Press (open by permission; mornings preferred; guide provided). This attractive red-brick, ivy-covered plant, with its clock-tower and landscaped setting, is also capable of tremendous daily output.
The Dean Chickering House (private) (R), 10I Walpole St., built in 1806, is a splendid type of post-Colonial farmhouse, with solid construc- tion, slightly pitched roof, wide clapboards painted white, cheerful green shutters, and neatly terraced lawn.
Walpole St. (State 1A), once known as Roebuck Rd., later as Sawmill Rd., was part of an early stagecoach route between Boston and Provi- dence, R.I. Over it marched Colonial soldiers in King Philip's War and in the War of the Revolution. At 5.5 m. in front of the Ellis Home (R), on the banks of Ellis Pond, is the old Five-Mile Elm, as it was known to stage-drivers, who often used trees as milestones.
State 1A continues through fairly open and sparsely settled country.
At 7.2 m. is the Norfolk Agricultural School (open; guides), a large yellow building fronted by small flower beds and flanked by greenhouses. The school maintains a farm of 40 acres for scientific agricultural experiments as well as for the practical instruction of nearly 200 students.
At 7.9 m. State 1A crosses Neponset River near the site of the King's Bridge. During King Philip's War a company of troopers on their way to Attleboro were, while crossing the old bridge, terrified by an eclipse of the moon in which they imagined they saw Indians and dripping scalps.
WALPOLE, 8.5 m. (town, alt. 155, pop. 7449, sett. 1659, incorp. 1724), was named for Sir Robert Walpole, English statesman. Situated on the Neponset River, it was well supplied with water-power, and a number of factories sprang up, turning out cotton goods, cassimeres, satinets, nails, farming implements, and paper. Today manufactures include building papers, shingles, roofing materials, and hospital supplies - cotton, gauze, and paper. A handicraft shop, Homespun, at Lewis Farm, home of George A. Plimpton, uses Colonial methods in the making of cloth from the wool of its own cheviot sheep.
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High Roads and Low Roads
In front of the Town Hall is an Old Milestone dated 1740.
The new brick Colonial Blackburn Memorial Building (indoor pool, tennis courts), on Stone St., is part of an extensive Memorial Park. The Memorial Park Bridge was dedicated in 1924, on the 200th anniversary of the incorporation of the town, in honor of the Revolutionary soldiers, sailors, and nurses of Walpole.
On the corner of Diamond and East Sts. is the Catholic Church, built of red brick with yellow trim in the Renaissance style. Near-by on East St. appears the unique plant of the Walpole Woodworkers (open), a com- pany specializing in rustic woodwork.
Left from Walpole Center on East St. is the Castle (private), 1.2 m., built in 1898 by Isaac Newton Lewis, a small stone edifice with a battlemented tower now sur- rounded by woods and a gladioli farm.
At 1.5 m. is a small triangular park with a Drinking Fountain honoring Bradford Lewis, a civic benefactor; and a Horse and Rider, on a granite pedestal, dedicated to the memory of Lieutenant Barachiah Lewis (1663-1710).
South of Walpole Center, State 1A traverses a thickly wooded stretch of largely undeveloped country.
At 11.4 m. is the junction with Winter St.
Right on Winter St. at 1.2 m. is the Norfolk Prison Colony (open by pass; restricted visiting hours; guides). Willow trees line the road, which passes between fields tilled by convicts under an honor system. The pleasant fields and the entrance with its spreading lawn and gay beds of flowers are in sharp contrast to the grim gateway, the concrete wall topped by electrically charged wire, and the watch- towers and floodlights. Established in 1927 to relieve the congestion in the anti- quated Charlestown Prison, the Norfolk Prison Colony is conducted in accordance with modern principles of penology, attempting to rehabilitate social misfits and those who have turned to crime because they lacked vocational training. Psy- chiatrists and other experts try to develop the inmates' interests and skills in intra- mural social and occupational centers. The criminal records and intelligence levels of the men are studied before they are placed in groups of about 50. Each group is housed in a separate dwelling under a resident officer. This permits intimate ac- quaintance with the inmates as individuals. The colony has an advisory council of prisoners, which co-operates with the administration on all local matters except those involving penal offences - thus giving the men a measure of responsibility in the affairs of the institution and encouraging them to become responsible citizens.
At 13 m. is the junction with State 115.
Right on State 115 is NORFOLK, 2.4 m. (town, alt. 218, pop. 2073. sett. 1795, in- corp. 1870), an agricultural town centering about the Grange. Once the domain of the Neponset Indians, this area was claimed by the sachem Philip as part of his kingdom. The General Court, however, ignored the title in its expansion of the Dedham settlement in 1635-36.
At 4.3 m. (R) is the Mass. Fish and Game Preserve (open by pass).
At 13.6 m. is Weber Duck Inn, a roadhouse famous for its pure white ducks raised on the grounds, for its own use and for wholesale and retail markets. When viewed from above, these birds appear like a large blanket of snow and have been picturesquely referred to as the 'snow glaciers of Wrentham.'
WRENTHAM, 15.2 m. (town, alt. 254, pop. 4160, sett. 1669, incorp. 1673), originally a part of Dedham, was named for Wrentham, England.
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From Dedham to North Attleborough
During King Philip's War, just before the burning of the town by the Indians, the entire population fled to Dedham. At the beginning of the 19th century, the town underwent industrial development with the es- tablishment of several woolen and cotton mills. The manufacture of straw hats, started in 1798 by Mrs. Naomi Whipple, and the making of jewelry were expanded, several factories being opened. A tap and die company has a national market today. The development of the town as a summer resort has materially aided its present prosperity.
At the village center stands a granite stone marking the site of the First Meeting House (1684).
I. Right from Wrentham on State 140 at 0.4 m. is the junction with a dirt road; right on this road is Emerald St .; at 0.7 m. on Emerald St. is (L) the Wrentham State School for Feebleminded Children. Established in 1907 by the Massachusetts Legislature, this co-educational institution provides vocational training.
2. Left from Wrentham on State 140 at 0.1 m. is the junction with Taunton St .; right on Taunton St. to a private way at 0.2 m .; right on this way at 1.3 m. is the Pumping Station. Around the station is a recreational ground suitable for picnics. The underbrush has been cleared under the towering pines.
At 19.3 m. (R) is the Captain John Cheever House (private), a substantial white frame building built about 1800, with a fine old door with pilasters and an ornamental pediment.
PLAINVILLE, 19.9 m. (town, alt. 207, pop. 1606, sett. 1661, incorp. 1905), a small manufacturing town, was once called the 'world's largest specialty jewelry manufacturing center,' now sadly crippled by unem- ployment. The farmers in the outlying areas specialize in dairy products, hay, potatoes, and berries.
The Benjamin Slack House (R), at the Center, a rambling frame struc- ture painted yellow, was erected in 1726, and is claimed by the town to be the oldest building in New England housing a public library. It was erected by a local landowner by whose name the town was originally known (Slackville).
The Whitfield Cheever House (1807), corner of West Bacon and Warren Sts., has an ell at the rear containing a fireplace with a brick oven large enough to hold a huge iron kettle used for hog-scalding and soap-making. East of the house a path leads from West Bacon St. through woods to the Angle Tree Monument in 'Mary Sayle's pasture.' This is a slate shaft 7 feet tall erected about 1640 near the North Attleborough Line. A circle at the top on the north side of the shaft carries the words 'Mas- sachusetts Colony,' and one on the south side bears the inscription 'Plymouth Colony.' According to a tradition, when the line dividing Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Colonies was first established at the Angle Tree, the following warning was posted on it: 'Beyond this line Roger Williams may not goe.'
At 20.8 m. is the junction of US 1 (see Tour 1).
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TOUR 1 C : From BEVERLY to UXBRIDGE, 66.3 m., State 62 and 126.
Via Danvers, Middleton, North Reading, Wilmington, Bedford, Carlisle, Con- cord, Wayland, Framingham, Ashland, Hopkinton, Holliston, Sherborn, Mil- ford, Hopedale, and Mendon.
B. & M. R.R. and the B. & A. Division of the N.Y.C. Lines parallel the route. State 62 is mostly macadam in good condition, with the exception of the North Reading-Bedford area. Many curves and dangerous intersections require extreme caution on both routes. Inadvisable for winter touring.
STATE 62-126 runs through rolling farm country, with residential suburbs in the northern part.
West of its junction with State 1A (see Tour 1A) in Beverly, State 62 passes the huge plant (R) of the United Shoe Machinery Corporation (adm. by pass obtained at office), 0.3 m., the largest and most completely equipped factory of its kind in the world. Its buildings cover 25 acres of floor space, and have six miles of aisle and 43 designing rooms. About 500 types of shoe machinery are made and over 125,000 different machine parts are kept in stock to be leased, with a royalty on each pair of shoes, to factories all over the world.
At 2.7 m. is a junction with Conant St.
Left on Conant St. is DANVERS, 0.9 m. (town, alt. 51, pop. 12,957, sett. 1636, in- corp. 1757).
Settlers came here from Salem in search of farm lands and the place was first called Salem Village. In 1688, Cotton Mather hastened to Danvers to attend a witch- craft trial, and preached a sermon which so inflamed the villagers that in 1692, when 10 young girls accused a Negro nurse, Danvers became the center of witch- craft hysteria that caused 200 arrests and 20 deaths before public sanity was restored.
Seventeen emigrants from Danvers joined the covered wagon caravan to Marietta, Ohio, in 1787. About this time Zerubbabel Porter, a tanner, wishing to dispose of surplus leather, developed a commercial shoe factory. In 1833 Samuel Nathan Reed made a machine for cutting nails, and in 1843 Gilbert Tapley started the manufacture of carpets. Two panics, a severe fire in 1845, and the Civil War caused an industrial decline.
Today Danvers, a pleasant residential community, has leather, shoe, crayon, lamp, and chemical factories.
In the Town Hall are Murals, done as part of a Federal project under the Emer- gency Relief Administration, depicting episodes in the town's history.
A boulder on the lawn of the Danvers Saving Bank at the edge of Danvers Square marks the Site of the Encampment of Arnold's Forces on their march to Quebec in I775.
The Page House (open Mon., Wed., and Sat. 2-5; adm. 25g), II Page St., built in 1754, is an attractive dwelling with gambrel roof and dormer windows. This house was the scene of the amusing incident related in Lucy Larcom's poem 'The Gambrel Roof,' concerning a rebellious wife who retorted to her patriotic husband's edict that British taxed tea should not be served beneath his roof, by staging a tea-party on the roof.
431
From Beverly to Uxbridge
In the Historical Society Headquarters (open), adjacent to the Page House, are 18th- century portraits, old china, pottery, and pewter, including the baptismal bowl and communion tankard of the First Church.
The Peabody Institute, on Sylvan St., which joins Elm St. at the Town Hall, is a distinguished building of the Classic revival, Palladian type, set on a wide lawn.
I. Left from Danvers on High St. 0.9 m., is the Samuel Fowler House (open July and Aug .; adm. 15g), built in 1809 and owned by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities. The exterior is little changed; within is imported scenic wallpaper designed by Jean Zuber of France, the first artist (1829) to print con- tinuous rolls in color.
Left from High St. to Liberty St .; here are remnants of the yards in which the pri- vateers 'Harlequin' and 'Jupiter' were built during the Revolution.
2. Right from Danvers on Holten St. 0.7 m., to the junction with Pine St .; left here to the Rebecca Nurse House (R), 0.9 m. (open daily 9-5; adm. 25g), built in 1636. The aged Rebecca Nurse was executed as a witch at the height of the witchcraft hysteria, stoutly protesting her innocence till the last. Her grave in the family burial ground is marked by a tablet bearing the names of the courageous friends who dared to testify in her behalf.
At 1.6 m. on Holten St. is the Judge Samuel Holten House (open), 171 Holten St., owned by the D.A.R. This dwelling with steep-pitched roof and central chimney has two oddly placed ells, but later additions are in harmony with the original struc- ture, which was built in 1670; it stands on a pleasant, tree-shaded, sloping lawn.
On Centre St., a continuation of Holten St., at 1.9 m., a sign indicates the Site of the Church of Salem Village, whose pastor's children, overexcited by the tales of their West Indian nurse, old Tituba, started the witchcraft epidemic.
Right from Centre St. at the Training Ground on Ingersoll St. 0.4 m. to the Endi- cott Estate (private). In a formal garden stretching back from the road stands the Garden House, created by the genius of Samuel McIntire in 1793, a delicate little structure showing the Palladian influence in its formality, pilasters, cornice, and decorative detail. The roof, with a typical McIntire urn at each corner, supports, astride its ridgepole, two bold life-size figures carved from wood - a milkmaid and a reaper - that contrast with the conventionally sculptured figures in the garden below. In this spot Elias Hasket Derby took his tea when the house was part of his Peabody summer residence.
At 3.7 m. on State 62 is the junction with Summer St.
Right on Summer St. 0.3 m., under tall elms, is the weathered, gambrel-roof James Putnam House (now a roadhouse), home of an eminent pre-Revolutionary lawyer. Near-by is Oak Knoll (private), where the poet Whittier lived from 1876 until his death in 1892. On the lawn are wild flowers, transplanted by Whittier, and a spruce that Oliver Wendell Holmes named 'the poet's pagoda.' Adjacent to the Whittier place is St. John's Preparatory School, 0.7 m., founded by the Order of St. Francis Xavier, with an enrollment of 450.
At 5 m. is the junction with US 1 (see Tour 1), a dangerous intersection. On the corner stands the Birthplace Of Israel Putnam (1718-1790) (open as a teahouse), built in 1648. The older part of the house has a plain peaked roof and end chimney; a gambrel-roof addition, now the main part of the house, was built in 1744. General Putnam at Bunker Hill gave the famous command: 'Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes.'
Diagonally across the Turnpike, 5.1 m., on a high hill, with red-brick buildings resembling a Victorian castle, is the State Hospital For The
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High Roads and Low Roads
Insane (open by permission), built 1874. The institution has facilities for over 2000 patients.
At 5.7 m. the buildings and extensive experimental grounds of the Essex County Agricultural School (open), lie on both sides of the road.
At 6.7 m. is the junction with East St.
Right on East St. 0.5 m. to the Colonel Benjamin Peabody House (private), a three- story gambrel-roof structure with dormer windows. Between spreading trees is seen, over the front door, a gilded eagle, and on the barn a full-rigged ship serves as a weathervane.
MIDDLETON, 8 m. (town, alt. 95, pop. 1975, sett. 1659, incorp. 1727), is surrounded by pine-covered hills, divided by the winding Ipswich River. The clear sunshine and dry, cool air have made the village a popular resort.
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