USA > Massachusetts > Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people > Part 58
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513
From Seabrook, N.H., to Worcester
listen to the rain. Two old mulberry trees, survivals of the abortive experiment in silkworms, stand near the house.
Equally interesting is the square, prim Shaker House near-by, moved here from the old Shaker community several miles away (see below). To this house in June, 1781, came Mother Ann Lee, founder of the American branch of the United So- ciety of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing, known as Shakers because of the rhythmic movement that was an essential part of the sect's ceremonies. The com- munity was communistic and celibate, believing in spirit communications, but had a practical core manifesting itself in agricultural and industrial activity that was very successful and in the contrivance of ingenious labor-saving devices. The sect is fast dying out, and Miss Sears has collected all available relics - furniture, homemade costumes, implements, and documents - in the Square House. Many of the garments are displayed on life-sized wax figures posed in natural positions about the house.
The third building in the group is the Indian Museum, which contains a small, carefully selected collection of Indian relics from many parts of the country. The main part of this museum is an old schoolhouse that has been veneered with bricks from the former Town Hall of Lancaster.
The gray clapboarded Henry Willard House (1687) (open on application), 23.3 m., has a black-shingled roof, and an exceptionally large chimney. Originally a half-timber house with brick filling between the framing, the walls have since been covered over with clapboards. In the house is a hooked rug depicting it as it was before the porch was added.
The Marshall Place (date uncertain) (private), at 23.9 m., an ancient three- story gabled dwelling with unpainted weather-beaten clapboards on the front and shingles on the sides, is enclosed by a fence of small branches; in the rear is a huge old barn and on the front lawn stands a gigantic old sycamore.
At 25.7 m. is the junction with State 117.
I. Left on State 117.
At 1.5 m. is the junction with Lancaster Rd .; right on this 0.5 m. to the Wilder Mansion (1687) (private), a beautiful two-story structure. The roof of the main building and those of the one-story adjoining wings have balustraded roof railings. Octagonal granite pillars connected by iron chains enclose the terraced and land- scaped lawn.
BOLTON, 2.4 m. (town, alt., 380, pop. 739, sett. 1682, incorp. 1738), early had a lime kiln, two potash and a pearl ash works, a comb factory, two brickyards, a cooper's shop, and a tannery with which was associated a chain of shoemaking shops. Removal of industries to larger centers left fruit, milk, and poultry as the chief products, though hand-made ostrich-feather dusters are manufactured here by George T. Beckner, a former missionary to South Africa; one of his best cus- tomers is the Pullman Car Company.
The Country Manor (a hotel), 0.2 m. west of the village on Main St., was erected in 1740 by General Amory Holman. This dignified mansion with its white columns and balcony stands on a hill and is surrounded by beautiful gardens; it was the scene of lively activity in the days when General Holman operated a stage line on the Boston Post Rd. The barns and sheds that formerly housed the horses and coaches still stand opposite the library.
The Godings House (private), 0.3 m. on Main St., is reputed to be a remodeled block-house of Indian days; it has vertical boards on the walls, 18-inch floor boards, wooden latches and bolts on the doors, and portholes in the walls.
Right from State 117 at 7.2 m. is Spindle Hill (alt. 400 - foot path), rugged and somewhat forbidding, with moss-covered boulders and rocks, there is, however, a wide view of the countryside.
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High Roads and Low Roads
STOW, 8.1 m. (town, alt. 330, pop. 1190, sett. 1681, incorp. 1683), named for John Stow, a close friend of Simon Bradstreet, Governor of Massachusetts, was raided by Indians in King Philip's War and then resettled. Raising hops, silkworm culture, milling, and minor manufacturing have been engaged in temporarily; today only a woolen mill and a box factory are the chief non-agricultural activities.
Stow has a legend concerning William Goffe, the regicide (see HADLEY, Tour 8, sec. b). It is said that with a price of £100 upon his head, his death was reported by his friends in Hadley, while he came to Stow as 'John Green,' and spent his remaining years here in peace. As substantiation the town presents a sworn affidavit that the grave of 'John Green' was opened in 1930, and no skull was found among the bones - the implication being that the head had been sent to England for the reward.
2. Right from State 110 on State 117, 0.2 m., are Twin Elm Trees connected, Siamese-like, by a cross-limb a few feet above the ground.
At 1.5 m. State 117 passes the Beaman Oak, estimated by State Foresters to be about 700 years old, and believed to be the largest oak in Massachusetts.
At 1.8 m. is a junction with a crossroad.
a. Right on this road is the junction with a road marked, 'Shirley'; right on this to a junction with a second dirt road and the Brick Tavern (open), 5.1 m., built 1804, as a stagecoach house and later owned by the Shakers. During the Shaker ownership William Dean Howells stayed here and wrote 'The Undiscovered Country.' Directly across the road is a small wooden building once a Shaker Hospital, having a room with a closet said to have been used by the Shakers for disciplinary purposes. Latched on the outside, the door to the closet contains a heart-shaped aperture through which recalcitrant members were watched or fed.
Left on the dirt road by the tavern to a narrow dirt road at 6 m .; right on this at 6.3 m. is Fort Pond (bathing, boating, fishing; small fee), an island fort built here during the Indian War.
b. Left on the side road, opposite the one marked 'Shirley,' under ancient elms to LANCASTER, 2.8 m. (town, alt. 277, pop. 2590, sett. 1643, incorp. 1653). When the town fathers applied for permission to name the town Prescott in honor of a popular local blacksmith, the General Court decided: 'Whereas no town of the Colonies had as yet been named for any Governor; and whereas it were unseemly that a blacksmith be honored ahead of his betters, the name Prescott could not be permitted.' If this was a hint, the town evaded it by naming itself for Lan- caster, England.
The settlement was destroyed during King Philip's War and was attacked again in 1696 and 1704. Manufacturing industries in the surrounding area were lost to neighboring towns, and Lancaster became a residential community.
Many years ago a Lancasterman, Jonathan Wilder, courted a girl in vain; later, having lost the wife who was his second choice, he renewed his first suit. Refused again, he married another girl. Wife number two died, and once more Jonathan renewed his early suit. This time he was accepted. His wife, now middle-aged, bore him a son, then twins, and finally triplets. At least that is the story; he would better have let well enough alone.
Facing the Common is the Old Meeting House ('The Lancaster Church'), of brick laid in Flemish bond. Designed by Charles Bulfinch in 1816, it is probably the finest of his many beautiful churches. The façade with its arched portico and the beautifully proportioned cupola, surrounded by Roman Ionic columns which support a nicely balanced entablature, are especially noteworthy. The church reflects the beginning of Greek influence upon American architecture.
In the days of Bride Cake Plain (Old Lancaster - origin of name unknown) a feud occurred between two men who held adjoining pews in the church; one of them erected a 'spite-fence' between the pews to such a height that his devotions should not be disturbed by the sight of his hated neighbor. Church authorities, however, ruled that the screen was un-Christian and ordered it removed.
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515
From Seabrook, N.H., to Worcester
Luther Burbank, the 'plant wizard,' was born (1849) in Lancaster in a frame house which later became the ell of a more imposing brick structure. Henry Ford purchased the ell and removed it to Dearborn, Mich.
The Thayer Bird Museum (open Mon. Wed. Sat. 8-4), 3.8 m., housing a fine col- lection of North American birds, was willed to the Harvard University Museum of Comparative Zoology by Colonel John E. Thayer. Although many specimens were removed to Cambridge, most of the collection is here.
At 4.1 m. on George Hill, a marker indicates Rowlandson Rock, where Mary Row- landson and her Indian captors spent the first night after the sacking of the town. The account written by Mrs. Rowlandson of her adventures during the seven weeks of her captivity gives an intimate description of Indian life (see Warwick, Tour 2B).
At 29.1 m. is the junction with State 70; straight on State 70.
CLINTON, 29.4 m. (town, alt., 328, pop. 12,373, sett. 1654, incorp. 1850), has shallow soil and a hilly terrain that discourage farming. Clinton developed as an industrial community. Its prosperity, however, declined somewhat with the closing of the Lancaster Cotton Mills in 1930 and the Bigelow Sandford Carpet Company in 1933.
The Holder Memorial Building, opposite 209 Church St., dedicated 1904, is of red brick laid in Flemish bond, with granite bases, pedestals, terra- cotta columns and pilasters, and copper mouldings.
On Green St. stands the huge plant of the Lancaster Mills (not open to visitors) incorporated in 1844. At one time the company employed 2600 operatives, and was the largest producer of ginghams in the world. Its weaving room covered one and a third acres. Several small industries now occupy sections of the plant.
At 30 m. is the junction with State 62.
Left on State 62 is BERLIN, 3.7 m. (town, alt. 326, pop. 1091, sett. 1665, incorp. 1784), an agricultural community in spite of unfavorable soil conditions. There are a few profitable orchards and dairies.
At 30.6 m. on State 70 are Wachusett Dam and Reservoir. The dam, 114 feet high, has a promenade on the top 971 feet long. The reservoir, eight- and-a-half miles long and two miles wide at its widest point, has a maxi- mum depth of 129 feet and impounds about 62 billion gallons of water.
BOYLSTON, 35.1 m. (town, alt. 300, pop. 1361, sett. 1705, incorp. 1786), a quiet residential village in a town originally part of Lancaster and Shrewsbury, was named for the Boylston family of Boston and Roxbury; a member of this family gave a pulpit Bible, communion cups, bell, and a generous sum of money to the church. In 1896 the construction of the Wachusett Reservoir, which covers 2700 acres of town land, forced many residents to move away.
At 37.4 m. a tree-lined driveway (R) leads up to the former Home of John B. Gough (private), temperance advocate and reformer, who capti- vated audiences all over the country, between 1842 and 1886, by his impassioned eloquence, and the funny stories with which he interlarded his serious appeals for personal abstinence.
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High Roads and Low Roads
State 70 enters a suburban residential area and at 42.1 m. reaches the Center of WORCESTER (see WORCESTER), where it meets State 9 (see Tour 8), State 12 (see Tour 11), and State 122 (see Tour 23).
TOUR 7A: From NEWBURYPORT to HAVERHILL, 12.5 m., State 125.
Via West Newbury and Groveland.
Excellent macadam highways; winding, but little traffic.
STATE 125 is an alternate route between Newburyport and Haverhill, making a wide loop through unspoiled countryside south of the Merri- mack River. Towns along it date from the early 17th century, stemming from the parent communities of Newbury and Rowley, and though they are not quite so rich in historic sites as the towns along the seaboard, they have a quiet charm that is fast disappearing in the more thickly settled parts of the State. The rolling country has exceptional beauty, with open pastures, fertile acres of orchard and tillage, and miles of forest; with glimpses of the Merrimack, here very wide and not marred by the stark factory buildings of its upper reaches.
State 125 branches west from US 1 (see Tour 1) in Newburyport.
Between Newburyport and West Newbury, State 125 dips and rises over the rounded hills to reveal pleasant vistas of fields, narrow valleys, reedy swampland, and rows of neatly kept houses backed by fertile meadows and open country.
At 3.3 m. the road crosses a loop of the Artichoke River and a reedy marsh which has been set aside as a Bird Sanctuary (marked by signs).
At 4 m. is the intersection with Garden St.
Left on this road which forks right at 1.7 m. Here, on the left, a sign declares: 'The Only Indian Killed in West Newbury was Shot by Hananiah Ordway.' Right at the fork to the Cherry Hill Nurseries, 2.1 m., which ship their products all over the world; in their seasons the peonies, dahlias, lilacs, and other flowering plants make a beautiful display.
At 4.7 m. the House of the Angel Guardian, a Catholic institution for orphaned boys, sits on the lower slope of Pipestave Hill, a glacial drumlin once forested with hardwoods, but now covered with grass and ground pine. On this hill, as early as 1685, staves were cut for use in making wine casks and molasses hogsheads, articles of export to Europe and the West Indies.
WEST NEWBURY, 5.7 m. (town, alt. 180, pop. 1475, sett. 1635, incorp. 1819), an agricultural town, spreads over a series of high well-watered.
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From Newburyport to Haverhill
hills. Before the spectacular growth of Newburyport, which increasingly monopolized foreign commerce, ocean-going vessels ascended the Merri- mack as far as Haverhill; but with the building of the Chain Bridge in the early 19th century the river was closed to ships. West Newbury relapsed into an agricultural calm, and there are no traces today of the comb factory started by Enoch Noyes in 1770 or of the small shoe manu- factories that once flourished here. Two college presidents were born in the town in the early 19th century, Cornelius Conway Felton of Harvard and Leonard Woods of Bowdoin.
The Training Field, Main St. (State 125), with its World War Boulder, is surrounded by houses overarched by elms.
At 6.8 m. is the intersection with Church St.
Right on Church St. at 0.9 m. is Rocks Bridge, which spans the Merrimack. At this point the river sweeps into a wide course, its broad expanse ruffled by the swift current, between banks on which a few scattered farmhouses and the clus- tered buildings of tiny Rock Village at the far side of the bridge create a charming pastoral scene. Purple loosestrife blooms in profusion during July and August along the river edge. The only blemish, a grim reminder of the disastrous spring floods of 1936, is the high-water mark of dried black scum high among the branches of the trees.
This section of State 125 is bordered by woods and fields with streams that can be whipped for trout, and covers where it is still possible to flush a pheasant.
The George Thomas Savory House (open to the public; adm. 25g), 8.8 m. standing in the shade of two giant elms, was built in 1826, and still has dignity and charm despite the addition of a mansard roof which has par- tially hidden the four original chimneys. Rural scenes are depicted on the plaster walls of the interior, done at the time the house was built, by an artist and inventor, Rufus Porter, of Boxford.
GROVELAND, 9.7 m. (town, alt. 47, pop. 2219, sett. about 1639, incorp. 1850), is a quiet suburban village. In its early years the town depended on the power supplied by the Merrimack River for its economic life. The industries of the early years, however, and the later manufacture of woolens and flannels were gradually absorbed by the neighboring city of Haverhill. The town is unique in Massachusetts in having a government by three selectmen but no town hall.
Facing the Common is the Congregational Church (1727), in the belfry of which hangs a Paul Revere Bell, engraved with the somber but appar- ently popular reminder, since it was so often used: 'The living to the church I call, and to the grave I summon all.'
At 10 m. State 125 crosses Groveland Bridge over the Merrimack River (Haverhill City Line). In the flood of 1936 this bridge stood staunch while furious waters battered it with houses, trees, and all sorts of débris from the upper river.
State 125 joins State 110 (see Tour 7) in HAVERHILL (see HAVER- HILL) at 12.5 m.
TOUR 8 : From BOSTON to PITTSFIELD, 136.7 m., State 9.
Via (sec. a) Brookline, Needham, Wellesley, Natick, Framingham, South- borough, Westborough, Worcester; (sec. b) Leicester, Spencer, East Brookfield, North Brookfield, Brookfield, West Brookfield, Warren, Ware, Amherst, Had- ley, Northampton, Westhampton; (sec. c) Williamsburg, Goshen, Cummington, Windsor and Dalton.
B. & A. R.R. parallels this route.
Hard-surfaced road; heavily traveled; western section hilly and slippery during wet weather.
Sec. a. BOSTON to WORCESTER, 38.1 m.
BETWEEN Boston and Worcester, State 9, called the Worcester Turn- pike, is an express route avoiding all town centers. Laid out by Isaiah Thomas of Worcester and opened in 1809, it was a toll road until 1835. The Turnpike curves as it passes ponds and reservoirs, but for long stretches it is as straight as a surveyor's line, running through open country with little scenic interest.
West of Boston (Copley Square) State 9 follows Huntington Ave. At 2.3 m. is BROOKLINE (see BROOKLINE).
At 7.1 m. is the junction with State 128.
Left on State 128; right (straight ahead) on Highland Ave. when State 128 branches left at the overpass; the William Carter Plant, Mill No. 1, 2.5 m., is the chief in- dustry of the town and one of the largest knitting mills in the country. During the Civil War the manufacture of knit goods, introduced by Jonathan Avery, became an important economic factor in the community. In recent years the Carter Company has been pioneering in the production of rayon and other syn- thetic materials.
At 2.9 m. is the junction with Rosemary St. Right on this is Rosemary Lake, a small body of water popular with local sportsmen (sandy beach and toboggan slide).
On Highland Ave. is NEEDHAM, 3.3 m. (town, alt. 169, pop. 11,838, sett. 1680-94, incorp. 1711). On April 16, 1680, the Dedham Company of Watertown purchased a large tract of land from an Indian, part of which, with some of Ded- ham, was incorporated as Needham. Between 1714 and 1789 the town was active in road- and bridge-building; before 1720 a few sawmills and corn mills were operated, but farming was the chief occupation. The town is now a residential suburb.
Right from Needham on Great Plain Ave. is the junction with Nehoiden St .; on this is the Fuller House, 0.6 m. (private), 220 Nehoiden St., a trim and attractive white clapboarded dwelling (1754).
At 1.1 m., on the corner of Nehoiden St. and Central Ave., is the Townsend House (private), a three-story square, yellow clapboarded dwelling. For over 100 years it was the home of the town pastors.
Left on Central Ave. 0.5 m. to the Gay House (private), 1196 Central Ave., a simple little two-story white house, built in the early 1700's. The chimney in the rear is that of the first kitchen. The planks of the living-room floor are over 20 inches wide.
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From Boston to Pittsfield
West of the junction with Central Ave. on Great Plain Ave. is (L.) Babson Park, 1.9 m., devoted to semi-business interests, but containing charming wooded drives. Visible near the entrance are the towers of Radio Station WORL (open daily, 7 to sunset). The Stone Bird Sanctuary and the Woodlot Library (open) are 0.7 m. from the entrance, the latter a one-story white frame dwelling housing more than 200 stuffed birds native to this area.
WELLESLEY HILLS, 10.5 m. (alt. 140). Here is a Stone Clock-tower of a modified Colonial design faintly suggestive of the Campanile at Venice. A shaft of granite masonry is topped by an open wood belfry.
Left from Wellesley Hills on Washington St. is WELLESLEY, 1 m. (see WELL.ES- LEY).
At 15.2 m. is the junction with State 27.
Left on State 27 is NATICK, 1.5 m. (town, alt. 158, pop. 14,394, sett. 1718, in- corp. 1781), granted to John Eliot in 1650 as a plantation for his Praying Indians. It was a self-governing community for more than half a century; when white settlers appeared the Indians were crowded out. It was a farming settlement until the 19th century. Industries at the present time are two shoe factories, a baseball factory, a paper-box factory, and a saw and tool manufacturing plant.
On the Park St. side of the Common a boulder memorial marks the Henry Wilson Tree, planted by him in 1857. Henry Wilson 'the Natick cobbler,' was born in New Hampshire in 1812 and was known as Jeremiah Jones Colbaith until he was 21, when he had his name changed by an act of the Legislature; he came to Natick in 1833 as a cobbler's apprentice. He entered politics and gained considerable attention by his anti-slavery oratory, and served as U.S. Senator 1855-73 and as Vice-President of the United States 1873-75.
Left from Natick on Union St .; at the intersection of Eliot and Pleasant Sts. in SOUTH NATICK, 1.8 m. (alt. 119), is a boulder on the Site of the Indian Meeting House (1651), used by John Eliot. Across the street is the Natick Historical Society Headquarters (open Wed. and Sat. 2.30-5.30), a two-story, red-brick building with broad windows. Field stone is laid in a pattern in the first-story walls. The build- ing holds many articles of historic value, and is surrounded by extensive grounds bordered by old trees and an iron fence. Within this enclosure is the Site of an In- dian Burying Ground. Here also is a Monument to Eliot, a granite shaft with a cross on one side and an open Bible on the other.
Opposite the Library, on Pleasant St., is the old Stowe House (private), built in 1816. The gabled two-and-a-half-story white clapboarded structure with an end chimney and a field-stone foundation is well preserved. An old carriage lamp on the wall by the door, and blue spruce trees on both sides of the walk, date back to the boyhood days of Professor Calvin Stowe, the Horace Holyoke of 'Old Town Folks,' written by his wife, Harriet Beecher Stowe. On a granite block at the entrance to the driveway is a slate tablet marking the Grave of Takwambait, an Indian disciple of Eliot.
The Charles River (swimming and canoeing) is spanned at Pleasant St. by a new stone bridge with modern lamp-posts and iron handrails, occupying the Site of the Old Indian Bridge used in 1650 by the Praying Indians of Natick.
At 17.6 m. is the junction of State 9 and State 126 (see Tour 1C).
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts Muster Field, at the junction, is a tract of several hundred acres used since Revolutionary days.
FRAMINGHAM CENTER, 19 m. (alt. 199), is the old village of the township. The governmental center has now been shifted to Framing- ham (see Tour 1C).
On Oak St., opposite the Common, is the Framingham Memorial Library
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High Roads and Low Roads
(open Mon., Wed., and Fri. 9-9; Tues. and Sat. 9-6). This structure was built in 1872-73 in memory of the citizens of Framingham who served in the Civil War.
Facing the Common at the corner of Grove and Vernon Sts. is the Old Stone Academy Building (open by appointment), built in 1837 and now the home of the Framingham Historical and Natural History Society.
The Framingham State Teachers' College, on Maynard Rd., is the oldest normal school in the country, having been founded one year before Crafts- bury Academy in Vermont. Originally opened in Lexington in 1839, the institution was moved to Framingham in 1853.
On a tiny Common in the center of Buckminster Square, at the junction of Main, Maple, and Curve Sts. and Union Ave., is the Revolutionary War Memorial, a bronze statue of a Minuteman loading a musket from a powder horn. On the corner is a roughhewn Milestone set up in 1768 when this village was on the 'Connecticut Path.' Near-by, on Main St., is the Church Hill Cemetery, containing the grave of Peter Salem, the Negro slave (see LEICESTER, Tour 8, sec. b).
I. Left from Framingham on Main St., straight ahead on Union Ave. to the junction with Mt. Wayte Ave .; right here to the corner of Chatauqua Ave. where a boulder marks the Site of the Thomas Eames House, burned by Indians during King Philip's War. Eames's wife and five of their children were slain; the re- maining four children were taken captive.
2. Right from Framingham on Vernon St .; left on Grove St. 1 m. to the corner of Belknap Rd., where is the Pike-Haven Homestead (private), a two-and-a-half- story gambrel-roof, clapboarded structure, now painted red and surrounded by spreading elms and slender poplars; built by Jeremiah Pike in 1693, it has housed eight generations of his descendants.
Right from Grove St. on Belknap Rd .; left on Edgell Rd. to a path at 3.7 m. which leads left to Nobscot Hill (alt. 600) and the ruins of a lookout built by the Indian Tantamous, called Old Jethro, who settled here about 1640 with his family. In 1675 he allied himself with the Praying Indians against King Philip, but he scorned Christianity. When the English confiscated his lands and insisted that the Natick Indians stay within prescribed limits, he was infuriated. Joining King Philip's band, he participated in the massacres, till he was tricked into delivering himself to the English at Dover, N.H .; he was tried and hanged in Boston, September 26, 1676, and his family was sold into slavery.
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