USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Mattapoisett > Mattapoisett and Old Rochester, Massachusetts : being a history of these towns and also in part of Marion and a portion of Wareham. > Part 22
USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Rochester > Mattapoisett and Old Rochester, Massachusetts : being a history of these towns and also in part of Marion and a portion of Wareham. > Part 22
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The village of Mattapoisett was equipped with fire apparatus before the separation from Rochester. The act of incorporation provided that "Mattapoisett shall pay to Rochester their proportion of twelve hundred dollars for the interest they have in the fire department; and Rochester shall relinquish all right and claim in said fire department to Mattapoisett." The next year the town voted "to accept Engine No. 1, with a company not exceeding 20 members to draw pay," and proceeded to purchase an engine house and fixtures for $396.49. And in 1859 it was reported, "the town now owns 1 Engine House and Lot, 2 Fire Engines, 12 leather and 11 wooden buckets, 25 feet suction hose, 600 feet leading hose, 2 torches, 1 lantern, 2 stoves and pipe, 4 fire hooks, 4 ladders about 100 feet, all in good condition for the relief of any portion of community that may be invaded by the calamity of fire." Engine No. 1 was kept in a shed in company
THE OLD ENGINE HOUSE Formerly " The Little Belt," Church Street, Mattapoisett
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with the "hearse," on the premises of Prince Bolles on North Street.
One very disastrous fire took place shortly before the incorporation of the town. It burned the "County House," as was called the hotel run by Leonard Ham- mond; the large stable with adjoining sheds belonging to the hotel, Eaton Hall, a boat-shop, Hammond's store then run by George Purrington, Jr., a "nine pin alley," and Jonathan H. Holmes's house. The fire swept towards the west, and after an unsuccessful attempt to blow up Eaton Hall, Jonathan H. Holmes's house was blown up and the flames stopped. It was during one of the coldest winter nights ever known in the town, and was the worst experience the town has ever had from fire. The stable stood where Thomas Luce's stable now stands; County House where the cellar hole may still be seen, just to the east of Purrington Block; Eaton Hall occupied the pres- ent location of Purrington Hall, and Jonathan Holmes's house was where Mendell's drug store now stands; the horse chestnut tree, which stood in Holmes's front yard, though injured, survived the fire and still stands. In 1857 S. K. Eaton was paid for "a plan of burnt district," and "James Ruggles's Vigilence Committee" received a large sum for investigating the causes of the fire. Another unusual fire was that of June 27, 1846, when the whale- ship, Joseph Meigs, which had just arrived here from a voyage with a full cargo and was anchored just inside Mattapoisett Light, waiting for an opportunity to reach Long Wharf, was burned to the water's edge. The fire was late at night and the burning oil made a brilliant spectacle. It is interesting that the hulk was towed ashore, the upper works rebuilt, and the ship again sailed.
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Other fires might be mentioned, but in general the fire department has ably coped with the "invader," and Mattapoisett has been spared since 1857 a serious "calamity of fire."
Its herring or alewife fishery has always been a matter of considerable value, as well as of annual interest to the town. The fish formed no small part of the food of many a family and the receipts from the sales were at times quite large. How valuable the "run" was, is shown by the numerous acts of legislature obtained to "preserve the fish called Alewives in Mattapoisett River." In 1788 a forfeiture of ten pounds was provided for any one who should set a net in the harbor "between the southwesterly end of the island, owned by Rev. Mr. La Barron, and from thence to the mouth of the creek which runs out of Bar- low's Pond"; and in 1811 the excluded limits were made "northward of a line running directly from the most southerly part of Capt. Job Haskell's farm on the westerly side of the harbor, to the most southerly part of Joseph Edward's land (now Ned's Point), on the easterly side of said harbor." The same protection was in 1830 extended to shad.
In the very first year we find a payment to Noah Spooner of $185.89, the "expense of petitioning for a new herring river."
In 1860 it was voted "to divide the income of the herring stream on the polls." Apparently the legality of the vote was questioned, as J. B. Ransom and James LeBaron were appointed a committee to get legal advice on the subject of division "and pay their own expenses." As a matter of fact, the Supreme Court afterwards decided that such a division could not be made.
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Mattapoisett the Town
Not satisfied with the run of herring in Mattapoisett River, in 1865 the town voted to establish a herring fishery in the creek or outlet leading from the Eel or Barlow's Pond to the harbor. An act of the legislature was obtained under which an abutment was built along the east side of the creek, and an attempt was made to induce an annual run of herring, but it was never very successful. An attempt had previously been made by a company of individuals, incorporated as the "Mattapoi- sett Oyster Co.," to plant and raise oysters in this pond and creek, but while partially successful, both herring and oysters seemed to prefer the deeper waters of Matta- poisett River.
Among the early attempts of the town at improvement was the securing of authority from the legislature to pro- vide a public common, and in 1874 the town voted to accept the act. Public sentiment, however, turned against the project and the work was undone.
The subject of laying out and discontinuing roads oc- cupied much of the town's time and of its records, which from 1857 to 1880 show: The discontinuance in 1858 of the "Old town road leading eastward from North Street near the house of James LeBaron;" the widening and straightening in 1861 of the highway from the "house of John Bowlin, now of George Fox," to Cedar Swamp Brook, "provided Solomon E. Bolles shall fill the slough of said road with stone and give the gravel from his barn cellar which he contemplates making and also one week's work on said road;" in 1868 the acceptance of Pearl Street, north of Church Street, "as now opened;" in 1874 the acceptance of the road known as "Freeman Street," leading by the houses of Charles
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Smith and James H. Tinkham; also that year the acceptance of a way from Main Street to Barnard's Island as a private way; the next year the action of the County Commissioners in widening and straightening North Street "from highwater mark northerly to the Rochester line," and that of the town in accepting the road known as Foster Street leading from Macy Bowman's to N. C. Ransom's. In 1876 the County Commissioners relocating, widening, and straightening Main Street, "from a point on Cannonville Hill, at the former residence of Prince A. Snow, to the Barstow Schoolhouse;" also that same year, the acceptance of Mechanic Street, "from Church Street to Sturtevant Street," as laid out; and of Oakland Street, "as laid out;" in 1877 the County Com- missioners' altering of the highway between the house of J. L. Stackpole and the store of P. G. Munro; and in 1879 the acceptance of the report of the Selectmen widen- ing and straightening the road from the house of Isaac D. Tinkham to the town line of Acushnet. In general, the streets have kept their original names, but "Willis" and " Jerusalem" streets are names of the past.
Practically the whole water front of Mattapoisett Village was a public common until after the close of the ship-building days, so that it was not until 1884 that the town, realizing the need of access to the harbor, secured the "Leonard Hammond ship-yard lot," the "Durfee Beach lot" in 1886, and still later the wharf property of the Mattapoisett Wharf Company.
Another piece of land devoted to quite a different pur- pose came into the possession of the town in 1889, when Lemuel LeBaron, Weston Howland, and Wm. B. Nelson, the Precinct Committee of the First Precinct in Matta-
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poisett, conveyed to the town the interest of the Precinct in "the Barlow Burying place, and being the same land conveyed to said Precinct and to the inhabitants thereof, by Elihu Sherman, by deed dated June 8, 1789."
The first steam train passed through the town on the 4th of July, 1854. It consisted of an engine and a number of flat cars which were trimmed with birches, and a free ride to Fairhaven was provided for all. Later years have brought the daily "Dude" train, for the accommodation of summer residents, and a high-grade electric street car service.
As early as 1876 the town began to experiment on watering its streets, and that year is found a payment to the Mattapoisett Wharf Company for "water from their dock."
The original mode of keeping the ways in repair by a labor tax was soon changed to making money appropria- tions which were expended from time to time by different officials as the town changed its systems; the price allowed for labor on the highways advancing from ten cents to twelve and a half cents an hour in 1859, and it was voted that "all who pay their highway tax before the 4th of July, either in money or labor have a discount of 20 per cent." The first substantial advance was made when the first mac- adam road was built in 1893 by William L. Hubbard, Ephraim A. Dexter, and Joseph R. Jenney, Road Com- missioners, under the supervision of Captain Jenney. A piece, 4900 feet long, was built at a cost of $1400, and at- tracted considerable attention outside the town. It lasted for many years and led to the adoption of this method of road construction. There are at the present time four- teen or fifteen miles of stone road in the town, more is
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built each year, and its shore and woodland drives cannot be surpassed.
Joseph E. Smith was the first and only "Pound Keeper" elected by the town, and in 1882 the town pound was con- veyed to him for the sum of $40. The next year $10 of this amount was refunded to him, presumably because the pound was missed less than was expected. The pound stood on the south side of the Fairhaven Road in the north- east corner of the house lot now owned by Nathan Smith.
The conscientious service of its officers has been fre- quently recognized by the town.
In 1874 the town passed a vote of thanks to Thomas Nelson, Town Clerk, for his long and faithful services. Ten years later a similar vote was given Capt. Franklin Cross, who had served twenty-one years as a Selectman. Henry A. Shurtleff, Town Clerk, and Wilson Barstow, Selectman for twenty-seven years, were honored in a similar manner in 1891; and in 1894 resolutions were adopted on the death of Noah Hammond, Selectman for twenty-one years, setting forth the town's obligations to him.
While perhaps not unusual in Massachusetts, the Puri- tan strain of ancestry of the early settlers of Mattapoisett is shown by many given names appearing on the town's records, such as "Fear, Content, Justice, Hope, Wealthy, Thankful, Hope, Prudence, Patience, Charity, Mercy, Faith, Experience, Desire, Remember, Ransom, Re- solved."
Even to the present time, the whole history of Matta- poisett may be read in the annals of "whaling." Even now it is rare to find on her streets a man of fifty years who has not shipped for at least one "cruise," and "Cap-
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ens " are as common as were ever "Kurnels " in the South, after war time.
Most of the well-to-do families owe their prosperity directly to "oil" and "bone;" and curiosities from the sea, or relics from foreign lands the world over, are treas- ured in every household.
It will be many a year before the influences born of arduous toil and exciting adventure in every sea shall cease to bear fruit.
Some day, as the wheel of time slowly turns, again the noise and strife of busy commercial enterprises may fill the streets and throng the wharves; till then, as one of her sons has written :
"The wanderer o'er the troubled sea of life, Come safe to port here after all the strife, May think himself, aye, more than three times blest, At harbor in this quiet place of rest."
LIST OF TOWN OFFICERS
The following persons have served the town as indicated:
Selectmen, Assessors and Overseers of the Poor from 1857 to 1907:
Amittai B. Hammond, 1857-61, inclusive.
Joseph E. Smith, 1857-62.
Jarvis Ellis, 1857-61.
Nathan H. Barstow, 1862. Thomas P. Hammond, 1862.
Josiah Holmes, Jr., 1863-69.
Franklin Cross, 1863-83.
Wilson Barstow, 1863-68, 1870- 90.
Isaac Hiller, 1868. Bruce F. Shaw, 1869-73. Noah Hammond, 1874-94.
Joseph L. Cole, 1884-1900. Reuben F. Holmes, 1888. Ephraim A. Dexter, 1888. Jonathan H. Holmes, 1891-93. Allen D. Hammond, 1894-95. James F. Hammond, 1894-96. Thomas D. Dexter, 1895-97. Nathan S. Mendell, 1897-1902. Abner Harlow, 1899-1901. Lester W. Jenney, 1901- Horace F. Field, 1902- Isaiah P. Atsatt, 1903-04. Everett C. Stetson, 1905- .
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Treasurers and Collectors, 1857-1907
Samuel Sturtevant, Jr., 1857-60, inclusive.
Benjamin W. Shearman, 1860-66.
Henry Taylor, 1867-68.
Freeman C. Keene, 1888-99.
Elwood B. Hiller, 1900-
Town Clerks, 1857-1907
Thomas Nelson, 1857-74.
William B. Nelson, 1891-93.
Lemuel LeB. Holmes, 1874-76.
George H. Dexter, 1893-1905.
Reuben F. Holmes, 1876.
William N. Johnson, 1905-
Henry A. Shurtleff, 1876-91.
School Committee, 1857-1907
Josiah Holmes, Jr., 1857-61, 1866-69.
Weston Howland, 1857-60, 1872- 76.
Wm. E. Sparrow, 1857-59, 1867- 72.
Woodbridge R. Howes, 1859-61. Wilson Barstow, 1860-66.
Noah Shearman, 1861-62, 1870- 71.
Henry Barstow, 1861-65, 1870-71. Thos. Nelson, 1862-67.
Noah C. Sturtevant, 1865-68.
Jonathan H. Holmes, 1868-70.
Herbert Shurtleff, 1869-70.
William Weaver, 1871-74.
Jarvis Ellis, 1871-74.
Joshua L. Macomber, 1872-78, 1879-82, 1887-96.
Joseph L. Cole, 1872-75, 1876-86. Geo. Purrington, Jr., 1874-76.
William E. Sparrow, Jr., 1875-76, 1885-87.
Nancy M. Caswell, 1876-79.
William B. Nelson, 1878-81.
Edward B. Hiller, 1882-85.
Mary F. Dexter, 1882-87.
Alonzo W. Westgate, 1886-87.
Charles Bryant, 1887-90.
David H. Cannon, 1887-92, 1894- 97.
Pliny A. Allen, 1890-91.
Charles H. Johnson, 1891-94.
Joseph L. Meigs, 1892-97.
Robert L. Dexter, 1896-97.
Charles H. Tinkham, 1897-1900.
Clara L. Hammond, 1897-98. Lemuel LeBaron Dexter, 1897 - Elizabeth E. Shaw, 1898.
Heman G. Holmes, 1898-
James S. Burbank, 1900-03.
Mary W. Wood, 1903 --
Among members of the professions from Mattapoisett since its incorporation are:
Lawyers. - John Eddy, John W. Hammond, Nahum
A. S. LeBaron, 1869.
Isaiah P. Atsatt, 1870-82.
Reuben F. Holmes, 1883-87.
Benjamin L. Boodry, 1888.
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Mattapoisett the Town
Leonard, Jr., Lemuel LeBaron Holmes, Thomas W. Hammond, Hollen M. Barstow, Alvah E. Snow, Frank M. Sparrow, Lester W. Jenney, J. E. Norton Shaw, Lemuel LeBaron Dexter, and Jonathan H. Holmes.
Doctors. - William E. Sparrow, William W. Sweat, Dr. Bartlett, Dr. Bass, Woodbridge R. Howes, Charles E. Bolles (D.D.S.), Roland Hammond, Herbert Shurtleff, Thomas W. Hammond, David H. Cannon, Clarence L. Howes, John C. Shaw, Henry A. Shurtleff, William F. Holmes,
Ministers. - Pliny A. Allen, Jr.
CHAPTER XIV
MATTAPOISETT OF THE PRESENT
D URING the fifty years of independent town history there have been two eras. Mattapoisett was once a busy seaport; it is now a summer resort.
After the ship-yards were abandoned, and the sound of the hammers - which yet lingers with such charm in the memories of the older people - was stilled, a kind of decadence set in. It was no longer the inevitable thing for the young men to make their "first voyage;" and, if good sailors, to continue following the sea, or if not, to settle down at ship-building or farming. Instead, they went West, or to the large cities, and so established their homes where they could find employment. The young women, having no longer their traditional amusement of watching for ships to come in, and of writing six months' news to absent sailor boys, caught the new spirit of inde- pendence and also went away to seek their fortunes. The older people and the easy-going remained, and the times were very dull indeed. One finds in a town report of the period a pessimistic page on which Mattapoisett is con- trasted most unfavorably with "brisk and flourishing in- terior towns," and a prayer is offered that "some busi- ness may be instituted in which we can all participate." An old sea captain, whom most can yet remember, used to sum up the situation with less elegance, and
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say with a thump of his cane: "The town is getting a cant."
The ministers could no longer pray with the old-time weekly fervor for "those that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in the great waters," nor could the vil- lagers throng the wharves on a summer's evening to watch a vessel slide off the ways. Long Wharf Middle Wharf and Short Wharf no more were covered with great casks of oil and the piled-up paraphernalia of whaling enterprise. Ned's Point light house still threw its nightly beam across the harbor, but no whaleman, returning from an Arctic voyage, had a lookout aloft, scanning anxiously the distance to catch the first gleam of its welcoming light. No merchant ships were eagerly waited by sailors' wives in Mattapoisett, and new stones were rarely set up in the village burying-grounds to the memory of sons or hus- bands lost at sea. The shipping in the harbor was re- duced to a few schooners in the fall that brought, perhaps, a cargo of coal; and departed, laden with box-boards, for Philadelphia or some other home port.
But as the village waited, and the years passed by, a time came when the popularity of summer seaside homes was established among the wealthy people of the cities, and the south shore of Massachusetts began to be " dis- covered." Mattapoisett was too charming in location and natural beauty to be passed unnoticed. The first to perceive its possibilities, and to make for themselves a place of summer rest, were Mr. and Mrs. George M. Barnard, of Boston, who came in the fall of 1869, and soon bought up much of the shore and inland property, and continued as summer residents of Mattapoisett as long as they lived. Their home, the old Benjamin Barstow
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house, now owned by their granddaughter, Miss Mary W. Barnard, has an unbroken exposure to the sea, a beautiful view of the harbor, and has - although much enlarged - been kept in its simple old-style character, with the pic- turesque weather-beaten trees around it.
The Barnards were soon followed by other families, who built new cottages or made over old houses all along the shore, many of whom have continued to come summer after summer, growing more and more attached with the associations of years. Among these early summer visitors were Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes and his son, Mr. Justice O. W. Holmes, Jr. The latter owned and oc- cupied for many seasons - but has lately sold it - the old Cowen place on the eastern shore of the town just back of the "Cedars," - a rocky elevation of the beach crowned with those hardy trees. Hon. George O. Shat- tuck built on the Edwards' land next the lighthouse, which place is now the summer home of Hon. Charles S. Hamlin. Another Boston lawyer, J. Lewis Stackpole, converted the Hall blacksmith shop, west of the "com- pany ship-yard," into a summer home on the sea sands, swept always by the sea winds. Thomas Parsons, of Boston, whose place just east of the village includes in its former bounds the lot of St. Philip's Episco- pal Church; and Francis E. Bacon, the Boston merchant, whose charming house and garden are in "Cannonville," were among the earlier summer residents, and their families are to-day still welcomed back with each return of the vacation season. So also is the family of Edward Atkin- son, the scholar and social economist, who, until his death, came regularly to his quiet home, which nestles in the woods with an outlook toward the sea. On the grounds
MATTAPOISETT VILLAGE FROM NEDS POINT
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is the big boulder, - "the Great Rock," - around which generations of Mattapoisett children have picnicked and played, and have wished it could tell them of its long-ago journey in the ice age, and of when and how it was broken in two.
Some were drawn back to Mattapoisett by family ties. Mrs. Elizabeth Barstow Stoddard was often a visitor in her native town, and Rogers L. Barstow, the Boston banker, and Mrs. Seavey, Mrs. Battelle, and Miss Munroe, the granddaughters of old "Squire Willis, .. . " have many interests and associations with the past, to attach them to their summer homes. William T. Faunce, the Boston shoe man, son of the kindly remembered old Baptist minister, has enlarged and improved his old homestead; and James T. Jones has returned to his native town and converted the William LeBaron place into a summer residence. Within recent years rows of smaller cottages have been built along Pico and Crescent beaches, and at various points on the Necks, either for personal occu- pancy or for rental, and for these the demand increases.
Of course the chief attraction to visitors, and the par- ticular pride of the inhabitants, is the harbor. The land seems to stretch out long, guarding arms on either side. On one is Ned's Point, with the lighthouse, and on the other is the Neck, named long ago by the Indians, "An- tassawamuck Neck." This harbor is always beautiful under sunny or cloudy skies, or by moonlight; and the fresh southwest breeze tempers the hottest midsummer day. The opportunities for boating, fishing and bathing are good, and the public bathing beach, so wisely acquired by the town some years ago, is more and more used, both by the village people and by the transient visitors. Of
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these latter there are many each summer, two hotels are often crowded, and more would doubtless come if accommodation were more easily obtained.
Around the town are many beautiful drives. The macadam roads run not only along the shore, but stretch back into the fragrant pines which abound in all the Old Rochester territory. One can take visitors first down the Neck road for the pretty view of the village and the curving line of shore stretching to the lighthouse, with the gay-colored roofs piled high on "Cannonville Hill," and beyond the light "Strawberry" and "Angelica," stretching out toward the Falmouth shore. On the west neck there is the winding, woodsy, Brandt Island road ending over across the bridge on the island itself. An- other circuit back from the water, to the northern limit of the town, leads through alternate pieces of pine wood- land and cultivated farms, "around Wolf Island." The island is not evident, but it is there, formed by the Matta- poisett River dividing and uniting again, and between two little narrow bridges the road crosses the lower corner of it. There is still less evidence of the "wolf," which, according to one tradition, roamed there once. Accord- ing to another it was only a man named Wolfe from whom the place was called.
To those who delight to explore old roads and cart paths leading into the woods, this part of the town is very attrac- tive, especially when the laurel is in bloom. The great fluffy masses of white flowers seem to catch all the sun- beams, and to lighten up the dim vistas of the shady paths. The swamp apple blossoms, which have about the same season, are less beautiful, but the air is made sweet by their fragrance. If one is interested in geological
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curiosities there is in this neighborhood the impression in the stone called the "Devil's foot," and also the "Dumpling Rock," which a man can move with one hand, but which many stout young men together have vainly tried to roll off its rocky base.
For longer drives there is the fifteen-mile circuit through Marion and Rochester, or the still longer courses around the Lakeville ponds, or around Long Plain and Fair- haven. Skirting the bay the macadam is unbroken from New Bedford to Sandwich and is a trunk route for auto- mobiles. By trolley and steam train or boat, Plymouth and the Cape, Martha's Vineyard and even Newport, and all the resorts of Narragansett Bay, are within easy reach for single-day excursions. If one prefers to seek solitude, there are attractive old woods roads leading by the "Boat Rock," or to Solomon's, and even through to the neighbor- ing towns, upon which one can tramp for miles without view of any dwelling.
The Mattapoisett River flows along, in the inconsequent way of rivers, from Snippituit to the sea. It is beautiful when seen from the highway, but still more beautiful in the dark places where the trees and tangled vines inter- lace overhead, and the cardinal flowers in August make vivid spots of color all along the banks. It was the Indians' course to the seashore, and if their shades any- where revisit the glimpses of the moon it must be beside this stream. One wonders if they seek the nearly vanished spring where, by tradition, on their return from the shore, they made the first clambakes, naming the spot the " place of rest," and thus giving a name for the river and the town. Where the river begins to widen out is the romantic spot known as "Lovers' Bridge," a rustic
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