Bi-Weekly Newsletter November 9, 2024

Museum News
There is a new collection of photographs at the Easton Historical Society. These beautifully framed photographs of the Ames mansions have been hung on newly painted walls in (mostly) the north side of the museum, although one is in the south side of the Museum, and one is in the office. The following mansions are displayed:
-Langwater, home of F.L. Ames
-Governor Oliver Ames Mansion
-Spring Hill, home of William Hadwen Ames
-Stone Hill House, home of F.L. Ames Jr.
-Queset House, home of Oakes Angier Ames
-Sheep Pasture, home of Oliver Ames II
-Hobart Ames House at 31 Main Street
-Wayside, home of Mary Ames Frothingham & her husband Louis Frothingham
-Unity Close, built by Oliver Ames Jr.
-Borderland, home of Oakes and Blanche Ames
-Oakes Ames House at 25 Main Street
-Included also is the Edwin W. Gilmore Mansion, 12 Main Street
Edwin W. Gilmore, along with Oliver Ames, Jr., and Oakes Ames, founded the E. W. Gilmore Hinge Factory. This was in 1856. Gilmore later bought out the Ames’s shares. Initially the factory was on The Island; later the factory moved to 25 Elm Street. Following construction of the new factory, Edwin and his wife, Augusta Pool Gilmore designed and built their new house on the southeast corner of Elm and Main Streets.

Photograph of the Governor Oliver Ames house, original house.
Of the twelve, seven still stand. Langwater, Stone Hill House, Queset, Borderland, Wayside, Unity Close, and Spring Hill. The others were torn down at various times. Wayside serves as the Easton Town Offices, Stone Hill House is part of Stonehill College, Borderland is a State Park, and the "Learning Commons" at Queset is part of Ames Free Library. Spring Hill, Unity Close, and Langwater remain in private hands and Langwater is the only home still owned by the Ames family. If you have a chance, stop by to view these photographs.

Two of the homes displayed in the “Mansions Gallery”, Spring Hill & Langwater.
Also new at the station are copies of Volume Fifteen of Reminiscences magazine, published yearly by the society, and the fine work of Daniel P. Pare and Hazel L. Varella. Included are articles by Avery Lee Williams, Anne Wooster Drury, Mark C. Bergeron, Frank Meninno, Sharon Baird Graves, Charleton Ames, and several by Daniel Pare including a fascinating and deeply researched article “From the Trenches to Tinseltown: Oliver Ames, Jr., in WWI”. Copies of this year’s volume are $10 and past volumes are just $5. Well worth it!

Anne Wooster Drury
[email protected]