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Weekly Update

10/31/2020

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Greetings from spooky Easton!  I wish all the white stuff surrounding me today were nothing more than an apparition, but alas, it isn't.  More than 3" of snow accumulated by late yesterday afternoon, and the heavy, wet stuff has tree branches hanging low.  I believe we broke a record for such a large snowfall this early in the season.  But, wait!  This is New England after all, and today's temps in the 40's will make much of this disappear.


Don't forget to turn your clocks BACK one hour tonight, or you'll be one hour early for everything tomorrow!

History is full of legends and folklore.  So here is one that is appropriate for today.

Bay Road can be a lonely place at night.  Once rush hour passes, and night settles in, the oldest road in Easton becomes a bit magical.  Darkness permeates the atmosphere.  A late night drive might get you a glimpse of a fox or coyote crossing the road.  If you are really lucky, you might catch sight of a bobcat.  Otherwise, the stillness of the night can be unnerving.

One such dark and still night some years ago, one man saw a sight that would not be soon forgotten.  Driving along Bay Road late at night, near Lincoln Street, he and a few family members in the car with him passed by a solitary figure slowly walking on the roadside.  At first they didn't pay much attention, but with the late hour, they quickly had thoughts of going back to offer the poor soul a ride.  Turning around their car near Randall Street, they went to the place where they expected to see the person walking.  He was nowhere to be found.  A quick ride on Lincoln Street and Allen Road proved fruitless in trying to locate the man.  Once they stopped for a moment to get their thoughts together, one of the people in the car noted that he had been dressed in old clothing - very old, in fact.  The lone figure was not just walking, he was marching - in a Revolutionary War era outfit!  Though the friend and his family searched a little while longer, no trace of the man was found.  They never saw him again.

A few years later, another small group of people in their car sighted this same fellow, dressed as a soldier, walking on Bay Road very near the entrance to Borderland State Park.  They had a similar experience, turning their car immediately around, and not being able to find the man.  In fact, there are at least three instances of this being reported over the years.

This morning, at dawn, I went to this location and took the attached photo - snow and all - of the area in question.  I took the photo looking down Bay Road northerly from Randall Street, in the same area as the old soldier has been sighted.  At night, it is a quiet place, with the few houses in the area long shuttered for the evening.  A street light nearby provides some light, and casts shadows on the trees that line the road.  The light soon disappears into the woods, leaving one feeling very much alone.  Then again, perhaps you aren't!

There is some historical background for this (I knew you would be asking) that gives this at least a little credibility.  During the days of the Revolutionary War, members of Easton's West Militia Company would have been marching to answer the call to arms in either Boston or Taunton (the East Militia Company probably would have marched on what is now Washington Street).  A story survives, handed down by long-past owners of the Josiah Keith House on Bay Road near Wheaton Farm.  During the Revolution, a column of troops passed by on their way to Boston, probably about the time of the British evacuation and American occupation of the city.  It took an hour for all the troops to pass by the house, so you can imagine the sheer number of men and boys who marched the long journey to Boston.  Undoubtedly other militia units marched Bay Road as well during the war years.  Perhaps one soldier is still marching.

Hoping you have a safe week, stay well,
Frank

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Weekly Update

10/24/2020

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​Greetings from ever colorful Easton!  Creation is in all her glory this weekend, and vibrant hues of red, orange and yellow are exploding across the landscape.  There has been a lot of photo activity here this week.  A photographer from the Enterprise took a number of photos in our area (see the  link below for some really terrific ones!) and for two days a student from the Rhode Island School of Design has been photographing the architectural details of our building, using available light at different times of the day.  A number of high school students are having their senior photos taken in this area as well, making good use of the colorful foliage and the architectural gems it frames.


Here is the link to photos taken by Alyssa Stone for the Enterprise:  https://www.enterprisenews.com/photogallery/WL/20201024/NEWS/102409997/PH/1

Today we finish our tour of the Belcher photo album.  The photos included here are not Easton, but wrap up the album in either western Massachusetts or Vermont.  Mr. Belcher eventually escaped the confines of the foundry and made his living as an engineer in several granite quarries.  He continued his photography, taking landscapes such as the lake view presented here.  A mountain setting screams Vermont, but this could easily be a quiet place in western Massachusetts nestled in the Berkshires.  The second photo must have been a favorite of the photographer.  It is a granite quarry, and it is a shining example of the photographer's talent.  Look at the way he uses light and shadow to bring out the drama and textures in this print!  He also captures a few workers and their machinery,  ropes and ladders, and even a name and date written across one of the stone faces.  One gets a sense of danger as well as the reality of working these quarries sets in.  These two photos are a fitting end to the story of our photographer.

Hoping you have a great week and enjoy the colors of fall in New England!
Stay well,
Frank
Picture
Vermont lake
Picture
Vermont quarry
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Weekly Update

10/17/2020

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​​Greetings from a very soggy Easton!  Periods of heavy rain brought a little relief to the drought we have been in most of the year.  The ponds are higher now and the brooks are running a little faster than they have since springtime.


Today I am sharing a photo from the Belcher album that has ties to one of the earliest businesses in Easton: the former Perry / Drake foundry in Furnace Village.  Furnace Village received its name from the iron business developed there around Old Pond (c. 1750) and later New Pond (c. 1825).  The Perry family began casting grey iron at the Old Pond site around 1750, and in 1837 the Belcher family established a malleable iron foundry operation across Foundry Street.  The busy village that once had such an identity with iron production for so many years now struggles to retain any memory of its iron producing past.

The photo presented here is taken across Foundry Street and looks right at the spillway in the Old Pond dam.  The low earthen dam with the clay core provided the necessary water power for a burgeoning iron industry.  It looks like the water was running pretty high when this picture was taken.  At first glance, it appears that there is a fence along the top of the dam.  A closer look at the structure reveals that it is a walk way, elevated above the dam, leading to the building at the extreme right of the photo.  That old mill building is part of the former grey iron foundry (this is the original foundry, not associated with the later malleable iron foundry across the road).  It may date back to the time the Perry's owned the works and produced cannonballs and small cannons for the Continental Army.  The building is on an 1825 map with other buildings associated with the foundry.  An 1855 map identifies it as a carpenter shop adjacent to the foundry.  The 1895 map also shows the building associated with the foundry, now operated by the Drake family, and finally, the building is shown on a 1934 map.  By that time the old foundry was gone, and the malleable iron foundry was using any extant buildings for storage.  By the time I was growing up in Furnace Village, the building was gone.

Just behind that building you can see the roof and chimney of the old "Block" that provided housing for foundry workers for many years, and in the center of the photo, in the distance, is the Albery Hayward house, 60 Poquanticut Avenue.  At one time this area was clear of many of the old forests and one could look across Old Pond almost to Beaver Dam Road.  Today the trees have grown and that view can no longer be seen.

Next week I'll be finishing up the Belcher album, as most of the photos have now been published.  I hope this will serve as a gentle reminder not to throw old photos away!  Thanks to someone's foresight in keeping this album, we have a record of a past that would otherwise be forgotten.

Stay well,
Frank

Picture
Old Pond dam spillway
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Special Event

10/12/2020

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​Hello all,
I want to pass along information on a very special online program offered through the Ames Free Library and our own Ed Hands!

Edmund Hands will be offering a two-part master class, A History of Easton in 12 Objects, which should be of great interest to many of our fellow Lions and Eastonites.  The program will run on Thursday, October 15 and Thursday, October 22, from 7-8:00 p.m. As you know, aside from being a Lion, Ed is a consummate historian, educator and storyteller. 

Please join us! Click the link below to access our registration page, and please pass this along to people who might also enjoy this class!


https://amesfreelibrary.org/events/2020/09/30/master-class-online-history-easton-12-objects-edmund-hands

Attached, please find an image for the classes.

Best,
Marion


-- 

Marion Wingfield
Development Director
Ames Free Library
53 Main Streetg
North Easton, MA 02356
Office: 508-238-2000
Cell: 508-272-3072
Fax: 508-238-2980
mwingfield@amesfreelibrary.org


-- 
Frank T. Meninno

Curator, Easton Historical Society and Museum
508-238-7774

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Weekly Update

10/10/2020

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​Hello from beautiful Easton, Massachusetts!  I like numbers, and today's date is one that grabbed my attention.  The 1010 doubles to 2020 (I wonder what the binary equivalent would produce!).  20/20 vision is something I have not had in many years.  I have heard it said that Ted Williams had 20/10 vision, a reading so good that he could see the spin on a baseball and know if the approaching pitch was a fastball. curveball, or something else.  As a matter of fact, Williams' reputation for superior vision supposedly caused an umpire to once quip to a catcher, upon calling a close pitch a ball, "Of course I called it a ball, if it were a strike Williams would have swung at it."


Before we get to today's photos from the Belcher album, two notes:  Reminiscences: Volume 11 is available at the Museum and through the new Museum store.  Remember to use our new website: www.eastonmahistoricalsociety.org!  Second, you do not have to sign up to continue to receive these emails - you are all still on our list.

Today, we take a look at two early examples of Greek Revival houses in Furnace Village.  Would you have guessed that the Furnace would be a place for cutting edge architecture?  It was, and the village boasts some of Easton's earliest examples of Greek Revival architecture along Foundry Street.

The houses at 541 and 545 Foundry Street were actually owned by two brothers, and both houses today retain their Greek Revival influences, Doric columns and all.  545 Foundry Street is known as the James Becher House.  Built around 1840, it may be a few years earlier since a deed mentions a house already on the property when it was sold by original owner Elisha Page in 1842.  The house was part of the estate of Iron Founder Lincoln Drake.  The house was again sold in 1844 to Abner Drake, a carpenter, and he sold the house in 1852 to foundryman James Belcher.  Belcher was the son of Clifford Belcher, and his brother owned the adjacent Greek Revival house at 541 Foundry (soon to be discussed).  When James died in 1896 of cancer, his wife continued to live at the house until 1917.  The house stayed in the family, next going to John W. and his wife Caroline Torrey Drake.  Daughter Caroline was born 1907, living there until she married Charles Bulfinch and later moved to the former Leach house on the corner of Foundry and Poquanticut Avenue.

The house remains well preserved today, but the old barn, which was already in disrepair, was removed following the Blizzard of 1978.  One other note - One of James Belcher's sons, Edgar Belcher, married Julia Rankin, whose father ran a very successful duck farm on Purchase Street.  She was a successful musician and composer.  The Rankin property on Purchase Street is now the Easton Country Club, and the house on the left as you enter was the home of Edgar and Julia.  We have in our possession an old wheelchair that belonged to Edgar Belcher, which was donated by Leon and Sara Lombardi to the Museum.

The brother's house at 541 Foundry is another example of Greek Revival architecture that still retains its original features.  The Daniel Belcher house was also built around 1840.  In 1837, Belcher married into the Drake family, and that year partnered with Alexander Boyden to open a malleable iron foundry on the south side of Foundry Street.  That is the foundry that was still operating when I was growing up in Furnace Village in the 1960's and 1970's.  In 1839 Daniel Belcher had become superintendent of the foundry.  He and the foundry were recognized in 1847 by the Massachusetts Charitable Mechanic Association with a silver medal for excellence in malleable iron casting.  The Belchers raised a family and also boarded foundry workers at the house, perhaps in quarters in the extension that is off the rear of the family part of the home.  Daniel died in 1890, and his widow lived in the home until 1908.  The house passed through several owners until it was bought by Ellen Keith for her daughter Helen Blaisdell (from Ellen's first marriage).  

Helen lived in the house alone from 1945 until her death in 1975.  I remember her well (we lived next door at 537 Foundry), a small white-haired old lady who lived with lots of dogs and cats.  No one ever set foot in her home that I can remember except a neighbor who would get her groceries for her.  There were a lot of rumors surrounding her death - there was a harp in the house, a wine cellar, and other stories.  The house itself has a curved wall on the interior.  Buried under the front lawn is a large chamber, whose original purpose cannot be determined.  The old barn was long gone before my time.  You may notice to the right of the house, the "conservatory" or greenhouse that was once on the property.  The old house was lovingly restored by Craig and Judy Andrus when they bought the property in 1975.  At that time, there was no running water in the home.  Ms. Blaisdell used a pitcher pump over a well in the house and a chemical toilet.  To rid the house of the many papers that the dogs and cats made messes on, she would burn once a week in an open rubbish barrel.  We always knew when burning day was, and on the days when the wind blew our way, we could tell by the odor who was doing the burning!

I hope you enjoy the photos, and until next week, stay well!
Frank
Picture
Daniel Belcher House
Picture
James Belcher House
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Weekly Update

10/3/2020

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​Greetings!  A week that began so innocently sure turned difficult rather quickly.  A strong Tuesday night storm brought winds that knocked down some large trees, resulting in more than half of Easton losing power until late Wednesday night.  And the news of the President being treated for the coronavirus complicates an already difficult election season.  These are two powerful reminders that winter is nigh and that the end of the present pandemic is not in sight just yet.  Let's continue to persevere through all these storms in hopes of much brighter months to come.


We all need a little cheering up now and then.  Today I share a photo from the Belcher album that I hope will put a smile on your face!  Gathered for a summer picnic in the shade of a grove of trees are members of the Heath, Belcher, and Drake families.  It may look innocent at first glance, but looking closely, you can see a little fun in the photo.  Henry Heath stands in the back left holding a pouring tin of some concoction.  His wife stands next to him with a basket of apples.  The young ladies are sitting on blankets, and the young men are mostly standing in the back, passing around a bottle of "something" to lift their spirits.  Even the ladies are sharing a little something extra!  As you can see, hamming it up for the camera is nothing new.  If you look close enough I think you'll find lots of little treats in this photo.

Until next week, stay well,
Frank
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