​“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science.”
― Albert Einstein, 
Anyone who knows me, knows I love a good mystery. Louise Penny and Kate Ellis aside, one of the reasons I love studying and teaching history is because the study of history is simply uncovering the mysteries of the past. Whether digging into the ground or into a book, there are always intriguing clues, though often only a partial answer is revealed- a glimpse at a long-ago life, culture, reality.

​In the lower right-hand corner of this circa 1750 map can be seen John Dailey’s name. His property would have been on the current Stonehill College campus. To the west of Jos. Crossman's would become Main Street and North Easton Village. 
While it is wonderful and appropriate that many Ames buildings have been renovated and/or repurposed; it is nice to see some artifacts let to 'just be', whether on purpose or by default. The photo below shows abandoned architectural features resting peacefully along Rhododendron Drive. The rhododendrons themselves were imported from England.

Also mysterious on campus is the collection of huge boulders in an area near the Belmont Street entrance that have been linked to the late 17th century, the era of King Philip, chief of the Wampanoags. Some call it King Philip's Cave and believe King Philip himself hid out there during the First Indian War (1675-6). There was a student excavation at that site in 1957. Additional artifacts are dated to between 1500 BC and 500 AD.

This expedition is over for now, but stay tuned for more mysteries-  of another nature altogether!


“The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery.”
― Anais Nin
 
Anne Wooster Drury
ehsnewsletter12@gmail.com
  
*Basil Moreau (1799-1873) was the founder of the Congregation of the Holy Cross. The Congregation purchased the estate of Frederick Lothrop Ames in 1935 to be used as a seminary. Stonehill College was founded in 1948. 
Some information was gathered from the Stonehill Alumni Magazine, Fall 1999, and stonehillcollege.edu.
​

​If it’s spring that must mean baseball!
The Easton Historical Society and Museum will have its monthly Open House on Sunday, March 19th from 11:00 to 4:30. Featured will be Easton’s very first Little League baseball charter from 1952. The first four teams in the league were: Fernandes (Supermarket), Lions (The Lions Club), Pioneers (The Pioneer Club), and Huskies (The Easton Huskies Club). All games were played at Frothingham Park. A few years later Easton’s Little League expanded to six teams with Howard’s Insurance and Easton Pharmacy joining in. Below is a schedule of the 1953 season with names of all the players, coaches, and leadership. So many familiar names, and we urge all of you and your families to attend if possible.
 
A few guest speakers will join us and pictures from the very early days will be on display. We will have photos, schedules from the 50s, 60s and beyond. We are looking for donations of any artifacts you may have that would add to this history. Hats, gloves, bats, helmets, pictures and uniforms for our display and archives.
 
We are looking for a very exciting day! Refreshments will be served.
 
Thank you,
Jonathan Coe (Howard’s Insurance 1962-64)
 

Schedule, 1953.


More baseball! The Easton Huskies and the Cranberry League
​

​"Excellence In Amatuer Baseball Since Eisenhower Was President"


With spring comes the advent of baseball season. For those who love baseball, there is much to look forward to. Fields at Militia Park, Oliver Ames, and Frothingham Park will come alive once again. Grass will turn green; chalk lines will be put down. It is a happy time. Sadly, though, Easton’s well-known semi-pro baseball team, the Easton Huskies, is for now, history. According to Ed Hands in Easton's Neighborhoods, the Easton Huskies grew out of a twilight league created in the 1930's. The best players from the various teams played against other towns on Sundays. In 1939 after being criticized for their 'motley' appearance in mismatched uniforms, Connie Spillane, Bill Baxter, and others chose a town uniform and the team name Easton Huskies. In 1960 Connie founded the Cranberry Baseball League, which was a ‘wooden bat’ league. The Cranberry League was a member of the American Amateur Baseball Congress, Stan Musial Division. Players were amateur, collegiate, or former professional athletes who competed at a very high level. Connie Spillane, a multi-sport athlete and graduate of Oliver Ames, was a powerful force in baseball in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island for over 70 years. Connie passed away in 2003. Home field for the Huskies was Frothingham Park.

​Annual Memorial Service for Louis A. Frothingham and his wife, 
Mary Ames Frothingham on the Sunday before the Huskies season 
opener, May 1998. Pictured: their grandson David Ames, OA teacher 
Ed Hands, OA student Erin Pope, and Park Superintendent Buddy 
Wooster.



In 1973 when Connie Spillane retired from coaching, he was followed by Bob Richards, Bob Gibson, Peter Johnson, and Bill Baxter. Beginning in 1985, Easton resident Bob Wooster took over as player-coach for the Easton Huskies (1985-1997), and then coach (1997-2010). Bob began his baseball career playing Little League for Howard Insurance and went on to play baseball (and basketball) for Oliver Ames. “Wooster is arguably the best all-around baseball player in OA history.” (Easton Public Schools Town of Easton Massachusetts). After a stellar career at Stonehill College Bob went on to the Cleveland Indians where he made it as far as their Double A team. With Bob as coach, the Huskies won five Massachusetts Stan Musial titles and travelled to the Stan Musial World Series four times. 

Coach Bob Wooster.
Many Easton athletes have played for the Huskies, too many to mention here. A few old-timers mentioned at the 50th anniversary celebration in 1990 were Clyde Craig, Al Gomes, and Gil Heino.


 
Keeping a coach was difficult after Bob left. Both Chris Welch and John Ferrara stepped up, but currently the organization is without a coach. Much time and work is involved in managing a semi-pro team. Watching a Huskies game at Frothingham Park was a nice way to spend a summer day. Maybe sometime in the future, fans will once again fill the stands, wooden benches, folding chairs and grassy slopes, and watch another Sunday afternoon Huskies doubleheader.

Easton Huskies celebrate after a win.


Anne Wooster Drury
ehsnewsletter12
 
 
http://www.cranberryleague.com/, (Frothingham Memorial Park), Easton'sNeighborhoods by Ed Hands
(Easton Public Schools Town of Easton Massachusetts), jfenton@enterpriseews.com
​

​The Easton Historical Society and Museum will be having our monthly open house featuring  Easton’s very first Little League baseball charter in 1952. This will be on Sunday, March 19th from 11-4:30 at our Museum. 
We would like to invite all and especially the members of the very first team members that played and participated. A few guest speakers and displays of pictures of the very early days will be there.
The first 4 teams in the league were: Fernandes(super market), Lions (The Lions club), Pioneers( The Pioneer club, and Huskies(The Easton Huskies club). All games were played at Frothingham Park.
A few years later Easton’s LL expanded to 6 teams with Howard’s Insurance and Easton Pharmacy joining in.
Below is a schedule of the 1953 season with names of all the players, coaches and leadership.
So many familiar names and urge all of them and their families to attend if possible. 
We will also have pictures, schedules from the 50s, 60s and beyond.

We are looking for donations of any artifacts you may have that would add to this history. Hats, gloves, bats, helmets, pictures and uniforms for our display and archives.

We are looking for a very exciting day! Refreshments will be served.

Thank you,
Jonathan Coe (Howard’s Insurance 1962-64)

​The photo shows Mrs. Pomeroy's store in winter with snow on the roof. It juts out beyond the houses and is at the bottom of the street. The dog is Ed's dog Teddy. If anyone remembers Mrs. Pomeroy's store we would be interested to know. This photo was taken in 1947.The trees planted along the street were gifts of the Ames family.
 
Union Villa


The Union Villa Restaurant is a landmark in the Unionville section of Easton. I remember sitting in a booth and eating steamer clams when I was in college, and in later years picking up delicious bar pizza for the family. My father liked pepper and onion.

​Buddy’s Union-Villa, 190 Washington Street.

  
The Villa has a long history; as far back as the 1920’s food has been served at the location. First, John Dyer of Union Street built a permanent ice cream and sandwich shop next door to the Easton Grange Hall on Washington Street, known as Dyer's Homemade Ice Cream and Sandwich Shop. Prior to that Dyer had peddled food door to door in his horse drawn wagon. By 1936 John Spillane and William Flynn opened a restaurant on the same location known as the Union Villa restaurant and Dance Hall.

In 1931 John Dyer had a food booth at the Brockton Fair. He was known for his long beard and creative advertising. Washington Street was also known as State Road.
In 1949 the building was known as "Spillane's Union Villa Restaurant, Washington Street, No. Easton, Mass." In 1952, Dyer’s estate sold the entire property to John J. and Elizabeth F. Spillane. After her husband died Elizabeth Spillane, with her son, John J. Spillane, Jr., continued the tradition of the Union Villa Restaurant and Dance Hall. Elizabeth Spillane commuted by bus from Brockton to run the restaurant. In the late 1940's and early 1950's the restaurant was popular with students from the newly created Stonehill College.



In 1975, Easton residents, Buddy and Kay Richard, purchased the property and restaurant to operate as Buddy's Union Villa. In 2016 scenes from the movie ‘Stronger’ were filmed in the Villa. The movie was based on a book by the same name written by Boston Marathon survivor Jeff Baumen. Actor Jake Gyllenhaal starred in the movie. Today, Buddy’s five children run the restaurant. It continues to be a popular local bar and pizza restaurant. The following is a quote from Boston's Hidden Restaurants, "The pizza is really something special at Buddy's, however, and its old-fashioned atmosphere is of the type that becomes more and more difficult to find in the Greater Boston area and beyond as the years go by." So go to Buddy's and get yourself some pizza!

 
           The dried-up bird’s nest remarks
           To the gloom in the potato cellar
          That only the thin green stalks of
          The briar bushes retain any color
 
Anne Wooster Drury
ehsnewsletter12@gmail.com
​

We want to know your thoughts...please complete the survey so we can improve our museum.
Your ideas and opinions are important to us. Thank you so much! 
​https://qfreeaccountssjc1.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8doN6wzjQNp5EAm

​Upcoming: There will be an Open House at the Museum on Sunday February 19, 2023.
Fox Mountain

Growing up in Easton and having a father who liked to take us on regular walks through the woods, swamps, fields, if off-trail all the better, I’ve been to many natural spots around town, I’ve been lost in cranberry bogs, tangled in briars. But recently a mystery presented itself. I saw a place on a map that I was not aware of and had never been to, Fox Mountain. Fox Mountain is located east of Poquanticut Ave. Relying on my GPS, I set out to find Fox Mountain Lot, as it’s called, and became thoroughly confused. I drove up and down a stretch of Poquanticut many times looking for the entrance. As it turned out, my GPS was just wrong. In talking to my brother, I found out he’d been to Fox Mountain in the past. He led me quite a bit (southeast of Clover Valley Farm) down the road from where my GPS directed. We drove into a driveway connected to a private home and indeed, at the end of the driveway, not easily seen from the road was a Natural Resources Trust sign and nearby a Bay Circuit Trail marker, as this walk is part of the Bay Circuit trail. There was enough room for a few cars to park. Finally!

​What I wasn’t expecting was a stone marker in memory of Pvt. U.S.M.C. Edward F. Smith, an Easton resident killed in the Vietnam War in 1967, at the head of the trail. There was a lovely biography about him encased in a plastic sleeve attached to a tree, which I read, and began my walk in a somber mood, grateful that I was able to be here on this sunny winter day.
Of course, Fox Mountain isn’t a mountain, but an area of higher ground; there are many beech trees there, and stone walls. At the beginning of the trail, in two places, were well-built bridges over Beaver Brook, which was flowing quickly. Off to the left of the path was an area of high ground, basically a heap of large rocks or boulders. Climbing up to the highest point, I felt I was quite a bit above the forest floor looking down. This was difficult, though, to capture in a photo.

Highest point. Fox-Mountain Rock, I suppose.
I stopped walking at what I believed was the edge of the lot. There was a stone wall and beyond that, the power lines. I turned around and walked back, glad I had finally found Fox Mountain. The trail was clearly marked with white rectangles on trees and the occasional Bay Circuit symbol.
*The coordinates that you can use in navigation applications to get to find Fox Mountain Lot are 42.0429268 ,-71.1374247


           I stand in awe of the bare trees 
          That in some other lifetime 
          Chose to bind themselves to the soil 
          Knowing what winter was

            
Anne Wooster Drury
ehsnewsletter12@gmail.com
​

​More 1960’s
Growing up on Sheridan Street in North Easton it was possible to walk to various stores, both on Main Street and otherwise. The store I most often frequented as a child in the1960’s was the Corner Store that was located at the bottom of Columbus Ave. My cousins lived just a few houses up the street from the store and we often walked from there.


Side story, when I was in elementary school we used to play in the middle of Columbus Ave. We would draw in chalk in the middle of the street, not sure what game that was? I remember neighborhood boys making go-carts and driving them down the street; we would just shout, ‘car’ if we saw one coming. 
The owner of the Corner Store at the time was Dick Southworth; he was also a postman I believe. Candy cigarettes were popular, we played at smoking. Colored liquid in wax bottles, wax lips, Bazooka bubblegum for two cents. I believe (memory can be tricky) I recall when popsicles went from five cents to seven cents. Sky Bars were a favorite of mine, four different fillings wrapped in chocolate.

​Tom Barnhill’s Five & Ten was located on Main Street. I remember buying Christmas presents for my brothers and sisters there. It was dark and dusty inside. Creaky old floors. For a short time, I worked there- Tom Barnhill was our neighbor on Sheridan Street. I remember being told to watch out for shoplifters. Apparently, neighborhood kids were known to do such a thing(!) When the store closed, or when Tom Barnhill died, I don’t clearly remember, we acquired his large brass cash register. It sat on our hearth for decades.
I remember waiting in the station wagon in the narrow drive outside Harvey’s Market on Main Street, with three, four, or five younger siblings, while my mother went inside to buy a pound of hamburger. We had hamburger at least twice a week, broiled, in meatloaf, American Chop Suey or a dish my mother made up, called South American Meat Cakes- hamburger with onions and gravy. It sounded exotic; we didn't know until years later that there was no such thing as South American Meat Cakes. She seemed to take forever in there. I disliked stopping at Harvey’s.

The Easton Pharmacy was a staple on Main Street before chains like CVS or Walgreens came to town. It’s where we picked up prescriptions and other drug store items. As a teenager I recall buying nail polish or a lipstick.

                   Fusilli pasta tossed with artichoke hearts,
                   Roasted red and yellow tomato, Kalamata olives, 
                  Red onion, roasted red peppers, olive oil and 
                  Balsamic vinegar, served over greens
 
 
Anne Wooster Drury
ehsnewsletter12@gmail.com
​

​Growing Up Near Frothingham Park, Who Else Remembers?
I’m sure we took it for granted, my siblings and I, living across the street from the Park. For every season, there are memories. We lived on Sheridan Street, but we didn’t usually enter by way of the Sheridan Street gate. Almost directly across the street from our house was the “crooked bar”. One of the iron bars in the fence was bent, just enough that small children could slip through. The crooked bar was such an institution that when, decades later, the fence was being repaired, my mother asked that the crooked bar be left alone.
These memories are from the 1960’s, when the playground was typical of the times, but dangerous by today’s standards. There were monkey bars, a giant slide, swings, heavy metal rings, and most fearsome of all, what we called the ‘merry go round’ or Maypole spinner. These were metal handles draped off a center pole. You ran and jumped and swung and dreaded the occasional hit on the head when someone jumped off, leaving their handle flying. I was hit on more than one occasion. There were wooden seesaws and in the back corner near Park Street a tall metal jungle gym. On hot summer days we would hang upside down by our knees from the lower bars.

​We called this the ‘merry-go-round’. Beyond the fence are the backyards of houses on Day Street. Notice the plaid bell-bottom pants. Easton Historical Society.
​
The Big Rock. We discovered a few different ways to climb up onto the Big Rock. It was like hitting a developmental milestone once you could maneuver this all by yourself. It was a great spot to view your surroundings or have a secret meeting. Secret meetings and clubs were huge. Another test of climbing ability was to climb on top of the monkey bars. And there was tree climbing as well. They were wilder and freer days in the 60’s. Siblings and cousins accompanied you to the park, not parents.

One of the most creative ways we used the Park was to set up ‘house’ in the pine grove in the corner near Sheridan Street, just inside the fence. We swept the pine needles on the ground into low walls separating our houses and hung our doll clothes in the trees and made rooms for our babies. Very dated female role playing, but we had fun.

​In winter, the hill on the Sheridan Street side was great for sledding. The perfect size for the age ten and under crowd. One year we built a mogul at the bottom of the hill for extra excitement. Remember metal coasters? Sleds with metal runners? In spring the track got really muddy, and we wore our boots and pretended it was quicksand. So much fun getting pretend stuck.
In the summer there was a Park Program and neighborhood children could just walk in. One of my strongest memories was gimp. Multi-colored plastic strings that we braided into bracelets, necklaces, or key chains. Quiet activity for a gray muggy day, or a cool sunny one. We didn’t carry water bottles, individual plastic, or reusable, they weren’t a thing yet, but the water fountain was always available if we were thirsty.

Sadly, the days of children moving in packs and looking out for each other are gone. For better or worse the playground looks much different now. All the old equipment is gone as the Park has evolved with the times. (Shout out to Scott Pearsons, Executive Director and Facilities Manager.) My own children enjoyed the Park in the 80’s and 90’s, my grandchildren enjoy it today. Thank you, Mary Ames Frothingham, for your gift to the town, in memory of your husband, Louis Adams Frothingham, dedicated September 27, 1930, and putting it in my front yard.

 
Playing games in the park
‘til way after dark. I’m back
through the crooked bar again,
where only children fit
 
Anne Wooster Drury

ehsnewsletter12@gmail.com
​

​The Queset 

The Queset is a lovely brook that runs through the villages of North and South Easton, and on into West Bridgewater, eventually becoming part of the headwaters of the Taunton River. According to Chaffin in the History of Easton, the name Queset was recorded for the first time in 1825. Earlier, the brook was called Mill River, Saw-mill River, Trout-hole Brook, or Brummagem River- after Eliphalet Leonard’s Brummagem Forge. Chaffin believed that Queset was probably a corruption of Cowisset or Coweset, by the people of Bridgewater, who mistook it for another river that was also located in the Taunton North Purchase, but further to the west, in Norton. On a 1736 map Mill River was mistakenly named Cowisset (map from state archives, vol. cxiv. p. 211). 

​Today Queset Brook flows out of Ames Long Pond, crossing under Canton Street and going on to meet a tributary formed by the small streams that were at one time (1846-1968) dammed to form Flyaway Pond. After meeting at Picker Field, the combined waters flow west of Canton Street, under Main Street near the Queset House, into Shovel Shop Pond then onto Langwater Pond where it joins Whitman’s Brook flowing south from Easton’s northeast corner. After crossing under Main Street at the Langwater Pond Dam and into Sheep Pasture, flowing south and then east into Morse’s Pond in Easton Center, the Queset continues east under Washington Street, into Dean Pond, and under Turnpike Street to the join with Coweeset Brook near Walnut Street, then travels south to join the Town River in West Bridgewater.

Water was of great importance to the early (and later) industries in Easton. A few examples: a saw-mill was built in South Easton sometime before 1700 by Thomas Randall, Sr., Thomas Randall, Jr., and Nathaniel Packard. It was located near the dam on the Queset that existed in Chaffin’s time. (His History of Easton was published in 1886.) Clement Briggs had a grist-mill at the same dam prior to 1713. The third industry known was the Leonard Forge at Stone’s Pond (Fred’s Pond, Langwater) in North Easton. It was working in 1723. In 1716, Capt. James Leonard purchased land on both sides of ‘Trought-hole Brook’ (Queset) to start an iron business. He built a dam, and the business was operational sometime before 1723.

​Hello Everyone!


Of special note on this newsletter:


On display now at the Historical Society is this beautiful window brought from England for the Edward Hayward 1714 house. The window is in the Tudor style (1550’s – early 1600’s). The house was southeast of the Joseph Hayward (red) house currently at 227 Foundry Street. According to Ed Hands in Easton’s Neighborhoods, Edward Hayward moved to Easton in 1713 when “the road from West Bridgewater ended at his new house.” He was the first of many Haywards to live in and improve the Hayward-Poole neighborhood.

​I’ve been reading the Easton Bulletin dated June 1, 1888. Geo. H. Jenkins was publisher & proprietor, Dr. F. E. Tilden, the editor. A one-year subscription, paid in advance, cost two dollars. A single copy, 5 cents. It was to be published every Friday. So many things were different in 1888, but many things were the same, including human nature. The Bulletin met many needs of the residents of Easton; it was the social media of the day. The Bulletin included a train schedule, church directory, social directory, humor, baseball scores, local news, gossip, poetry, fashion news, an installment of ‘A Novel’ by Florence Alden Gray, advertisements and more.
Of interest was News and Notes for Women. Easton women were advised that pale pink and gray were favorite colors in cotton dresses, that women in New York had taken to walking for exercise in large numbers and doctors were complaining. (I am not sure why doctors were complaining.) Apparently, Queen Victoria of England frowned on electric lights in her palaces. A Mrs. Shoemaker of Missouri was applauded for not being a ‘gadder’. She was perfectly well, thank you, but hadn’t left home in 25 years, not even to go next door.
In an article on the recent Memorial Day festivities, it was reported that Dr. J. C. Swan spoke of his wish that every soldier be pensioned, and he was glad to pay his share, of his father’s strong anti-slavery sentiment and joy at reading Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Rev. F. A. Warfield of Brockton spoke for an hour, praising the courage of Northerners during the ‘60’s (Civil War) and their heroic spirit, holding the attention of all. The day was declared most successful. 
Hood’s Sarsaparilla was advertised as a cure for many things. A personal testimonial from A. A. Riker of Utica, NY claims- if one feels languid or dizzy, has no appetite or no desire to work, the beverage will cure you. “It makes the weak strong.” 100 doses for $1.
There was a local news section for each part of town: Centre Casuals, South Easton Etchings, Sequasset Sketches, Furnace Flickerings. Many of the notices here were pedestrian, about people visiting, ‘stopping’ somewhere, being gifted a colt, becoming ill or housebound. A few were very odd by modern standards.
Centre Casuals:
“Herbert Hewitt is a solid lad. He is 9 years old and weighs 128 
pounds.”
Furnace Flickerings:
“Robert Willis, an old citizen of this place, was taken to the Taunton Lunatic Asylum last Tuesday.”
“Frank Belcher has got a new bicycle. It’s a dandy.”
And in “Here and There: Tommie Fish, a lad of 12 years of age, was accidentally shot in the thigh by the premature discharge of a toy cannon with which he was playing.” The femoral artery was narrowly missed, surgical aid was called, and he was doing well. Tommie Fish lived in Unionville.
Recipes were included for: Rice entrée, potato turnovers, oranged strawberries, and rice and asparagus soup. Just for fun, I made the rice entrée. Recipe: Stew a cup of rice until well done, add a small cup of milk, two well beaten eggs, pepper and salt to taste, pour into a shallow pan, sprinkle grated cheese thickly over the top and bake until the top is nicely browned. It looked pretty, tasted OK; wouldn’t make it again.

​An interesting article titled “No Almshouses in China” contrasted the US and China in regard to how the poor were treated. The author argued that so many people in the Empire of China lived at subsistence levels that 2/3 of the population would qualify for aid if it were available. However, accommodations in US almshouses were luxurious in comparison, with clean beds and good food. (Youth’s Companion)
The Bulletin was full of far too many stories to adequately sum up, but I’ll end with a story that claims Pond Street is becoming one of the prettiest streets in the village. Elm trees set out years before by Henry McArdle are growing tall, and there is a beautiful view of the Governor’s residence across the ‘clear transparent waters.’ A nice street for an evening’s promenade. It is still a lovely view today.
 
Blue heron, still in profile
On the bank of Shovelshop Pond       
Archaic line drawing
Superimposed onto now
 
 
Anne Wooster Drury
ehsnewsletter12@gmail.com


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