Greatest Moment in Democracy

Transcription

Free
Vol. 5, Issue 2
www.BlackstoneDaily.com
Summer 2008
Democracy’s Perfect Moment
“The American Revolution did not
start with “the shot heard round the
world” on the morning of April 19,
1775.”
By 1774, the Crown’s General
Gage understood that the revolution
had already been won in the hearts,
souls and incredibly powerful resistance of the farmer patriots throughout
the shire towns and countryside of the
Bay Colony. By autumn 1774,
Worcester County patriots had
changed the course of history. Yet,
our history books don’t relate this
monumental drama. Even in our
hometowns which sent hundreds of
farmer patriots to participate in our
Nation’s greatest moment of democracy, the compelling facts had not
been recognized until award-winning
author and historian Ray Raphael
uncovered the first American
Revolution that history had overcontinued on page 4
Summer Concerts
Independence Day Events
This incredibly significant document, The Tory Protest, is at the Worcester’s City Clerk’s office
Our River: Blood on
the Blackstone, Part 8
Miantonomi
Happy Birthday, Picket Fence
Car Cruising Fundraiser
by Joe Doherty
Blood on the Blackstone, Part 8 –
“Peirce’s Fight” was one of the bloodiest and most important battles of King
Philip’s War, and it was fought right
here on our own Blackstone River.
This is Part 8 of a series about the
battle and its aftermath. You can
catch up on earlier chapters at
www.blackstonedaily.com/ourriver.htm.
This installment may feel a bit out
of place, as the action occurs three
decades before the events of our main
story. But trust me, it’s an important
element of the larger tale. You’re
bound to see some parallels next time
in Part Nine.
Thirty-two years before King
Philip’s War was carried to the banks
of the Blackstone River, two Indian
sachems – one Mohegan, the other
Narragansett – faced each other from
opposite sides of a grassy plain near
what is now Norwich, Connecticut.
Behind each chieftain, hordes of warriors waited anxiously, roughly four
hundred to five hundred on the
Mohegan side, and perhaps as many as
nine-hundred on the Narragansett.
Ancient rivalries and a series of
treacherous alliances with the English
had drawn the two tribes to this time
and place. Though not a single white
man stood among them, both sides felt
his presence on the field that day.
A lone Indian broke from the
Mohegan ranks and started across the
plain towards the Narragansetts. He
bore a message from his sachem,
Uncas, inviting the Narragansetts to
parley. A short time later the messenger returned: Miantonomi, the
Narragansett sachem, had accepted.
It is doubtful whether Uncas or
Miantonomi truly believed their grievances could be resolved by talk alone –
their feud was too old, too bitter, for
words alone to succeed. Yet for reasons soon to become apparent, the two
continued on page 15
Journeys
Page 2
Journeys
Page 3
Advertiser Directory
ADVENTURE & FUN:
Blissful Meadows Golf
Broadmeadow Brook
Great Canadian
Southwick Zoo
Waters Farm
West End Creamery
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AUTOMOBILES:
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DINING & DRINK:
Deja Brew
Falzones Italian Eatery
Picket Fence
Rebecca’s Place, Too
FARMS:
Foppema
Keown
Sweetwilliam Farm
FASHION:
Peggy’s
FITNESS & HEALTH
Caring for Women
Jazzercise
GIFT SHOPS & Treasures:
Country Bumpkins
Douglas Flea Market
Generations Herbal Apothecary
Mendon Country Gift Barn
Nana’s Attic
Pepperberries
Rebecca LeCouteur Gift Shop
Sweetwilliam Farm
Vaillancourt Folk Art
HOME & GARDEN:
Ace Glass & Decorating
Rebecca LeCouteur
Robbins Garden Center
Schotanus Design
PETS & TRAINING:
Azrael Acres
Horse Trainer
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REAL ESTATE:
Alliance Realty
Manchaug Mills
SENIORS & WELLNESS:
Select Mobility Services
Senior Comfort Services
www.theBlackstoneValley.com
Your one-stop resource for
the Blackstone Valley!
Blackstone’s Treasures
One of the most delightful places to
celebrate Independence Day is the scenic and historic Daniels Farmstead in
Blackstone, MA. This farmstead captivates children and adults alike with its
scenic beauty, old cider mill, intriguing
house and barn tours. On Saturday,
July 5th, the fine Claflin Hill
Symphony Summer Winds Patriotic
celebration will become another memorable celebration for all to enjoy.
Grounds open at 4 PM, Doris’ Kitchen
is available along with games for the
kids, house tours and plenty of fun!
The concert starts at 7 PM. So grab
your blanket or chairs and enjoy!
The History of Daniels Farmstead
Originally part of the 1667
Mendon land grant to several Braintree
colonists, Mendon’s South Parish
eventually incorporated as Blackstone
in 1845. The South Parish had continued to grow since the 1769 construction of Mendon’s second Meeting
House, the beautifully restored, historic
Chestnut Hill Meeting House which is
now actually located in Millville, as
Blackstone lost some of its size when
Millville was incorporated into the
Commonwealth’s second youngest
town in 1917.
Though Blackstone can no longer
claim its historic Meeting House, its
treasures still include: The East
Blackstone Quaker Meeting House, the
wild and exciting High Rocks Gorge
and Rolling Dam on the Blackstone
River and the lovely intact Daniels
Farmstead.
The Daniels
Farmstead
stretches back
to the mid 18th
century as a
working farm
for generations
of Staples,
Southwicks
and Daniels until 1993 when Charlie
Daniels died. Probate records,
researched by Carol McPherson, indicate in around 1850, “Hiram Daniels
changed the focus of the farm from
crops to raising cows. He built a large
mid-nineteenth century barn, probably
attached to a smaller earlier barn,
which appears to have been rebuilt by
Daniels when he constructed the cider
mill. Also Hiram Daniels built the
cider mill for the small apple orchard,
which he had on the property and
which would become a mainstay of the
farming for a period of time in the
early 1900s.”
Thankfully, when last generation
farmer Charlie Daniels died, he had
willed the scenic farm to his older sister, Doris Daniels King, who worked
tenaciously and tirelessly to preserve
and protect the farmstead and its 188
acres for future generations to share even as she turned 100 years old! Her
niece, Justine Southwick Brewer, is the
current president of the Daniels
Farmstead Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit preservation organization whose
mission is “to protect and preserve the
rich historically significant farm and
buildings located on pristine New
England soil, restore the farm to its
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Democracy’s Perfect Moment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 1
Our River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 1
Daniels Farmstead . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 3
Jane Keown:Farm Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 5
Education: Learning Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 7
Blackstone Treasures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 8
Dining Review: Cocke ‘n Kettle . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 9
Summer Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pages 10-11
People: Malcolm Pearson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 12
former splendor, and operate a living
museum where local historians,
schools, and the general public can
learn about the New England Farm life
from the 18th and 19th centuries.”
*www.danielsfarmstead.org
According to their website “the
Daniels Farm is not just a place, it’s
part of a community made up of people
who appreciate agriculture, history,
education and beauty. You now have a
chance to be part of that community!”
A Glimpse from the Past
Daniels Farmstead Membership
Drive
In July l904, Hiram Daniels received
a free bull from P.A. Skelton of
Worthington, Massachusetts with the
unpromising name of “Blackstone’s
Tormentor.”
Teams of oxen continued to be used
on the farm long after most other farms
discontinued the practice. A newspaper article (undated) with the caption,
“Blackstone Farmer Has Prized Pair of
Oxen” showed Hiram T. with a pair of
oxen, his six-year old Holsteins named
“Amos and Andy.” Hiram stated that
he had “used nothing but oxen on his
continued on page 8
Business: Personal Checkups . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page 13
Earth Talk & Local Business News . . . . . . . . . Page 14
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up for our bi-weekly Spark! ezine filled with news,
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Journeys
Page 4
Democracy’s Greatest Moment,
looked. Yet it is arguably, America’s “Greatest
Moment of Democracy.”
These determined patriots changed the course of
history forever. They were joined by farmers in
Barrington, Springfield, and Braintree who gathered
to overthrow the heavy-handed tactics of the Crown
by shutting down their Courts. These farmers had
never been so full of fear and rage as they saw the
checks and balances of the Courts erode and solely
favor the Crown. But the most dramatic scene
occurred along the shire town of Worcester’s dusty
Main Street and 1751 Court House when nearly
5000 farmer patriots stood peacefully, yet forcefully
in a struggle for freedom where participatory democracy has never again rung so true.
The “Flames of Sedition” had already
spread throughout the countryside where
95% of Massachusetts residents lived
after a series of episodes, including the
Tea Party and Stamp Act had led to tension and rage. The port of Boston was
still controlled by the Crown’s military
forces and many of the educated elite
had assembled in Philadelphia to decide
whether they should wrest control away
from the Crown. But at meeting houses
and taverns across the Bay Colony, the
farmers and shopkeepers were preparing
and reacting in a determined rage to the
loss of representation and oversight they
once had to assure fairness in the Courts.
The 1691 Charter, which guaranteed
a system of checks and balances, had
been revoked by the Crown. The Crown
had always chosen the governor of the
Bay Colony, who in turn appointed most
officials, such as the sheriff, judges, tax collector and
other officials, but these appointments had to be
approved by the Council, whose members had
always been elected by residents. Elected Council
members were usually the wealthy and educated elite
whose families exerted great power throughout their
respective counties, but the common voters also
knew that they could competently record deeds and
understand the increasingly complex legal system.
Most farmers and craftsmen were concerned with
local issues - the struggle of daily life trying to grow
crops on rocky soils or tend to church or local Town
Meeting duties. Yet the contrasts of wealth between
the educated elite and yeoman farmers was growing
significantly while the rise of the “strolling poor”
and landless was starting to increase as generations
split up original land holdings again and again. Debts
for farmers were growing steadily and historians
have found that up to 22% of the farmers were facing litigation for unpaid debt. Courts had tremendous power to seize a farmer’s property, so this was
a growing concern in the years leading up to the
Revolution.
A farmer’s worst fear was losing his land. “In
the early 1760s, Massachusetts had little reason to
suspect this might happen. By the summer of 1774,
they had every reason to believe that it would.”* In
1765, the Stamp Act was enacted by the Crown to
force additional taxes upon colonists to pay off the
debt of the French and Indian War. This created a
huge outcry and resistance from colonists. The
schism between the elite landowners as representatives to the Massachusetts Council and local farmers
was growing.
Worcester’s elected officials, Timothy Paine and
John Chandler, tried to straddle both sides and say
nothing. But thirty two names of Stamp Act supporters were published in the Boston Gazette on March
31, 1766 after which more than half were voted out
of office. Times were restless and the educated elite
officials were no longer unquestioned as they served
two masters, the Crown and their electorate.
By 1766, the political monopoly of the Chandlers
ended when Ephraim Doolittle was elected as representative to the General Court. He and his supporters
demanded changes, including: transparency of governmental affairs, an end to the plurality and monopoly of office holding and bribery and most radically,
an end to tariffs and the repeal of operating a Latin
school. Worcester County citizens wanted their children to be educated in reading, writing and arithmetic, not some elite language only for scholars.
Though the Crown finally repealed the Stamp
Act, the Townshend Revenue Act was enacted in
1768 to place heavy export taxes on British goods.
The House reacted with a strong statement against
the taxes but the Crown demanded that the House
rescind its original letter or the General Court would
be dissolved. Within two years, the Crown also paid
its officials directly, taking away the little control
local citizens had left over its officials. By
November 1772, Boston radicals formed a
continued from page 1
Committee of Correspondence at their Town Meeting
to write a letter, known as the Boston Pamphlet, to
all 260 towns to request that they state their sentiments on the Crown’s controlling efforts. It also listed numerous grievances against the Crown, including “We cannot, when we think of the depravity of
mankind, avoid looking with horror on the danger to
which we are exposed.”
Reaction from Bay State communities was
strong and vociferous. Worcester had 41 petitioners
request that the Boston Pamphlet be presented at its
Town Meeting in March 1773. Town Meeting voted
that Timothy Bigelow, William Young and John
Smith serve as a standing committee of correspondence. But it went further than that in the
Chandler-Paine Tory stronghold territory. After
the Boston Tea Party, in December 1773,
Bigelow and other patriots formed the APS, the
American Political Party, which as a private club,
no longer had to discuss its objectives at Town
Meeting. These members were dedicated to prepare against the enemy, which included the
Crown as well as local Tories who were creditors
and judges who posed constant threat to local
farmers and craftsmen. They crafted a code to
oppose “the machinations of some designing persons in this Province, who are at grasping at
power, and the property of their neighbors.”
By March 7, 1774, the 71 member APS had
altered the course of local politics by electing
three members of their party as Selectmen yet
maintaining Timothy Paine, a moderate Tory. No
longer was there a Chandler in elective office.
The most pressing issues facing the new Board
of Selectmen were: the Crown’s direct payment
of officials and judges and the exorbitant taxes
without representation. They wrote a statement that
the Town resolved not to purchase British tea and
also to boycott anyone who sold contraband tea.
Yet, the local Tories were enraged and James
Putnam and thirty-one others signed a dissent,
known as the Tory Protest. The Tories made sure that
City Clerk Chandler entered it into the official
records.
Many decades later, local historian, Charles
Hersey, recalled the stories he heard of his elders as
a young boy: “The Tories were pale with rage.
James Putnam, leader of the Tories and the best
lawyer in North America, known for his sound reasoning and oratory skills, arose. He made a speech
against the resolutions as had never been heard
before in Worcester;” and when he sat down, it was
said that “not a man of the Whig party thought a single word could be said, and that old man Putnam,
the Tory, had wiped them all out. Blacksmith
Timothy Bigelow at length arose, without learning,
without practice in public speaking, without wealth
which the Tories of Worcester had, but there he stood
upon the floor of the Old South Church, met the
Goliath of his day,
Journeys
Page 5
O Fortuna
So much has changed in the world
since I last sat down to write a few
words for Journeys. The price of gas
has approached $4 a gallon, and the
price of diesel is approaching $5 a gallon. The presidential primaries have
run their course, and they have been
pretty exciting to watch....I wonder
who will win the ‘final prize’ and
where that person will take the country
in the next four years? The winter was
long and hard, the spring very strange,
and now summer beckons us into our
shorts and tee shirts. The Patriots didn’t win the Super Bowl, but the Celtics
have won the NBA championship for
the first time since my hair turned
white. Natural disasters around the
world have been numerous, and they
are forecasting a busy hurricane season
in the Atlantic for this year. Everyone
is concerned about the bee population,
and the seventeen-year locusts are
about to appear (where did I put my
hearing protection earphones?)
Agriculture changes little from
year to year. Oh, our approach to marketing can change dramatically,
although we are still pushing retail
sales and using wholesale when we
have a glut in production. We plant
new varieties of vegetables, but the
fruit tree varieties were committed to
years ago. There is stability in our
labor force, which is a good thing, as it
takes several seasons for people to
really become competent and independent at their jobs. It is always a
good thing for me when an accomplished field hand or retail person can
by Jane Keown
just come in and know what to do...it
allows me a blessed independence.
Right now finished plants are being
sold or planted, seedlings are being
transplanted, and new seeds are being
started for the ‘late’ crop (a specialty
of ours!) The farmer’s markets have
started again, and Dan is in Boston
today selling plants and honey to the
city folk. It’s a beautiful day, so hopefully many people will be tempted to
buy flowers or herbs to take home with
them.
While I have been working at the
greenhouse and stand, I have noticed
that people are buying a lot of vegetable plants this year. Seems that
everyone is feeling the pinch of higher
food prices and are venturing into
planting a vegetable garden. I think
this is a great idea; I had a garden for
many years before we started incorporating vegetables into our crops at the
farm, and I would recommend gardening to anyone. There is nothing as satisfying as picking fresh vegetables and
cooking them the very same day....or
eating them fresh from the plant! I’d
say I missed the experience, but since I
spend so many hours each day in the
field or greenhouse, I guess I still have
it, just on a larger scale. I used to
plant ten or twelve tomato plants: now
that represents two 6-packs to me!
Yesterday I was transplanting tomatoes: green grape, yellow pear and
white cherry. Sounds more like fruit
than vegetables, but then, of course,
technically tomatoes are a fruit. I
don’t remember precisely, but I think I
moved about ten thousand plants.
That’s a lot of little tomatoes!
Shrubs and flowers are still an
active part of our sales, and I think it
may be that people are looking to
beautify their immediate environment,
since vacations and travel are becoming increasingly expensive. Kris and I
seldom take trips...we didn’t spend one
night away from our home last year,
and doubt too much will change in
2008. I can’t say I bother much with
planting here at our wooded location,
as Mother Nature has made it abundantly clear she can handle trees and
plants. Wild flowers are everywhere,
and birds chirp incessantly from predawn to post-dusk. At night, our
acreage is visited by raccoons, opossum, skunk and deer, and in the deep
darkness of night, we hear the beautiful, eerie sounds of the coyotes. A
thousand people must live on our hill
these days, but from our vantage point,
it often seems we are alone in the
wilderness. Mounds of bedding plants
and flowering shrubs seem somehow
to be superfluous.
What will the season hold for us?
Who can justly tell? I can hope that
we will have clean crops of beautiful
fruits and vegetables that will be
desired by customers here in Sutton
and in the greater Boston area. I am
hoping that we do well enough selling
our produce that we will make more
than enough to pay our ever-increasing
bills and have a little to show for ourselves at the end of the day. We have
little choice but to continue farming,
since we sold the development rights
and must farm or fail. But there is the
nagging question in the back of our
minds, and in many other minds, I
must guess, regarding the future and
what it holds for any of us. We continue to do what we have always done,
hoping that this year we will get it
right.
The NBA ads this year have featured the Celtic’s players doing their
thing with the song ‘O Fortuna’ from
“Carmina Burana” by Carl Orff playing in the background. I performed
that cantata when I was in college, and
it resonates in my bones still. It seems
to me to be particularly apt in this year
of changes and destiny. How fortune
will shine on us we do not know. We
must persevere....continue to ‘play the
game’ and hope for the best. This
much I do know: the sun will rise, the
flowers will blossom and the fruit will
ripen. Some things are constant, and I
guess I’ll hitch my wagon to that star.
Jane Keown and nephew Artie Keown
operate Keown Orchards &
Farmstand, Sutton, MA.
www.keownorchards.com
Journeys
Page 6
Democracy’s Greatest Moment,
and fully vanquished him.”
Some local Blackstone Valley town
histories, such as Benedict’s History of
Sutton 1704-1876 reports that on
January 11, 1773, a committee of
seven men (similar to the APS in
Worcester) was formed to “obtain
redress under such pressing and alarming Grievances.” (p.89) By the following year, at Town Meetings, votes were
taken to collect monies for arms,
ammunition and militia training. It was
declared that all men, 16 to 60, should
be armed with bayonet, good firearm
and acutriments as well as be trained
in their use.
Two months later, the Crown’s
new Bay colony governor, General
Thomas Gage, replaced Thomas
Hutchinson and the port of Boston was
officially closed in retaliation for the
Boston Tea Party. The Boston
Correspondence Committee sent out
another letter to which Leicester citizens responded if the Crown asserts
“the right to dispose of private property” by shutting down Boston’s port,
then it might also stop any town or
person from sowing grain, mowing
grass, so long as his majesty thinks
proper.” Rage against the Crown
could be heard in virtually every tavern across the land and another boycott
called the Solemn League and
Covenant was crafted.
General Gage acted quickly as
Governor, rejecting thirteen of the 28
men chosen by voters as representatives to the Council. In addition, the
Massachusetts Act was enacted on
August 6, 1774 which implemented
further controls by the Crown. Local
reactions were immediate as this new
Act threatened each and every citizen.
Just three days later, fifty two patriots from twenty-two towns in
Worcester County met at Mary Stearns
Tavern in Worcester to create a committee and draft resolutions of protest.
Large amounts of ale and rum were
drunk in the process but by the following morning, two letters were approved
to “oppose the tyranny rushing upon
us.” Resolutions, based upon Lockean
principles and closely aligned with the
1691 Charter, were written and
approved three weeks later at the coun-
ty convention.
forced to ink over their own names.
August 16, 1774 was the scheduled
By August 27, thousands of farmer
day in the shire town of Barrington
patriots had arrived from Grafton,
for the first Court session to be held
Sutton, Oxford, Shrewsbury, Mendon,
since the Massachusetts Act was
Brookfield, Leicester and beyond to
announced. While General Gage was
force recantation of the Tory Protest by
administering oaths of loyalty to the
the remaining five holdouts. Nearly
Crown for thirteen councilors to
500 farmers came from Sutton alone.
replace those he had rejected, over
Most left their arms outside Worcester
1500 patriots closed down the
but they were determined not to fail in
Barrington courthouse. Most of the
demanding representation.
frightened judges returned to Boston as
They assembled at Paine’s home
they were now fearful of living in
first and eventually, he recanted. Still,
their hometown communities.
that was not enough. Paine was led
In preparation of Worcester’s
through lines of orderly patriots until
August 22, 1774 Town Meeting, the
he reached the center and was told to
American Political Society met the
shout his resignation to the Crown
preceding week to draft articles of sur- aloud. Up to 32 times, so that every
render where the thirty-two Tories
common man in attendance, would
would be forced to reject their earlier
hear equally Paine’s recantation to the
Tory Protest recordCrown and the
ed by Clerk
Tory Protest. Each
Chandler. A resoluindividual patriot
tion to command
would hear his
Selectmen to invenword, perhaps the
tory and ascertain a
fairest, most
proper amount of
orderly yet
arms and ammunidemanding crowd
tion was also draftever to assemble
ed.
towards a comBy the Sunday The 1751 Second Worcester County Courthouse, formerly on mon goal - freeMain Street is now a stately residence on Massachusetts Ave, dom from the
evening before
Worcester, MA
Monday’s Town
unfair and harsh
Meeting, most of the Tories had
constraints of the Crown.
recanted their Protest, yet five held
By noon, the crowd had dissipated;
firm: William Paine, James Putnam
some had traveled to Rutland for
and three others.
Ruggles’ recantation although he and
Monday’s long Town Meeting conother Tories had escaped to Boston,
tinued to Wednesday evening wherenever to return to their hometowns.
upon a resolution was passed “that the
Though General Gage eventually
town clerk, in the presence of the town, referred to this crowd as a mob,
obliterate, erase, or otherwise deface
Paine’s words in his letter to Gage
the said recorded protest, and the
describe something very different: an
names thereto subscribed, so that it
impressive and orderly assembly
may become utterly illegible and unin- showing the vast power of the comtelligible.”
mon people. Paine truly hoped the
So there it was…John Chandler’s
Governor would avoid using military
son, Town Clerk Clark Chandler, was
power as many of these patriots were
forced to draw his pen, line by line,
unarmed.
through the Tory Protest, in public
Yet, the prospect of Gage ordering
view. But that still was not enough as
troops into Worcester on September 6
he was forced to draw loop upon loop
was foremost in the patriots’ minds.
of ink and then forced to dip his own
They had methods to disavow loyalists
fingers in the ink to smudge out any
to the Crown, such as immediately
detectable words across the twentyleaving church when a Tory entered or
three page document. It appears that
boycotting their shops and goods.
the protestors themselves were also
Early drafted resolutions from patriots
continued from page 4
used a clause “in every Way that shall
not be productive of Carnage and
Bloodshed” but how could they
respond if the British came using military force? Finally, language evolved
that allowed patriots to respond with
methods that they saw fit, allowing
military force to be used against the
Crown’s military force. By the end of
August, the patriots had such control
that every official loyal to the Crown
would not dare step out from Boston,
which was heavily guarded by the
Crown’s forces.
Two weeks before the September 6,
1774 Court session scheduled in
Worcester, General Gage reacted to
Salem, which had conducted a Town
Meeting without his approval. The
Meeting had finished its business
before the Crown’s 59th Regiment
appeared, but General Gage ordered
that those who called the Meeting be
arrested. Some who were arrested paid
bail, but others resisted and told the
General that he would “have to abide
by the consequences” if they were kept
in jail.
(It is important to remember that
the farmers’ sustainability with crops
grown and needed harvesting was at
risk; the long, hard winter of these
proud and noble farmers and their families was potentially sacrificed with
their many long days and nights traveling and meeting on these urgent matters.)
Gage backed down and released
these prisoners seven months and
twenty four days before the “shot
heard round the world.” Gage then
sent spies to Worcester who confirmed
Worcester County’s powerful resistance. “In Worcester, they keep no
terms, openly threaten resistance by
arms and threaten to attack anyone
who resists them. Mr. Ruggles of the
new Council is afraid to take his seat
as Judge of the Inferior Court and I
apprehend that I shall have to march a
body of Troops into that Township to
preserve the peace.”
With further thought, Gage determined
his efforts to hold Court in Worcester
County would be suicidal. So, on the
morning of September 6, when 4,622
militiamen from 37 communities
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Journeys
Page 7
Got “floccipaucinilihipilification”?
Got “floccipaucinilihipilification”?
How would you remember this
word? How long would it take you to
learn to spell it? What strategy would
you use to remember it? This article is
about how you prefer to learn and the
patterns used to understand and
remember what is taken in via our
senses. Since you never stop learning,
your learning styles are used for your
entire life. Let’s look at some descriptions of various learning styles, and see
what patterns you might use to remember “floccipaucinilihipilification”
which the Oxford English dictionary
states as meaning “the act of estimating something as worthless.”
Hate Poetry?
One researcher of learning style
theory is Dr. Anthony Gregorc. I
appreciate his theory on learning
styles, as it explains my learning style
to a “T” and why I hated poetry in
high school English. Whether or not
you like poetry, you may see yourself
described in the paragraphs below.
According to Dr. Gregorc’s
research, the mind perceives in two
ways - concretely and abstractly. If
you tend to register information directly through the fives senses-taste, smell,
sight, touch, and hearing-then you use
concrete perception; you tend to deal
with the here and now, the tangible and
the obvious. The theme for the concrete perceiver is-it is what it is.
The other way to perceive the
world and take in information is
through abstract perception. If you
tend to visualize things, to conceive
ideas, to understand and believe in that
which you can not see and “go with
your gut,” then you use abstract perception. Using your intuitive intellect
and imagination is a blast, along with
reading medieval poetry, but only if
that’s the way you are wired. You can
see beyond the obvious and view the
subtle implications. The theme for the
abstract perceiver is-things are not
always what they seem.
Most people perceive both concretely and abstractly, but the tendency
is to favor one more than the other.
After we gather information, we order
it our unique way.
Recipe for disaster?
Dr. Gregorc’s theory also describes
how information is ordered either
sequentially or randomly. When you
follow a logical train of thought, a
step-by-step approach to dealing with
information, you are using sequential
ordering. Sequential people prefer to
have a plan and follow it rather than
relying on impulse. The mantra for the
sequential person is, “Follow the
steps!”
On the other end of the spectrum
are the randomizers. People with a
random style let their mind organize
information in chunks with no particular sequence or readily perceivable
order. “Randomizers” often skip steps
in a procedure or start in the middle or
end and work backwards, yet still produce the desired result. Needless to
say, randomizers can be a great source
of annoyance for sequentials.
Many examples come to mind
when considering a sequential vs. a
random information organizer. Both
are necessary and worthwhile ways of
organizing, but personally, I think that
trying out a new recipe and tweeking it
along the way is half the adventure in
baking. My husband is horrified when
I do this with a recipe I am preparing
when having guests over. It has
worked nine times out of ten, and I am
positive no one died from eating one
of my “tweeked” recipes.
C+R=SW (Strong Willed)!
Putting together the perception and
ordering tendencies create four unique
learning styles:
Concrete + Sequential (C+S) = a
person who likes order, logical
sequence, structure, and organization.
They avoid chaos and struggle with
philosophical discussions.
Abstract + Sequential (A+S) = a person who likes to analyze situations
before making a decision or finding
solutions to problems. They prefer
working alone and tend not to get sentimental or overly emotional.
Concrete + Random (C+R) = a person who likes to take risks, solve problems independently, and discover
answers by experimenting.
Restrictions and limitations make them
chafe.
Abstract + Random (A+R) = a person who enjoys listening to others, acts
as a mediator, and focuses on the
issues at hand. They avoid competition and working with authoritative
personalities.
Do you see yourself in any combinations? No one is a “pure” style, but
learning the common characteristics of
the combinations helps to recognize
and understand our own and others’
natural strengths and abilities.
Do the eyes really have it?
How do you remember? We use a
variety of our five senses when processing and memorizing facts and figures. This is our sensory perception using one or more of our senses to
understand and remember what we
perceived. Three modes of remembering are visual, auditory, and kinesthetic.
Yes, the eyes have it, since most
learners tend to by visual, learning by
seeing and writing. Roughly 40% of
learners remember verbally (seeing
words) or pictorial (seeing pictures).
Seeing a picture or diagram helps a
person to learn a concept better than
verbal instructions. These were the
kids who sat next to you in elementary
school and made the flashiest flash
cards.
Auditory learners account for
roughly 30% of the population, learning from verbal instruction or from
hearing themselves say words aloud.
Remembering by listening is easy, and
if anything is set to music, it works for
them. Remember “School House
Rock”? Those songs are still the best
ways to learn the multiplication tables.
The last mode is kinesthetic, the
learner who learns by doing. I interpret that to mean “learn by moving!”
Touch is very important, as in experiential games and field trips. The
kinesthetic learner remembers what
was done, not seen or talked about.
More
Fun.
Less
Fuel.
Let us show you all the
human-powered ways
to have fun outdoors.
Millbury
The Shoppes at Blackstone Valley
508-865-6776
For your daily news, events and stories go to:
by Kristie Proctor
These students need math and science
manipulatives in order to learn concepts. Too bad these weren’t around
when I was a student in junior high, or
I might have earned better grades in
Pre-Algebra.
Left or right? Which side are you
on?
Let’s look at the left-brain vs. the
right brain approach to understanding
what we learn. Because each person
sees the world from his or her own
frame of reference (global or analytical), it is possible that several different
people can view the same event and
have several different versions of what
happened.
If you tend to use your left-brain to
process information, you look at the
details. You gravitate towards numbers, sequencing, and linear lines.
Your clock is ticking and it is punctual.
Your road maps are filed in the car’s
glove compartment alphabetically.
In comparison, the right-brain
learner understands concepts from a
global perspective, looking at the
whole picture and disregarding details.
You have a tendency to gravitate
towards images, patterns, and the overall sense of how things are proceeding.
Your clock is ticking, but who cares if
you are early or late (mostly) as long
as you arrive? You can be creative,
intuitive, and spontaneous - who needs
a road map?
Please keep in mind that no single
style is any “smarter” than another, nor
is there any style combination that is
automatically good or naturally bad.
The key lies in how you use your natural style strengths and how willing you
are to learn or communicate in a way
that may be even more difficult for
you.
Kristie Proctor obtained her masters
degree in Education (Special) from San
Jose State University, where she
researched learning styles. After working
as a postsecondary learning disability specialist, Ms. Proctor is now a disability consultant and special education advocate.
Journeys
Page 8
Blackstone’s Treasures
The Blackstone Gorge
farm for more than half a century, while his father,
the late Hiram Daniels used them in preference to
horses for nearly fifty years.” The article continued:
“Although modern in many respects, Hiram T.
Daniels…and well known in Woonsocket, continues
to use oxen for his farm work in preference to horses
and farm machinery. Fifty years ago, he began work
with a pair of oxen and is using his eighth pair to
plow his land, remove stones and stumps for other
general things, believing they are less expensive than
horses and fully as good. His two six year old
Holsteins…eat no more in the course of a year than
one horse and they do as much work around the farm
as two horses. In explaining his reasons for using
oxen…Mr. Daniels said only a yoke is needed
instead of harness and the “steers” eat very little
grain except when put to hard work…It takes years
of training to learn the knack of driving oxen without
reins,” he said “but practice and kindness will bring
excellent results.”
His father, the late Hiram Daniels, started his son
in the farming business with a pair of oxen as a gift.
The younger Mr. Daniels continued to keep oxen for
farm work although he sometimes purchased horses
to aid in the work.
From Research of the John H. Chafee National
Heritage Corridor and National Historic Register
In 1992, a critical piece of the Blackstone Valley
was up for sale! The Metacomet Land trust stepped
in to help preserve the High Rocks Gorge and
Rolling Dam on the Blackstone River in Blackstone,
close to where the border straddles Woonsocket. A
major fundraising effort was spearheaded by
Metacomet Land Trust to hold off sale until the MA
state government could join with the R.I. Department
of Environmental Management to find the funds to
create a 200-acre bi-state park within the John H.
Chafee National Heritage Corridor. The 22 acre dam
site is perhaps the most wild section of the river and
most of it remains in its natural condition.
Most of the banks along the Blackstone River
have been developed and altered over the centuries
for grist mills, saw mills, or larger industrialization.
But the Gorge’s high ledges and rocky cliffs prevented many of these man-made impacts. During a
Thursday Evening Ranger Walkabout tour, the tale of
how a mill owner moved his mill from the MA side
to the R.I. side to save taxes was told. The mill is
still there, after a hike along the path where the border marker denotes the crossing.
Former Wild Bird Gardens owner Jeff Hickson
had previously documented a wonderful itinerary of
this unique kayaking adventure repeated here for
new Journeys readers. (Other itineraries can be found
at www.BlackstoneDaily.com)
Directions to the Gorge: Take County Street off of
Route 122 in Blackstone and follow the signs. From
the parking area, it is a short walk to the river. Take
one of the paths on your left and soon, you’ll reach
the spectacular gorge overlook. Old Nipmuc Indian
trails can still be found and many arrowheads and
other relics have been found over the years.
EXPLORING THE BLACKSTONE RIVER: A
GUIDE by Jeff Hickson
Blackstone MA to Woonsocket, R.I.
Start: Blackstone Gorge Trail Head, County Road,
Blackstone, MA
NW 42 degrees 00.930 // W 071 degrees 33.188
Access: Public
End: River St, Woonsocket, R.I.
N 42 degrees 00.105
W 071 degrees 31.076
Access: Public at River Island Park, Woonsocket
Length: 5.5 miles
Duration: 3-4 hours
Experience Level: Intermediate
Special Conditions: Caution: (3) difficult portages at
dams, Caution required before all!
GUIDE: (In Blackstone, look for signs off Rte 122
for the Blackstone Gorge. Follow signs to public
parking lot. Parking at head of the gorge)
This trip on the Blackstone is just downright odd
and interesting. It combines fairly strenuous walking
portages, rural paddling and inner city paddling. This
wraps almost every experience you can have on the
Blackstone into one trip. You start your trip at the
South side trail entrance off of public parking at the
Blackstone Gorge in Blackstone, MA.
Be prepared for a strenuous 3/4 mile portage with
Democracy’s Moment,
assembled, our country’s history demonstrated a moment in history like no
other. Westborough historian, Reverend
Parkman’s diary recounts this historic
drama “unlike in Boston, the leaders
and people were one.” (133)
Though the political structure for
hearing every voice was burdensome,
each militia company chose a representative to consult with their constituents
before any resolutions or votes could be
taken. This was a huge task but eventually at midday on September 7, 1774, it
was decided that court officers would
walk for a quarter of a mile between the
tavern and the Courthouse in front of
about five thousand militia and citizens
lined along the street, with hats off to
repeat over and over again, so that all
who gathered, could easily hear the disavowal of holding courts under the new
Act. Other Tory supporters were also
forced to recant their loyalty to the
Crown and the Massachusetts Act.
The British control over Worcester
County was gone forever - without vio-
continued
lence, yet with a humiliating retraction
of loyalty to the Crown over and over
again, for all to witness and hear equally. Boston patriots, used to deferential
and elite leadership shared some ideals,
but never understood fully participatory
democracy as Worcester County farmer
patriots did. Evidence firmly suggests
that the revolution had already been
won on the streets of Worcester, seven
months before the “shot heard round
the world.”
Of course, there would be further
military battles initiated by General
Gage in less fortified regions that fill
our history books, but it was the passion, fear, and pursuit of freedom of our
rural Worcester County and Blackstone
Valley farmers and artisans who
changed the course of American history
forever.
The quotations come from the following: Ray
Raphael’s incredibly fascinating book, The First
American Revolution, William Benedict’s History
of the Town of Sutton, Parkman’s Diary and the
1854 Worcester Historical Society Annual
Report.
Journeys
Page 9
Dining Review: The Venerable Cocke ‘n Kettle
Have I told you lately that I love you
Have I told you there’s no one else
above you
Fill my heart with gladness
Take away all my sadness
Ease my troubles that’s what you do
As we were leaving the Cocke ‘n
Kettle dining room on a recent
Saturday night, we couldn’t help but
be drawn into the lounge where the
vocalist was singing the sweet words
and melody of Van Morrison’s classic
love song. A number of couples danced
slowly across the dance floor as the
song continued.
The Cocke ‘n Kettle’s lounge, now
newly named the Bezaleel Taft Tavern,
has been a popular destination for
Blackstone Valley’s older dance crowd
for years, a pleasant place for weekend
musical entertainment. The Tavern features live music Friday and Saturday
evenings and Sunday afternoons. “We
try to feature a range of musical genres, soft rock, dance music, the
nineties, something to appeal to all
ages,” said Nickol Cesaroni. On Friday
and Saturday nights you’ll see people
mostly in their thirties to fifties, she
said, and on Sunday afternoon we’ll
have people still dancing in their eighties. The restaurant’s web site,
www.cockenkettle.com lists the
upcoming groups, (although it was not
up to date when we checked recently).
To go along with the change to a
tavern, the Bezaleel (pronounced
Beezley) Taft Tavern offers a full
menu, complete with appetizers, soups
and salads, sandwiches, and a small
selection of light entrees. Their famous
bean relish and popovers are available
as well, but for a price.
The change from lounge to tavern
was prompted by a desire to offer
patrons wanting to enjoy music and
dancing, as well as a hamburger, later
in the evening. “There isn’t any place
around here where you can do that,”
said Nickol, a daughter in the Sampson
family, which has owned and operated
the Cocke ‘n Kettle for 38 years.
Over the course of those 38 years,
the restaurant has developed a distinct
personality in the minds of many of its
faithful diners.
What comes to mind? At least three
things:
A grand, old historic mansion built
in the Georgian style in the 18th century, and thought to have been built by
Bezaleel Taft, a member of the prominent Taft family in Uxbridge. It
remained a residence until 1968, when
it was renovated and first became a
restaurant. It was during these renovations when a Hessian sword, dating
back to Revolutionary War days, was
found inside the walls. The sword is
now on display in the main dining
room.
Three comfortable dining rooms,
each a little
different, but
each reminiscent of another
era, with original brick and
exposed
beams, working fireplaces,
antiques, carriage lamps,
warm carpets,
and copper pot
wall décor.
Popovers,
corn fritters,
kidney bean
relish and
cheese spread.
These help define the essence of
Cocke ‘n Kettle’s “food that you will
remember,” as they phrase it.
And this is where the Cocke ‘n
Kettle comes into its own. The food is
excellent, uniformly fresh and appealing. The cuisine is traditional
American, with a good selection of
steak, veal and fish.
On our recent visit, we were welcomed by our waitress who immediately brought a basket of assorted
crackers and the famous kidney bean
dip and cheese spread. The bean dip
happens to be a favorite of this writer,
though not everyone may care for its
sweet pickle component.
We ordered our drinks, and while
we were waiting, a server came by
with the corn fritters. We opted to skip
them, waiting instead for the popovers.
These came soon after, brought in a
huge basket. They were steaming hot,
almost too hot to touch, and must have
~ Celebrating Our 5th Anniversary~
Thank you to all of our customers for your continued support!
Take-Out
Available
BREAKFAST
LUNCH
ICE CREAM
Full Seafood
Menu on Fridays
Homemade Soups
& Desserts
338 Main Street ~ Douglas, MA • 508-476-7990
Hours: Monday – Friday 7 am til 2 pm
Saturday & Sunday – 7 am til 1 pm (serving breakfast only)
~ Established 2003 ~
come directly from the oven. It’s hard
to resist their crispy crust and soft, airy
centers.
Back to the menu, the appetizer
selections include cherry stone clams
($1.49 each), jumbo shrimp cocktail
($2.29 each), clams casino ($6.99), and
baked stuffed mushrooms ($7.99).
The soups include a French onion
soup ($4.99), lobster bisque ($7.99),
and New England clam chowder
($5.99). We tried the soup du jour,
vegetable, a very good choice, as it
was a deep, dark broth thick with
chopped vegetables and spicy enough
to overcome
any blandness
a veggie soup
might have.
My companion chose to
start with a
garden salad,
which was a
standard
assortment of
greens, with
carrots, red
onion, cucumber and tomato.
Diners can
choose an
entrée from
the a la carte menu: a 16-ounce sirloin
($23.99), a roast prime rib of beef
($25.99 for a 16-18 ounce cut or
$21.99 for a 12-14 oz cut), a roast rack
of baby spring lamb ($26.99), or a surf
and turf, which includes a petite filet
mignon and two jumbo shrimp stuffed
with lobster, crabmeat and scallops
(25.99), among others. Veal specialties
include a veal cordon bleu ($20.99)
and a Kettle veal chop ($27.99). The
fish and seafood choices include baked
stuffed shrimp with sherry ($24.99),
broiled Norwegian salmon ($20.99)
and fried baby Cape Cod scallops
($19.99). All entrees include a choice
of soup or garden salad, choice of
potato, rice pilaf or pasta, and the vegetable of the day.
Alternatively, diners can choose
from a selection of eight gourmet dinners, which we think are an excellent
value. The gourmet dinners come complete with a salad or the soup of the
day, a family style pasta dish, choice
of potato, the vegetable of the day, and
dessert.
We chose from this menu, the
baked Boston haddock ($16.99) and
the baked stuffed sole ($16.99). Other
possibilities were a chicken breast
Marsala ((15.99) an eggplant
Parmigiana ($15.99), broiled tenderloin tips ($17.99), or an 11-ounce sirloin ($19.99). The stuffed sole was
exquisite, with lobster and crabmeat
stuffing, and covered with lobster
Newburg sauce. The haddock, also
prepared with a Newburg sauce was
delicious as well.
For our choice of potato we picked
the Delmonico style, which was good,
but added considerably to our calorie
count for the evening. In addition, the
meals came with family style pasta,
this evening a penne with an unconventional rich, thick red sauce, very
tasty.
Our only disappointing menu item
was the vegetable of the day, carrots
prepared with raisins swimming in a
much too sweet, syrupy sauce.
For dessert, we chose the lemon
mousse and the grapenut custard pudding with whipped cream. We could
also have picked a brownie a la mode
with chocolate sauce, apple pie a la
mode, or ice cream puff with chocolate
sauce.
Nickol explained that the gourmet
dinners were introduced after the early
bird specials were dropped some time
ago. However, the restaurant has reintroduced the early bird feature, now
called “early dinners,” offered
Wednesday through Friday from 4:00
to 5:30. The menu changes weekly and
is all inclusive, with salad, entrée,
potato, vegetable, dessert, and coffee,
for $11.99.
It’s hard to miss at the Cocke ‘n
Kettle Restaurant. With so many
options for meals and entertainment,
we highly recommend a visit. The
restaurant opens Tuesday - Friday at 4
pm, Saturday at 5 pm, and Sunday at 1
pm. The Tavern opens at 4 pm Tuesday
-Saturday and at 1 pm on Sunday. Rt.
122, Uxbridge, MA, tel 508-278-5517.
Handicapped accessible.
Journeys
Page 10
2nd Annual Fire on the Falls
Friday, July 4th 6-10 PM at Capron Park on
Mendon Street, Uxbridge, MA.
Festivities include:
~ Singing of the National Anthem and God Bless
America performed by 12 year old Matthew Vera
~ Colors being presented by the Hopedale
Fire Department
~ Music provided by the Small Planet Band and
the Blackstone Valley Fife and Drum
~ Bobo the Clown creating balloon animals
~ Sutton Company firing salutes
~ Joel Delorey with the Water Fires
~ Stilt Walker and more fun activities....
Organized by the wonderful, hard working members of the Uxbridge First Night Committee which
raises funds for the community.
www.uxbridgeholidaynight.org
Daniels Farmstead Claflin Hill Symphony
Summer Winds Patriotic Celebration
Saturday, July 5th - Grounds open at 4 PM. Bring your
blanket and chairs. Claflin Hill Symphony Concert 7-9.
Silent Auction in the barn. Bidding closes at 8:20.
Games for children ~ House Tours every half hour - 4-6
PM
Dedication of House Restoration 6:30 PM. Doris’
Kitchen offering plenty of yummy food. Free, $5 parking.
The Daniels Farmstead Foundation, 286 Mendon Rd.
Blackstone, MA www.danielsfarmstead.org
Happy Birthday,
USA!
For an authentic, old-fashioned “Musical History Tour”
of our nation’s heritage, don’t miss the the Valley’s
Heritage String Band performing:
July 3 - 7-9 PM Lake Manchaug Camp Ground,
Douglas, MA.
July 4 - Old Sturbridge Village, Sturbridge, MA
“4th Celebration, Fire Works” Fri., 6-8 PM (Rain Date,
Sun., July 6)
July 10 - Concert on the Whitinsville Town Common,
Northbridge, MA 6-8 PM
For a list of fireworks and other Independence
events, go to www.BlackstoneDaily.com
Summer Concerts
Sweet Summer Nights Friday Night Concerts
Under the Tent at the beautiful Sweetwilliam Farm,
153 North St. Upton, MA 01568 - 508-529-2000 78:30 PM. www.sweetwilliamfarm.biz
If it’s Friday, it’s Jazz at Sunset at the Ecotarium
6:30-8:30 PM. 508-929-2700 [email protected]
Hopedale Summer Band Concerts at Town Park,
Hopedale (corner of Dutcher and Northrup Streets)
Sunday, June 22 5-7pm Raindate June 29
Sunday, August 3 Raindate Wed. Aug. 6, 7PM
Wednesday concerts 7-9pm Raindates on Thursday
June 25; July 9; July 16; July 23; July 30 5-7PM
Pawtucket 2008 Riverfront Summer Concert
Series. Free weekly concerts every Sunday at 6 PM.
Shows include folk, Celtic, swing, country and oldies
and outdoor plays. Veterans Amphitheater, Roosevelt
Ave. & Exchange St. (Next to Pawtucket Fire Dept.)
401-724-2200
Brown Bag Lunch Concerts at Mechanics Hall
Free Wednesday noon lunchtime concert series! Bring
your lunch and enjoy great live music in the summertime inside historic Mechanics Hall. 321 Main Street,
Worcester, MA. 508-752-5608
www.mechanicshall.org. July 30- August 6 & beyond.
The Annual Celtic Festival, July 12 11 AM - 7 PM
at Indian Ranch, Webster, MA. See details back page.
More concerts or other fun, www.BlackstoneDaily.com
Photo: Mane Impressions
Happy Birhday USA! Bring your lawn chairs and picnic basket to these free concerts open to the public.
July 3 - On the quintessential Grafton Common.
Includes Tchaikovky’s 1812 overture with cannons
firing and Sousa marches. Sponsored by the Lions
Club. 7 PM Get there early!
Thursday, July 3, 6:30 – 8:30. Jazz on the Plaza, is
a ValleyCAST presentation at Alternatives, 50
Douglas Road, Whitinsville, Mass. Features the
superb Sonic Explorers with Jerry Sabatini for an
evening of fine American jazz. Light refreshments
available. 508-234-6232.
Wednesday Concerts on the Grafton Common
Summer Walks
All concerts start at 7 PM.
July 9 - Infractions; July 16 - Claflin Hill Summer
Wind Ensemble; July 23 - Snakebite;
July 30 -Blackstone Valley Community Concert Band;
August 6 - Tailspin;
August 13 - Glass Onion and The Court House Horns;
August 20 - Carlos Davis Group;
August 27 - Heritage String Band.
Thursday Night Ranger Walkabouts Each Thursday, The John H. Chafee National
Heritage Corridor rangers or one of our volunteer
partners will offer a free program somewhere in the
Blackstone Valley so that you can explore the history
or natural beauty of the Valley. 401-762-0250
Children’s Concert - 6:30 PM July 24 - Mr. Kim
All concerts are free to the public. Bring your chairs,
blankets and picnic supper. Concerts are sponsored in
part by the Grafton Recreation Commission, Grafton
Local Cultural Council and the Massachusetts Cultural
Council. Rain location Grafton Municipal Center gym,
30 Providence Road, Grafton
June 26: Hopedale / July 10: Kelly House, Lincoln
July 17: Fisherville, Farnumsville & the Canal
July 24: Roger Williams National Memorial,
Providence / July 31: Camp Fire Stories at the site of
new Worcester Historical Museum.
August 7: Hunt House, East Providence / August 14:
Topic TBA / August 21: Camp Fire Stories at the site
of new Worcester Historical Museum.
Providence - The Rhode Island Historical Society’s
annual SummerWalks program begins Friday June 15,
2007 and continues through October 15, 2007.
Two themed walks form the base of the summer program include:
Benefit Street: A Mile of History, a 90 minute walking tour on Tuesdays through Saturdays at 11 a.m.
Tickets: $12/person.
RiverWalk: Before the Fires are Lit, a 60 minute
walking tour on evenings of full WaterFire lightings
at 5:30 p.m. Tickets: $10/person
Both tours begin at the John Brown House, 52 Power
Street, Providence, R.I. Questions: Barbara Barnes,
401-273-7507 x62 or [email protected]
For self-guided walking tours, go to
Journeys
Page 11
The Whitin Community Center’s 20th Annual
Picnic in the Park Summer Games 2008 celebration
for the whole family will take place on Saturday, July
19th from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 PM, rain or shine, at the
Whitin Community Center and Whitin Park, 60 Main
Street, Whitinsville, MA. www.OurGym.org or call
Heather Elster at 508-234-8184.
55th Annual Native American Fair
The Sky Ride is coming! The Sky Ride is coming! The
half million dollar sky ride will make Southwick Zoo
even more compelling - if that’s possible! As New
England’s largest zoo with natural habitats and a train
ride around the zoo, this is a wonderful destination for
kids and adults alike! www.southwickszoo.com
A Smattering of
Summer Events
Hassanamesit Nipmuc Reservation and the Nipmuc
Nation present the 55th Annual Native American Fair.
Powwow Ceremony, Crafts and food for sale. Gate
opens at 10 am. Opening ceremony at 2 pm
Suggested donation Adults $3 Children $1 Nipmuc
Powwow, Brigham Hill Road, Grafton
Learn about the traditions, music and crafts on the 3.5
acre Hassanamesit Nipmuc Reservation, the sole
remaining native American land in the Blackstone
Valley.
Chief Natachaman 508-393-8860 [email protected]
Photo courtesy of CBImaging.com
Bring the kids and come on down to the farm for the
exciting and unparalleled fun found at the Waters
Farm Tack Sale and Donkey & Mule Show on July
19, starting at 9:30 AM. Come and see donkeys and
mules strut their stuff and do some shopping too.
Don’t be surprised if you find yourself saying “I
didn’t know donkeys could be so BIG” or “Wow, I didn’t know mules could do THAT!”
-AND - On August 16th, Waters Farm is host to the
Jukebox Concert by the Beatles Tribute Band. Show
starts at 4:00 p.m. Gates open at 3:00 p.m., a cover
band starts at 4:00, and Jukebox performs live eginning
at 6:00 p.m.Tickets are $ 12.00 and will be available in
many locations. Bring along a picnic lunch or visit our
wonderful food vendors. Great food, a beautiful view
and great music! www.watersfarm.com
4th Annual Classic Car Show & Flea Market
August 10 (Rain Date 8/17) at the Oliver Ashton
Post, 198 Church Ave, Northbridge, MA. 50
Awards, DJ, 50/50 Raffle, Games for Kids. Small
fee, free with military ID or Kids Under 12.
Fundraiser. www.americanlegionnorthbridge.com
For plenty more events, visit the online calendar
at www.BlackstoneDaily.com 24/7.
Also, filled with annual and special events, stories
and recreational itineraries and much, more more.
Photo: Mane Impressions
Mass Audubon’s Family Canoeing sponsored by
Broad Meadow Brook on July 13th is just one canoeing experience in the Blackstone River watershed.
Starting at Ekblaw Landing, Grafton, it is the perfect
experience for beginner paddlers to practice skills.
Other adventures include Neighborhood Nature on the
Water at Green Hill Park and other itineraries.
www.massaudubon.org or call 508-753-6087
The River
Paddling Club - An affordable and fun way to explore
a different waterway every Tuesday night in the
Blackstone River Valley. Find the best paddling locations in the valley, learn about water quality, and enjoy
a relaxing evening on the water. Meet at 6:15 PM each
Tuesday night May through August. For the schedule,
www.ricka.org or call 401-647-5887.
Blackstone Valley Explorer - Cruise along the 49
passenger riverboat to explore the river that once was
called America’s Hardest Working River. Discover the
river’s ecosystem as you learn about the river’s industrialized past and its present restoration. Sundays,
1,2,3,4 PM at Central Falls, R.I. 800-454-2882 www.rivertourblackstone.com.
Sam Slater Canal Boat Bed n Breakfast! Enjoy a
British overnight and cruising experience on the
Blackstone River aboard this unique 40’ long canal
boat built in Cambridgeshire, England by C. T. & P.
Fox expressly for the Blackstone Valley Tourism
Council.
www.bedandbreakfastblackstone.com
Self-guided Itineraries are available online at
www.BlackstoneAdventures.com or at the National
Park Service website, www.nps.gov/blac. Also, kayak
rentals are available at Great Canadian, Rte 146,
Sutton, MA. www.greatcanadian.com or (800) 98CANOE.
Teams will start practicing soon for the 8th Annual
Rhode Island Dragonboat Race Taiwan Day
Festival on September 6, 2008. For info to view or
participate, go to www.dragonboatri.com. It’s a blast!
www.BlackstoneDaily.com ~ www.theBlackstoneValley.com
Biking
The Bikeway Patrol offers programs at the Blackstone
River State Park 295N Visitor Center, Lincoln, RI.
Peloton Bicycle Shop Sunday Rides • July 27 is the
Parents’ Day Ride A ride for the entire family to
enjoy together. Fill your backpacks with a picnic lunch
and enjoy the cool of the shade and the serenity of the
river. 10 - Noon Contact: VIP Karen Ciavarini 401762-0440 [email protected]
10th Gear Christian Youth Cyclists - Sunday Family
Bicycle Rides. Rides begin at 1:30 PM from the parking lot of the Village Congregational Church.
www.10thgear.com
Blackstone Valley NE Mountain Bike Association
Wednesday Night Ride Series is a “lot of fun, and it’s
a great way to meet other riders and discover the trails
in our region. We’ll be hitting the trails at 6:00 PM
every Wednesday. You just need to show up and be
ready to go by 6:00.” www.bvnemba.org
The Seven Hills Wheelmen is a recreational group for
adults in the Worcester, MA, area who enjoy bicycling
and other outdoor activities. Bike rides are for all abilities and are not competitive. ww.sevenhillswheelmen.org
Events: Sunday, July 27, 2008 George Street Bike
Challenge for Major Taylor - A ride up some of
Worcester’s steepest streets.
Sunday, Sept. 21, 2008 Major Taylor Century Ride
Bicycle 25, 62 or 100 miles on quiet, rolling back
roads in central Massachusetts as the seasons change.
Journeys
Page 12
Malcolm Pearson
Not only is he Sutton’s oldest male
resident, he just might be its most
revered. At a recent New England
Antiquities Research Association
(neara.org) conference held in
Northampton, Malcolm Pearson was
certainly recognized and heralded.
Known by many historians as a treasure trove of historical research on
stoneworks, beehive chambers and
caves, he was also the photographer
for James Mavor’s and Byron Dix’s
historical research book, Manitou as
well as William Goodwin’s Great
Ireland In New England. Malcolm
Pearson lived his childhood at the site
of the nation’s most exquisite beehive
chamber, Upton’s ancient chamber. But
his footprint in life goes much deeper
and continues nearly unabated.
Ninety-seven year old Malcolm
Pearson continues to be a man of
industry and innovation, but for
decades, he was the photographer for
the world-known Whitin Mills in
Northbridge, MA. In fact, though
money was never his motivation, his
innovative ideas and photographic
technology earned millions for several
companies as he urged them to incorporate new methods of developing
large photographs and diagrams.
He still resides in the home he built
in the winter of 1950, including its
stone walls and outdoor fire places. It
has a built-in dark room where
Malcolm and his late wife, Myra,
developed thousands of photographs,
including high speed movements, such
as a bullet being fired, rarely understood at the time. In fact, the entire
home is a product of his ingenuity,
with built-in beds, recessed lighting
constructed well before its appeal
today.
Malcolm lost his beloved wife nine
years ago, but his daughter prepares,
freezes and delivers his meals every
two weeks. Otherwise, Malcolm is
extremely self-sufficient though he
gave up driving within the past two
months. His time is filled with innumerable projects in his woodworking
shop, currently building a photo negative light to view past negatives in
order to plan their final destination. He
with plenty of stories to tell, from lifeguard training and a special swimming
stroke that added speed to recounting
every copper nail he used to build his
sturdy home. His adoration of his late
parents also runs deep.
Malcolm’s research includes some
of the most coveted material on subjects such as the Upton chamber, New
The Foundry of Whitin Mills by Malcolm Pearson
recently visited his old friend, now 100
years old, with whom he used to take
on motorcyce rides. He recently
enjoyed the University of Vermont
graduation party of Southbridge resident, Brennan Gauthier, an occasional
writer for Journeys who has absorbed
much of Malcolm’s research, historical
interests and more than forty of
Malcolm’s research books.
Malcolm feels very blessed to have
such good health and clarity of mind.
He smiles as he recalls his earlier days
Hampshire’s Mystery Hill (aka
America’s Stonehenge) and many
other ancient or Native American sites
scattered throughout and beyond New
England. During several hours of
interviews at his home as well as to
and fro from the NEARA conference,
the stories never stopped.
With a sigh of relief, NEARA officials were pleased that
Pearson has chosen to
donate many of his research
findings on stoneworks to
their Concord, New Hampshire library.
He has significant documentation and
photos that are one of a kind, all with
memories that speak to a life that was
driven by seeking answers that rely
on factual evidence, not whims, guesses or hopes.
Still, Malcolm’s life has been much
broader than his coveted expertise on
stoneworks or photography. His photographs in the Whitin Mills newsletter, The Spindle, are remaining epitaphs to his highly sophisticated sense
of dark and light angles or subject matter in photography. Yet, he has worked
to preserve significant buildings or
mentor new generations with their
interest in studying the past.
Recently, he heard about a cave in
the deep woods in Northbridge that
had escaped his attention previously.
“When can we go?” he asked,
understanding that it would be quite an
arduous walk into the woods.
Malcolm is also eager to get his
glaucoma under control to get back his
driver’s license. His car is waiting and
ready to go on many more adventures.
His walls are filled with awards and
letters of recommendation from
General Electric to Harvard University
to Riley Stoker, R.I. School of Design,
Nashua Mfg, Albany Felt Company,
Old Sturbridge Village and even E.I.
DuPont De Nemours & Company.
His awards for excellence seem to
be never-ending. Sort of like his mind,
body and soul.~
Photos: (L-R) Partial Interior of huge
Upton chamber, Malcolm Pearson (R) with
devoted fan, Malcolm and 100 year old
childhood friend Agnes Hawes.
Journeys
Page 13
A Personal Check-Up
by Denise G. Minor, Esq.
Once in a while, it is time to do a
“check up” on your personal life. To
protect yourself personally, you should
consider the following, along with anything else your accountant or estate
planner suggest.
Please keep your Basic Documents
in a safe place, which means a safe
deposit box or fireproof safe. You
should also give a copy of these various documents to a trusted relative or
friend, in case of emergency or if he or
she cannot get to your safe deposit box
or into your home.
5 Basic Documents You Should Have
1. Health Care Proxy - allows a trusted person to decide on your medical
treatment if you are in no condition to
do so (stroke, coma, etc.); most doctors
and hospitals have these
2. HIPAA Form - allows doctors and
hospitals to speak with designated
individuals about your medical information; most doctors and hospitals
have their own versions
3. Declaration of Homestead (if you
own a home) - Protects the value of
your home against certain creditors
and lawsuits, up to a certain dollar
amount (usually $500.000)
4. Will - indicates who gets what when
you die
5. Power of Attorney - allows designated person to take care of any bill
paying, legal issues, etc., in your name,
as if you were the person doing the
signing
What If I Don’t Have A Will?
If you don’t have a will, MA State
Law determines who will get what
portion of your property and money. I
have simplified somewhat, but generally….
First, all your debts and charges of
the last sickness and funeral expenses
will be paid. Then, the amount necessary to settle your estate will be paid
out. (The court will name an administrator, and this administrator will most
likely be paid.) Finally, some personal
property can be kept by your
spouse.The rest will be paid as follows:
If you have a spouse, but no kindred - the estate goes to your spouse.
If you have a spouse and children
(or grandchildren) - half goes to your
spouse and half to the children (or surviving grandchildren, if the child is
deceased).
If you have children (or grandchildren), but no spouse - the estate goes
to your children, in equal shares, and
to the surviving grandchildren if any
child is not alive.
If you have a spouse, no children,
but other kindred - the first $200,000
goes to your spouse; one half of the
rest goes to your spouse and one half
goes to the kindred.
KINDRED are as follows:
Your mother and father, then; To brothers and sisters, and their children, if a
brother or sister is deceased; and so on.
Denise Minor is an attorney and accountant
who specializes in helping small business in all
phases: startup, continued growth, and completing employee handbooks, etc.
www.startherellc.com /
[email protected]
She has written Part 1 of a series on Small
Business Startups found online at
www.BlackstoneDaily.com/business.htm
What else can you find online:
Hot Employment Trends by William Stark,
employment specialist and owner of Express
Employment Professionals, Grove Street,
Worcester, MA. http://www.expresspros.com
Planning A Green Retirement
Dear EarthTalk: I want to offer my
employees a 401(k) plan that is socially and environmentally responsible.
Are there such plans and, if so, where
do I look? -- CJ Hughes
Even though socially responsible
investing (SRI) has been around for
decades, only recently have some companies begun to offer their employees
greener options for 401(k) retirement
investment accounts.
According to Rona Fried of
SustainableBusiness.com, SRI options
for retirement plans are still only
offered to about 20 percent of employees, but that’s changing fast. One survey found that more than two-thirds of
employees want such choices. And a
2007 survey by the Social Investment
Forum found that 60 percent of benefit
plan sponsors polled plan to include
SRI options for retirement funds by
2010.
Retirement accounts are big business in the U.S.: Some 50 million
Americans have invested $2.5 trillion
in 401(k) plans to date. With so few
SRI options out there now and
employees eager to make their savings
work for the environment, greener
401(k) plans are sure to take a bigger
and bigger slice of the pie moving forward. “It’s a matter of simple supply
and demand,” says Paul Hilton of
Calvert Funds, which currently offers
one SRI retirement fund option but
plans to add two more within the next
couple of years. “Corporations are
responding to the increasing desire of
Americans to invest with their values.”
Right now health care and government agencies are those most likely to
include an SRI option for employees’
retirement accounts, but a handful of
large companies have gotten in on the
act as well. For instance, chipmaker
Intel began offering its employees an
SRI retirement plan option eight years
ago.
“In 2000, we were trying to create
a culture of corporate social responsibility and it made sense for us to practice what we preach by including this
option in our retirement plan,” says
Dave Stangis, Intel’s director of corporate responsibility. “In addition, Intel
itself is a top holding in many SRI
mutual funds and we wanted to reinforce that with our employees. It’s a
way for us to be a role model.”
Still, most plans give employees
only a limited number of funds to
choose from, often from Calvert and
another SRI mutual fund leader,
Domini. Both firms ply the three main
tenets of SRI: (1) rigorous research to
assess the social and environmental
integrity of companies being considered for inclusion in an investment
portfolio; (2) using investors’ positions
as stockholders (i.e. owners) of companies invested in to advocate for good
corporate citizenship (often through
the introduction of corporate resolutions); and (3) channeling affordable
credit to needy communities ill-served
by traditional lenders to rebuild neighborhoods and create jobs. SRI funds
are also increasingly making “early
stage” investments in new companies
on the cutting edge of environmental
progress, such as alternative energy
companies.
In order to help diversify the marketplace for SRI retirement plans, consultant Rob Thomas started Social(k)
in 2005 to offer companies a full array
of SRI options for their 401(k) plans.
Social(k) offers 140 different SRI
funds from which employees at participating companies can choose.
Thomas’s goal is to offer as many
funds as possible and become the onestop shop for retirement investing.
Companies can offer either Social(k)
alone, or as a secondary option alongside an existing 401(k) plan.
CONTACTS:
SustainableBusiness.com, www.sustainablebusiness.com; Calvert Funds,
www.calvert.com; Domini Social
Investments, www.domini.com;
Social(k), www.socialk.com.
Journeys
Page 14
EarthTalk: Safe Alternatives To Fighting Mosquitos
Dear EarthTalk: Is it true that the
DEET used in most mosquito repellents is toxic? If so what problems does
it cause? And what are some non-toxic
alternatives for keeping mosquitoes at
bay? -- Tom Pollack, Oakland, CA
DEET is commonly known as the
king of mosquito repellents, though not
everyone is keen to slather it on their
skin. A study conducted in the late
1980s on Everglades National Park
employees to determine the effects of
DEET found that a full one-quarter of
the subjects studied experienced negative health effects that they blamed on
exposure to the chemical. Effects
included rashes, skin irritation, numb
or burning lips, nausea, headaches,
dizziness and difficulty concentrating.
Duke University pharmacologist
Mohamed Abou-Donia, in studies on
rats, found that frequent and prolonged
DEET exposure led to diffuse brain
cell death and behavioral changes, and
concluded that humans should stay
away from products containing it. But
other studies have shown that while a
few people have sensitivity to DEET
applications, most are unaffected when
they use DEET products on a sporadic
basis according to the instructions on
ter than ever. In 2005, the U.S. Centers
the label.
for Disease Control (CDC) granted
The upside of DEET is that it is
approval to two healthier alternatives
very effective. A 2002 study published to DEET-picaridin and oil of lemon
in the New England Journal of
eucalyptus-for protection from mosquiMedicine found that DEET-based
toes. Picaridin, long used to repel mosrepellents provided the most complete
quitoes in other parts of the world, is
and longest
now available in
lasting prothe U.S. under
tection
the Cutter
against mosAdvanced brand
quitoes.
name. Oil of
Researchers
lemon eucalypfound that a
tus, which is
formulation
derived from
containing
eucalyptus leaves
23.8 percent
and is the only
DEET complant-based active
pletely proingredient for
tected study
insect repellents
participants
approved by the
for upwards Reading Outdoors Doesn’t Need To Hit This Extreme
CDC, is available
of 300 minin several differutes, while a soybean-oil-based prodent forms, including Repel Lemon
uct only worked for 95 minutes. The
Eucalyptus, OFF! Botanicals, and
effectiveness of several other botaniFight Bite Plant-Based Insect
cal-based repellents lasted less than 20 Repellent.
minutes.
Some other good choices, accordBut a number of new concentraing to the nonprofit National Coalition
tions of botanical repellents that have
against the Misuse of Pesticides,
hit the market since are reportedly bet- include products containing geraniol
(MosquitoGuard or Bite Stop), citronella (Natrapel), herbal extracts
(Beat It Bug Buster) or essential oils
(All Terrain). The group also gives
high marks to oil of lemon eucalyptus,
such as that found in Repel’s Lemon
Eucalyptus Insect Repellent.
Another leading nonprofit,
Pesticide Action Network North
America (PANNA), likes Herbal
Armor, Buzz Away and Green Ban,
each containing citronella and peppermint as well as various essential oils
(cedar wood, lemongrass, etc.).
PANNA also lauds Bite Blocker, a
blend of soybeans and coconut oils
that provides four to eight hours of
protection and, unlike many other
brands, is safe to use on kids.
CONTACTS: “Comparative Efficacy of
Insect Repellents against Mosquito
Bites,” http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/347/1/13; National Coalition
Against the Misuse of Pesticides
(NCAMP), www.beyondpesticides.org;
Pesticide Action Network North
America, www.panna.org.
VAILLANCOURT FOLK ART
Celebrating 25 years of “MADE IN AMERICA”
On September 19th, 2008
Vaillancourt Folk Art located in the
Manchaug Mills, 9 Main Street in
Sutton, Massachusetts will begin a
year long celebration to commemorate
25 years of creating American made
chalkware figures.
“Chalkware,” known as poor man’s
Staffordshire, was popularized in the
19th century when itinerant vendors
would travel door to door selling their
wares.
Vaillancourt Folk Art has brought
the art of making chalkware to a much
higher level. Using antique confectionary moulds to form the pieces,
painting intricate and historically accurate details with artist’s oils, then
antiquing, makes each one a unique
piece of art.
Started as a cottage industry by
artist Judi Vaillancourt and her business executive husband Gary, it has
grown into a full artist studio employing 20 artists and artisans. Now locat-
ed in a 19th century stone mill, the site
includes the studio, gallery and a
museum. Visitors may tour the studio
seeing the start to finish creation of the
chalkware. The museum houses one
the most extensive collections of
antique European and American confectionary moulds in the United States.
Also featured are exhibits on chalkware and Christmas gift givers from
around the world. The gallery offers a
distinctive shopping experience.
The Silver Anniversary celebrations
will begin on Friday evening
September 19th with a party from 6 to
8 pm and an Open House on Saturday
the 20th from 10:00 to 5:00 at the
Manchaug Mill. During these events
new products will be introduced along
with a special Vaillancourt Folk Art
25th Anniversary Santa.
The festivities will continue with the
Starlight Santa event on Friday
October 31st and Saturday
November1st, 2008. Other events are
planned through out 2008 and 2009.
For further information visit www.vaillancourtfolkart.com or call 508-4763601.
Xerox Features
Vaillancourt Folk
Art’s Print Materials
Vaillancourt Folk Art’s print material will be seen by hundreds of thousands pairs of eyes at the world’s
largest printing equipment exhibition
in Germany this Summer.
Over the past six months,
Vaillancourt Folk Art has been working with Xerox’s Production Color
Product Marketing group to help test
several of their new printers. As a
result of the beautiful quality of the
work–depicting the signature
Vaillancourt Chalkware–and because
the Xerox group had such an interest
in the collectibles, Xerox has decided
to feature the prints during Drupa, the
world’s largest printing equipment
exhibition hosted in Messe Düsseldorf,
Germany every four years. During the
show, Xerox will be printing
Vaillancourt Folk Art collateral including: postcards, rack cards, posters, and
letters that have a pull-out “save the
date” refrigerator magnet built into the
8.5x11 sheet.
The show draws nearly 400,000
attendees from 52 different countries
and is situated in 40 acres of exhibit
space. Xerox Corporation decided to
exhibit the Vaillancourt Folk Art print
collateral for many reasons, including
it’s Made In America appeal and the
exceptional quality and detail within
such an unique product line.
For events, daily news updates, community
news....or to sign up for the bi-weekly Spark!
ezine, filled with stories and events...go to...
Journeys
Page 15
Blood on the Blackstone, Part 8 continued from page 1
sachems advanced ahead of their
tribesmen “and shortly met each other
in a narrow space between the armies.
On both sides, the warriors, standing
within bow-shot of each other,
remained spectators,” writes John W.
De Forest in his History of the Indians
of Connecticut (1850).
Miantonomi cut a regal figure.
Tall and in his prime, he exuded the
confidence of one who has an army
twice the size of his opponent’s.
Wrapped about his torso he wore a
corselet of English armor, or mail,
given to him by his English friend
Samuel Gorton of the Warwick colony
in Rhode Island. Gorton had bestowed
it upon Miantonomi after hearing he
was going to war against the
Mohegans.
Physical descriptions of Uncas are
vague, as many historians have preferred to stress his personality rather
than his personal appearance. What
emerges is a composite portrait of a
man who was arguably the most
scheming and opportunistic Indian in
New England history – a leader who
rose to power by rebelling against the
tribe of his birth, the Pequots, and then
later helping the English to destroy
them.
‘You have a number of stout men
with you, and so have I with me,”
Uncas called to his Narragansett counterpart. “It is a great pity that such
brave warriors should be killed in a
private quarrel between us only. Come
like a man, as you profess to be, and
let us fight it out. If you kill me, my
men shall be yours; but if I kill you,
your men shall be mine.’ “
But Miantonomi would not permit
himself be gulled so easily. He knew
his forces greatly outnumbered Uncas’s
and that a Narragansett victory was
almost guaranteed. After years of hostilities, at long last he stood at the
brink of ridding himself and his tribe
of its greatest enemy.
“My men came to fight,”
Miantonomi replied , “and they shall
fight.”
Uncas suddenly threw himself flat
upon the ground. Immediately dozens
of Mohegan warriors in the rear pulled
back their bows and “poured a shower
of arrows among the astonished
Narragansetts.” Before Miantonomi
or his men could grasp that they had
been duped by the Mohegan sachem –
that he had anticipated Miantonomi’s
refusal and had pre-arranged the sneak
attack – the Mohegans rushed in upon
them, whooping and screeching, splitting skulls with tomahawks. Taken
utterly by surprise, the Narragansetts,
who outnumbered the Mohegans twoto-one, turned and ran for their lives.
“Uncas sprang up, and his warriors, pealing forth the yell of battle,
and brandishing their tomahawks,
rushed forward with him upon the
staggering enemy, “ De Forest writes.
“The Narragansetts, panic struck at this
sudden assault, made hardly an attempt
at resistance, and speedily took to
flight. The Mohegans pursued them
with impetuous fury, drove them
through the shallows of the river, and
continued the chase into the forests
beyond.”
Miantonomi ran with all the speed
and strength he could muster, but to his
profound dismay found himself bogged
down by the heavy mail corselet. It
had been presented to him in the hope
that it might help to save his life; now
it was to become the instrument that
delivered him into the hands of his
enemies.
Mohegan warriors flanked
Miantonomi on both sides, easily
matching his impaired stride. They
took turns shoving and jostling the
Narragansett sachem as he ran, but
they dared not bring him down. That
honor belonged to Uncas, who was
coming up fast from behind.
(There is a local tradition that in
his flight to elude capture by Uncas,
Miantonomi leaped across a rocky
chasm high above a whitewater segment of the Yantic River. It is said he
landed hard on the opposite side and
broke his leg. Uncas, meanwhile, is
supposed to have leaped across the
chasm after him.)
When Miantonomi felt the hand of
his hated enemy clasp his shoulder, he
knew his reversal of fortune was complete. Thirty of his men lay dead or
dying. Some had escaped, many others had been captured. Now he,
Miantonomi, sachem of the
Narragansetts, was about to be taken
prisoner too. He slowed to a stop and
sank to the forest floor, where he sat
and stoically refused to answer his captors’ questions and taunts.
One by one, Narragansett prisoners
were paraded before him. When
Miantonomi still refused to give Uncas
satisfaction, the captives were slain
before his eyes.
“Why do you not speak?” asked
Uncas. “If you had taken me I should
have besought you for my life.”
Uncas ordered Miantonomi
brought back to the Mohegan fortress,
but soon perceived that he might be
too dangerous to keep there. With
each passing day, the possibility of a
retaliatory attack or rescue attempt by
the Narragansetts seemed more likely.
Meanwhile, the colonists of Rhode
Island grew incensed by the treatment
of Miantonomi. The sachem was
much liked in Providence, and no wonder – he and his uncle, the sachem
Canonicus, had freely given to Roger
Williams the land upon which
Providence was built.
The Narragansetts had a strong
bond with the Rhode Island settlers, so
it is no surprise that news of
Miantonomi’s captivity spread rapidly.
Samuel Gorton, the white man who
had given Miantonomi the unfortunate
coat of mail, contacted Uncas directly:
“Samuel Gorton, a wild-headed but
kind-hearted enthusiast who had settled
at Warwick, is said to have
written Uncas a letter, commanding him to set
Miantonomi at liberty, and
threatening him with the
English power if he refused.
The epistle reached Uncas,
and, being explained to him
by the messenger, gave him
not a little perplexity. He
was by no means willing to
set his captive free; but he
did not dare, on his own
authority, to put him to
death. In this uncertainty he concluded
to refer the matter to his old friends,
the English of Connecticut.”
Uncas brought Miantonomi to
Hartford and presented his dilemma to
the Governor and Council, asking them
to advise him how to proceed. But the
English authorities begged off, explaining that they were not at war with the
Narragansetts, so they thought it best
not to interfere. They referred Uncas
to the next meeting of the United
Colonies of New England. In the
meantime, at Miantonomi’s own
request, the prisoner was left in custody of the English. The vanquished
sachem felt he stood a better chance of
getting out of the situation alive if he
were among the English.
Sadly, he was quite mistaken.
Unbeknownst to Miantonomi, an old
enemy of his, a sachem from Long
Island, had made it known to the
English that Miantonomi had been trying to build unity among the tribes of
New England and New York as part of
a plan to overthrow the English
colonies and drive the colonists back
into the sea. It is not known how
much of the Long Island Indian’s claim
was true, however what mattered to the
English authorities is that it tended to
confirm their worst fears about the
Narragansetts – that they could not be
trusted, and that if a tribe of such
strength were in fact to lead a united
assault upon the colonies, the English
could very well lose.
When the first Court of
Commissioners of the United Colonies
of New England convened at Boston
on September 17, 1643, its members
considered the case against
Miantonomi. As the supreme legislative body in New England at the time,
the Commissioners had the power to
free Miantonomi if they pleased, however they decided that if they were to
let him go, he might seek vengeance
upon Uncas, who had always been an
ally to the English.
Uncas wished to execute
Miantonomi, but the Commissioners
did not see sufficient cause for such an
extreme measure. They referred the
matter to a panel of five ministers for
their opinion, who somehow arrived at
the shocking conclusion that indeed,
Miantonomi must die.
“The Commissioners, having all
their doubts removed by the verdict of
the ministers, decided that the unfortunate sachem was worthy of death, and
that Uncas might justly kill him, since
his own life would be in constant danger, either by treachery or open force,
as long as such a false and bloodthirsty enemy lived. It was clearly
discovered, they said, that there was a
general conspiracy among the Indians
against the Colonies, and the prisoner
was at the head of it.”
Also citing particular instances
where the Commissioners felt
Miantonomi had also violated Indian
customs, the Court directed that Uncas
and some of his best men be called to
Hartford to retrieve the prisoner, and
that he should be taken to a location
beyond the English settlements and put
to death. In this way, the English were
able to eliminate a man they considered a threat, yet didn’t have to dirty
their hands with the deed. To this day,
historians assert that Miantonomi was
not guilty of all the charges lodged
against him, and that he was executed
for political reasons, rather than as a
result of justice.
Soon after the Court’s decision,
Uncas, in the company of his brother
Waweqa and other warriors, sojourned
to Hartford, where Miantonimi was
placed in their custody. Two
Englishmen joined them to serve as
witnesses. The execution party
retreated towards Indian country, following well-trodden forest paths until
at last they came to the plain where the
ill-fated parley had occurred months
earlier.
As Miantonomi and his captors
walked single-file across the plain,
Uncas signaled to his brother Waweqa,
who followed behind the doomed
Narragansett. Waweqa silently raised
Journeys
Page 16
Blood on the Blackstone, Part 8 continued from page 15
his tomahawk and dashed it down
upon the back of Miantonomi’s skull.
The native weapon sliced deep into the
muscle and bone, nearly severing the
sachem’s head.
There is a grisly tradition about
what happened next. At least one 19thcentury historian claims the story is not
to be trusted. True or not, the tale has
become inextricably tied to
Miantonomi’s death over the years. In
fact, this very scene was rendered as a
woodcut engraving in an 1833 youth’s
history book of Connecticut (see illustration).
It is said that when Miantonomi
collapsed dead on the plain, Uncas
drew his knife, bent down and carved a
large piece of flesh from the fallen
Indian’s shoulder. He placed it in his
mouth “and ate it with savage exultation,” while proclaiming “It is the
sweetest meat I ever ate. It makes my
heart strong.”
The executioners buried
Miantonomi there on the plain, site of
his last battle and final defeat. A
small cairn of stones marked his grave.
For many years after, every
Narragansett Indian who passed by that
way added another stone to the pile
until the mound became quite large.
The plain itself became known as
“Sachem’s Plain.” Today, it is part of
Sachem Park, in Norwich.
“During many subsequent years,
parties of this tribe used to visit the
spot every September, in spite of the
almost continual hostility which existed between them and the Mohegans.
On reaching the rude monument they
would break forth into lamentations,
and then throwing new stones upon the
heap, would consecrate them with
mournful cries and frantic gestures.”
The pile of stones continued to
grow well into the 19th century, but the
tradition ended abruptly when an enter-
prising farmer with slight
regard for history took all
the stones away and used
them to build the foundation
of his new barn.
Afterwards, a permanent
monument was placed upon
the spot, where it still stands
today, off the road in a quiet
neighborhood.
So ended the life of the
great sachem Miantonomi,
son of Mascus, nephew of
Canonicus, brother of
Yotash, Pessicus and Cojonoquant, and
husband to Wawaloam. He left
behind three sons, one of whom was
probably just an infant when his father
was murdered by the Mohegans and
the English.
His name was Canonchet …
NEXT: CANONCHET
CAPTURED
©2008 by Joe Doherty
PO Box 31
South Salem, NY 10590-0031
Our Rich Community Fabric
Immigration
“The aim here was to get ahead, to
better themselves. That has been the
aim of everybody that came to
America, I guess. And of course, the
whole nation was different....it was the
promised land. They came here for a
better living and they worked like hell
for it.” Julien Cloutier, Run of the Mill
Immigrant assimilation into the
Blackstone Valley is a fascinating
microcosm of America’s melting pot.
The depth of nearly four centuries of
America’s earliest traditions and layers
of very diverse and rich cultures, traditions and customs brings the
Blackstone Valley into the forefront of
the American experience.
While the French were vehemently
committed to “La Survivance” of their
heritage, the Swedish immigrants
blended much more easily into the
strong English culture and Protestant
religion of the Yankees who owned the
farms and ran the factories. The Irish
experience differed some between
Rhode Island and Massachusetts due to
the variation in state politics but the
Cape Verdeans faced dual obstacles.
Color and language were factors that
played substantive roles in both
acceptance into the early American
culture as well as in maintaining a distinct and intact ethnic heritage.
The Blackstone Valley is alive with
incredible journeys, some very visible
but some can only be found in old
books and memoirs. But the fabric of
life couldn’t be richer and provides an
exemplary, though not always glowing,
picture of acceptance in the world and
dynamic fabric of the American
Dream. The mission of the American
Dream even before the term was spoken was clearly in unison – though the
paths and outcomes varied greatly. Yet,
what remains today is a fascinating
and often tangible excitement that
translates into a vibrant and compelling place to live or visit.
Gratitude goes to all of the
“rememberers” as the ethnic musicians
Pendragon have advised. Whereas the
buildings reflect the physical landscape, often scenic, sometimes challenging - the people clutch to their heritage and strong religious balance
while pioneering a new life and braving unique and sometimes, uncomfortable conditions. That is a story we can
all recognize as America.
This past has tremendous impacts
for us as a nation - who we were, who
we are and who we will still become.
Our relationships and ability to work
together, respect what is important to
preserve is paramount to our future
without forgetting our past. The human
experience, the strong values, the
sometimes challenging religious and
racial (in)tolerance coupled with innovation and the diverse skills of various
immigrant groups has led to a dynamic
history that included Irish, French,
Swedish, Cape Verdean and others. It
is important to understand our varied
pasts to properly respect the hardfought steps that have created a true
melting pot.
We are now seeing a new wave of
immigrants coming to the Valley.
Many non-skilled as well as many
highly skilled management levels, such
as engineers are expanding into our
Valley communities. This is important
as emigration continues in
Massachusetts which is the only state
in the Nation to lose residents. This
has grave impacts on the workforce
and new businesses establishing in the
region.
The French
Woonsocket’s Museum of Work
and Culture is a significant living
resource to the French experience that
For art shows or galleries, theatre, concerts or other cultural events, www.BlackstoneDaily.com
Alternatives’ Whitin Mill
Artisan/ Restaurant Space Available
Seeking tenants for newly renovated Whitin Mill abutting
the Mumford River and Ring Shop Dam in an exciting
opportunity to become part of an important new
project in the Blackstone River Valley.
For additional information, call Tom Saupe or Phil
Ingersoll-Mahonet at Alternatives (508) 234-6232.
dominated the Woonsocket area and
beyond for decades. Woonsocket, in
fact, was the most French speaking
community in the Nation at one time
as the waves of French-Canadians
were enticed away from their struggling farm lives to work in the mills in
the Blackstone Valley.
Since several Woonsocket mill
owners were Belgian, they identified
the French, who were struggling with
hard times in Canada, as potential
workers for the booming industrial
age.
“La Survivance” of their heritage
was of utmost significance to the
French-Canadians and at one time,
there were seven Catholic churches in
Woonsocket alone, many of strong
French influence. The heart of the
social and religious life for FrenchCanadians was the Church. They also
Journeys
Page 17
Our Rich Community Fabric continued from page 16
sought to retain their French- Canadian
heritage and maintained frequent contact with their homeland. Several other
institutions were very popular in the
Valley, including La Societe de St.
Baptiste - one of about 200 French
societies in the region. These were
truly mutually beneficial societies passing the hat for funerals, creating
scholarships and helping community.
Schools with nuns were created with
half the day in English and half spoken
in French. But the pride among the
French demanded American citizenship
for membership.
Festivities, such as St Jean de
Baptist, celebrated Feast Day on June
24th every year. Though diminished,
the French have honored their heritage
at the lovely Woonsocket Museum of
Work and Culture at Market Square.
Even today in the local papers, the
Valley Breeze or the Woonsocket Call,
there are articles announcing French
language or culture clubs, announcements for French Society events and
many French Canadians still holding
on with a firm grasp to their heritage.
In fact, the coveted first prize for the
Annual Fund Drive for the Museum of
Work and Culture is a trip for two to
where - why, of course, it’s Canada!
In Massachusetts, Millbury was
once a predominantly FrenchCanadian town, but recently its FrancoAmerican Club closed because of
falling membership. Many middle aged
and old timers remember how the traditional school day would be taught in
French throughout the morning and
then taught in English for the afternoon
classes.
The Cape Verdeans
NHC Ranger Chuck Arning’s Tape
#28, “Cape Verdean Voices” (found at
the Public Library in each Valley community) reveals a history of music, legendary sailors and whaling voyages for
the Cape Verdean men out of
Providence harbor, strong but poor
women often left alone for months and
years at a time, and an adjustment to
being isolated for color and language
differences by the predominantly
Anglo-Saxon landowners.
Cape Verde, off the coast of western Africa, is made up of 10 islands
and eight islets. In the early 1800s,
American whaling ships would head
out from the east coast and seek out
skilled whalers in Cape Verde and the
Azores. Their growing familiarity with
America fed into the universal quest
for bettering life and immigration to
America. However, the challenges of
color and language, coupled with transit to their homeland during whaling
expeditions, strengthened the embrace
that Cape Verdeans felt for their culture and religion.
Cape Verdeans held a Catholic tradition since the middle 15th century,
yet the early American Catholic
churches were not very welcoming to
immigrants of a different color or language. Most of the early black population in America belonged to the
Anglican Church. This isolation was
unusual for the Cape Verdeans whose
cultural heritage was comprised of
Italians, Africans and even Jews who
had fled to the island after the
Inquisition. This multi-ethnic upbringing led to multiple skin colors within
the fabric of Cape Verdean life which
was quite different from the more rigid
homogeneous Yankee traditions.
The musical linguistics of the Cape
Verdeans permeated their culture as
they sought to create local connections
by tracing family roots and links. “Oh,
we’re cousins” was a familiar phrase
once the family linkage was found.
The rhythm of the language merely
underscored the Cape Verdean musical
traditions comprised of the violins of
Portugal, the rhythms of Africa and the
influences, including dances such as
mazurkas and waltzes of Southern
Europe. Music was at the core of all
Cape Verdeans pursuits with a unifying
identity.
The Cape Verdean identity was also
visibly promoted by leaders meeting in
Boston to collect books and resources
to share with new generations as they
had less contact with the island.
Though the whaling and shipping
industry still held onto many Cape
Verdeans, the Woonsocket and
Blackstone mills eventually became
employers for many. But the very
strong traditions and culture has
remained viably intact due to the long
shipping interaction with their home-
land and the strong bonds to kinship.
There is, in fact, a Cape Verdean
Festival in Pawtucket every May to
fully enjoy and “catch the spirit” of
their life, music and traditions. Almost
1-1/4 times the size of Rhode Island,
the country’s population is 390,000.
The largest population of Cape
Verdeans not living in Cape Verde
reside in Massachusetts and Rhode
Island.
The Greeks
The first wave of Greek immigration started when the economy in
Greece faced turmoil. Greek sons, as
young as fourteen, were sent off to
America to work hard, send money
back and eventually return to Greece to
buy land. Many of the approximately
25,000 young men that came to
America annually from 1890-1917 had
been raised in rural areas, but most
tended to find jobs within urban areas,
such as New York, Pawtucket or
Worcester.
Though some headed west to
work in mines or on railroads, many
stayed in the East and became dishwashers, laborers, street peddlers and
shopkeepers. By 1912, the Balkan
Wars between Greek and Turkey erupted, and about 500 of Pawtucket’s 2500
Hellenic population returned home to
fight the Turks, showing their allegiance to Greece. Those surviving
often chose to return to America’s
career opportunities after the war
instead of buying land as expected in
Greece.
By 1913, Greek women were
also migrating to America, thus bringing the Greek culture and strong social
traditions to life while their husbands
or friends set up small shops such as
grocery stores, confectionaries or diners. The Greek Orthodox Church
remained central to their lives and
soon, The Church of the Assumption of
the Blessed Virgin Mary was built on
George Street in Pawtucket.
As World War I broke out, loyalties seemed to split somewhat as two
distinct approaches to Greek life in
America developed. Two national fraternal organizations developed: the
AHEPA, or American Hellenic
Educational Progressive Association
which advocated Americanization of
lifestyle while the GAPA or Greek
American Progressive Association
stressed the retention of traditional customs and their language.
Though a new wave of Greek
immigrants headed to America from
1966-79 as the 1965 Immigration Act
ended the national quota system, (the
U.S. had a closed door policy from
around 1925-46 that substantially limited numbers to below 1300 annually)
the new wave never brought more than
11,000 Greeks to America each year,
with the majority settling in the New
York City area.
Former State Legislator and
businessman George Panichas provided a reprint from the Hellenic
Calendar, printed by the Providence
Journal on March 13, 1913 where historical records show that Pawtucket’s
first Greek immigrant, George Vaca,
arrived in 1892, though he moved to
Woonsocket a few years later. Vaca
knew no one who could speak the language but by 1913, Pawtucket was
home to the largest Greek community
in R.I. and a second priest had to be
appointed.
The Greeks have always proved
to be hard working, family oriented,
loyal and social, loving to engage in
get-togethers that extol their fine foods
and social customs. To appreciate the
rich culture and yummy goodies, a
quick trip to Pawtucket can be an eyeopening pleasure! Every mid-August,
a wonderful Greek Festival is held in
Pawtucket for all to enjoy as it is open
to the public!
There are many other ethnic
groups that enrich our melting pot fabric of life in the Valley. We shall look
into some of those in the next issue of
Journeys but you can explore the cultural diversity of Broad Street in
Pawtucket, Central Falls and
Cumberland through weekly tours
offered. These feature a 60- minute
river tour, ethnic dining at restuarants
and live food demonstrations. Contact:
the Blackstone Valley Tourism Council
at 401-724-2200 or [email protected] and ask about the Broad
Street International Food Tour.
Visit our online shopping
catalog filled with over
3,000 unique and unusual items:
inspirational gifts, sports memorabilia, health & beauty
products, and home & garden
decor. Fundraising options
available for your school,
church or organizations;
inspirational writings and
intercessory prayer.
www.abundant-life-galleria.com
Journeys
Page 18
Blackstone Treasures: A Kayaking Itinerary
gear through a gorgeous young hardwood forest. The trail parallels the
river on the east side following a rising
cliff till it peaks about 150’ above the
river. Pay attention and you will find a
scenic overlook on the right. This
overlook gives you a perfect view of
the rapids and rocks that are causing
you to portage. Caution here as slipping rocks and loose soil on the edge
could cause a fall. The rapids you are
portaging around are runnable at certain times of the year.
In high spring waters or storm
flows, this is a nice Class III section of
rapids suitable for experienced white
water paddlers. For anyone else or low
flow conditions, you should use this
portage to save the bottom of your
boat and your ankles.
Stories abound regarding the use of
this area by Native Americans. One
story tells of the use of this cliff to
drive deer over during hunting.
Possible, but it is unconfirmed.
If you are down on the west side of
the river below the cliffs, you will find
circular depressions in the rock which
are bowl shaped and smooth. Small
pebbles are usually found in the bottom of these depressions. Local
mythology would have you believe
that these are the remnants of food
preparation areas used by the Native
Americans. These depressions were
thought to be used to pound corn into
flour. Although an attractive local legend, the real truth is that they are
caused by small stones getting trapped
in a crevice of the rock. Rising waters
during high flows cause these small
stones to start
swirling
about. Over
hundreds and
thousands of
years, they
carve small
bowl shaped
depressions.
They look
smooth and
manmade, but
water is powerful and
patient creating these bowls over time.
At the end of your long portage, you
reach a meadow. The river entrance is
immediately to your right and about
150 yards away. Location: N42 00.646
/ W 071 degrees 33.103
This is a sheltered location, I
sometimes come here just to picnic
and relax. This is a fairly easy entrance
into the river. Take the time to paddle
upstream a little and you will be
rewarded with scenic views of the
cliffs you just walked past. At this
point, paddle south. The paddling is
easy and relaxed. The scenery is beautiful. Take note of the old Tupperware
mill on the left. The rise and fall of
this company and its presence in the
Blackstone Valley affected thousands.
Continue paddling south about two
miles. You
will see three
bridges close
togther.
Approach with
caution on the
right side.
Your exit to
the portage is
located under
the third
bridge at the
right. Use
extra caution
as you are approaching within 75-100
feet of a low head wall dam. Location:
N42 degrees 00.977 W 071 degrees
32.311
You DO NOT want to go over this
dam! This is a difficult portage requiring you to lift your boat up and over a
set of steps and a 4 foot high wall and
then carry back down to the river over
another wall. It is not a long portage
(about 100 yards) , but it does require
physical strength and caution.
You enter into the water below the
UniBank Greenway Challenge
Registration Deadline Nears
Registration for the Blackstone
Valley’s premier adventure relay race
is open and will close September 1,
2008. Teams are urged to register early
for the September 27 event so they can
realize the full advantage of information and pre-race events designed for
participants.
Individual racers can register in the
Ironman or Ironwoman divisions and
teams of up to nine can register in the
division that most closely reflects their
composition. Defend the
Championship or have your company
team go for the Corporate Cup. The
Recreational division takes all comers
and for the Masters division team
members must all be over 55 years
young. The all-women division is one
of the fastest growing with more teams
each year. Teams of all sizes are also
allowed a support person who coordinates getting equipment from transition
site to transition site.
UniBank Greenway Challenge
organizers are working out the last
details for the 2008 course that will
take teams over a route that is very different from the year before. They
remind those thinking of entering that
no one has an advantage
on the route details that
are released in early
September. As always,
organizers adhere to the
tradition of showcasing
the greenways and blueways of the Blackstone
River Valley and cyclists,
paddlers and runners
always find themselves in
a new and delightful part
of the region they might
never have been to
before.
Mark your calendars
for September 27 and
plan on joining in the fun. No matter
where teams place, the Finish Line
Celebration is where everyone gathers
for great food, music, camaraderie and
to share stories of their unique experience. It’s an adventure race like no
other – come find out why!
dam. There is a quick flow here with a
short section of Class II white water
with exposed rocks at low flow conditions. Use strength and ferry to mid
river position before starting downstream. The paddling of this section is
easy. The river changes its texture
here. You are starting to enter the most
developed areas of Woonsocket, R.I.
As you do so, more mills, factories and
warehouses appear on the side of the
river. The river banks are more cluttered and the river changes its feel.
About two miles down from the last
portage, you have an alternative exit at
Cold Spring Park, located just 1/3 mile
south of the MA & RI border on Rte
122. This picturesque park is located
on the southbound side of Rte 122.
drive down the long access road to the
river.
Continue just about 3/4 miles downstream from this point to your portage
Location: N42 00.105 W 071 degrees
31.076. You will carry your boats up
and to the public parking at the corner
of River St. and S. Main in
Woonsocket, R.I. This is the end of
this trip.
Stop and enjoy the historic downtown and get a real wiener or fish and
chips. If you are continuing on the
river, cross over to River Island Park.
As always, PADDLE SAFE!
On Thursday, June 12, at 8:30 A.M.,
the Whitin School 8th Grade held a
dedication ceremony to honor the life
of Brietta Esposito, a twenty year veteran of the Uxbridge Public Schools
who passed away suddenly this past
school year. The 8th grade students
and faculty were in attendance at this
ceremony. A tree in memory of Brietta
was planted outside the school for all
to see to remember her kind spirit and
the legacy she has left behind.
Trees
Written by Alanna O’Dowd,
Grade 8 Student
Read by Bridgit Wallace,
Grade 8 student
Contact Barbara Dixon for more
information at 401-762-0250 x30.
Registration forms are available on line
along with further details of the event
at www.greenwaychallenge.org.
They are a part of nature.
They shade us when we’re warm and
shelter us when we’re cold.
Without trees, the world would seem
empty.
Often we take nature for granted.
We forget that without it, we would
struggle to go on.
It’s the same with people.
We grow so accustomed to their presence that we take them for granted, as
well.
Then when they leave us, we struggle
to carry on.
Mrs. Esposito was a gift from God.
She was beautiful and nurtured us like
a tree in bloom.
This tree will be a constant reminder
of Mrs. Esposito’s presence in our
lives.
Her roots here grew deep, and we
relied on her to shade and shelter us.
We know you still stand by us, Mrs.
Esposito, tall and strong and beautiful
like this tree we remember you by,
and we thank you for taking such
good care of us.
Journeys
Page 19
Great Canadian
Canoe & Kayak Co.
Family Owned since 1969
Sales • Rentals • Tours • Instruction
Hundreds of Canoes and Kayaks in Stock!
Close-Outs, Rentals and Demos Now on Sale!
Certified car rack
specialists
Rte. 146 South, Sutton MA
508.865.0010 • www.greatcanadian.com
We carry over 40,000 items
from more than 500 specialty
manufacturers and craftsmen.
mendongiftbarn.com
1-888-473-1820 Route 16, Mendon, MA
Gifts • Furniture • Accessories • Christmas
Journeys
Page 20
Caring for Women is Accepting New Patients
We Welcome Women from the Blackstone Valley
Moms are our specialty.
$RS-ELISSA-EADAND+AREN*ENGAREMOMS
When it comes to women’s health, they and their highly
skilled all-female staff know what mothers-to-be and
busy moms deserve. From pregnancy care and childbirth planning through labor and delivery, and minimally
invasive procedures to intricate gynecological surgery,
these physicians are dedicated to women. Whether you are
planning your first baby or you are an experienced mom, the
board-certified physicians and nurse practitioners at Caring for
Women are here for you.
Melissa Mead, MD
Mother of a 13-year old son
and 10-year-old twin girls.
Karen Jeng,
MD
Mother of a baby girl
and toddler boy.
508-634-7338
www.caring4women.net
(OME.ATIONAL"UILDINGs-EDWAY2OAD2OUTEs-ILFORD-!

Greatest Moment in Democracy

Transcription

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