the harbinger spring 2012

7/31/2019 The Harbinger Spring 2012

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Thank you

HARBINGERN e w s l e t t e r o f t h e w e s t p o r t h i s t o r i c a l s o c i e t y www.westporthistory.compo box n188, westport, ma 02790-1203, [email protected]

Spring 2012, vol.45, no.2

iNside this issue

letter from the director

upcoming events

handy house news

Room to Learn Exhibit

Getting an Education

A Hearthside chat

Letter from the Director

Summer has arrived in Westport, and as I know that many of you will be juggling

an eventful schedule, this issue of the Harbinger will provide a guide to our upcoming

events for July, August and September.

I hope to welcome many of you at the Handy House at our Second Saturday

eventsplease drop in and see what is happening, take an inside out tour of the

house or bring a picnic and enjoy the beautiful Handy House property. Each Second

Saturday of the month event will have a different theme beginning in July with

one of the most skilled traditional builders Michael Burrey who will demonstrate pit

sawing, hewing and riving. This will be followed by an Archaeology Day in August.

Our third Thursday lecture series continues throughout the summer and will include

an entertaining look at the attempted secession of Westport Harbor and a program

about the kit houses of Westport.

At the Bell School, you will find a wonderful exhibition on the nineteen one-room

schoolhouses of Westport. The exhibition is open on Monday and Wednesday

throughout the summer. We are interested to hear about your own one-room school

stories and memories!

This September we plan to launch our first Handy House tour guide training program.

We hope to provide a broad grounding in local history, an introduction to archi-tectural history and to the fascinating stories of the many occupants of the Handy

House. Our docent program will suit anyone with an appreciation of Westport, a love

of learning and an interest in communicating this to others! Please look inside for

more information.

Jenny ONeill

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hmage courtesy of the New Bedford whalINg museum

Third Thursday Local History Lectures Series

Thursday July 19 at 7pmt

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Manton Community Room, Westport

Public Library

Thursday August 16 at 7pm

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Manton Community Room, Westport

Public Library

Thursday September 20 at 7pmt

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Open Monday and Wednesday 10-4through out the summer!

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At the Bell School, 25 Drift Road

The Westport Historical Society

gratefully acknowledges the special

contribution and support by:

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Grays daily GriNd &

Grays Grist Mill

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These two Westport buisnesses

have underwritten the printing

costs of the upcoming Westport

Historical Society brochure.

upcoMiNG whs eveNts

Thank you

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w on-m son exhibit now


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the Wespor Hisorical Sociey

Board MeMBers

President: Tony Connors

Vice President: Betty Slade

Treasurer: Helga Nichols

Clerk: Charley Appleton

Yvonne Barr

Carol Coutinho

Andrew Isidoro

Albert Lees III

executive director

Jenny ONeill

BooK Keeper

Nancy Andersen

coMMittee chairs

Facilities: Tony Millham and Yvonne Barr

Finance: Helga Nichols

Oral History: Betty Slade

Collections: Blair Walker

The Harbinger is published by the Westport

Historical Society, a 501(c)(3) non profit

organization. Founded in 1964, its missionis to collect, preserve and document

the material culture of Westport; and to

educate and connect the residents of the area

to their heritage through public programs,

exhibits, publications and research.

25 Drift Road, Westport, MA

website www.westporthistory.com

phone 508-636-6011

email [email protected]

Find us on Facebook!

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Saturday July 14th, 11am to3 pm

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Just imagine the wealth of trees in 18th

century Westport, and the great oaks and

chestnuts from which the Handy House

was constructed! The Handy House is

a symbol of an age of wood, when ev-

erything a man owned was made more

valuable by the fact that he had made it

himself or knew exactly where it been

made. It spanned rivers for man; it

built his home and heated it in winter,

man walked on wood, slept on it, sat in

wooden chairs at wooden tables, from

cradle to coffin of wood, the life of man

was encircled by it. (Eric Sloane)

Michael Burrey will demonstrate the

forgotten art of pit sawing, hewing, riv-ing. Michael is a member of the highly

regarded Timber Framers Guild and the

Traditional Timberframe Research and

Advisory Group. He has worked for lead-

ing museums in the region including

Plimoth Plantation and demonstrates

early timber framing techniques

throughout the northeast. There will

also be an opportunity to learn about

shingle making and to view a special

model of the Handy House made by

Westporter Armand Lavoie.

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Saturday August 11thin o t

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What did we discover during an intensive

survey conducted in January and April

2012? 3034 artifacts were recovered and

a pre contact Native America site was

located.

Bring a picnic and watch the archaeolo-

gists at work or dig in and discover more

artifacts, talk with the archaeologists,

learn about archaeology at our August

Second Saturday event.

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Saturday September 8th

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One of the earliest residents of the

Handy House, William White Jr., was a

blacksmith, and we are thrilled to be able

to host local Westport blacksmith, Tony

Millham and his portable forge, at the

Handy House.

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Second Saturdays at the Handy House

upcoMiNG haNdy house eveNts


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Handy House Newsh

opening doorways

we are

deeply

Grateful

for the MaNy

GeNerous

coNtriButioNs

to the haNdy

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please coNsider

MaKiNG a doNatioN

or pledGe to help us

opeN the haNdy house

to the coMMuNity

Dr.HandysFundraisingUpdate

GOAL1.8MILLION

RECEIVEDAND

PLEDGED $

!

It is especially gratifying to receive

national recognition of the value of our

local history. The Westport Historical

Society has been awarded a $5000

grant by the National Trust for Historic

Preservation from National TrustPreservation Funds. The seed grant

funds will go toward the Handy House

preservation project. The Handy House

is a unique architectural time capsule

that embodies the first three principal

architectural trends to occur in this

nations history, as well as representing

the story of everyday life in Westport

over the course of three centuries.

The Westport Historical Society plans

to stabilize the Handy House and then

open it to the public.

Without organizations like the Westport

Historical Society, communities and

towns all across America would have a

diminished sense of place, said Stephanie

Meeks, president of the National Trust

for Historic Preservation. The National

Trust for Historic Preservation is hon-

ored to provide a grant to the Westport

Historical Society, which will use the

funds to help preserve an important pieceof our shared heritage.

The National Trust for Historic Preser-

vation dispenses small grants for local

projects through the National Trust

Preservation Funds grant program. The

grants range from $500 to $5,000 and

have provided over $5.5 million dollars of

funding since 2002. They are awarded to

nonprofit groups, educational institutions

and public agencies, and must be matched,

at least dollar for dollar, with public or

private funds. Preservation Funds grants

are being used nationally for such wide-

ranging activities as consultant services

for rehabilitating buildings, technicalassistance for tourism that promotes

historic resources and educating children

about their heritage. These grants are

often the deciding factor on whether

historic buildings or sites can be saved

for future generations.

About the National Trust for

Historic Preservation

The National Trust for Historic Preserva-

tion (www.PreservationNation.org) is

a non-profit membership organization

bringing people together to protect,

enhance and enjoy the places that matter

to them. By saving the places where great

moments from historyand the impor-

tant moments of everyday lifetook

place, the National Trust for Historic

Preservation helps revitalize neighbor-

hoods and communities, spark economic

development and promote environmental

sustainability. With headquarters in

Washington, DC, nine regional and fieldoffices, 29 historic sites, and partner or-

ganizations in all 50 states, the National

Trust for Historic Preservation provides

leadership, education, advocacy and re-

sources to a national network of people,

organizations and local communities

committed to saving places, connecting

us to our history and collectively shaping

the future of Americas stories.

The Handy House fundraising thermometer continues to

move ever higher. It is with great excitement that we approach

$980,000 in total donations and pledges. Fundinghas come from many individuals, foundations and businesses.


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Take off those rose tinted glasses and

step into the world of the 19th century

one-room schoolhouse!

The Westport Historical Society opens anew exhibition at the Bell School explor-

ing the story of the nineteen one-room

schools that once dotted the Westport

landscape in the 19th century, and the

creation, followed by slow demise of an

unsustainable district system.

Nothing illustrates the plight of children

in the 1800s more dramatically than the

daily hardships that they faced at school.

Although each one-room schools differed

somewhat from the exterior, they were

all equally primitive inside and presented

the students with some serious challenges

to their wellbeing.

In the winter, children risked being

sprayed with hot soot from malfunction-

ing woodstoves.

They risked contracting life-threatening

diseases through the prevalent use of the

common drinking cup and appallingly

unkempt outhouses.

They faced serious bullying and classdisruption as anywhere from 15 to 50

pupils ranging in age from 5 to 20 years,

crowded into a single room.

Many children were sentenced to a life

of impaired eyesight from the lack of

adequate lighting in the schools.

It is astounding that within these difficult

conditions, children managed to read the

literary classics, learn complex bookkeep-

ing skills, take in the practical arts (musicdrawing, agriculture), and learned how to

plant gardens.

The decades-long debate between the

school committee which advocated for

consolidating the schools and parents

who desperately wished to keep their

children within a safe walking distance

of their homes, is well documented in

the annual school committee reports.

A fascinating contemporary visual record

of photographs of many of the schoolsonly serves to highlight the plight of the

often barefooted and bedraggled school

children.

Despite the poor conditions inside the

buildings, the one-room schoolhouse has

left a lasting architectural legacy, such

as the Greek Revival Bell School and the

temple-like Wolf Pit School. Many of

the buildings that were once one-room

schools still survive, but have been sig-

nificantly altered. The struggle to provide

an effective public education system is

ongoing and many of the concerns voiced

in the 19th century are still relevant

today. We invite you to experience a

one-room schoolhouse by visiting our

exhibition at the Bell School!

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stateside school

Located on Sodom Road,

north of Narrow Avenue

Help us to identify the children

in this photo!

saMple Math questioN of the tiMe

(from David Sanfords exercise book,

early 1800s)

Suppose eight hundred soldiers were

besieged in a town and their victuals

were computed to serve them two

months, how many of those soldiers

might depart the garrison that

the same victuals may serve the

remaining soldiers five months?

The teachers desk was on a platform

about a foot high. Any child who seri-

ously misbehaved had to walk up to thedesk where he or she could barely see

over the desk and they had to place their

hands on the desk where a wood ruler

slammed down on the knuckles. I saw

this happen to one boy. I wont mention

his name.

Recess was a time for fun. One spring the

boys brought to school knives, hatchets.

saws and rope. We cut saplings in the

woods and built a teepee covered with

moss. We boys played games with jack

knives and marbles. Jim Pierce was an ex-

pert at marbles and he won most of them

away from the other boys. We had orders

In September of 1932, my mother took

me to my first day of school in the South

Westport one-room schoolhouse whichwas located about 1/8 of a mile away.

About 10 am, mother was surprised when

I walked into our house. I said the teacher

had told us to go outside so school must

have been over. We went back to the

school and I found out what recess was.

There were 3 grades with one teacher.

The first year I had either Miss Murphy

or Miss Mason. My memory leaves me

a little short there. That first teacher had

to leave because the law said she could

not be married and she planned to do so.

The other teacher took over for my last

two years.

Getting an Education in a One-Room Schoolhouse

by Carlton Cukie Macomber

to not go near the pond but some-

times one or two boys came in with

mud on their feet and that called fora reprimand (not knuckle bashing).

Every Spring we had celebrations

outside. We danced around the May

Pole with crepe paper. We dressed

with paper and crayons to look

like animals and put on a show.

Everything was simple and fun.

We received an excellent all-round

education which prepared us for

the Head of Westport School.

Heat for the school was from a big

old furnace, the size needed for

a large house. The janitor started

the fire in the morning and we boys

carried in wood the rest of the day.

There was some kind of shelf inside

of the furnace and we brought

potatoes to put on the shelf in

the morning for hot potato lunch.

That was fun.

I would not have traded that one

room schoolhouse for any other kind

and it really sent me off with a great

appreciation for learning.


6/86

Before the introduction of modern

central heating, American homes were

fueled with wood. Trees were cut down,

transported to the house, cut to a useable

size, and stacked for storage. It is difficult

to ascertain how much firewood a

typical home would use in a year, but

account books from 19th-century homes

of wealthy families indicate that one

family used 44 cords of wood in 12

months to fuel a house with seven fire-

places, a bake oven, and two chimneys

(a cord of wood is four feet high, fourfeet wide, and eight feet long, and packed

tightly). Firewood was generally cut

down in winter months, when snow on

the ground allowed the logs to be trans-

ported by sleigh, and the wood was al-

lowed time to dry and season before use.

To light a fire, a large backlog (12-18

inches in size) was placed in the fireplace,

and then andirons were positioned in

front of it. On top of the andirons

smaller sticks (5-6 inches thick) were

arranged, followed by chips and small

pieces of pine, all of which was then lit.

To keep the fire going, the backlog was

replaced every evening. Before retiring

for the night, the fire was carefully

banked to keep coals alive overnight to

be used for re-lighting the fire in the

morning. Maintaining the wood supply

and banking the fire at night were

typically tasks performed by men, while

re-starting the fire in the morning was

the responsibility of women and girls.To re-light the fire, hot coals were taken

out of the ashes, charred wood was

scraped from the backlog, and fresh chips

and sticks were added to get the fire

going again. Occasionally, there would

be no live coals left in the morning, and

so a tinder box might be used, or a coal

was borrowed from a neighbor. (Matches

were not in common use until late in the

19th century.)

A nearly constant open fire in the main

room of the house caused some safety

concerns. Many house fires were started

by the careless disposal of hot ashes,

stray coals or sparks at night, or faulty

chimneys. Herbs or flax left to dry could

also catch fire. A good portion of a

housewifes mending pile was due to

holes burned into bed coverings, hearth

rugs, or table linens. Additionally, the

risk of large vessels of hot liquids spilling

was a danger, especially to small children

Because house fires were relatively com-mon, neighbors were typically prepared

to lend a hand in battling flames, remov-

ing valuables from a house, and offering

sympathy for those affected.

During the summer of 2011, we welcomed intern, Allison Taylor, from the Museum Studies Program Harvard

Extension School. With a focus on the Handy House, she looked into some of the everyday challenges of survival

in the 19th century, and here we present her research on keeping the nine fireplaces in the Handy House burning!

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A HEARTHSIDE CHATby Allison Taylor, Museum Studies Program Harvard Extension School


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Support local history!The Westport Historical Society is supported by donations from individuals, foundationsand businesses who care about preserving the special heritage of Westport. In additionto joining the Historical Society as a member, please consider these other ways you cansupport our mission:

coNtriButioNs iN hoNor or MeMorial GiftsHonor a friend or relative, commemorate a special anniversary or mark the passingof a loved one with a contribution.

Bequests

Leave a lasting legacy for the future by naming the Historical Society as a beneficiaryin your will.

corporate MatchiNG Gifts

Please check with your employer to see if they offer a matching gift program.

BusiNess spoNsorships

The Historical Society offers local businesses many different levels of sponsorship

and recognition.

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hreceNt acquisitioNs

The following are some highlights

of recent acquisitions. We are very

grateful to all who have entrusted

us with these gifts:

2012.018 aNNe hopKiNs

Collection of documents from

the Abraham Manchester store.

2012.019 GeorGe aNd patricia deaN

Framed photograph of the Stateside

School.

2012.021 howie aNd laura Gifford

Account book of school district 3,

corner of Hix Bridge and Pine Hill

road 1847-1850

2012.022 JiM aNd BarBara faria

Two photographs of the Hix Bridge

c. 1890 by Joseph G. Tirrell, includes

the Handy House in distance.

2012.023 aNoNyMous

Extensive collection of very early

deeds, correspondence, business

documents and Westport related

ephemera.

We plan to launch our first Handy House docent training program in September

to prepare guides to conduct house tours. We will provide an enjoyable yet thoroughgrounding in local history, an introduction to architectural history and to the fasci-

nating stories of the many occupants of the Handy House. Our docent program will

suit anyone with an appreciation of Westport, a love of learning and an interest in

communicating this to others! We seek docents to give tours at special events, and,

once the Handy House is open to the public, for regular house tours.

Training will begin in September, tentatively scheduled for Tuesdays 10am-12pm,

beginning Tuesday September 4.

Pre-registration by August 15th is required. Class size will be limited.

Information available at the Second Saturday events on July 14, and August 11 orat the Bell School (Monday or Wednesday) or call/email to pre-register for training.

HANDY HOUSE DOCENT TRAINING PROGRAM . . . Guinea Pigs Wanted!

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westporthistoricalsociety25driftroad,poboxn188,westport,ma02790

Non-Profit

U.S.Postage

PAID

WestportMA

PermitNo.23

membership levels

riNdividual $20

rfaMily $35

rcoNtriButiNG $70

rsustaiNiNG $200

rspecial Gift $

Please make check payable to and mail to:

westport historical society25 drift road, po box n188westport, ma 02790

NaMe

address

city state zip

phoNe

eMail

join us!

thank you!

Handy House opening doorways doNatioN/pledGe forM

Donation $

Please use my/our gift where it is most needed r, or for the following project:

coNtact iNforMatioN

donor name email

contact person (if donor is an organization) email

street/po box phone

city state zip

checK eNclosedr(please make checks payable to Westport Historical Society)

or charGe My rVisa rMastercard rAmex

card number

expiration date

print name of card holder

signature

To donate securities or stocks please contact Jenny ONeill at the

Westport Historical Society at 508-636-6011.

Please list donation in publications as a gift from:

Mail to: Westport Historical Society, PO Box N188, Westport MA 02790

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the harbinger spring 2012

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