The Historic Winslow House

Hi friends, and followers, I hope you or a friend can attend, I’m sorry I cannot be there.
Kezia Bacon will present a few selected stories,their content, along with my collection of vintage photos.

A History of Seaview
Kezia Bacon presents “Ray’s Tales”

Tuesday, August 13, 2019, 11 AM

W.Ray Freden lived for 70 years in the Seaview Village of Marshfield. He now resides in Pembroke Maine. Ray began sharing stories from his youth in the “Around Town” column in the Marshfield Mariner and a few years later his blog made its debut. Kezia Bacon, who worked to publish these stories, will present a variety of ‘Ray’s’ tales. Kezia, a lifelong resident of Marshfield, has published her Nature Column in the Mariner since 1996. She also leads nature walks for the North & South River Watershed.

$6/Members. $8/non-members
10:30 registration and light refreshments begin

At the Historic Winslow House

South Shore Railroad Stations 1849 to 1940 Part 1

Let’s take a ride along the rails of the South Shore Railroad.

The railroad, from Boston to Cohasset, arrived in  1849. It then took over 20 years later to reach Marshfield and South Duxbury in 1871 .

The Governor Bradford, a wood-fired steam engine, was the first Locomotive to travel the South Shore Line in 1871.

North Cohasset, Hull St.

Cohasset, Pleasant St. The main station.

This Station burned once and was rebuilt. It was enlarged twice. A portion of the building still remains.

There were 25 miles from this Cohasset station to Plymouth,  and there were 15 stations.. That’s a station every 1.6 miles!

South Cohasset.

 

North Scituate.

A very busy Station serving Minot’s and Scituate’s north beaches.

Egypt.

A small Station between North Scituate and Scituate Harbor.

Scituate Harbor.

Looking south.

South Scituate. Changed to Greenbush, Oct. 1, 1876

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Looking south  from the Stockbridge Rd. Bridge. The Roundhouse to the left

 

The original South Scituate Station

This was a terminus for a short time. It became a large important facility containing;

A Locomotive Garage/ Round House with pits for cleaning and light repairs.
A Coaling Station.
A Sand House.
An Oil House.
An Ash Pit.

The turn table.

A Locomotive on the turntable.

The Greenbush Water Tank with the Machine Shop.

Greenbush looking north.

 

A coal-fired steam engine with passenger cars waiting to board to Boston.

 

East Marshfield     changed to Marshfield Hills Oct. 13 1890.

Littletown. Changed to Sea View, Aug., 20 1873.

Littletown was later changed to SeaView, in 1873. I am guessing the change was due to the confusion of the Littleton Station, 30 miles west of  Boston, and built in 1848. I expect, the small Littletown Station had to give up it’s name under the pressure of the Railroad administrators. So Littletown became Sea View on Aug, 20 1873.

My conseption of the original Littletown RR Station.

 

My painting below is looking north with a locomotive coming in from Greenbush. The Cape Cod house, seen top right, became the Little Green Light Tea Room. The building on the R. was the Littletown /Sea View school. but not the original school built in 1715.  It was later used for religious services and moved to Marshfield Hills.

The Littletown Station looking West.

A carriage taxi waiting for passengers.

This was the Sea View Barge awaiting passengers to Humarock.

the little girl  is Elizabeth Paine Hatch, 1889-1979, m. Ralph Carver Hatch Seaview.

The two story Station was torn down in the mid 40’s. This Cape Cod home was built from the Station lumber in 1947 by Bill Freden.

Centre Marshfield

The Centre Marshfield Station [far right] as viewed from Church St. c. 1910.

Centre Marshfield Station looking North from Ferry St.

 

A short distance south of the Centre Marshfield Station, The Railroad provided a convenience stop at the Marshfield Fair Grounds.  This service began sometime after 1871 until the Railroad service was discontinued in 1938-9.  This stop was made in both directions and provided a time schedule.
Passengers unloaded onto a platform with stairs leading to ground level.
Cattle & Horses loaded off onto a ramp to ground level.
This was a basic loading/unloading station without conveniences, no cover, few seats, a primitive affair.

A likeness to the Passenger,  Cattle  and Horse loading Railroad dock at the Marshfield  Fair Grounds, c. late 1800’s.

An 1879 time schedule.

South Marshfield

This is the original ”Marshfield” sign Compliments of R. Freden.

The Marshfield Station looking South.

The Marshfield Station looking Northwest.

Webster Place. Changed to Green Harbor, Oct., 1, 1876.

The Gov. Bradford Locomotive passing the Duxbury Station in 1871.

 

Duxbury.

South Duxbury.

Island Creek Station, Duxbury.

 

Kingston.

Plymouth.

This map shows the two routes to Plymouth, Left  opened in 1845. The Line on the right opened 1871.

Part 2 will consist of the importance of the Sea View Station, and it’s contribution to the development of the Village of Sea View and the Humarock area.

W. R. Freden. Marshfield/Seaview, 70 years.

Humarock Water Co.

During the Great Depression, 1929 to 1939, our home only had the basic conveniences……a big black cast-iron kerosene stove that Mom cooked on,  which also helped heat the kitchen in the cold months….and a coal furnace heated the house.  We had running water, but cold only,  and that old kitchen stove also heated our water in a kettle or two.    A big ice chest was located in the hall entrance off the kitchen. The only electric appliance was a toaster.  The one radio was in the living room and there was no telephone.

My curiosity  led to question my Dad as to where  the water in the faucet came from and why we didn’t  have a hot water faucet like the neighbors.  Dad had explained to me that our water came from a big  storage tank located on a near-by hill.  The water was pumped into the tank from deep wells…. then piped to the homes lucky enough to be on the main line. He explained our furnace didn’t have the piping to heat water for the sink.

The water companies were privately owned and were  located in various parts of town.  One of these pump houses was located in the thicket between Ferry Hill Rd. and  off Ireland Rd. This supplied parts of Seaview and Humarock.

Crosby/Humarock Water Co. pump house….c. 1926-1946

A big stone tank was at the top of Ireland Rd.

As I remember the Humarock Water Company’s
storage tank was on Ireland Rd., opposite Carlton Rd.
This  tank  was screened all around under the roof.                                                  About 1945 or ’46, a number of screens were broken  and there was little water in the tank.  Dad explained to me that it was no longer in use.

The water was piped from the pump house to the storage tank on Ireland Rd. and then distributed to Seaview and Humarock. The pipe to Humarock ran across the Sea St. Bridge.
This was a serious problem in the winter because the pipes could freeze up. To prevent this, the system had to be bled-off to prevent damage to the supply pipe.

The Humarock side was bled-off to keep the water running….. therefore, not freezing.   This would create a huge ice mountain in the marsh area near the high tide line.

The ice mountain would last well into the spring.


Uprooting of the water pipe to Humarock

During the dismantling of the Humarock bridge in 1952, the old water pipe was exposed, it’s difficult to see here.

The tank roof  collapsed about 1949. However, the stonework lasted for many years.

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”Water is being depleted many, many times faster than nature can replenish it. ”      Maude Barlow

W. Ray Freden, Seaview, 70 years.