Author: Ray

A previous blog mentions that a shopping trip was usually on a Saturday. This would be a trip to Rockland or Brockton, the closest cities. I would get piled into the old Chevy and off we would go.
Up Summer Street and left on Pleasant Street. Through the abandon Railroad               bridge with great granite walls on both sides

Looking east to Summer St. Note wagon on Summer St.

Granite stone wall built to support the overhead tracks.

Next on the left, was Gino Rugani’s huge Sterling trucks parked on Dog Lane. In the 30’s & 40’s Gino was the largest general contractor in Marshfield.

Late 1920’s to 1939 Sterling trucks, gas powered, chain drive.

A great sight for a young truck guy.

We chugged up Pleasant Street’s long hill, made the sharp right turn, passed a large tomato field and then, the Peacock Tea Room on the right, it was my favorite place for an ice cream.

The Peacock Tea Room.

Fields of tomatoes lined both sides of Pleasant Street. Just before Canoe Tree Street, on the left, was Ruthven Farm.Two huge stone pillars were on each side of the driveway that led up the hill to a sheep farm.

Ruthven Farm entrance off Pleasant St.

They also had a peach and apple orchard. The field was full of sheep grazing. On occasion the collies could be seen  guarding  them. The collies were left to roam and to my delight they would visit my back yard for a scratch and a treat.

Left on to Canoe Tree Street. I was told that there were huge birch trees once where the pines now stand, and that the Indians made canoes from the bark of the trees. [As told to Philip Randall by an old timer from the Hills.]

A left on Route 3A [Main Street], then a right on Pine Street, with Murphy’s Chicken farm on the left where St. Christine’s now stands.

Murphy’s Chicken Farm, Main & Pine Sts.

 

Along on the right was the Pine Street dump, usually burning or smoldering. See my blog of  6/6 2011.

Through the Forest Street intersection and down the hill. Dad would throw it into neutral to coast,  saving on gas. Half way down Pine Street on the right was a cottage with brick pillars on both sides of the driveway. Just after the cottage was a brick yard and factory. Although in disrepair, it was steaming from the hot kiln.

Pine St. Brickyard. c. 1926-1940ish.

Painting by Ray

1926-1940 Brick Factory, price .03 cents each – Pine St.
A recent find!
A few bricks have been unearthed at the former location of the Pine St. Brickyard.

It’s amazing these bricks are still intact after being buried 80 or more years.
Robin Mitchell’s note of recovery & size of bricks 12/2020.

Rob is the author of ” Yesterday’s Marshfield” A wonderful journey of olden  Marshfield.
Thank you Robin for this contribution.

A clay pit was just after the mill. It was owned by Pete, or at least that’s what my Dad called him. Later in years my Dad would get clay from this pit to recondition  clay tennis courts he cared for after WW2.

As we slowed to turn onto Union Street, my Dad would point to the old saw mill across Union Street.
He would say, ”That’s one of the oldest mills in the country.”

The Hatch Mill, Union St.

Photo by Ray Freden.

As we traveled on Union Street, there was a big white house on the left side with a tennis court, a park with a small golf course, it looked like a fun place.I  always wondered why and who would have such a wonderful place. Not until recently have I learned who owned it and why it existed, a mystery to me for years! A very talented man by the name of Erle Parker and his wife were the owners from the mid 20s to the 60s. I have recently received the following from their  Grand Daughter Nancy.

Magoun Cemetery, off Union St.

“Erle Parker bought the house, barn and 35 acres on Union St. as a vacation home. After operating the Wayside Press greeting card business in Boston for many years,  He began in the business as a verse writer for the Rust Card Company. He  and his wife choose to retire early. However,  inflation and the outset of WW2 ,he found it necessary to  restart his Wayside Press business hiring local women to hand paint his cards. Some local women painted at home and some worked full time in the renovated barn next to his home.”

The Wayside Press, Union St.

”His hobbies began with great enthusiasm, first with a few golf holes, then a clay tennis court and a lovely park in the woods surrounding a small cemetery with surrounding  pines, brooks and springs and all done by hand. The apple orchard was located on the other side of the house. Sledding and skiing was enjoyed by the neighborhood in back and skeet shooting in the back field. In the house, a pool  table and ping pong .  He took up oil painting in the third story studio as a relaxing hobby”.

-Nancy Parker Huntley

Thank you Nancy.

Union St. farm houses near Rte. 139 in  the Standish section of Marshfield & Pembroke.

 

After the Farm houses, a short distance west on Union Street we crossed the Pembroke line, now on Oak Street. We came to  Route 139, the Red Road, yes it was red, because of the red crushed stone used in the paving.Route 139 was built during the depression by the WPA [Works Progress Administration]. My Dad worked for the WPA a short time in 1935 and said he worked on the sidewalks.

On the corner of Union St. [really Oak St., Pembroke] and Rte. 139, was a favorite stop for an ice cream or candy bar in the 40’s  In the early 20’s, this was originally a home business that grew as the area population grew.  As early as the mid 20’s there were gas pumps and a store.  Sometime along this period it became known as the Standish Trading Post. As I remember, In the 1950’s, one could stop in for breakfast, lunch or a limited menu dinner. Pick up some grocery’s, fill up with gas, get auto repairs & parts.  Josephine ”Auntie Jo” Backus now   ran the business her Grandfather Howard Taylor once owned. ”Auntie Jo” operated the business from the 40’s to the late 60’s. There was a grocery section, a soda fountain & grill. A dining room was the latest addition that included a great field-stone fireplace that warmed those cold winter days. ” Jo” was always there to cook breakfast, lunch or supper. She knew the way to a mans heart, and she loved the men. ”Jo” could cook-up one hell of a meal, however, only the ”Tried and True”  were on the menu. Roger Melvin, the son of long time Marshfield residents, became a part of the business as the head mechanic in 1951,  Roger ran the garage repairing, tires & parts sales. Many times,  Roger could be found working thru the night so his customer would have their vehicle ready to take them to work in the morning. Real country people were found at this real country store .

Standish Trading post.

 

“My memories are like a shuffled deck of cards, each one comes up at random.”
– Brian James

A special thanks to Janet Peterson, reasearcher, for early details of the Standish Trading Post.

by Ray Freden, Marshfield, 70 years.

As summer squeezed spring out, swimming wasn’t far away. My earliest recollection of swimming was at Humarock Beach, c. 1940. I may have been 4 or 5. My Mom would tow me in my cart to Clarks Store.

Clarks Store c. 1940.

Her sister, Marge, let her keep a few beach items in the back room. She left the cart in the back yard, then carried the beach blanket and stuff needed to the beach with me in tow. After she set up her spot, off she would go into that bone-chilling water. I would be standing in ankle -to knee-deep water. It’s strange that I don’t remember any waves.

She wore a black bathing suit and a white bathing cap. She would float on her back and her toes stuck up out of the water.

Now, as to my remembering, this went on for about five years, much of this story is a blending of those years. My Mom, holding me in the water by the back of my bathing suit and a belt under my arms. I would thrash away in the water. Boy was it cold and salty! When I got back to the blanket, my eyes stung and my bum itched!

As I neared age 10, I could dog paddle and swim a little.

The beach trips became less with a new brother in 1943 and another 1945.

Now, nearly 12, I had some freedom to roam about. I found  friends that summered on Pine Island with the best swimming hole around. I wrote of Pine Island in my blog here: http://seaviewmarshfield.blogspot.com/2010/06/pine-island.html

The walkway and dock at Pine Island, c. 1946.

Another hole nearby was Little’s Creek at the east end of Cedar Acres. There was a deep hole that could be jumped into from high tide to about half tide. Oh yes, there was mud, and plenty of it!

 

The Randalls & boat at the swimming hole in Little’s Creek, c. 1910.

On occasion, I would tie a clothesline on my bike and pedal like hell down the small hill to Keene’s Pond and plunge into the water! Then as quick as I could, get out of there, as there were leeches that would cover your bare spots in short time. The clothes line end would be lying on the waters edge, so a good tug would get it back on shore. With some planning, I would be pretty dry before getting home at suppertime, Mom never knew. Oh yeah, a few months later the bike’s wheel bearings would go bad. I wonder why?

Bike riding off the Camp Milbrook docks into Chandler Pond. c. 1951.

Another good swimming hole was the Humarock side of Rexhame Beach. We would ride our bikes as far as we could into the dunes, then push them through the sand to a neat little cove.

Although not a hole, the Sea Street Bridge always made for great jumping and diving in the late 40s and 50s. At about half tide incoming to full tide made great warm swimming.

1-2-3-GO!

Looking NE from Ferry Street, c.1930. This was replaced in 1952.

Another bridge was at Damon’s Point. The former Old Colony Railroad, 1870- 1939. There was a section of railroad bridge on pilings out into the North River. There were three levels to jump or dive from. The highest was from the railing, next was street level, then a narrow ledge about four feet lower. It was dangerous! When the tide was outgoing, the current was fast and strong. It was difficult to get ashore and a hard climb up the rocks. Incoming and the high tide ebb was an easy swim back to the float.

One summer, two of the resident kids dragged a wicker bench to the bridge. They tied a long rope to it, got seated in it, then leaped off into the water! This was a blast! The problem was that the rope was too short. The bench would stop short just as it hit the water, and you got thrown out of it! Later, a longer rope got tied to it, then it gave you a short ride in the current. Pulling it back up onto the ledge was a challenge. Oh yes, it finally broke into pieces and floated up river c. 1951-2.

This is the Marshfield side of Damon’s Point. 7/2014. It extended out into the river about fifty feet. The walkway and float are to the right.

There were so many other spots, both freshwater and saltwater, that I would visit after I had my license and  a car.  Most are no longer accessible, due to being private property and developments.

”What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce”.

Karl Lagerfeld.

by Ray Freden.  Seaview/ Marshfield, 70 years.