Preservation Mendon
Partnering Preservation with Growth
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Mendon Town ForestIt was a crystal clear November morning. We gathered to explore Our fearless leader, Paul, is on the right.
The first stop was what Paul called "Anchor Rock". A large submerged boulder at the base of the remains of a house foundation.
Jane was an umpire in a former life.
Evidence of carving in the large rock. There was obviously carvings on the rock, but they are difficult to make them out.
Until someone had the bright idea to highlight the carving with chalk.
The symbol below the date represents the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (also known as "The Three Link Fraternity", the links This area has been in use much longer than that. Records show that the town approved a road be laid in 1726. For the arithmetically impaired, that's nearly 300 years ago. We suspect this similar carving was done later.
We suspect that this was carved later than the first.
Anyone know who A.I. Alexander was? None of us have a clue what
So that's why Paul called this the Anchor Rock.
The Anchor Rock sits in front of the remains of a house (the stone foundations survives). The remnants of the house's well can still be seen.
Down the road a piece was a second house.
Apparently, the house was held together with nails. Square ones, made by blacksmiths.
The remains of a mill stone.
One of the more interesting things we discovered was this house's
Inside...
We continued our walk to "Stone Bridge"
The stream lead us to the most interesting find of the day. Paul UPDATE: I've been told that this is a "Mill Race"
The stream is actually behind this stone wall and seeps through the wall.
Looking downstream from the dam, the waterwheel would have sat between these two walls.
Finally, we head up to Wigwam Hill, one of the highest points in
It appears one of us has some sort of A.D.D. From here it was back to Paul and Patrice's place for home-made soup. Annals of Mendon and Vital Records of Mendon Available OnlineTwo texts important to the history of Mendon are now available on preservationmendon.org, thanks to Google. Links are at the bottom of this article. The first, "Annals of the Town of Mendon from 1659 to 1880" by John G. Metcalf, M. D. documents the history of Mendon up to 1880. The second "Vital Records of Mendon Massachusetts to the year 1850" by Thomas W. Baldwin documents births, marriages and deaths in Mendon to the year 1850. Google also has a searchable version of Vital Records Dick Grady explained the motivation for "Annals": In 1876, America was one hundred years old. In response to this Dr. John Metcalf was the secretary of different town boards and had access to many town records. He had great writing and organizational skills. He was very bright, having graduated from Brown University and Harvard Medical School. Proposed Demolition Delay By-law is Available OnlineThe Mendon Historical Commission will be sponsoring a demolition delay by-law at the annual Town Meeting. If approved, the by-law would provide the town a tool to help preserve historic buildings. The Commission is having a public informational meeting on April 1st (7:00 P.M. upper floor of Town Hall). There will be a short presentation and time for questions and answers. There are rumours that refreshments will be served. You can read the latest draft of the by-law and an informational pamphlet on the town website. Mendon considers demolition delay bylawThe Milford Daily News has an article about the Historical Commission discussing a proposed demolition delay by-law with the Board of Selectmen. Last-Ditch Try to Keep Historic Vermont Barns AliveThe Boston Globe has an article about the Photos of the W.H. Comstock House MoveOn September 30, 2008 the Comstock House was moved from it's home on Route 16 to North Avenue (across the street from Saint Michael's church). Preservation Mendon would like to thank Mickey Whitney and Paul Zonghi and everyone else responsible for saving this wonderful home. Click on a photo for a full sized version.
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