2013 Feb 17 Chocolate Cook-off plus Joe Carlin presents “Eating and Drinking in Colonial New England”

Sunday, February 17, 2013, 2 pm

plus

Joe Carlin presents “Eating and Drinking in Colonial New England”

This illustrated lecture will examine the importance of food during the Colonial

era; the development of etiquette; food marketing; entertaining in the home;

16th– and 17th-century cooking equipment and practices; early history of cookbooks;

social attitudes towards women and technology; drinks in taverns with emphasis on

rum punch, Madeira and home brewed English style Ale. 

 

Join the chocolate cook-off.

To enter call or email Earl Taylor

617 293-3052

ermmwwt@aol.com

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Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1951 House on the Mattapan Road

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1951

Although we know nothing more than the title, I can’t resist showing a photo of a House on the Mattapan Road.

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If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

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Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1950 Commercial Point

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1950

Commercial Point has been related to shipping since the beginning of the 19th century.  It was the location of a small fishing operation and later the Preston Chocolate factory.  Then it became the place where fuel came to Dorchester.  Wood, coal and coal gas were the primary imports in the later 19th century.  And in the 20th-21st centuries we have the gas tank.

This picture shows a ship for coal and the gasometer in the background.  Within the structure the balloon would inflate when coal gas was stored inside and deflate as it was distributed for use.  The point from which the photo was taken is probably Tenean Beach.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com
If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

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Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1949 Pierce House

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1949

Today we have a view of the back side of the Pierce House on Oakton Avenue.  Dating to 1683, the Pierce House has an added lean-to on the back. We saw a photo of the front a couple of weeks ago.

The house was owned by descendants of  the Pierce family and was still used as a residence until the 1960s or 70s, and some Dorchester residents who were friends of the children remember sleeping over.  The house is now owned by Historic New England.

The notes on the back of the frame say that the walls of the house were stuffed with seaweed for insulation and to help make it more difficult for Indian arrows to pierce the walls.  The threat of Indian attack seems somewhat fantastic today, and by the 1680s Dorchester was no longer the frontier, but the settlers had fought a war with the Indians in the 1670s.  The local Massachusetts Indians seem to have always been friendly, but the tribes to the south and west were sometimes more troublesome.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com
If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

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Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1948 St Marks Church

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1948

Take a look at the similarities between the original building of St. Marks Church on Dorchester Avenue and yesterday’s illustration of St. Matthews.

Postcard. Caption on front: St. Marks Church and Rectory, Dorchester. Circa 1910.

In 1899 Father Fitzpatrick of St. Gregory’s bought a piece of land on Dorchester Avenue and Rosemont Street and built a chapel. In 1905 St. Marks Parish was set off from St. Gregorys with J.A. Daly as Pastor. He continued until his death in 1944.

In 1914 the parish commissioned Charles Brigham to design the red brick church in perpendicular gothic style that replaced the wooden church building shown in the illustration.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com
If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

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Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1947 St. Matthew

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1947

Postcard. Caption on front: St. Matthews Catholic Church, Dorchester, Mass.  Postally unused.  On verso: No.B2141 Published by T.E. Cushing, Dorchester, Mass. ca. 1910.

In 1888 Father Fitzpatrick of St. Gregory bought a lot of land at the corner of Norfolk and Darlington Streets just west of Codman Square, and two years later opened a temporary church on the site. It opened on Christmas Day, 1890, and remained as a ward of St. Gregory’s until it became St. Matthew Parish in 1900. The new Saint Matthew Church on Stanton Street was the creation of Father John A. Donnelly and was ready for use in 1923.

The most recent use of the building seems to be as Syria Temple No. 31, Prince Hall, Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

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Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1946 St Williams

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1946

St. William Parish was set off from St. Peter in 1909, consisting of territory south of St. Margaret nearly to Glovers Corner, and including the Savin Hill district. The Reverend James J. Baxter was the first pastor and was succeeded by James McCarthy. Baxter bought the Worthington estate at the corner of Dorchester Avenue and Belfort Street. The old mansion was adapted as a rectory.  The Spanish Mission style church  at 1048 Dorchester Avenue was consecrated in 1910, designed by Edward Sheehan, a Dorchester resident.  The building was destroyed by fire on September 24, 1980.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com
If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

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Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1945 Bridgham House

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1945

The Bridgham House was lost in 1873.

A Landmark Gone

Demolition of the Bridgham House in Dorchester

Reminiscences of Two Hundred Years Ago

One of the most ancient houses in New England, and probably the oldest within the limits of the city of Boston, is now being taken to pieces in the Sixteenth Ward.  It is situated on Cottage Street, at the junction of Humphreys and Franklin streets, and has been known to the modern generation as the “Bridgham House,” having been occupied during the period covered by the  recollection of persons now living, by Mr. Jonathan Bridgham.  He died in the year 1869, at the age of ninety-one, having lived all his life in this house.  Previous to his ownership, the house appears to have been in the possession of the family of Birds, one of the old Dorchester families.  Still earlier, it was owned by Blackman, and is through John Blackman, who died in the year 1675 that the date of its erection can be pretty accurately fixed.  The present owner of the premises is Mr. Edward McKechnie.

To the original settlers of the town and their contemporaries it was no doubt known as the house of Robert Pond.  Those godly pilgrims who came from England in the year 1630 in the ship Mary and John and made the first settlement in Dorchester and their immediate followers in the next ship that came, or a considerable share of each of these emigrations, must have participaed in or witnessed the “raising” of the old house and no doubt shared in the toddy that was passed around to celebrate the event.  Precisely what year this raising took place cannot be determined, but it was doubtless previous to 1637.  The first owner of the house appears to have been Robert Pond.  He was an early settler and died in the year 1637.  His name is in the list of the second division of what was called the “cow-walk.”

The “cow-walk” was the quaint appellation given to the undivided lands of the settlement.  These lands do not seem to have been regarded as public property strictly, but the original settlers and such as they saw fit to add to their number were recognized as the owners.  The title of the association was changed at a later date and assumes a shape more conformable to modern ideas, to wit: “The Proprietors of Undivided Lands.”  This organization was kept up till the year 1750 or later.  The area of land thus held was not situated to any great extent in what is now known as Dorchester, but in Canton, Stoughton, Wrentham and other towns, for original Dorchester extended almost to the Rhode Island line.

That Robert Pond was admitted a proprietor in these lands indicates that he was a man of some property, and in good standing with his fellow citizens, a substantial sort of person, who in building a house, would make his calculations so that it would last about two hundred and thirty-five years.

The record shows that Robert Pond had two daughters.  One of these married John Blackman of Dorchester.  Mrs. Pond did not remain long a widow after the year 1637, but having found favor in the eyes of Edward Shepard, a seafaring man, who resided when at home in Cambridge, she married that ancient mariner.  The younger of Pond’s two daughters, now daughter-in-law [i.e. Step-daughter] of Shepard, was 11 years of age when her mother, having left the Dorchester Church, was united to the church in Cambridge.

These extracts from the fly-leaf of the old family Bible of Pond and Shepard seem to be pertinent as fixing the date of the building of the old house now being destroyed, for on or about the year 1654 it appears upon the registry of deeds that John Blackman of Dorchester bought a piece of land and half a house in that town of Edward Shepard of Cambridge.  There is hardly a doubt that this half house was the property, by inheritance, of Shepard’s daughter-in-law [i.e. step-daughter], and that Blackman , through his wife, already owned the other half, the two females being daughters of old Robert Pond.  John Blackman enjoyed the full possession of the premises for twenty-one years, having deceased in the year 1675.

The building stands upon a knoll of considerable height with its rear to Cottage Street or that part of it formerly called “New Lane,” and fronts according to the ancient style due south.  Its original dimensions were twenty-eight feet front by nineteen depth.  The lower story was finished at a height of six feet four and a half inches, and the upper story six feet and three inches.  Above this was an attic.  The front roof was similar to what is now called the Mansard and the rear roof sloped down to the height of the lower story, or, perhaps eight feet.  Oak timber was used in its construction, the largest being the timber spanning the centre of the chamber overhead, twelve by eleven inches.  There are other large timbers, one of which is fifteen by seven and a half inches.  The western end of the house, which is about fourteen by nineteen feet on the ground, is of somewhat later date, perhaps a century later, and in it similar timber is used.

The work of removal is rapidly going forward and but little now remains but the frame and the old chimney, which is of capacity for receiving cut wood of full length in its fire place.  Mr. Patrick Brannon, one of the useful citizens of the north part of the Sixteenth Ward, who works in town for everybody residing there, is doing the job.  He and his assistants have already found some old relics, including an English penny of the date of 1723, a pair of silver buckles, and a carved wooden image, representing a soldier with a musket at “support arms” and wearing a three cornered hat.  Mr. B. is hoping when the chimney comes down to find a pot of gold.

The principal reason for the removal of the building at the present time is the widening of Cottage Street by the City authorities.  The old edifice has been a landmark for many generations and is familiar to many not residents of the vicinity, as it has stood quaintly with its back to the principal thoroughfare overhung by a gigantic willow tree and showing from the street a broad roof covered with moss-grown shingles.  It has thus been a noticeable object to pleasure drivers.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com
If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

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Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1944 First Church and Lyecum Hall

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1944

Stereoview card showing First Church and Lyceum Hall on Meeting House Hill, from the second half of the 19th century.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com
If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

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Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1943 Liversidge Farm

Dorchester Illustration of the Day no. 1943

The Liversidge home was later used as a school for boy.  The Liversidge Institution of Industry was founded in 1881 for boys only who had to be natives of England or New England. Located on River Street, about half-way between Lower Mills and Mattapan, it received and trained poor and neglected boys from seven to fourteen years old. The founder of this charity was born in England, but spent nearly the whole of his life in Dorchester.  After the Institution closed in the 20th century, the property became a subdivision of modern houses.

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The Dorchester Illustration of the Day (DIOTD) is sent weekdays. If you receive this e-mail by mistake, please reply to be taken off the e-mail list. If you know others who would like to receive the daily e-mail, please encourage them to join the group by going to http://groups.google.com/group/dorchester-historical-society. You may contact Earl Taylor at ERMMWWT@aol.com
If you value receiving the DIOTD, please express your appreciation by making a donation to the Dorchester Historical Society, either by regular mail at 195 Boston Street, Dorchester, MA 02125, or through the website at www.DorchesterHistoricalSociety.org

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