pt at large

All ages enjoy WRWA's fifth annual River Run

WESTPORT — Under clear, sunny skies, last Saturday's Annual River Run, a Canoe/Kayak Race and Family Fun Paddle, sponsored by The Westport River Watershed Alliance and Osprey Sea Kayak Adventures, was the biggest of its five-year history.

"We had a record number of boats pre-registered," co-organizer Larry Hookey said as he, co-organizer Ann Fitzgerald, and volunteers from the WRWA and Osprey Sea Kayaks helped the 90 contestants make their way to the water's edge at the Hix Bridge starting area.

Photo: Erica Sahlin and 16 year-old son Michael Miller minutes before the  start of the Family/Fun Race.

"I went from saying 'I don't want to do this' the first time to 'Yeah, let's do it!' this time", the New Bedford Voc Tech student said.

The event drew novices and racers. Before starting time, you could hear conversations between Challenge Class participants comparing notes about their featherweight carbon fiber paddles.

And you could hear at least one kayaker in the Family Fun Paddle exclaim, "I don't have a clue what I'm doing!"

It didn't matter. A safety team on the water made sure of that.

When it comes to paddling, Dana Gillum of South Dartmouth and his sister Jan St. Germain of Fall River have been there and done that. The two have logged 4,000 miles on their battle-scarred 1978 Sea Pal canoe. The veterans entered the 3.5 mile Family Fun Paddle. They left the Challenge course to the 16 kayaks and canoes that wanted to work up a sweat. The 8.5 mile course headed south to Gunning Island and veered back north to The Head of Westport finish line.

The shorter course may not have been as arduous as their passages up the Saco, Slocum, and Paskamansett Rivers but it was relaxing. "This is going to be no problem," Mr. Gillum said as he and his sister chatted with another pair of canoers before the start.

"I've had to reinforce the bottom several times after it's ridden over rough surfaces," he grinned, surveying the fiberglass-reinforced bottom ribs.

"Anyone got some duct tape?" Carol Long has just discovered that the paddle in her borrowed canoe needs fixing. Three minutes later, a volunteer pitched a roll of the grey miracle product to Long, and fellow Westport paddler Polly Gardner started taping while Josie Woollam of Westport watched.

"We sail together. We're not used to being this close to the water— and using so many muscles," Ms. Long said with a chuckle.

Jury rigging:Polly Gardner of Adamsville wraps duct tape on her Westport pal Carol Long's broken paddle as Westporter Josie Woollam  watches. Gardner and Long came in first and second in the Family/Fun  single canoe category.

The Westport River Watershed Alliance and Osprey Sea Kayak Adventures are riding a wave of good will. The long list of supporters of this year's River Run illustrates their event's growing footprint and acknowledg ment of the river's value to the town.

Major sponsors Bittersweet Farm, Graphix Plus, Lees Market, and TMJ Orthopedics, were joined by 30 entities from A to Z that provided goods, services, or cash support:

A.J. Potter Jr. and Sons; Country Woolens; Dartmouth Building Supply, Inc; Doug Brown-Durfee Buffington Insurance Agency; Ellie's Place Restaurant; Fernandez & Charest, P. C.; Graham Enterprises; Handy Hill Creamery; LaPointe Insurance; Lawton Builders; Marguerite's Restaurant; Mid-City Scrap & Salvage Company; N.A.C. Security and Stereo Systems, Inc.; Ocean's Catch, Inc.; Partners Village Store; Plamondon Electrical; Potter Funeral Service, Inc.; Rent-A-Jon; State Representative Michael J. Rodriques; Sticks. Stones, & Stars; The Bayside Restaurant; Timís Lawn Care; Village Pizza; Westport Apothecary; Westport Chiropractic; Westport Federal Credit Union; Westport Marine Specialties; WestportHappenings.com; Zibra Corporation.

After the morning of racing, medals were awarded, high fives exchanged, and food and beverages consumed by three generations of paddlers in the peaceful scene at the Head of Westport finish line.

In the end, the only requirement for participating was enthusiasm and a love of the river. Every paddler could have earned a medal for that.

Fourth annual Allens Pond Duck Derby, Westport,MA

Fourth annual Allens Pond Duck Derby at Allen's Pond Sanctuary, Horseneck Road

A shifting breeze and misty conditions didn’t phase the 3752 plastic duckies set loose on an incoming tide at the Allens Pond Inlet in the fourth Annual Allens Pond Duck Derby on Saturday. The entire fleet funneled into finish area. Dartmouth resident Pam Joyce won a dinner for two anywhere in the world, her duck “Delta” having been the first to squeeze through the carefully monitored finish line.

Past winners dined in India, Aruba, and Zimbabwe. The derby helps finance programs in ecology, land stewardship, and education. “It was our most successful derby to date,” Sanctuary Director Gina Purtell said.

Ralph Guild:Savior of Adamsville Pond

Ralph Guild has been instrumental in the restoration of Gray’s Grist Mill, one of the oldest continuously operating mills and many other projects preserving local history, including most recently the Longfield House east of Adamsville Pond.

Hundreds of people from Westport gathered at Adamsville Pond Saturday to say thank you Ralph Guild, owner of Gray’s Grist Mill and the indefatigable force behind the dredging and restoration of the pond. Mr. Guild spent 15 years shepherding the process through state and federal agencies, the final permit nailed down in August 2006.  Mr. Guild was presented awards from the Westport Historical Society, the Westport River Watershed Alliance, and commemorative plates from his wife Calla and from Tom and Sally Freestone with whom Guild consulted over the years about mill reconstruction.

Excavator Don Lemonde reopens Adamsville Pond to water from the creek. Before dredging, it was estimated that the pond surface was a paltry 40 percent of its size in 1929. Up to 5000 cubic yards of mud and silt was removed from the pond. The project needed approval from the MA Department of Environmental Protection, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Rhode Island Department of  Environmental Management, and the  Westport Conservation Commission.

Excavator Don Lemonde and young Daniel Pratt, son of Eddie Pratt, one of carpenters rebuilding the dam leading from the pond, moments after reopening pond to water from the creek (bottom left). Before dredging, it was estimated that the pond surface was a paltry 40 percent of its size in 1929. Up to 5000 cubic yards of mud and silt was removed from the pond.

Restoration expert “Pete” Baker escorts Ralph Guild to a shady spot adjacent to the Longview House at Adamsville Pond, where Guild was honored by the Westport River Watershed Alliance, the Westport Historical Society, and by his wife and friends. Well over two hundred people celebrated Mr. Guild’s commitment to the community.

Westport River Watershed Alliance’s Summer Gala

Bidding for artwork by local artists became hot and heavy as silent auction time expired at the Westport River Watershed Alliance’s Summer Gala last Saturday. Revenue generated by corporate and individual sponsors plus 600 enthusiastic auction bidders represented one third of the alliance’s annual operating budget. The event took place on the riverside property of Elizabeth Meyer and Michael McCaffrey at 519 Horseneck Road.

Servers from The Westporter offered tasty morsels all night long.

Westport Point project strengthens ties between two distant churches

Westport’s been a busy place lately. The resurrection of the Farmers’ Market at the Westport Grange, the Friends’ enormous annual book sale, a Harry Potter extravaganza, rummage sales, the Feast of the Holy Ghost, and the Westport Agricultural Fair to mention a few.

And nearly under the radar, a pretty remarkable event has been going on down at the Point. From Thursday July 19 till Sunday, 56 men, women, and children who’ve never been to Westport, drove from Moorestown, NJ, to help revitalize the Westport Point United Methodist Church. Their cars have been packed with more tools than beach accessories. They’re on a mission. Literally.

The Point Church, by many accounts, had been slipping. Its membership was getting on in years and its infrastructure was deteriorating. The arrival of Pastor Katherine Mitchell buoyed the spirits of the membership and increased its ranks but the church still needed work. David Madara and his wife Lisa, who re-built a home on Masquesatch Road in 2003, noticed the positive sea change but knew that what needed to be done was beyond the church’s resources.

Ten years ago, they witnessed a similar decline in their own church, the First United Methodist Church in Moorestown, NJ, near where they live in the off-season with their daughters Megan, 15, and Kaitlin, 8. The spark that revitalized their church? “An excellent pastor who supported everyone from the elders to the kids,” Lisa Madara said.

One year ago, Mr. Madara proposed a four-day “Youth to Youth, Church to Church” mission to Pastor Katherine. The plan packaged work, education, and recreation and constituted a community-building link between the two churches. The First United Methodist Church of Moorestown would provide manpower and funding to renovate the Point Church. The local church would provide housing and food for all their guests. Pastor Katherine agreed.

The caravan from New Jersey hit town Wednesday night and was welcomed by their host families. Following a church service and an orientation on Thursday morning, Shelli Perry of the Westport River Watershed Alliance gave the teenagers an talk about the local eco-system and how it’s being preserved, then led them to trails to clear at Cherry and Webb Beach. It was free time for all at Horseneck Beach after the work then a BBQ at the home of Gay and Chip Gillespie.

The whole group took a ferry from Wood’s Hole to Oak Bluffs on Friday to see the Camp Meeting Grounds, hear the history of the camp, see the famous gingerbread architecture surrounding the grounds, and return for an ice cream social at Howland Hall.

Saturday the heavy lifting began at 9 a.m. Adults and dozens of teenage girls and boys spent hours digging out turf surrounding the church to create colorful flowerbeds, Locals smiled as visiting teenagers marveled at how many rocks they dug up while planting. By afternoon, three sides of the church were surrounded with mulched shrubs and flowers.

Inside, a crew spent the day unscrewing the pews in the sanctuary and applying two coats of brown paint to the floor. A crew of men and boys replaced the rear exit stairs leading out of Howland Hall. Another group hauled gravel to fill the long culvert that had been dug on the north side after it had been re-graded to keep water from saturating the foundation there.

“We’ll have immediate beauty with the landscaping and long term maintenance resolution with the drainage culverts we dug on the north side of the church,” Mr. Madara said as he circled the church again and again, answering questions and exhorting the troops.

Other groups ventured to Charlotte Fitch’s house on Cape Bial Lane and the Parsonage on Main Road to clear brush and do some planting and garden maintenance.

“I’m amazed that so many people would come up here from New Jersey to help people they’ve never met. People talk about the Christian thing to do but these people from the First United Methodist Church are doing it,” Sarah LaVallley said as she watered the newly planted greenery and watched the goings-on.

The First United Methodist Church and the Westport Point United Methodist Church are part of the nationwide Methodist community.

“We hope this is the beginning of a longer relationship and more trips here in the future,” Moorestown Director of Youth and Outreach Brad Kenney said.

The seventh grade to high school teenagers were impressively involved.

“I came with my dad. At first I was hesitant to come. It’s the first time I volunteered to go so far away to do mission work. I’ve had fun doing the work and having time to explore the lay of the land on my own and I know it helps the community,” 18 year old Tim Schlindwein said.

David and Lisa Madara look at the project as groundwork for the future. “We intend to settle in our house on Masquesatch Road when we retire. so we’re digging our roots in now,” Mr. Madara said.

“And we want to inspire our kids by our own example,” adds Mrs. Madara.

Westport, MA celebrates its 220th

The Westport Historical Society celebrated the 220th anniversary of the town’s incorporation by throwing a fundraising party at the Town Landing at the Head of Westport. Over 100 ticket holders to the June 30 sold out event were treated to a pig roast with all the trimmings and music by the Back Eddy Bluegrass Band. Hungry guests admire Smoke and Pickles chef Marc DeRego‘s skill at serving one of the two 75 pound pigs served. The evening also kicked off the society’s summer exhibition “Treasures and Traditions: A Portrait of Westport’s Past,” a look at the changing everyday lives of Westporters over the centuries.

Memorial Day, May 28, 2007, Westport, Massachusetts

Westport School Committee member Russell Kleber aimed his remarks at youngsters in the crowd by explaining a brief history of Memorial Day.

Representative Michael Rodriques, Wesport Select Board Chair Veronica Beaulieu and veteran's representatives also briefly spoke at the Beech Grove Cemetery ceremony. The parade was organized by Westport Veteran's Agent Ron Costa.

Gil and Jo Fernandez: the wind beneath Westport ospreys' wings

“In Celebration of the Lives and Work of Gil and Jo Fernandez”

Saturday, March 31, 2007
Friends Academy
Dartmouth, MA

Shadows of ospreys gracefully gliding over Westport’s rivers and estuaries are a welcome sight every spring. Two Dartmouth personalities casting deep but unseen shadows that have long been associated with the presence of these majestic flyers are the late Gil and Jo Fernandez. Last Saturday a community of friends, relatives, neighbors, birders, and just plain grateful citizens gathered at Friends Academy in Dartmouth for an event titled “In Celebration of the Lives and Work of Gil and Jo Fernandez.”

 Gilbert Foster Fernandez passed away on February 18, 2007 and Josephine Lamb Fernandez died on July 2, 2000, but this was not designed to be a somber occasion. Triggered by Mr. Fernandez’s recent death, the event was organized spontaneously and privately by Sarah Storer of the DNRT, Betty Slade, Mike Boucher of the Paskemansett Bird Club, and Gina Purtell, Director of the Allen’s Pond Sanctuary.

“We’re here to celebrate two wonderful lives of people who have contributed so much to the world and our local area,” said David Cole, Westport River Watershed Alliance president and master of ceremonies.

Larry Dean of Westport holds photo of one of the platforms he and Gil Fernandez erected.  Mr. Dean liked the job so much he spent fifteen years helping Gil Fernandez build more platforms.

Six speakers delivered remembrances about Gil and Jo Fernandez as bird watchers, cooks, teachers, hosts, world travelers, and osprey defenders. Displays of newspaper stories dating back to 1939, slide shows and videos on laptop computers, paintings by Arthur Moniz, and a huge time line covering the length of the  auditorium stage featured aspects of their lives.

 Hope Atkinson, a friend of sixty years, warmed the crowd up with a story about a potluck supper at the Paskemansett Bird Club. Gil, “who could be counted on to bring something delicious, arrived with an elegant heirloom tureen of steaming hot stew. We lapped it up with lip smacking pleasure. When the tables were cleared Jo asked if we all had enjoyed the tasty stew. She then announced that we had dined on the raccoon who had raided an osprey nest. ‘He ate the osprey eggs so we ate the raccoon’, she said, ‘Now that’s justice!’”

Kathleen Anderson, the first director of the Manomet Bird Observatory, recalled a time Gil was showing a group how to band birds. When he discovered they were a bilingual group, he delivered the rest of his lesson in perfect Spanish.

The Fernandez's former daughter-in-law and their two great grandsons

Jim Baird of the Massachusetts Audubon Society taught a Bird Biology class to Gil and Jo forty years ago. He briefly summarized the Fernandez history back to 1963 when Gil called the society to report he and Jo had found a new osprey nest. Gil’s and Jo’s arrangement to import the osprey eggs the Coast Guard was removing from buoys in the Chesapeake Bay and place them under nesting ospreys is now the stuff of legends.“There were eleven nests in the late 60s and now there are over 75 with more than 100 fledged each year,” Mr. Baird said.

Gil also loved to ham it up. When he made only the second sighting of a black tailed warbler in North America, he made a photo presentation called “Hoods in the Woods.”

Gordon Johnson, founder of the Paskamansett Bird Club, traveled widely with his wife and Gil and Jo Fernandez. Johnson poetically summed up a friendship that spanned decades and several continents with a touching poem titled “Verse in Memoriam of Gilbert and Josephine Fernandez.” The final verses encapsulate all that Saturday’s crowd could wish for an extraordinary pair of people.

…”with your great smile and knowing way,
You helped many a cause day after day.
We’ll miss you very much Jo and Gil, that’s for sure,
You made your mark on earth, long may it endure.
It was a long journey and you did your best,
May the Lord hold you both in his arms while you rest.”

Several of Gil and Jo Fernandez’s family, including in-laws, grandchildren and great grandchildren attended the celebration.

Terry Fernandez, the Fernandez’s youngest son, came from Santa Fe, New Mexico with his daughter Cassady. Mr. Fernandez offered an inside view of growing up in the home of “naturalists of every stripe.” His parents believed in the value of travel and education. “They dragged me along on many trips. I saw hundreds of thousands of gannets, more than I ever thought possible,” he said.

Terry Fernandez talks to Bill Owen, owner of Merrylegs Farm in South Dartmouth, who watched him take his first riding lessons in the mid forties.

Mr. Fernandez remembered that his parents always had birds around - crows, owls, and cedar waxwings among others. With a wry smile, he remembered telling a friend about to visit his home that “my parents have their eccentricities.” The friend found this to be startlingly accurate when the family pet owl was placed and fed at the kitchen table along with the rest of the family. “It was very interesting being their son,” he summarized with a bemused grin.

“Our friendship was a simple one of Saturday morning coffee or an evening glass of burgundy,” said Sarah Storer Rickson, a close friend of Gil’s. “We spent time raking leaves, going to the dump, watching an elderberry bush on the farm get picked clean by a flock of starlings in fifteen minutes flat,” she recalled. Ms. Storer read Gil Fernandez’s favorite poem,  “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost.

The formal program concluded with a video excerpt of a 1989 PBS series, “Nature.” Gil and Jo Fernandez are shown in their element on the river. At one point, Gil Fernandez, in a teacher’s metaphor, says, “I like to call this my osprey orchard because when you see these sticks on all these towers here it resembles an orchard. The results are fruitful, the birds bring forth their youngsters, and they enrich the world.”

Like their beloved ospreys, the labors of Gil and Josephine Fernandez bore fruit and enriched the world. They both took the road not taken by others, “the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

A Perilous Life: Westport Whaling in the 1800s

Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

The Westport Historical Society has taken aim at Westport’s long history with the whaling industry and scored two direct hits. Last Thursday, a huge crowd packed into Howland Hall at the United Methodist Church to hear Richard C. Kugler, Director Emeritus of the New Bedford Whaling Museum, give an overview of the whaling business in North America, citing its ties to Westport and his own family.

Mr. Kugler’s illustrated lecture heralded the opening of an exhibition, “A Perilous Life” – Westport Whaling in the 19th Century at the Bell Schoolhouse that brightly illuminates Westport’s social, economic, and cultural connections with the industry.

“The latest compilation of whaling voyages made under sail between 1667 and 1928 lists nearly 15,000 (14,983) voyages that sailed from 110 whaling ports,” Kugler said, citing a book published by the New Bedford Whaling Museum last year. More than half of those voyages were made from nearby ports of New Bedford (nearly 5000), Nantucket (nearly 2200), Provincetown, and New London. Westport weighed in at eighth place with 326 voyages between 1775 and 1881 when the Andrew Hicks returned to New Bedford after its last voyage.

Westport men were involved in financing whale boats and building them, said Mr. Kugler. “One of virtues of both branches of the Westport River is there are many places with sloping shores ideal for building a vessel. We know that Paul Cuffe built number of vessels right off his shore.”

The Mermaid was one of several Westport built whaling vessels, was built in 1855 for Andrew Hicks, one of the dominant whaling agents of Westport. She made six whaling voyages from Westport between 1855 and 1876.
Photo courtesy New Bedford Whaling Museum

The barque Mermaid built by Andrew Hicks was the largest vessel ever built in Westport specifically for whaling,” Mr. Kugler said. Typical of the day, Hicks would round up friends and neighbors to buy shares in the boat and local men would build it. Boat builders such as Allen and Sisson of Westport used specifications from the venture’s financiers to first make a model of the proposed vessel.

Once the model was approved, they would trace the real dimensions on the sail loft floor and begin construction. The completed hulls were usually towed to New Bedford, outfitted there, never to return to the restricted confines of Westport Harbor. Such was the case with the 113 foot long, 327 ton Andrew Hicks.

A. H. Cory’s store on the Point was the center of whaling enterprise on Westport Point. “Alexander Cory, Andrew Hicks and Henry Wilcox were the three great whaling merchants of Westport. Cory and his father Isaac, Jr. and grandfather Captain Isaac had been in the business and knew it,” Mr. Kugler said. Captain Cory was the first whaler to come to Westport Point.

Photo: Russell Hart and Richard Kugler chat after Kugler’s talk.

“In 1856, Hicks and fellow shareholders in the Mermaid contracted with Allen and Sisson to build whaling schooner giving rise to story of coincidences,” Kugler recalled. “Eli Allen was master carpenter and principal of Allen and Sisson and is the great grandfather of Russell Hart (in the audience), who I knew as a boy. My great grandfather engaged Russ’s great grandfather to build a modest vessel (Kate Cory) that would eventually become one of the most widely known whalers that sailed from an American port.”

Kugler showed a 1972 slide of Russell Hart’s grandfather George Palmer recalling the launching of the Mermaid and the Kate Cory behind Cory’s store to young Hart and Kugler.

While men like Hicks, Cory, and Wilcox could control the construction and outfitting, once the ships they commissioned set to sea it was up to their captains, Mother Nature, and fate to determine the rest. Kugler noted that 3% (545) of those nearly 15,000 voyages ended with the vessel condemned or abandoned. To illustrate, he recalled the fate of the barque Hero that he said “Encapsulates the title of the historical society’s current exhibit that Jenny O’Neill calls ‘The Perilous Life’”.

The 1810 letter of instruction to the Hero’s captain by its owners Isaac Cory and Paul Cuffe was specific, stating “Thou are fitted for a two year voyage and should return home so as not to overreach that time oil or no oil. When thou return when approaching America endeavor to steer clear of Nantucket Shoals sailing in with Long Island and making toward the Vineyard. Endeavor to make harbor in Newport or Tarpaulin Cove and give us notice or get into New Bedford.” The Hero never had need of the instructions.

While some voyages ended disastrously by the splintering of a whale boat with a powerful smack from a sperm whale’s flukes or the battering in of a hull by an Arctic iceberg, others ended with a succession of more mundane perils of the whaling life, as was the case with the Hero.

“The next time we hear from the Hero is from its Captain Bearns in a letter to Cory and Cuffe dated June 30, 1812 from Coquimbo, Chile,” Mr. Kugler said. The captain begins the bad news by stating “The barque is very rotten and so much so that it is impossible to get her home and get her repaired,” and continues with a list of woes that ends with him selling the boat after having it condemned by the authorities. Bearns had been hampered by pain in his eye so bad he couldn’t write, his men had come down with scurvy, he had been becalmed while attempting to limp into port, and he put his eighteen sick men ashore to tow the boat to safety. To add insult to injury, “the American consul is a Spanish man and he is trying to take advantage of me by making me pay an extra 30%.”

Photo: Kate Cory plan and model

During the question and answer period, Mr. Kugler gave a brief history of the 1856 construction and 1863 demise of the Kate Cory, named after his great aunt, who was the daughter of Alexander H. Cory.

The historical society’s exhibit, “A Perilous Life” – Westport Whaling in the 19th Century showcases its trove of artifacts and documents. “We wanted to do a comprehensive study of whaling history in Westport. I’m really grateful to the members of the Westport community for the loan of so many valuable items for this exhibit, “ said the Director Jenny O’Neill. Items on loan include charts, scrimshaw, photographs, letters, and sailing gear.

The explanatory cards with each section of the exhibit strike an uncommonly fine balance of concise reportage and rich detail. One hopes that the exhibit might be displayed at public buildings or schools or become part of the society’s web site. It is a powerful reminder of the town’s rich historic heritage.

SIDEBAR
“A Perilous Life” – Westport Whaling in the 19th Century
Bell School, 25 Drift Road at the Head of Westport
Open 10 – 4, Saturday August 26th through Monday August 28th and
Saturday September 2nd through Monday 4th

SIDEBAR
The hazards of the job: (letter on display at the WHS)
“…I got baptized handsome in the following manner without ceremony. We raised whales and lowered away and the boat that I was in soon got fast and as soon as Tripp struck the whale he struck our boat and stove her and then by way of proving his regard for us beyond a doubt he gave us a parting kiss with his flukes that demolished our boat entirely and spilled us in the drink ...being in some degree amphibious we managed to keep bung up and bilge free till the nearest boat…”
Portion of letter by Henry T. Pettey to his sister Nancy, sent from island Fayal, Azores, on September 9, 1854.

SIDEBAR
Highlights of “A Perilous Life” displays at the Westport Historical Society

• Kate Cory: engravings, a model, and accounts of her capture and burning on island off coast of Brazil by a confederate officer on CSS Alabama in 1863.

• Westport masters and captains and the women who sailed with them

• Catastrophes at sea, including stories of cannabalism,

• Posters and letters about the movie “Down to the Sea in Ships”, a 1920 film about whaling made in Westport. The writer of the script was inspired by account of whaling recalled by James Sowle.

• History of Ship building in Westport Head and Westport Point, including the architectural legacy of homes (photos) built there by whaling captains

• Items on loan about Clifford Ashley, author of “The Yankee Whaler” and “Ashley’s Book of Knots” and artifacts on loan from local residents

• Westport registered vessels

• Large chart showing the routes of two vessels, one merchant and one whaler, in N Atlantic in 1844

Enos bus company, a family affair

Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Ask Crystal Enos about the Enos Bus Company on Pine Hill Road in Westport and her face will light up as she tells you about her dream business. As with the roads on which her vans operate, this story has some twists and turns.

The first turn came in 1996 when her co-worker of two years, a captain at the Dartmouth Fire Department, told her that his father needed another van driver for his company. Ms. Enos promptly earned a 7D van license and went to work for Albert J. Enos, Jr. Little did the boss know that he was hiring his future daughter-in-law. She married Joseph Enos, the youngest son of Albert and Ruthann Enos, in 2000. Over the next six years, her path would lead to taking over the business and starting a family.

Mr. Enos began his company with two buses in 1973, contracting with the Westport Public Schools to take children to and from school. By 1994, he decided to transport children with special needs and began purchasing specially equipped vans. By her second year on the job in 1997, Ms. Enos began transporting pre-schoolers. “My van was called the ‘Happy Van’ because I played nursery rhymes and kid’s music on it,” she remembers.

Ms. Enos may have had some sense of her eventual career destination. “In middle school, I helped with special needs kids for a year,” she says. “Later I worked in day care for a year and enjoyed working with little kids. I also learned sign language, which would have been useful to me when I was a fire fighter or now if I ever drive a van with a deaf child,” she said.

She had on the job training, as well. “I began to help my mother in law set the van schedules in September. The three business courses I took from Mr. Styan at Dartmouth High School really helped with that."

The Enos Bus Company’s riders are all children living in Westport who have instructional education plans (I.E.P.s) declaring their eligibility for transportation to schools in the region. For safety reasons, some student’s plans require that they be attended in the van by a monitor.

The company, contracted by the Westport School Department, drives students to schools in Middleboro, Taunton, Providence, Seekonk, Swansea, New Bedford, and Randolph. The vans are constantly in use since many of the children are involved in all year programs.

“We have to update every few years and will buy two new vans this year. We have to customize the vans. The roofs are cut off, roll bars are added and the seats are taken out so it can carry six passengers and two wheel chairs.” Ms Enos explained. The 7 D law limits a van to carry no more than eight passengers plus driver.

The children, ages ranging from 3 to 22 years old, might be autistic or have severe hearing or sight disabilities. At their 22nd birthday, they are no longer eligible for transportation through the school department.

2003 represented a crossroads for the whole Enos family. Albert Enos had retired, his wife Ruthann was ready step down to care for her husband, who had become ill, and Ms. Enos first son, Jordan. was born. “After talking it over with my husband, I asked to take the business over. My mother in law gave me the vans to start with, taught me how to do the payroll, and we went from there,” Ms. Enos said.

July marks the third anniversary of her decision and she hasn’t looked back. Her second son, Connor, was born last year. Her husband continues working as a trucker at the MBS Trucking hauling for Westport Sand and Gravel. The whole family is on wheels.

When Ms. Enos says she considers her eight drivers and five monitors like a family, it’s not just a figure of speech. Her husband Joe’s godparents, his godmother’s sister, his godfather’s sister, and Crystal Enos’s cousin are on the team. The niece of one of her drivers just became a driver. Several other drivers or bus monitors have known each other for years.

One thing they all have in common is the aptitude to work with these special kids. Some adults have driven or monitored the same children for years and talk about them as “my kids.”

The only sad note at the annual BBQ and clamboil that Ms. Enos throws for her employees was that two veteran drivers, Westport residents George Lewis (in June) and his wife Mary Lou (in November), are retiring. Mr. Lewis, a former employee of the Westport Highway Department, started driving in 1996, the same year Ms. Enos joined the company.

With Ms. Enos’s network of friends and relatives, she is sure to find drivers to replace the familiar faces that the area’s special needs children and their parents have come to be comfortable with over the years. “I want parents to know that if their child is eligible for transportation, we can transport them,” she says with a smile.

And, most likely, to make them members of her extended family.

Massachusetts Magnolias major in dance hall music

Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

To some, the word "magnolia" conjures up an image of the fragrant ornamental trees that flourish along the Gulf Coast. For dance enthusiasts of the southeast coast of Massachusetts, the word summons up the sound of the Magnolia Cajun Band, a seven piece group whose music has been thrilling Cajun music enthusiasts from Nova Scotia to Louisiana for almost sixteen years. They’re one of the feature bands playing at the Westport Art Council’s “Come Out and Play in Central Village” event at the Town Hall Annex on July 8.

The band’s roots can be traced back to a small lane off Drift Road in Westport, where Chris Ash and her husband Dan George moved in 1985. Chris discovered that Maggie Moniz, another new arrival to the lane, was a guitar player and fellow music lover. Before you could say Woody Guthrie, Chris broke out her own guitar and the two began playing favorite folk songs, bluegrass, and gospel music.

Ash and Moniz were serious enough to form a “girl band” and played locally. Before long, Maggie’s husband Richie Moniz, a fine singer and a natural presence on stage, began to appear with them. It is quite a sight to behold the burly Moniz by playing his teensy triangle and the washboard. By that time, Ash had begun playing the fiddle, a birthday present from her husband. It was a case of love at first sound. “I heard this fiddle music on the radio and thought , I’ve got to play this music. It speaks right to my heart,” she recalls.

The inspiration to play Cajun music was one of those random events that unalterably change one’s life. “You’ve gotta hear this music,” a friend exclaimed to the three of them and packed them in his van to the annual Labor Day Cajun and Bluegrass Festival in western Rhode Island. The music pinned their ears back, seized their hearts, and by 1990 they began to play it.

“Soon after, people who danced like crazy at the festival then had to wait whole year to dance again to live music recruited us to play for them. They didn’t mind that we were just learning the music.” Chris Ash said.

Between 1990 and 1996, the Magnolia Cajun Band began a growth spurt that resulted in the current band. First, Rhode Islanders Alan Bradbury, accordion, and Michele Kaminsky, fiddle, joined the group. Next, Martin Grosswendt, bass, and Jack Ezkovich, drums, who both had a loyal Dartmouth following in a country/western band called the OK Corral, joined.

“We’re like a family by now,” Ash says, “We travel together, cook and eat great food together, and have a lot of fun.”

Learning the traditions of Cajun music is part of the fun. If a Cajun band from Louisiana plays within driving distance, you’ ll find members of Magnolia backstage after a concert picking the brains of the old time musicians. They’ve even visited their role models at their Louisiana homes, literally sitting at the feet of the masters to learn the nuances of the music and traditions.

And then there’s summer camp at the Augusta Heritage Center in Virginia. The Magnolias learn the finer points of playing their instruments, the history of their music, and have the joy of playing with new and experienced musicians.

“In the week we were there, I took classes in Cajun culture and language,” Maggie Moniz said. “My ancestors are from Nova Scotia and Quebec and I wanted to learn about the Cajun French language. “

The mentors, the camps, and the practice pay off. “Our early music sounded like nice folk music. When we listened to our latest CD. we thought, wow, we’ve come a long way,” Ms. Moniz said.

Acadian music and culture had original roots in the maritime provinces of Canada as French settlers migrated there in the 1600s. In a time of political upheaval between Britain and France in the 1700s, the French were harshly driven out of Canada. Over time, many of these French-Canadians, called Acadians, found a place to start over within the French speaking regions of rural southwest Louisiana. Music became the vehicle for the Acadians to express the sentiments of loss and separation brought about by the experience of being wrenched from their homes. “’Cajun”, short for Acadian, music was born. Over time, the music became a Louisiana “gumbo” and reflected the German, Native American, and African-American cultures that lived in the region.

“We play dance hall music, mostly two step and waltzes,” explains Ash.

“Our music’s got drive, it lifts you off your chair gets you on your feet,” Richie Moniz adds.

When the Magnolia Cajun Band fires up its two fiddles, accordion, guitar, triangle/washboard, bass and drums for the “Come out and Play” concert, it will be the Northern equivalent of a good ‘ol Cajun “fais do do,” a concert for all ages.

“Today if you go a restaurant with a live band in the Cajun area of southwest Louisiana you’ll see all ages of dancing with one another, 8 year old kids dancing two-step with their mother or grandfather or with each other. Everyone knows how to two-step and waltz. It’s part of the culture, ” Ash said.

You don’t have to schedule a lesson with Arthur Murray to learn the basic two-step. If you think you can take two steps to the right, pause, take two steps to the left, pause, and do it to the beat of the music, you’ve got the makings of a two-step beginner.

When they play between 8 and 9 PM next Saturday, The Magnolia Cajun Band hopes to see an inter-generational crowd stepping out to their music.

“When you play for your own town it’s a bonus,” Richie Moniz says. “You perform for people you know on first name basis and you can show them the musician and the singer side of you as well as, in my case, the guy who’s run Thad’s Auto Salvage in all my life.”

There’s another bonus. “The last song we play at the end of each concert is ‘There’s no place like home.’ That will have special meaning to Maggie, Chris and me at the Westport concert next week. We will truly be home,” Mr. Moniz said.

Southeast Massachusetts has been fertile ground for the Magnolia Cajun Band to flourish. Their concerts on the first Saturday of the month in Seekonk attract dancers from New York to Maine. Some of the dancers have been coming since they began in 1990.

“Playing for dancers has a wonderful energy to it. The better we play, the more fun the dancers have, the more fun the dancers have the more adventuresome we get in our playing,” says Ash.

It wouldn’t be surprising to find some new converts arriving from Westport when The Magnolia Cajun Band resumes their concerts in Seekonk in September.

Run River, Run

Run River, Run
Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
Correspondent

The Westport River Watershed Alliance’s third annual River Race last Saturday attracted a record crowd of entries including men, women, children, and one family pooch. For the record, the dog’s name was Toto…and yes, he knew he wasn’t in Kansas any more. The radiant sun, clear blue sky, and gentle zephyrs gliding in from the ocean made it a trademark Westport, MA kind of day.

By race time, 60 Family Fun race boats and 15 Challenge boats had registered, nearly doubling last year’s total. Paddlers hauled their boats from Plymouth, Lakeville, Fall River, New Bedford, Mattapoissett, and beyond to the River Run’s starting point at Hix Bridge Landing. And what a collection of boats it was. Meticulously crafted kevlar kayaks bobbed along side home-made plywood boats, owners of each equally proud of their aquatic choices. Several weekend water warriors took advantage of Osprey Sea Kayak’s offer and rented boats at half price for the occasion.

If padding once or twice a week all year round qualifies one as a die hard boater, Susan Fletcher of Plymouth is all that. “I paddle all winter in my 17 foot Surge Kayak,” she said. “It’s a fast touring boat. Last year I amazed myself and came in second in the Challenge race. It’s gonna be crazy with so many more high end boats here this year but more fun!” It’s safe to say Fletcher had fun. She was the first woman single kayak to cross the finish line this year.

The Family Race pitted brothers Ted Gibney of Fall River against his brother Tom of Lakeville. “If my brother wins, I want him drug tested, “ hooted Tom.

“Hey, all I want to do is finish without tipping over,” Ted retorted. Tom beat Ted by half a length. “You can’t beat youth,” said the younger brother. Their brother James, principal of Westport Middle School, begged off their attempt to join them in the fun.

Mark Welden, his ten year old daughter Janice, and twelve year old son Evan, entered their bright yellow home made canoe in the Family Fun race. Welden, of Assonet, labored about twenty hours to make “Buttercup,” the boat that he used in the annual Memorial Day Home Made Boat River Race in Mattapoissett. “This one’s got a quarter inch plywood frame, it’s the fourth one I’ve made. Today’s race is a tune up for next year’s Memorial Day race. If Janice likes it, she’ll paddle with me next year.” Lucky Evan went along for the ride. The Weldens came in second place. They will be a force to be reckoned with come next Memorial Day.

At 10:00 A.M Sam Ladd of Osprey Sea Kayaks organized the fifteen Challenge boats into starting formation just south of Hix Bridge and sent them off. They paddled south to Gunning Island and looped back past Hix Bridge and up to the Head of Westport, Some of them overtook boats tooling along in the Family Fun class.

In her 10:30 pre-race instructions to the large contingent of Family Fun boats, Sam Ladd said, “Remember, this is a fun race, if someone needs help along the way, stop and help them.” Although most of the flotilla probably agreed with this in principle, the thrill of competition the got the better of even those with the best intentions.

Case in point: Gerry Desrosiers of Westport. “I’ll spot you, don’t worry I’ll keep you company,” he was heard saying to two female friends in nearby kayaks. However, once he spotted two beefy paddlers in a canoe ahead of him, Desrosiers took off in hot pursuit. “Once I sniffed victory, every bend in the river was a challenge,” he said with a sly grin at the finish, which was where his two friends next saw him after the alpha dog mentality took hold of him.

By noontime, the narrow channel two hundred yards from Old County Road was like a beehive with the worker bees heading home for the day. Friends, family and race organizers welcomed the paddlers over the finish line that was brightly marked with colorful pennants.

Veteran racing kayaker Richard Rotnem, the first place finisher in the racing division of the Challenge race, praised the layout of the course. “It’s a good distance, especially at the beginning of the year,” said Rotnem, who has taken on challenges of 19, 9, and 6 miles.

“Since this is our third year organizing the event for the WRWA, it’s easier to organize and more fun,” observed co-chair Anne Fitzgerald. “We did more advertising, did it earlier and in more places. Today’s record numbers are an outcome of that.”

“We added kids activities that are fun and help kids learn about a the river. That keeps kids occupied while parents relax at the end of the race,” said co-chair Larry Hookey. Kids made osprey hats, played river animal twister and bean bag toss, and got faces, arms and legs painted.

“Sam and Carl Ladd of Osprey Sea Kayaks have been an integral part of this event.” Fitzgerald said. “They pick the date that will have the best tide and current conditions for the paddlers. They manage the pre race safety checks and get volunteers on the water spotters who monitor the race on the water.”

By day’s end, co-chairs Fitzgerald and Hookey, the Ladds, the Westport River Watershed Alliance, and over a hundred men, women, children, and of course that family pooch, all had a glorious day on the river.

You're invited to Come Out and Play

When the Westport Arts Council decides to throw a party, it thinks big. On Saturday, July 8, the council invites the whole town to “Come Out and Play”, rain or shine, between 5 and 9 pm under a giant tent to be erected behind the Town Hall Annex on Main Road. Being an “all ages” party, there will be activities for children, music designed to entertain the whole family, and dancing for adults. Tickets are $5.00. Children 14 and under enter free but must be accompanied by an adult.

A Silent Auction between 5:00 and 7:30 pm, replete with everything from “bargains to treasures”, will be the most sedentary part of the evening. One part of the silent auction is the traditional sign-up variety. Auction veterans know the excitement peaks a few minutes before bid time runs out. Luck plays a far larger part in the other auction. Participants simply buy tickets, raffle style, and plunk them into the buckets representing the item they’re keen on winning. Carol Vidal and Betty Fitton head the auction committee and had assistance from Selena Howard and Ruth Bourns with soliciting auction items.

Like the other eleven events in the Westport Arts Council’s ambitious 2006 “Celebrate Westport in Central Village” series, “Come out and Play” is intended to mix good old-fashioned fun with events that highlight Westport’s culture and diversity.

As with many summer parties, “Bring your own” is the operative phrase. Participants are asked to bring their own chairs and blankets, but carting in their own food is optional. Food coordinators Selena Howard and Liz Collins say that food concessions will be open for those whose idea of a night out doesn’t include cooking food.

The fun begins at 5 pm. Children’s activities coordinator Betty Slade, assisted by Norma Sears and Dick Magovern, has a posse of volunteers, several of whom are experts in their meadow, managing a whole range of activities, including face painting, sack races, arts and crafts (tie-dye, for example), and games of four square, tic-tac-toss, outdoor checkers, and beyond hopscotch. Their deputies include Rhonda Plourde (music), Toby Dills (tie-dye, either bring your own shirt or buy one), Melissa Danforth (face painting), Dick Magovern himself (games) and several other volunteers who will handle prizes and manage the games in progress. “Chair massages” for kids will be provided by Linda Richter.

At 6:30 pm, singer/songwriter/story-teller deluxe Bill Harley, becomes the center of attention as he zeroes in on songs and stories that manage to tickle the funny bones of anyone who has been or is now a child. Over the past twenty years, the Seekonk native has acquired a national reputation for managing to figure out what makes kids laugh. Adults enjoy the universal and often humorous truths about childhood that Harley embeds in his stories and songs. It’s not often these days that parents and kids can sit together and laugh at the same stories but Mr. Harley has found the common ground and mines it with relish.

With twenty-five recordings of songs and stories and five children’s books to his credit, Harley knows how to navigate between wisdom and silliness. Plenty of people would agree. He’s been nominated for two Grammies and has earned accolades from Parent’s Choice, The American Library Association, and other national organizations. The Westport River Watershed Alliance arranged Harley’s participation. Tongue planted firmly in cheek, Harley claims the reason for his success - “I never grew up!”

Adults get a chance to kick up their heels at 8 pm when the Magnolia Cajun Band takes the stage. Although Cajun music has its roots in the southwest bayous between Louisiana and Texas, this band has a local brand of “south coast” flavor. Three of the seven performers, Christine Ash and Richie and Maggie Moniz (who grew up in a French speaking household), live right in Westport.

In the 1800s, many French Canadians immigrated to the United States and found work in the mills in southeast Massachusetts. Others made their way down south where they maintained their French culture and created a hybrid language known today as Cajun. The Magnolia Cajun Band may be singing in French, but the band's twin fiddles, accordion, guitar, bass, percussion and vocals will provide a universal language. No translations are necessary to waltz and two-step around the dance floor to their music.

Advance tickets are sold at Partners, Country Woolens, and Village Bicycle. To make reservations, call 508-636-2205.

By the time the party’s over at 9 pm, event co-chairs Liz Collins, Barbara Bates, and Selena Howard hope that a sizeable chunk of the town will have heeded the call to “Come Out and Play” and will be ready for a good night’s sleep.

Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Westport group savors then saves history

By Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

It’s hard to believe that breaking and entering could lead to anything but jail time but to Norma Judson it’s led to her quest to revive the fast fading history of Westport, MA. Since September 2003, Judson has been leading a loosely organized group of Westport citizens on a purposeful tour down memory lane. “Too much is being thrown out, people don’t realize how valuable their old letters, photos, and documents are,” she laments.

To Judson, these relics, as well as the memories of Westporters who assemble in her living room once a month, are all pieces of a New England history, bits of a jigsaw puzzle that she’s trying to fill in before time runs out. Just the sea reclaims sand on Horseneck Beach, Judson knows that history is also lost when older members of the community pass away.

Two events, occurring nearly fifty years apart, motivate her sleuthing. The first spark was struck when she snuck into A. H. Cory’s Store (now the site of the Paquachuck Inn) in the dark of night with several other teenagers after a dance. The store, a casualty of the abrupt decline of the whaling industry at Westport Point, had sat forlornly and uninhabited ever since she could remember, a “ghost store” to the neighborhood kids. Rumors about the interior of the store abounded. “All the kids in the neighborhood were dying to know what was in that building,” she recalls, and one night after a local dance, they couldn’t deny their curiosity. They found a window they could open, cranked up their courage, and climbed in.

“What I saw is burned in my memory. It was like I was flown back in history to see those little leather shoes and little gloves in boxes,” with hats and the other merchandise still spread on counters. “We went up into the sail loft, it was like they went home one night, closed the door and never came back. That was a thrilling thing to see and for me it was like a peek into old Westport.”

That thrill smoldered in Judson’s memory during her 44-year career, coincidentally in a retail business that began just across the river from the former A.H. Cory store. “I started my Moby Dick shop in 1953, mostly gifts and women’s clothing, and operated it as a summer store. In 1968, I bought land from Al Lees, cut up my three buildings, and brought them over the bridge, and set up Silas Brown’s, which was located where Sovereign Bank is now.” Silas Brown’s became a well-known store that included departments for men and women, fine gifts, and a decorating department “where we wired lamps, sold paint and wallpaper,” she recalls. She closed the business in 1997 and sold the property to Compass Bank.

Sparks of history intermittently flared during her business career. ”I always had a love of old houses and restored a number of them. I restored the Wing Carriage House and the Feio house, a big old farm that I bought on Main Road, and some in New Bedford where I was born.” Her affiliation with the Westport Historical Society provided more fuel for her curiosity. In the 1970s she was on the committee that restored the Bell Schoolhouse for the Westport Historical Society. One of the society’s programs became the second event that kindled her interest in Westport’s past.

“Lincoln Tripp, the historic society’s president, gave us a quiz on one of the first meetings there and I did poorly. I remember the question, ‘What happened to the Kate Cory?’ I had no idea and wanted to get the answers. I went to the library and began reading (local historian) Eleanor Tripp’s volumes.”

Between then and closing her businesses in 1997, “my antenna was up and I just collected general knowledge. After retirement, it came very naturally to me. I saw the need to do something about the records, which were scattered all over the place and that concerned me. They needed to be in one good fireproof place.”

Just as she once took inventory in her stores, Judson now takes inventory of Westport history. Each month’s meeting features a Westporter with stories to tell. Topics have included Russ Hart's recollections about an old wooden aqueduct built at Westport Harbor, Ab Palmer's tales of the sword fishing industry, Cukie Macomber's stories about the history of Westport’s store businesses and the arrival of telephone technology (with amusing anecdotes about “party lines” in which no news was ever private), and Howie Gifford's memories former ice house businesses here.

“I call this a work group, it’s certainly more than a social group. The old timers really shine here... age is an asset. If they’ve had roots here all their lives and a good memory, they know more than they think they know,”

The current group is comprised of about a dozen regulars and others who attend intermittently. There’s a lively give and take as listeners ask questions and add anecdotes. Judson takes notes, makes copies of documents that have been brought in, and files them in a corner of the Westport Public Library.

“I have a dream that some day there will be a room in that library filled with Westport information, wonderful pictures on the walls, copies of books people from Westport have written, and drawers of files of everything from the landings to the bridges to the farms, you name it. Anyone could walk in there and know what this town is all about.”

That dream is stepping into reality. A corner of Library Director Sue Branco’s office contains a file cabinet and several bookcases of material that Judson has organized.
“Her contribution gives us ready access” to material that isn’t yet cataloged, says Ms. Branco. ““For the past five years there’s been a boom of interest in Westport history and my staff and I are doing a better job of helping people find what they want because of how Norma has organized this material.”

Some day in the not too distant future, residents will come to value this corner of the library as a public heirloom, a link to a town’s rich history that is slowly fading away.

SIDEBAR
If you have any documents that would shed light on Westport's history, contact Norma Judson at 508-636-2603. She will copy the documents for inclusion into the Westport History section of the library and return them to you. The group's meetings are taped and broadcast on local cable TV. Also, consider starting your own history group. As Norma Judson says, “There’s enough Westport history to go around for everyone."

The rivers run deep in Westport's history

By Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Many think that Westport was only “discovered” by outsiders in the past few years. According to Little Compton resident Nathaniel “Nate” Atwater, the beauty and bounty of our little corner of the earth was discovered by Native Americans as long as 12,000 years ago.

Mr. Atwater sprinkled anthropology, history, and personal recollections into a casual armchair lecture about how indigenous people arrived and used the Westport rivers area over the centuries. His talk, “Westport’s Working River pre 1700” presented to about forty listeners at the Westport Middle School, was the first in a series of programs the WRWA intends to present.

“Westport’s Working River in the 1800s,”“ Westport’s Working River in the 1900s,” and “Westport’s Working River Today,” are planned for future dates.

Mr. Atwater, a retired University of Massachusetts Dartmouth history professor, is enthralled by the past. While he doesn’t claim to have the pedigree of an archaeologist, he’s been fascinated with the subject since he found his first arrowhead when he was four years old.

“Assembling a history of how Indians used the rivers here is like trying to do a puzzle with ninety five percent of the pieces missing,” he says. Being a pre literate culture, they left no written records. Accounts early settlers wrote were usually disdainful and didn’t offer much detail or insight.

Most of the evidence of Indian presence in these parts before 1700 is gained from the artifacts people find in the ground. Mr. Atwater and fellow collector Mr. Jim Pierce loaded up several tables of stone arrowheads. spearheads, drills. awls and cutting tools that have been found in the Westport, Tiverton and Little Compton areas.

“Archeologists have identified a series of periods many of which can be connected to the Westport river system,” Mr. Atwater said. “In my heart I know that all these periods can be connected with Indians in earlier times.” The periods to which he referred range from Paleo Indian period (12.000 years before the present) to the Contact period (400 years ago). SEE SIDEBAR

Over four major periods, Indians who entered this area morphed from tiny groups of very primitive nomadic big game hunters to small, sedentary groups that practiced agriculture. By the beginning of the Woodland period, the bow and arrow had been invented. Some of the arrowheads in Atwater’s collection were used for hunting, some for warfare.

As Indian lifestyle became more sedentary, their tools changed. Atwater says that many of the artifacts were the Indians “Swiss army knife” and used as drills or knives. By the time they developed agriculture, they began to make bowls for mortars or storage. Atwater and his daughter Dora Atwater Milliken have found lots of bowl fragments but not one whole bowl.

Sometimes the story of how an artifact was found is as interesting as the artifact. Jim Pierce of Westport would never have found an intact bowl if he hadn’t been trying to get a bead on a varmint that had several escape holes. As he searched for rocks to plug the extra escape routes, he tugged on a piece of stone and pulled out a terrific example of a soapstone bowl that he added to Atwater’s collection for the crowd to see.

As far back as the Paleo period, the Westport rivers offered “a bonanza” to the Indians. “The magic word here is FISH, with heavy emphasis on shellfish, with wild fowl, small game, deer, fertile soil along the banks, and a waterway that offered transportation for trade, “ Atwater noted.

He believes it was free passage from Sakonnet to Westport amongst the tribes of Wampanoag who inhabited the area. In Mr. Atwater’s opinion, these tribes treated their land with respect and wisdom, believing in stewardship more than ownership. “They were far more advanced than we are,” he said sadly.

Between the abundance of fish, shellfish, game and corn, beans, and squash they could grow in small plots, Atwater believes they lived “high off the hog” during the Woodland period. Mounds of empty shells have been found in several riverbank locations that seem to confirm the assertion. One such heap was found on Cape Bial Lane in the Point section of Westport.

Atwater read a very detailed early 1900s account of an annual Wampanoag clambake written by Gladys Gifford Kirby in which she describes an annual journey made by Wampanoags, including Massasoit, from their winter quarters in Mount Hope Bay area to a place in Westport she names Cape Bial. Atwater wondered where she got the information to be so precise in her description but still, there’s the matter of all those shells that were really found around Cape Bial.

The Contact period spelled doom for the Indians. Displacement, usurpation of land, and warfare were bad enough but epidemics killed more Indians than these did. King Philip’s War 1675-76 marked the end of a period of Indian treatment Atwater said should cause us “to hang our heads in shame.” The most riveting account Atwater has read is “Diary of King Philip’s War” written by Benjamin Church.

The last full-blooded Indian in Little Compton, Sara Howdee, died in 1827. The last full-blooded Indian in the Westport area was Martha Simon who died in 1859, but not before Henry David Thoreau visited and wrote about her. A portrait of Martha painted by Albert Bierstadt rests in the Millicent Library in Fairhaven.

These days, the pickings have become more scarce. “Choice fields I uses to visit are now built up or off limits due to new ownership. I’m retired have all the time in the world and no place to go!” Atwater laments, Nevertheless, Indian encampments dotted the entire Westport River system. “Any time you walk the riverbanks or protected stretches of beach, keep your eyes open,” he encourages today’s would-be collectors.

Atwater may not have the formal training of an archaeologist but he has the love of history in his bones. Ending his talk, his voice lowering to a church like whisper, he concluded, “Standing here tonight looking at these artifacts and holding one in my hand, I feel a sense of mystery, awe, distance, loss and great aesthetic beauty. It turns me on and has since I was four years old.” Then, leavening the moment, “if you can hold something like this, why the hell would you want a [painting of a] soup can by Andy Warhol!”

SIDEBAR
Paleo Indian period
12000 - 9000
Archaic Indian period
9000 - 2700
Woodland period
2700 - 400
Contact period
400 - 150 years ago

Volunteers get a little dirty at Westport's waterfronts

Overcast skies did little to diminish spirits of nearly fifty volunteers at the Head of Westport who donned gloves for a hands-on annual Earth Day Cleanup sponsored by the Westport River Watershed Alliance Saturday morning. The celebration included the unveiling of a sign explaining the newly constructed wetlands system at the Head of Westport Landing on Old County Road. The bulrushes, cattails, and arrow-arum that were planted in the wetlands are designed to filter pollution out of storm water runoff.

Volunteers at the Head included parents eager to be “stewards of the earth” role models for their young children, residents from Drift Road, WRWA members, and young men and women from Water Watch at U Mass Dartmouth. After Executive Director Gay Gillespie welcomed the group, including Highway Surveyor Jack Sisson and former Selectman Liz Collins who had both moved the project along, she gave the volunteers their marching orders. For the rest of the morning, the group enthusiastically removed the temporary fencing that held silt from running into the river while the basin was built, removed debris accumulated during the winter, raked the bottom of the retention basin and planted grass seed there.

Photo: Executive Director Gay Gillespie hands out cleanup equipment to young volunteers as Town Administrator Charlene Wood looks on.

“It was a very worthwhile day at Cherry and Webb Beach, too,” WRWA staff member Dee Morris reported. Members of local Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, families, and other members from Water Watch at U Mass Dartmouth collected stray lobster pots and fishing net, tires and debris from negligent partiers. “There was more debris from parties in the dune area and more intentionally broken glass in the parking lot that I can remember from previous years,” Morris recalled. “The Water Watch volunteers actually sifted sand in the dunes to remove glass from broken bottles,”

Morris also thanked Larry Hookey and Anne Fitzgerald for heading a small cleanup group at East Beach. “They reported lots of people debris and no marine debris at East Beach,” Morris said.

Seeing so many youngsters involved in the cleanup had to be a good sign for adults who are frustrated by what seems like senseless trashing of beach areas. Earth Day is celebrated once a year, but everyone proud of Westport’s natural beauty wishes that the spirit of the day would be honored by all who use its shorelines the rest of the year.
Correspondent Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

Country and Western dancing livens up fund raiser

The Dartmouth-Westport Chronicle
Country and Western dancing livens up fund raiser
December 8, 2004
By Paul Tamburello

Westport lived up to its name last Saturday as cowboys and cowgirls from their homesteads in Massachusetts and Rhode Island rode into town for the annual country and western dance sponsored by the Portuguese American Civic League. The chuck wagon spread that preceded the dance added to the country flavor with huge platters of barbecued ribs and chicken, corn bread, and beans. Once the grub was cleared off the tables the huge dance floor at Our Lady of Grace parish hall on Sanford Road became home on the range for the 240 people, some of whom drove a country mile to get in on the fun.

One of the drawing cards of country and western dancing is that it can be enjoyed on the dance floor either as an individual, a couple, or a group. One group formed their own dance posse twelve years ago and has been dancing together ever since. Their black jackets, embroidered with their brand, “A Country State of Mind”, the men’s black Stetson hats, and their sassy banter with one another mark them as a bunch of folks who’ve been on some long trail drives together.

“We didn’t know each other till we began to take lessons,” said Buzz Ferris of Newport, RI. “ We’ve got teachers, retired teachers, retired Navy, a dairy deli distributor, someone who’s with the Newport Housing Authority, construction workers, you name it.”

They hail from Newport, Middletown, Bristol, Portsmouth, RI, and Swansea, MA and find a dance hall to meet in every Friday or Saturday. They’ve even traveled together to three-day dance weekends in New York.

“We learned how to dance in Newport in lessons with Donna and Jim Essery during the week and then danced every Friday and Saturday,” says Sue Ann Gale, wife of Don, who added, “We’ve made some very strong friendships. There aren’t many places left to do country and western dance. The biggest places around here are the Mishnock Barn in East Greenwich and the Diamond Rodeo in Cranston, RI.”

Country and western dancing actually represents a passel of dance styles and traditions. “If these people hear a song they like they figure out a way to dance to it,” said the evening's DJ, Johnny Dee of Warren, RI. “I play the two step, waltzes, swing, line dances, and cha chas to name a few. Sometimes dance instructors request songs for dances they’ve been teaching their students.

The sight that buffaloes the first time participant in a country/western dance is the fact that often couples and groups are doing different dances to the same song at the same time. There might be a group of forty of fifty people doing a line dance in the middle of the dance floor while another huge group dances clockwise around the perimeter of the floor doing waltzes and two steps and yet another group at each end of the floor has feet flying in a very contained space with east or west coast swing. The old saying, “Don’t fence me” in takes on a whole new meaning here.

Westport dance instructor Regina Chandanais, who’s been teaching for over thirty years, stepped back to watch with a satisfied look on her face. “Many of these people started their dancing with me,” she said. The age range in the crowd was from twenty somethings to senior citizens. Several of the older dancers had lost their spouses, she said. “When I see some those men and women out there again, it makes me want to cry,” she said as she admired the way that dancing had helped them begin to socialize again.

Although most come to dance, many come to support the Portuguese American Civic League. “We’re a bunch of old rock and rollers but once a year we get in a country mood and always come to this dance,” says State Representative Michael Rodrigues, “We also enjoy watching all the people in their dance costumes.”

“We give four $800 scholarships every year to a college bound student who is connected to our league’s council,” said PACL President Alice Harrison. “I think this is the biggest crowd we’ve ever had.”

If you want to learn how to line dance or two step you’ve got a few months to practice some of the moves. The PACL’s next dance is scheduled for April. By then, you’ll be ready to two-step into your own country state of mind.

Yoga:exercise that's good for the body and soul

The Dartmouth-Westport Chronicle
Yoga:exercise that's good for the body and soul
November 24, 2004
By Paul Tamburello

It’s 9:20 on a clear November morning and eight women have assembled for their weekly yoga class in Caryl Sickul’s spacious living room studio on Horseneck Road in South Dartmouth. Cell phones are turned off, kids have been dropped off at school, coffee has been digested. A quiet energy envelopes the room as the women get caught up on their personal news fronts and unroll their yoga mats onto the smoothly polished oak floor. Sunlight filters in from a series of oversized windows that line the upper level studio of the modern home that offers a commanding view of the fields sloping down to the Slocum River.

At 9:30, Sickul, a tall woman with a dancer’s graceful gait, assumes a cross-legged position on her own mat facing her students. A silken stillness descends upon the room, strands of soothing music seep from speakers embedded in the walls.

“Clear your minds and make space for your breath,” she gently coaxes in a mellifluous voice that seems related to one of the instruments in the background. ”Center on the sensation of the breath and release tension and stress with one-mindedness.”

With their first exhaled breath, an audible sigh of “Oooooommmmm”, they’ve begun a practice that links them to a tradition of yoga that stretches back to the Indian subcontinent 5000 years ago.

Through several millennia, a succession of scriptures and literature, often popularized by enlightened teachers and sages, built upon one other to advance how yoga was practiced. The establishment of Buddhism in the 6th century emphasized the importance of meditation and ethics as well as the physical postures that had predominated earlier forms of yoga.

Yoga continued to evolve through the centuries and crossed the cultural divide into the west in the 1960s and 70s through vehicles as improbable as the Beatles and Hippie Generation. The forms of yoga practiced in America today generally focus on five principles: proper relaxation, proper exercise, proper breathing, proper diet, and positive thinking/meditation. Practitioners swear that this results in improved circulation, a light and strong body, and a calm mind.

A sixth principle, laughter, seems to have been added to the Vinyasa Flowing Yoga class being practiced here today. “Vinyasa yoga is flowing yoga, breathing into one sequence from another,” says Sickul. Today’s ninety minute class is a strenuous combination of breath control and classic yoga poses, a combination of stillness and motion, meditation and movement.

Sickul, the lithe yogi in charge, demonstrates the postures with grace of the dancer she’s been during her 40 year career in yoga, dance, and movement. The atmosphere in the studio may be serene but these movements are strenuous. Her students, dressed in tee shirts and tights, follow her lead with light hearts and heavy breathing. This is no hard core aerobics class with music blaring and participants yahooing but the sweat produced here has the same saline quality and salubrious effect.

One of the appealing aspects of yoga is that it can be practiced at any age. The aspiring yogis in today’s class range in age from 30 something to 70 something and, surprisingly, their age is not the determining factor to their respective limberness or strength.

“Go to the edge of what you can do,” Sickul calmly coaches, as her pupils ease into the next posture. While being flexible helps, just attempting to do the exercises gets points. Their technique may not mirror their teacher’s but their enthusiasm compensates for it. And they’re having fun.

“Yeah, right!” you can hear a few of them joke as she demonstrates the demanding ‘pedestal’ pose. Then they go right ahead and give it the old college try. Her long auburn hair pulled into a tight bun, Sickul occasionally roams the floor, applying a gentle hand to adjust an errant arm or leg angle and occasionally chirps “Yes, that’s exactly it!” as the class masters a pose in unison.

Sickul, an extraordinarily fit and limber sixty year old, has studied in India, Indonesia, and Europe, led guest classes for the World Health Organization, and taught yoga to doctors, nurses, and even breast cancer patients in area hospitals. “I’m a movement specialist and have taught modern dance, yoga, world dance creative movement and dance appreciation at Bridgewater and Fitchburg State Colleges and at Bristol Community College,” she says.

Janet Pietsch of South Dartmouth has been coming to this class for two years. “I come out of here tired but positively energized. You forget all your stuff as you go through the exercises. Although I’m not strong, it helps my flexibility and makes me feel good. I’m 57, what can I say?”

As it turns out, feeling good is a terrific thing to say. The breathing techniques, movement, and concentration that are embedded in the several types of yoga practiced in the U.S. can reduce stress. Yoga has quietly morphed from a shadowy “alternative” medicine to a more accepted “complementary” medicine status and helped establish the concept of the “mind/body connection”.

Dr. Herbert Benson, the founding President of Boston’s Mind/Body Medical Institute and the Mind/Body Medical Institute Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, has spent nearly 40 years bridging the gap between East and West, between mind, body, belief, and science. As Sickul knows, Benson’s use of what he describes as the “relaxation response” has been scientifically proven to moderate the effects of stress and employs elements of repetitive movement and slow breathing which are hallmarks of yoga.

“The relaxation response is a physical state of deep rest that changes the physical and emotional responses to stress, resulting in a decrease in heart rate, blood pressure, and muscle tension. If practiced regularly, it can have lasting effects when encountering stress throughout the day and can improve health,” says Dr. Benson.

Dr. James Huddleston of the Mind/Body Medical Institute seems to circle back that first “Oooommmmm” exhaled by Caryl Sickul and her yoga students. “We consider exercise not just a physical regime, but an opportunity to gain self-awareness and enhance spiritual growth. In ancient traditions, physical activity and exercise had less of a physical and more of a spiritual focus. Its purpose was to rejuvenate the body, and cultivate the mind and spirit; harmonious perfection of body/mind/soul was the ultimate goal.”

Lucky for those interested in experiencing a mind/body connection, one needn’t perform a pilgrimage to India. Take a deep breath, pick up the phone book, and look under “S” for Sickul or “Y” for yoga. You’re on your way to harmonious perfection.

Old Grist Mill carries on long-standing traditions

Old Grist Mill carries on long-standing traditions
The Dartmouth-Westport Chronicle
October 20, 2004
By Paul Tamburello

Westport has a way of casting a spell on visitors, vacationers, and assorted wanderers who venture within its boundaries. If Roger Williams had made his way to Westport as opposed to Providence, RI after being banished by the Massachusetts Great and General Court in 1636, the history of this corner of the state might have been altered forever. The region put a spell on Philip Taber back in 1717 when he became the first documented owner and operator of “Taber’s Mill”, now known as Gray’s Grist Mill on Adamsville Road in Westport, MA.

Grist mills were an integral cog in the infrastructure of the early New England economy. Farmers, self sufficient though they were, needed mills to convert wheat, rye, and corn into flour for the family and fodder for the livestock. Mills relied on water power and Gray’s Mill Pond draining south into the headwaters of the West Branch of the Westport River was a logical site to provide that power.

The wooden floors of the mill have been worn smooth by the boots of farmers during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World Wars I and II, and more recent global conflicts. Our dietary needs haven’t changed much between 1700 and today but our shopping habits and the footgear of the mill’s customers have. The ground corn meal produced by Gray’s Grist Mill occupies a unique perch in a niche market for consumers with a taste for the past.

Survival in rural America has always required a strong back, a streak of independence, and a sense of service to the community. The survival of Gray’s Grist Mill is the story of three families who followed in this flinty New England tradition.

Various members of Taber family operated the mill for about one hundred years until 1799. A few owners later, Philip K. Gray purchased the mill in 1880. In a remarkable run, a father and son team, Roland Grayton Hart and his son John Allen Hart, kept the mill stones grinding during an entire 100 year span. In 1980, after 62 years in the business, John Hart sold the mill to a Mr. Ralph Guild. Fascinated with the workings of an honest to goodness artifact of the past, Guild had been carting his family from Westport Harbor to Adamsville Road to visit Hart every summer since the 1960s. The men and the mill hit it off. When it came time for Hart to retire, he knew just the man to call. As Guild said, “He knew a sure thing when he saw one. A chance to own a piece of history, ‘I’ll take it!’” Guild, who shared Hart’s passion for the art and science of milling, promised Mr. Hart that he’d keep the mill running as a working mill. Except a hiatus of five years for refurbishing it in the late nineties, Guild has faithfully kept the shop’s millstones turning.

The next family to step into the cosmic web of Gray’s Grist Mill is that of Thornton Simmons. Simmons, a retired contractor/carpenter who lives in Little Compton, was reading the paper four years ago when he came across a part time job opportunity to grind corn and manage a working museum on Adamsville Road. It just so happened that several branches lower on the Simmons family tree, Benjamin Simmons operated Simmons Mill Pond Grist Mill in Little Compton, RI in the 1600s. “Little Compton was incorporated in 1675 and his mill predates that,” says Simmons. “I must have corn meal in my blood.” It goes without saying that Simmons got the job.

Thanks to the Tabers, Grays, and Guilds, this little piece of real estate represents one of the oldest continually running grist mills in New England. It must also be noted, lest Rhode Islanders take offense at the omission, that the mill straddles the border between Rhode Island and Massachusetts, drawn in 1747 right down the middle of Gray’s Pond, across the street from the mill. The mill has, pardon the pun, become an ingrained part of the history of both states.

The mill site currently consists of two interconnected buildings. The sign on one of the weathered gray shingled structures proclaims “Gifts, stone ground flour, crafts, museum.” The clanging ‘ding a ling’ produced by swinging open the screen door temporarily startles customers, who are more accustomed to hearing mood music in their shopping haunts. The tiny shop is gloriously crammed with a most extraordinary collection of bric a brac. Weather vanes, model ships and planes, jams and jellies, cards and crockery, and books of local lore are either hung, propped, or stacked in every conceivable nook and cranny and surround the squat wood stove in the center of the shop. Bags of fresh corn meal and pancake mix stand bagged and ready to travel at the small wooden counter in the back. A rainy afternoon could easily occupy the most seasoned shopper and get the cash register ringing as loudly as those