If the Town of Rochester was founded on June 4, 1679, then that can only mean one thing – Rochester has just officially turned 340 years old. It used to be called “Sippican” by the Wampanoags, the Native American tribe who inhabited the land when the first English settlers arrived in the area and founded […] Read more »
When Nolan Gibbons was a very small child, he quietly marked each white key on the family piano with a letter – the correct letter designation for each. But that alone did not alert his parents Shelia and Warren that their child was interested in music, it was all the other things he was doing […] Read more »
On May 25, the Rochester Land Trust (RLT) invited the public to walk the Church’s Wildlife Preserve, a property it owns and manages on Marion Road. The event was titled “Forest Management/Logging Walk and Talk” featuring forestry expert Phil Benjamin whose grasp of the natural cycles of woodlands was on full display. Walkers learned that […] Read more »
Marion’s landmark library building of Elizabethan architecture is also the Natural History Museum, both founded there on 8 Spring Street by Elizabeth Taber in the year 1867. For the past 152 years, they have served as Tabor’s upstairs-downstairs community flagship of higher education. In 1989, Elizabeth Leidhold, as seen in my illustration, became the current […] Read more »
The new front entrance to the Elizabeth Taber Library is finally complete. The doors were opened on Monday, May 27, when town officials, volunteers, library staff, patrons, townspeople, and family of the project’s benefactor, Peggy Repass, converged upon the handcrafted stonework for a special ribbon cutting celebration. “Is this not the most unbelievable entrance to […] Read more »
Once again the Marion Art Center (MAC) sparkled with creative genius as its latest exhibit opened on May 24. The gallery walls now display works from two very different painters; works that surprisingly balance each other without sharing a common theme or even painting style. From now until July 6, art lovers will enjoy the […] Read more »
The May 27 Memorial Day Observance held at Center School in Mattapoisett once again brought out a crowd. For decades, the Florence Eastman Post 280 of the American Legion has hosted this event. And while the local organization struggles to stay vital, the Legion has been supporting returning military personnel since 1919. It remains a […] Read more »
The Rochester Memorial Boat Race has seen torrents of rain some years, empty arid riverbeds in others, some with sweltering heat, and then, like this year’s Memorial Day, one with weather so perfect that it’s one slated for the record books. But on Friday after a dam burst and Grandma Hartley’s Pond was swiftly draining, […] Read more »
Memorial Day on May 27 was a day draped in sunshine and soft breezes – a perfect day for school bands, flags waving, and the collective memory of a grateful nation. Orchestrating the event for the Town of Marion Memorial Day Committee was Donna Hemphill, whose organizational skills kept the more than hour-long program moving […] Read more »
Along a stretch of inter-coastal waters that move to the beating heart of nature, the ebb and flow of tides, and surrounded by marshlands that support the health of those waters, lives a family who for the last decade have been cultivating oysters. At the same time, in a quiet pasture or backyard garden where […] Read more »