For nearly as long as humans have attempted to communicate via the written word, libraries or repositories of writings have been in existence. Consider religious scripture stored in amphoras deep within caves such as the Dead Sea Scrolls or Rome’s first library, opened roughly around 114 A.D. by Emperor Trajan. While these early […] Read more »
As the winter season depends, and the parade of holidays continues, many people find themselves in a more charitable frame of mind. Nothing puts us in the mood for helping others than short days, long nights and strings of lights glinting from nearby houses. But this year, among the usual patter of coat drives […] Read more »
I received four books this past Christmas. They are sitting on the table next to my recliner, next to the two unfinished ones I received the previous Christmas. Okay, so, I’m a slow reader. I like to read but after 20 minutes, I am sound asleep. Zonked. Out like a light. I […] Read more »
Between Christmas and New Year’s Day is a week I once eagerly awaited. More than December 25, more than January 1, the days in the middle were gifts onto themselves. When I look at the photographs from that period of time, I can remember whole days spent in the pursuit of nothing more than […] Read more »
The old saying goes that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, but George Mendes has taken the concept far beyond the potential usefulness of another person’s discarded item. Scheduled to retire on January 6 from his full-time job as a trash collector in Mattapoisett, Mendes has turned his life’s work into a […] Read more »
A Christmas tradition galloped on when intrepid swimmers descended on Mattapoisett Town Beach, showing support for a local facility that brings joy to those with cognitive issues – Helping Hands and Hooves. For 19 consecutive years, barring one due to COVID-19, Julie Craig and her team from Helping Hands and Hooves have held a […] Read more »
A New England lighthouse close call with lasting drama was not about a ship but instead about an airplane and its pilot playing Santa Claus. The incident happened in 1929 just before Christmas when pilot William Wincapaw, in spite of weather reports of an impending snowstorm, took off in his single-engine airplane over the […] Read more »
Thank goodness it’s gone. When a recent essay of mine appeared here, my photo appeared with it. When asked if that would be all right, I agreed. Why not, after all, my face has appeared next to my columns before, so sure, what the heck. I now know that other contributors are obviously […] Read more »
December 10 was a grand day in Mattapoisett, in spite of the misty precipitation and gray skies. Two holiday events brought out community members in celebration. At noontime, a vocal concert was held in the reading room of the Mattapoisett Library. Opera singers from the Seaglass Theater performers delighted a standing-room-only crowd. Comprised of […] Read more »
When Marion was still a small town in 1860, many people living there were very well traveled and brought back exotic species of the natural world. Elizabeth Taber, at the age of 81 years, decided to put some culture into her native village. She bought a 10-acre tract of land to house a library on […] Read more »