Join the Rochester Historical Society at the Country Fair. We’ll have our many Rochester items for sale: hats, tees and sweatshirts, maps books, etc. We’ll have our Bake Sale on Saturday, August 10 with delicious items prepared by the Historical Society’s famous bakers. See you there.
Now seven years strong, the Tri-Town National Night Out is one of the highlights of the summer.
Since 2013, the fire, police, and EMS departments of Marion, Mattapoisett, and Rochester have come together on the grounds of Old Rochester Regional to connect with the people of the communities they serve and offer them the chance to explore the apparatuses and tools of their trade: to serve, protect, and rescue.
“This is a great opportunity for the community and our first responders to get to know each other and ask any questions they have about the various local departments and the work we do,” said Marion Police Chief John Garcia. “Our hope is that positive interactions between community members and first responders at events like this help to make the community stronger, and we encourage residents from all three communities to attend.”
The National Association of Town Watch (NATW) first introduced National Night Out in 1984, establishing it on the first Tuesday in August every year.
Seventy-five communities in Massachusetts this year hosted National Night Out events.
“It’s easy to think that with today’s technology, we don’t need to reach out and connect with our neighbors,” says the NATW. “While home security systems afford us with additional protection, they can’t help us to get to know the individuals who live nearby and who might be able to support us not only in times of need, but also share part of their lives with us.
“This is what National Night Out is about: communities coming together in a stance against crime. It starts with us.”
By Jean Perry
In response to the state’s “high risk” Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) infection status in Marion, Mattapoisett, and Rochester, Plymouth County Mosquito Control conducted local spraying throughout the Tri-Town to try and cull the mosquito population and lessen residents’ chances of contracting the dangerous mosquito-borne virus.
The Massachusetts Department of Health (DPH) issued the “high risk” to the Tri-Town and other towns in the region after an elevated number of mosquitos tested positive for EEE. A high risk level means that conditions could likely lead to a human EEE infection.
The number of EEE infected mosquitos found in Mattapoisett was not specified in the DPH data, but nine mosquitos tested positive in Marion and three in Rochester.
“We have been at high risk because of other factors in the past, but of those I have spoken with, no one recalls having nine positive mosquito samples on the same day in Marion before,” Marion Public Health Nurse Kathleen Downey told The Wanderer. “However, this doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened.”
According to Downey, data from 2014-2018 for Marion shows that Marion had only one mosquito test positive in 2014 for EEE.
In 2017, 5,496 mosquito samples were taken and tested for EEE. Only one positive was identified in Massachusetts that year. This year a total of 186 mosquitos in Massachusetts tested positive for EEE.
As of press time, 22 municipalities in Massachusetts were under a high risk advisory for EEE.
Under a “high risk” advisory, municipalities are advised to restrict activities on town-owned properties to the hours between dusk and dawn, causing some events such as the Tri-Town National Night Out on Tuesday to alter its hours and also leaving the Rochester Country Fair organizers scrambling to reschedule events taking place at night and even having to cancel its events Thursday and Friday, as well as the evening events slated for Saturday and Sunday, August 10 and 11.
Spraying took place in the early morning hours of Monday, August 5 in Mattapoisett and Marion with Rochester slated for spraying later in the week, and local boards of health and health directors urged residents to take other precautions to mitigate mosquito population increases by emptying any containers of standing water on their properties where mosquitos lay their eggs. Residents are also cautioned to avoid spending time outside during peak mosquito hours, from dusk until dawn, wear long sleeve shirts and long pants while outdoors, and use mosquito repellants containing DEET, permethrin, picaridin, IR3535 or oil of lemon eucalyptus, according to the instructions on the product label.
“The best approach to this disease is to take reasonable preventive measures to decrease the risk of contracting the disease,” Downey said. “We recognize that it is a frustration to be told that evening plans need to be changed, but we also appreciate our responsibility to inform and support the good health of our town residents. EEE is an extremely serious disease that is associated with a high mortality rate and lifelong complications for many who survive the disease.”
People under the age of 15 and over 50 are especially at risk for serious illness. Although EEE is a relatively rare disease, it is a serious one and sometimes deadly. About 33 percent of EEE infected people die, while some survivors suffer from ongoing long-term neurological effects. There are some who may contract the virus but remain asymptomatic.
Symptoms such as chills, malaise, fever, muscle pain, and joint pain can start between four and 10 days after a bite from an infected mosquito and can last one to two weeks.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describes the signs and symptoms in encephalitic patients as fever, headache, irritability, restlessness, drowsiness, anorexia, vomiting, diarrhea, cyanosis, convulsions, and coma.
There is no vaccine to protect against the EEE virus.
Tri-Town local health departments continue to work closely with MDPH and other agencies.
Information about EEE and reports of current and historical EEE virus activity in Massachusetts can be found on the MDPH website at www.mass.gov/dph/mosquito.
By Jean Perry
In 1998, the Sippican Historical Society commissioned an architectural survey of Marion’s historic homes and buildings. The survey was funded one-half by the Sippican Historical Society and one-half by the Massachusetts Historical Commission. Due to the limits of funding, not all of the historic buildings were surveyed, but over 100 were catalogued and photographed. The results of the survey are in digital form on the Massachusetts Historical Commission’s website and in four binders in the Sippican Historical Society’s office (and at the Marion Town Clerk’s office).
Marion (Old Rochester) is one of the oldest towns in the United States, and the Sippican Historical Society maintains an extensive collection of documentation on its historic buildings. The Sippican Historical Society will preview one building a week so that the residents of Marion can understand more about its unique historical architecture.
This installment features 160 Front Street. The building at 160 Front Street was built with the timbers of a salt works that was destroyed in the 1815 hurricane. This Federal and Greek Revival building was owned by J. S. Gorham in 1855 and by the C.H. Damon estate by the early 1900s. In 1931, this house was open to tourists as a typical New England home. A Wareham Courier article dated July 17, 1931 explains that “the Rosamond Inn at Cottage and Front Streets, Marion, has thrown open its doors to tourist travel and to those who have read of New England hospitality. The homey features of the abode and the traditions handed down from the early settlers will enjoy this hostelry’s outstanding features such as delicious meals and large comfortable and unusually pleasant rooms.”
For 135 years, St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Mattapoisett has held summer only services for parishioners.
Each Sunday through Labor Day, visiting clergy from Massachusetts and beyond conduct services, using the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, at 8:00 am and 10:00 am.
On Sunday, August 11, the Rev. Robert Malm, Rector, Grace Church, Alexandria, VA will be officiating.
All are welcome at our historic church next to the Town Beach in Mattapoisett.
Susan (Silloway) Hottel, 80 of Mattapoisett died August 5, 2019 at home.
She was the wife of the late Hoyt Clarke Hottel, Jr.
Born in Englewood, NJ, daughter of the late Stuart F. and Marion (Adrience) Silloway, she was raised in Ossining, NY and lived in Mattapoisett most of her life.
She was a proprietor of No Kidding Toy Store in Mattapoisett. Her involvement in the community as a volunteer for the Golf Committee and the Board of Directors of The Nemasket Group was appreciated by many. Sue enjoyed playing golf with her Bay Club circle of friends and cherished her daily morning tea with her besties; “The Coffee Ladies”.
Mrs. Hottel was an avid Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots fan.
Survivors include her brother, Stuart F. Silloway, Jr. of Salt Lake City, UT; her son, Hoyt Hottel III and his wife Patricia of South Dartmouth; her daughter, Lois Davis and her husband Steve of Bow, NH; 3 grandchildren, Hoyt Hottel IV, Lindsey and Sarah Davis; and her granddogs, Koa and Bode.
Her Memorial Service will be held on Wednesday, August 14th at 11 AM in the Mattapoisett Congregational Church, followed by a Celebration of Life at the family home in Mattapoisett. Visiting hours are omitted. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to The Nemasket Group. Inc. 109 Fairhaven Rd. The Pines, Mattapoisett, MA 02739 or visit www.nemasketgroup.com For online guestbook, please visit www.saundersdwyer.com.
Drum circles have been a social and cultural form of communication and expression almost since the beginning of humankind. It can be theorized that the beating of the human heart once discovered by homosapiens inspired them to replicate that rhythmic sound. We’ll never know for sure when, where, or how drums and their verb ‘drumming’ first began. What we do know is that drumming is a universal language.
It won’t be surprising then to learn that drum circles are alive and well today. In modern cities and towns around the globe, in villages deep inside a jungle, or in yurts on isolated windswept plains, drum circles can be found.
In Mattapoisett, one resident has found a way to bring together her background as a professional musician, a trained dancer, and a fitness trainer – to become a drum circle facilitator.
Ellie Mae Higgins, well known in the Tri-Town area and beyond for her many years as an instructor of movement classes for senior women, classes that incorporate Higgins’ training as a fitness instructor as well as a dancer. Those classes employ music that naturally aids in movement, especially for women who are taking exercise classes for the first time. Higgins’ knowledge of the body and the impact of aging, illness, and injury on the body has been instrumental in the healing process many have sought and found in her classes. With drumming she brings another realm of healing and human connection to the fore. By combining all those elements and exploring how drumming can be used to help senior citizens awaken from within, as well as engaging children to express themselves, Higgins embarked on her latest journey.
“I’ve always been drawn more to the rhythm than the melody,” Higgins says of music in general, “… my ear hears it more.” Over the years, one form of dance and the music associated with it excited Higgins’ imagination. Traditional Middle Eastern dance, “please don’t call it belly dancing,” she pleads, is a form of physical expression Higgins has studied for a long time, “That’s my biggest passion. … I had to learn the various rhythms associated with Middle Eastern dance, so yes, I’m drawn to dance through the various rhythms.”
Another aspect of drumming that fascinates her is that historically drumming is not an exclusively male activity; in fact, in some cultures women were the drummers. That further strengthened Higgins resolve to study the art of the science of drum circles.
Call it an evolutionary arc from those tribal musical elements that caused Higgins to consider exploring drum circles not only as a way to express herself and learn more drumming techniques, but as a way to explore her spiritual connections with the universe. “It relieves stress, lowers blood pressure, lessens pain, aids the immune system …” continuing in this vein Higgins added, “it alters states of consciousness; it releases what’s locked up.” She has learned that drumming can help manage and decrease anxiety and negative habits of thought “… better than pills and alcohol.”
Currently Higgins has been contracted to work with seniors who live in residential assisted living facilities as well as with local counsels on aging who hold Memory Cafes. In spite of the care and attention received, seniors may slowly wilt away when no longer living in their own homes. They may begin to demonstrate a loss of mental agility. Higgins has found a way to bring them back to the here and now, if only for brief periods of time.
Arriving at a facility, Higgins, dressed in colorful flowing skirts and vibrant blouses, stimulates visual abilities the seniors still possess. Then she plays music from the 40’s or 50’s, “songs they will remember.” The residents are given the opportunity to shake a tambourine or tap a small drum in time to the music. “They all want to play along!” She said she has witnessed non-verbal seniors singing again, while others who usually won’t engage hold an instrument and make sounds. “It’s magical,” she shared. “People who have shut-down from the outside world awaken; it’s the most rewarding work I’ve ever done in my life,” she said.
Children are fully unabashed when it comes to having fun, but even more so on the days when Higgins arrives at their daycare center with her instruments of mass entertainment – drums. “I’ve worked with children on and off for years,” she said. At one time she produced a CD of children songs. Today she gets to share her esprit de corps with small children showing them how different sounds can be made from different things, like pencils drumming on a box. “It’s a universal language that creates spontaneous outbursts of joy.” Of course, the use of a small hand puppet named “Fred” after the esteemed master of children’s television programing Fred Rogers, helps Higgins connect with the children while demonstrating how to produce sounds from a drum.
As for the drum circles, Higgins is studying methods and techniques to develop her own style of facilitating. No small task given that drumming and drum circles are as diverse as the humans holding the instrument. But complicated, multi-layered practices have never deterred Higgins from pursuing something once she has her heart set to try.
Her dance and exercise classes allowed women to move and be more accepting of their bodies. Now with drum circles the same thing can be accomplished through drumming for both men and women. As she continues to increase her skills in leading drum circles, Higgins is also sharing what she knows through a program she calls Rhythm Express Drumming. “It’s drumming for wellness,” she explained. She says that drumming links people together in a synchronized flow that also connects both hemispheres of the brain. She explained it this way, “When the facilitator stops guiding the circle the group may achieve entrainment, the external rhythms synchronize their brains, they self-facilitate. … That’s when the real magic happens. … The circle is about connection and entrainment.”
To learn more about Higgins’ program you may visit www.rhythmexpressdrumming.com or connect your local COA to learn when she’ll be offering the program.
By Marilou Newell
It is with a heavy heart that we notify you that The Rochester Country Fair was notified by the Rochester Board of Health on Monday afternoon of a dusk to dawn curfew.
Due to the High Risk of EEE in our area, this curfew has been implemented for all Town events, the Fair being one of them.
Our main concern is for the public.
Acknowledging that the Fair’s busiest time revolved around many of our highly popular evening events, saying this will have a huge financial impact upon the Fair is an understatement.
Over the past 24 hours, we have made some pretty tough decisions on what we can do to keep fairgoers safe and continue the tradition of the Fair.
We decided to cancel Thursday and Friday as well as the evening portion of Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday we will be open from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm with antique tractor pulls, antique tractor show, food and craft vendors, a children’s static play area and corn box, live music by The Strangers at 1:00 pm and Kendra and Jake at 4:00 pm.
Sunday we will be open from 9:00 am – 6:00 pm with Smoke & Speed Modified Truck & Tractor Pulls, Slab Pulls, HOT LOUD and FAST, Ice Cream Eating Contest sponsored by Captain Bonney’s, Horseshoe Contest as well as the children’s static play area and corn box.
Admission to the Fair will be free to the public. Donations are gratefully appreciated.
To the Editor:
On behalf of the Healthy Tri-Town Coalition, I would like to sincerely thank the Guides and attendees for their enthusiastic participation in the Tri-Town History Walking Tour Series which took place earlier this summer. In Marion, Judy Rosbe of the Marion Historical Society combined her knowledge of the town’s rich history with an appreciation for its homes, gardens, and the way Marion continues to evolve. For the second tour, Jennifer McIntire, Mattapoisett Historical Society President, led participants on a relaxing walk along the picturesque waterfront ending in Shipyard Park. Rochester’s Walking Tour was led by a dynamic duo – Rochester Historical Society’s Vice President, Connie Eshbach, and Secretary, Susan LaFleur. Many thanks to Sue’s husband, Herb LaFleur for adding another dimension of Rochester history and for helping to set up the HTTC refreshment tent and table.
We offer special thanks to Elise Frangos, Co-Founder of the Healthy Tri-Town Coalition, for her inspired leadership and coordination of the volunteers and guides. The Historic Tri-Town Walking Tour series was created to foster a sense of connectedness for community members of all ages. We look forward to another series of tours in the Fall of 2019. Registration is recommended and dates will be announced in early September.
Thank you!
Erin O. Bednarczyk, Rochester
The views expressed in the “Letters to the Editor” column are not necessarily those of The Wanderer, its staff or advertisers. The Wandererwill gladly accept any and all correspondence relating to timely and pertinent issues in the great Marion, Mattapoisett and Rochester area, provided they include the author’s name, address and phone number for verification. We cannot publish anonymous, unsigned or unconfirmed submissions. The Wandererreserves the right to edit, condense and otherwise alter submissions for purposes of clarity and/or spacing considerations. The Wanderermay choose to not run letters that thank businesses, and The Wandererhas the right to edit letters to omit business names. The Wandereralso reserves the right to deny publication of any submitted correspondence.
Space-Themed Yoga for kids ages 5-9, Thursday, August 8, 11:00 am – The Last Class in the Series – Yogi Lisa is the owner of Sonshine Yoga. She has many different classes available to meet a variety of learning styles. To complement the summer library program theme, Yogi Lisa has created Space Themed Yoga. In this 4-week series, children will blast off into outer space with this fun and engaging yoga class. Be ready to greet the sun, breathe, and stretch as we take a journey through the universe with songs, games, and stories. Children will work on strength, flexibility, balance, coordination, and cooperation during this energizing, yet relaxing, yoga practice. It is recommended that children bring a yoga mat or towel and a water bottle to each session.
Space Painting Workshop for ages 6-11, Thursday, August 8, 3:30 pm – Join Ms. Kelly, of Kelly Smith Studios, for a fun paint-along instructional class where you will get step-by-step instructions on creating your own space-themed painting. All materials will be provided, but feel free to bring your own apron or old paint shirt! No painting experience necessary! Registration required. Space is limited to 10 children.
Space Painting Workshop for Adults/ Young Adults (ages 12 and up), Thursday, August 8, 5:00 pm – Join Ms. Kelly, of Kelly Smith Studios, for a fun paint-along instructional class where you will get step-by-step instructions on creating your own space-themed painting. All materials will be provided, but feel free to bring your own apron or old paint shirt! No painting experience necessary! Registration required. Space is limited to 10 adults/young adults.
Amos’ Birthday and Retirement Party, Saturday, August 10, 10:30 am – 12:00 Noon – Drop-In to celebrate Amos and Holly! Amos, our Reading Dog, is turning 10, and will be retiring from Therapy Dogs International (TDI). Amos and Holly have been with us since January 2017 and have completed almost 70 visits for Plumb. Amos will be receiving a special certificate from TDI for this accomplishment! Please bring a thank you note or drawing reflecting a happy memory of your time with Amos to add to our collection. Gifts are welcome – for both Amos and Ms. Holly. If you were part of Amos’ BookClub, or met Amos and Holly at the many events in which they participated, please stop by! Photos will be taken, happy times will be shared, and cupcakes and lemonade will be served (while supplies last!) Please register if you think you can attend!