Rochester Historical Society

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The Rochester Historical Society will hold its May meeting on Wednesday, May 21 at 7:00 pm at the East Rochester Church/Museum, 355 County Road. Mack Phinney will present a program on the British attack on Wareham during the War of 1812. Mack will also discuss the Wareham events planned to mark the 100th anniversary of the attack that actually occurred on June 13, 1814. Refreshments will follow and all are welcome to attend.

The Rochester Historical Society will hold a Yard Sale at the East Rochester Church/Museum, 355 County Rd., Rochester on Saturday, May 17 from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. Items for the sale may be dropped off at the Museum on Friday, May 16 from 10:00 am to noon or call 508-763-2122 or 508-763-2724 to make other arrangements. No electronics please.

Mattapoisett Road Race: How Do They Do It?

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How does a small seaside village successfully run a five-mile race with 1,000 runners on the morning of the 4th of July? One word: Volunteers. There are over 100 volunteers who play a role in the success of this race.

There are the individuals on the Race Committee – all volunteers – who spend almost the entire year getting ready for the race. Everything about this race involves tremendous behind-the-scenes work. Current Race Director Bill Tilden ran his first race in high school, which led him to become a track coach and athletic director. He became a member of the Race Committee, and when Dan and Holly White decided not to direct the race, Bill quickly volunteered to take on the responsibility. According to Bill, “to be part of the committee that puts on such a tremendous road race makes me very proud.” But people don’t leave the race completely. Dan White still serves on the Committee, as do Bob and Doris Gardner who were there at the very beginning in 1971. The Race Committee gets sponsors, does PR, creates race applications as well as scholarship applications, maintains the website, makes scholarship decisions, ensures there are adequate volunteers on race day, and designs race shirts – the list is endless.

The night before the race, volunteers set up Shipyard Park, man the tents for registration, hand out shirts, runner numbers, and copies of the race route. Race morning comes early for the volunteers who are there to handle registrations and organize the start of the race. Morning duties also include unloading the fruit truck filled with 40 watermelons, six cases of bananas, and three cases of oranges. These volunteers then grab their knives and cut up the watermelon and oranges, which is a job that takes a couple of hours and produces sticky, sore hands. But at the end of the race, runners are so happy to find something to replenish their dwindled energy.

Along the race route, more volunteers are directing traffic, managing the crowd, checking on injuries, and providing encouragement. Ed Walsh has been a volunteer for 30 years for two reasons: “Scholarships” and he sees “many friends and former students.” And, in spite of his long association with the race, Ed has never seen the race begin or end, but he’s not complaining. In addition to the volunteers along the route, numerous residents are cheering the runners on, playing music for them, providing water and a refreshing spray from the hose.

Earlier the question was posed, “How do they do it?” It is done because so many people are willing to donate their time and energy to something they believe is important and to be out at the crack of dawn on July 4. As race committee member Caty Fuerman so succinctly puts it, “Who wouldn’t want to be involved in such a great event?”

ORR District and Riverside Tennis

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For the 12th summer, the Old Rochester Regional School District and Riverside Tennis will again offer student tennis lessons at the Old Rochester Tennis Complex.

The first clinic will be held June 23 – June 27 and the second clinic will be held July 28 – August 1. During the Monday through Friday clinics, there will be two classes: ages 7-11 and 12-18. Groupings within each class will be based on age and abilities. Each class will last for two hours and 15 minutes. Maximum number of students per class is 36 to ensure a six-to-one teaching ratio.

The cost of the clinic is $96. For questions and/or an application, contact Bob Hohne at 508-758-9081 or by email at rhohne@orr.mec.edu. See you on the court!

Rochester Land Trust Walk

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The public is invited to join the Rochester Land Trust on another of its walks from the Explore Rochester booklet, published jointly by RLT and Rochester Conservation Commission. This month’s walk will be at the Wildlands Trust’s Delano Memorial Forest on Sunday, May 18 at 1:00 pm. We will park and enter the property at the entrance on Mary’s Pond Road just north of the intersection of Walnut Plain Road. The walk should take about an hour in both directions and will take place rain or shine. It is open to all ages and would be suitable for young children. Please dress for an easy walk over relatively flat terrain, but remember we are in tick and herring fly territory.

This walk will focus on the birds and flowers of spring. Many birds will still be migrating, and we hope to help give a bird name to some of the songs you have been hearing in your backyards. This particular property features both pinewoods and riverside habitats, so a variety of species should be seen (and heard). Also now, many of the spring ephemerals are in bloom before they disappear for another year. We will also look for Lady Slippers and show where Mayflowers, our state flower, bloom on “Mayflower Ridge” for folks to revisit in February/March of next year.

Please join the RLT for what should be an informative and enjoyable hour in the woods of Rochester.

Marion Recreation Basketball Clinics

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Marion Recreation is offering several Basketball Clinics at Silvershell Beach this summer for both boys and girls. Coach Kyle Erha (Varsity Coach of Sturgis West High School Boys and coach of the Marion Recreation Boys’ Travel Team) will be running drills, competitions and games to get players ready for next season. After an incredibly positive reception in our first year, this summer we will offer two weeks of the clinic at each level. You may choose to attend one or both weeks. While attendance of Week I is not required to attend Week II, Week II will be a continuation of the skills and concepts learned in Week I. All levels of play are both welcome and encouraged. If you would like a chance to improve your game and have a lot of fun playing basketball this summer, join us on the court at Silvershell Beach! Boys entering grades 4-6: Week I runs June 23-27 and Week II runs July 14-18. Both weeks meet 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. Boys entering grades 7 & 8: Week I runs July 7-11 and Week II runs July 21-25. Both weeks meet 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. Girls entering grades 4-8: Week I runs June 23-27 from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm and Week II runs July 28-August 1, 9:00 am – 12:00 pm. Fee is $89 per player for one week. The second week is $79 per player. Register early to secure your spot!

Marion Recreation will also offer Musical Theatre and Hip Hop classes this summer for boys and girls ages 5-15. The Musical Theatre theme is “Teen Beach Movie.” This class will run Monday-Friday, July 21-25 from 10:00 am – 1:00 pm. The students will learn what it takes to be part of a musical theatre performance. At the end of the week, they will have a short performance. The Hip Hop Class also takes place Monday-Friday, July 21-25 from 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm. Each class is $125 per student. If the child signs up for both classes, there is a $15 discount. Registration deadline is July 14.

For more information, please contact Marion Recreation at 774-217-8355 or info@marionrecreation.com.

Farming – The Other Mattapoisett

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Long before people evolved to the point where ‘leisure time’ was part of living and an expectation after working 9-to-5, Mattapoisett Harbor was a working harbor. There were the ship builders, the fishermen, and the farmers. Wait, farmers? Yes, farmers. Mattapoisett’s little harbor was a vital link in supplying the Elizabeth Island chain with fresh food products, firewood and all manner of necessities. And as George Randall remembers it from the stories his father told, “you had to be there with the wood for the high tide – or else.”

            Mattapoisett has become synonymous with pleasure boating. Before long, our harbor will be packed with expensive boats of all shapes and sizes. But in the beginning, it was a place that facilitated commerce and sustained the lives of folks living off shore. And what they needed weren’t places to tie-up so they could saunter to the Ice Cream Slip (today a delightfully guilty pleasure); what they needed were the goods made available by the local farmers.

            Farmers were and still are an important part of the fabric of life in Mattapoisett. Crossing Route 6 or traveling away from the village center, you enter into the other Mattapoisett – the one where old farm houses abut new Colonial homes, where hay fields drape themselves along a sub-division, and where cows and horses graze in meadows bordered by old stones walls. Farming and Mattapoisett … who knew?

In December, I wrote about how the Agricultural Commission was formed, its area of oversight within the community, and the philosophical basis for an agricultural commission in Massachusetts. An abbreviated excerpt from that article reads: ‘…(an) agricultural commission is a standing committee of town government, created through a vote of Town Meeting and appointed by the Board of Selectmen…representing the farming community… played key roles in mediating farmer/neighbor disputes, or simply providing referrals for farmers needing better information. Serves as a local voice advocating for farmers, farm businesses and farm interests, provides visibility for farming… The intent of an AgCom is simple: protect agricultural lands, preserve rural character, provide a voice for farmers, and encourage agricultural based businesses…’

During a recent meeting of the Agriculture Commission, I learned more about the work our local committee is doing to uphold the philosophies established by the state. Mattapoisett’s commission is peopled by residents whose families have very deep roots in native soils and who today strive to hold onto the farming culture once so critical to the town.

Shi Major, the commission clerk, grew up in the western part of the state around horses. She feels very strongly about having residents understand the importance of farm animals and agricultural activities. Major is a certified riding instructor.

Jessica (Travis) Collyer grew up on Howland Farm in Acushnet where she learned everything from cultivating strawberries to milking cows and collecting eggs.

And then there are the Randalls. George, his daughter Cheryl (co-chair) and her son, Pierce, are all members of the commission. She said that her son is presently finishing agricultural school in upstate New York (SUNY Cobleskill), and this summer he’ll be participating in the grain harvest in Nebraska. His expressed desire is to one day return to Mattapoisett, reunite the family properties, and return them to full-on farming.

Cheryl said that summers are very different for farm kids than for others whose families aren’t into farming. “We didn’t go swimming or sailing – we didn’t go anywhere, we put on long sleeve shirts and went into the hay fields.” In spite of those labor intensive memories, everyone on the commission feels passionately about maintaining a farming culture in Mattapoisett.

On the night I sat in, they were meeting with farm-to-market manager Jen Szabo, who is responsible for the seasonal farmers’ market held at ORR. Their discussions centered around the variety of goods that would attract people to the market and the challenges of bringing fresh foods from the producers directly to the consumers, as well as board of health regulations and state guidelines. They also discussed ways to promote the market.

Bob Spooner, co-chair, whose wife is a member of the Nunes family, said that he’ll be speaking with the tax assessor to find out how parcels of land may qualify for ‘farm’ status in town. Both the state and Federal government establish what ‘farm land’ must constitute in order to qualify as a farm, while the town sets the tax rate. Spooner said that with the upcoming tax re-evaluation, the assessor’s office will be rather busy. It is planned to wait a bit longer to work out those details for public consumption. He said that the commission can help farmers with grant submittals and other documentation. There are presently 20 recognized farms in town.

The commission recently completed work on a small brochure that outlines their work, goals, and contact information. From the brochure one will find: ‘AgCom serves as a voice to the farming community, advocates for farmers with other boards regarding agriculture, encourages the pursuit of agriculture and strives to protect and preserve farms in Mattapoisett.’

            The commission meets the first Wednesday of each month at 7:00 pm in the town hall.

By Marilou Newell

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Audrey A. Mostrom

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Audrey A. Mostrom, 85, of Mattapoisett died May 16, 2014 after a brief illness.

Born in Brockton, the daughter of the late Dan G. and Ruth H. (Oldrich) Mostrom, she lived in Brockton most of her life summering in Mattapoisett before moving to Mattapoisett in 1993.

She was formerly employed as a registered nurse at Retina Associates in Boston for over 20 years until her retirement.

Miss Mostrom enjoyed bowling, sailing, golf and crafting Nantucket baskets. She received great satisfaction volunteering her time at the Damien Food Pantry in Wareham.

Survivors include by her siblings, Pauline Mostrom of Mattapoisett, Jeannette Bricknell of Middleboro, Lois Dow and her husband Curtis of Lakeville and Mattapoisett and David Mostrom and his wife Lorraine of Wareham; four nieces and nine nephews.

She was the sister of the late Cynthia Koch.

Her Memorial Service will be held on Saturday, May 24th at 11 AM in the Saunders-Dwyer Mattapoisett Home for Funerals, 50 County Rd., Route 6, Mattapoisett. Visiting hours Friday, May 23rd from 4-7 PM. For directions and guestbook, please visit www.saundersdwyer.com.

French Toast Breakfast Fundraiser

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The Mattapoisett Lions Club will again host its annual French Toast Breakfast on Sunday morning, May 25 between 8:30 am and 11:30 am at the American Legion Hall on 3 Depot Street, Mattapoisett, MA. All are welcome! The delicious full breakfast includes French toast, sausages, orange juice, tea or coffee – all for just $6 per person. All proceeds will benefit various Lions’ charities.

Tabor Track Ends Season at Home

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The Tabor Track and Field Team has the honor of hosting this year’s NEPSTA Division II New England Championship meet. This is especially exciting for the community because the track was only recently replaced to be a site suited for meets.

            Athletes for the division’s 15 teams will be running, throwing, or jumping for both personal and team victories on Saturday, May 17. The athletes of each team must meet a qualifying time in order to participate in the championship meet.

            Tabor has a number of qualifying participants although the team is fairly small. Fortunately, Tabor has many talented athletes who have spent the season working towards this meet. Some of these athletes have enjoyed major success throughout this season as well.

            Senior Alyssa Ward has been an outstanding high jumper, long jumper, triple jumper, and 200-meter runner throughout her four years at Tabor, and she now has the current school record in all of these events. Ward now holds more school records than any female track and field athlete in Tabor’s history, having broken the triple jump record with a 34’9” leap and having re-set her own high jump record at the end of this year’s season. The girls’ team is a well-rounded group, with competitive pole-vaulters, distance runners, sprinters, and throwers. Almost half of the girls will be competing at the New England Championship.

            On the boys’ team, Junior Co-Captain Hayden Kilpatrick has also enjoyed success this season, breaking his own school record in the 110-meter high hurdles. The boys’ team will also have a number of athletes compete this weekend.

            Having trained on the Tabor track all season, the athletes look forward to the advantage of a championship meet at home and to the community support they will receive. Students and faculty will attend the meet to cheer on their fellow Seawolves. Jessie Duong, a junior on the track team, feels that “This meet is definitely a way to establish the importance and excitement of the sport in the Tabor community.”

The Tabor Academy Track and Field Team hopes for support on Saturday from both the tri-town community as well as the Tabor community. It is sure to be a fun and exciting event with fierce competition.

By Julia O’Rourke

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Photo by Kelli McSweeny

Board Begrudgingly Recommends By-law

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Facing the futility of fighting with FEMA over inaccuracies in its new FEMA flood plain maps, the board will recommend the Town’s amended flood plain zoning by-law as a utilitarian move to prevent adverse impacts to the entire Town.

Leading the fight against the alleged erroneous flood maps, Planning Board member Bill Bailey, who claims his pond-side property is affected by the new maps, conceded that unless he coughs up the money to pay for an engineer to survey the wetlands, he will have to live with the new maps – for now.

Bailey said he and several other town employees attended a meeting with two representatives from FEMA, who admitted that the maps might have errors, but nothing could be done from their end.

According to Bailey, if the Town fails to adopt a flood plain by-law, FEMA would deny Rochester any disaster relief and restrict Rochester residents from the FEMA flood insurance program, thus forcing residents to turn to banks with rates many times higher than FEMA’s subsidized insurance rates.

Bailey said he recently received a letter from another resident affected by the alleged errors on the flood maps, and he stated, “Now I know it’s not just me.”

“We can’t get anything by pushing FEMA,” said Bailey. Even though he said FEMA is violating his rights, he will vote to recommend the article to Town Meeting on May 19 so that the whole Town will not be punished.

Residents with mortgages who find their properties within a new flood zone will now have to purchase flood insurance and may not be able to make any major additions or alterations to their homes. In addition, Bailey said it would be harder for these affected properties to sell in the future.

“As much as it galls me, I don’t really think it’s fair for [other people] to lose their flood insurance,” said Bailey. “It’s wrong.”

After the unanimous vote to recommend the by-law, Chairman Arnold Johnson said, “That one’s a bitter one. We usually don’t operate that way.”

Also during the meeting, engineers and representatives on behalf of Rochester Crossroad, LLC and Colbea Enterprises, LLC met with the board for informal discussions on plans for a commercial development on Cranberry Highway, with a gas station/convenience store sharing an access road in front of the main development.

Minutes before, the board approved an “Approval Not Required” application to carve out a 1.3 acre lot from the Route 58/Route 28 corner of the larger parcel for Colbea to develop for the gas station. The ensuing discussion focused on the relationship between the two sites, most notably the access roadway.

The discussions were lengthy, and the board had several recommendations for the planning phase, including a recommendation that the engineers visit the Cumberland Farms in Marion since some board members were skeptical that the site layout was large enough to accommodate easy ingress and egress to and from the business.

Engineer Erik Smith for Colbea said the layout was “generous” relative to any of the other 115 gas station sites.

After further discussion, Johnson stated that he thinks the site is substantially bigger than Cumberland Farms in Marion.

He later added that the board would not accept any plans until the projects receive approval for required waivers from the Zoning Board of Appeals.

The board suggested a site visit once the location of the proposed road is staked.

In other news, the board approved an Approval Not Required application for Bradford Morse to divide one lot at 209 Pierce Street into two lots.

By Jean Perry

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