The Rochester Fire Department welcomed a brand new ambulance to the station earlier this week. The new vehicle was bought by the town. Check it out in this photo gallery!

“Salty” the Seahorse, standing 38-feet tall at the intersection of Route 6 and North St., is more than just a spectacle for out-of-towners. For many townies, the Seahorse with bright blue scintillating eyes (that are solar powered) is considered the symbol of Mattapoisett.

The Seahorse stands at the edge of the main Mattapoisett intersection, and behind it is a children’s playground, a gazebo, flower gardens and small networks and trails (built by local Boy Scouts) and streams that are owned and maintained by the Mattapoisett Land Trust.

However, before the Mattapoisett Land Trust was bequeathed the three-and-a-half acre property in 1988, it belonged to the Dunseith family.

During the mid-century, Henry Dunseith and his family lived in a house on the property, along with his gift shop. The house had been moved to accommodate the construction of the U.S. government installed road from Main Street to North Street in the 1930s.

To attract tourists traveling through the area (before Interstate 195 existed), Dunseith constructed the Seahorse.

“It was built in the mid-1950s to attract people, and it became a landmark for people coming to the Cape. People tell me, as little children, while they were sleeping in back of the car, when they’d wake up and see the Seahorse, they knew they were almost [in Cape Cod],” said Seth Mendell of the Mattapoisett Historical Society.

“There were lines of traffic all summer long,” he recalled, and the Dunseith Sea Horse Gift Shop was just one among many shops seeking business from the traveling pack of tourists.

The construction of I-195 spelled the end for many gift shops along Route 6 – including the Dunseith shop.

Mendell said in 1988 when the Mattapoisett Land Trust received the property from the Dunseith family after the death of Henry – who did not want a large commercial enterprise to take up that space – the fate of the Seahorse and existing structures was in the air.

At first, the Land Trust wanted to find someone to use the house. “They wanted to see if we [the Mattapoisett Historical Society] wanted to use the house, but we were so well established on Church Street,” Mendell said.

“The Land Trust, they tried to find someone who would be interested in moving into the building, but it really wasn’t in good enough shape,” explained Mattapoisett Land Trust President Gary Johnson. “We didn’t have the resources [to restore it], so we ended up tearing it down.”

While the house and old gift shop were razed down, a debate ensued in the late 1990s about the Seahorse, which required significant restoration.

“One thing of controversy was when we decided what we’d do with the Seahorse,” said Johnson. “When there was discussion taking it down, a lot of folks said we have to keep it.”

Johnson said eventually the funds were put together to restore the horse; it was taken down and then restored and dedicated in the year 2000. Johnson said 12 years later, there is a need to repair the solar eye – but funds are in place to make that happen although such work is “a little complicated.”

In addition to a park, in August 2009 the trust unveiled a small playground for 2 to 5 year olds.

“We get a lot of people going in there, there is a path that goes back. Little kids like to climb in the playground,” said Johnson. He said the playground was installed at the request of parents looking for places to take their children when the school playgrounds are closed. “It seems pretty successful. A lot of kids love to ring the bell.”

All in all, Johnson thinks saving the Seahorse was the right thing to do as it holds so much meaning for Mattapoisett residents.

“Even today when you walk around town, stores have postcards of the Seahorse. It is still a pretty important symbol of the town. We’re glad to keep it,” he said.

By Laura Fedak Pedulli

One hundred years ago this month, the world reacted in horror as news of the sinking of the Titanic spread. The RMS Titanic was carrying 2,233 people traveling from Southampton in the United Kingdom to New York City. However, she only carried enough lifeboats for 1,178 people.

Anxious people at home with relatives on board held their breaths as news was telegraphed of reported survivors and confirmed losses. One such message was cut off in mid transmission leaving a fragmented name, “Mile…” At home the family of Francis Davis Millet held out hope that this name was Millet.

Frank, as he was known, was born on November 3, 1846 in Mattapoisett to Asa and Huldah Byram Millet. He showed early signs of intelligence and was keeping a diary by the time he was 11 years old noting the physiology, arithmetic, Latin and other studies in which he was engaging.

He also was interested in world affairs and read the newspapers on a regular basis. In the late 1850s, Frank was well aware of the political issues facing America and even attended a lecture titled “Is War Justified Under Any Circumstances?”

When the Civil War came to America, Frank enlisted at the age of 15 as a drummer boy and would also assist his father, who was a surgeon during the war. When the war ended, Frank enrolled at Harvard and graduated in 1869.

For a time after that he wrote for several newspapers in Boston before entering the Royal Academy at Antwerp in Belgium, where he quickly established himself as an artist, winning recognition for his work. He traveled throughout Europe after he left Antwerp exploring and painting. He then returned to Boston where he assisted in decorating the Trinity Church.

He began writing again for Boston newspapers and when the Turkish War broke out, he covered it as a special correspondent. He wrote about the war as well as the people it affected. On observing a group of Turkish refugees he wrote: “The mother was about half dressed; the girl was scarcely covered… she was crying from the cold, hugging herself into the ragged bit of blue cloth… When the cavalcade of misery halted, bread was given to the starved women and children…”

He was decorated during the war for his bravery and helping the wounded, receiving several medals including the Romanian Iron Cross, the Russian Military Crosses of St. Stanislaus and of St. Anne and other medals.

After the war, he went to Paris, where he painted and served as a member of the Fine Arts Jury of the Paris Exposition. While in Paris, he wrote to friends that he had a “malady that is very contagious… it is the kind of malady that… the more it attacks the more he wants [it]”. The malady he wrote of was love and in the spring of 1879, he married Elizabeth Greeley Morrill.

After they married they returned to America and settled in East Bridgewater. When their first child was born, they received a letter from their good friend Mark Twain who joked he was disappointed with the birth of their daughter. He was “hoping it was going to be triplets. However I trust in God it will be made up to you next time.”

They never had triplets but did have four children, one of which died in infancy. The Millets moved to Boston and then to New York. Frank worked on many more art projects during his life including the position of the Director of Decorations of the World’s Fair in Chicago in 1892. He developed public works of art in Baltimore, Newark, NJ, and other cities. He also returned to work as a war correspondent in 1898 during the Spanish-American War.

Frank also continued to travel Europe. In April 1912 he boarded the Titanic to return back to East Bridgewater where he was living again. With him, he carried plans for a mural he created for the New Bedford Public Library.

Frank Millet did not survive the sinking of the Titanic. The crew of the MacKay Bennett, a cable repair ship that was contracted to recover bodies left behind after the Titanic sinking, found his lifeless body. He was returned home and was laid to rest in Central Cemetery in East Bridgewater.

His birth home still stands in Mattapoisett on the corner of Water and Cannon streets and is marked with a memorial plaque.

By Kyle DeCicco-Carey