Marshfield’s 373 years are filled with stories and the Historic Commission wants everyone to know them.

In an effort to compile information for residents and document it for historical purposes the group has recently completed several projects its members believe will generate new data from the public to be added to what is already known.

“Marshfield has such a depth of history that goes back centuries,” he said. “We have people asking us all the time if we can help them learn the history of a building or street or some story they have heard about the town. Often we do know more about it and can share our knowledge. The more the people in the community know, the more interest there is in history, and then we learn even more as people begin to talk about it.”

The Commission has posted the results of its work – a listing of granite markers, the history behind many of the street names in town as well as historic homes – on its page on the town website (townofmarshfield.org.)

According to Carney a source of curiosity are Marshfield granite post markers found throughout the town. Used to identify places of interest and significance, they are a resource of vast facts about Marshfield revealing to even to long time residents details about the community.

Carney estimates approximately 95 of the markers are currently standing. They identify landmarks, significant moments or changes in Marshfield’s history. He noted one stands north of Carolina Hill identifying the former location of Town Hall.

“This is the kind of information people find fascinating,” said Carney. “They learn about it and want to know more. It also connects everyone today with the past and how things evolved to be as they are.”

In addition to the granite markers, the Commission has researched each name and documented details about it on the town website. According to Carney, the list comprises four distinct groupings connected in some way to the growth of the town and the nation.  Streets named for Indians who inhabited the area prior to the arrival of settles in the 1630s, those named for famous ships, those named for people prominent in the nations history and those named people famous in Marshfield are detailed in the Commission’s Street Name Project.

Carney said though the list has been researched thoroughly, the commission is aware there can be little known stories, family legends or secrets that are pieces to the historic puzzle. They encourage residents to share the information with the commission to include in the updated records.

“If people have any hidden information or stories we have not yet obtained we welcome them to share it,” Carney said. (See box for information on how to share your knowledge with the commission.)

He recounted a tale about the naming of Musket Road as an example. 

“Past Gerard’s farm there was a road originally named Roosevelt Terrace,” he said. “Since there were multiple streets named Roosevelt at the time – as there were multiple Roosevelts in American history – the post office contacted someone who lived on the terrace about considering a different street name. The resident selected Musket Road because his grandfather fought in the Civil War. It was that simple.”

The third of the Commission’s projects identifies historical homes in the town.  Information about approximately 100 of the houses dated prior to 1900 can be traced to the original owner or someone who lived in the home at one time, according to Carney.

There are nearly 300 homes identified as historical in the list compiled by the commission. Currently available on the commission’s website page, the list identifies the family to whom the homestead once belonged and its address. 

“People are constantly coming to us to learn this or that,” said Carney.  “We are often able to help them. We are asking that people with knowledge of the town, the home in which they live or once lived will share it with us. It is the stories passed along in families and among neighbors that adds to our rich history. Much of it is connected in some way to Daniel Webster and people love to learn that. There is so much to know and learn (about Marshfield). We want people to be aware of the work we are doing to preserve and share this wonderful history.”

Do you have information about a historical home or location?

Share it with the historic Commission and add it to the history of Marshfield.

A form designed by the commission to complete with details about homes and applicable historical information will be available online later this month on the historic commission page of the town website.  www.townofmarshfield.org

For more information about the Historic Commission, contact Otis Carney, Chairman, at 781-834-9867 or Norma Haskins, secretary, at 781-837-2647

 

 

 

Did you know?

A storm of another century

 A granite marker stands at the entrance to Rexhame Beach informing visitors that at one time the North River flowed into the Atlantic Ocean a different way. According to Carney, a little known Marshfield secret indicates during the 1824 to 1828 administration of John Quincy Adams there was legislation for the federal government to cut through Third and Fourth Cliff creating a way for ships built in the area to be moved to the Atlantic Ocean. The land had been compromised just enough by man to weaken it, Carney said.  During the 1898 storm, the combination of wind, tides and current were enough to break through the land creating a different path along which the North River would flow to the Atlantic instead of the minor opening at Rexhame Beach.