Author: Pat D

If seals were anthropomorphized (mouthful):

He’s touching me!    …..  Am not…….

Who farted?

See ya later

Some of my favorite local pride this week:

And, from the area of town I would now call “Pats Corner”:

And my personal favorite from “Pats Corner” in East Gloucester:

A little story to tell today.  In 1979 when she was 87 or so, Gertrude Vanderwell Basil wrote a letter to my cousin outlining some history of the Gloucester area.  Here is some of that letter, reflecting on her time as a child in Gloucester probably around 1900: “then your great grandma [probably Ann Conlon Handran] left and took a job at a big brick home for tenants who went out fishing and their wives.  She was very happy there. I used to stop on my way home and she gave me a little coin purse with 11 cents in it because I stopped and visited her.  I was only about 6 or 7 years.  On the way home up on Bonds Hill there was a new home built that has a new rock wall in from of their home and I did not want to take that little purse home because Mom (Gertrude Holland Vanderwell) never let us kids accept any money from anyone so—I never did get it back because after years that place was torn down and it made me feel bad to think poor Nannie gave it to me.”

I understood her implication to be that she tucked the coin purse into the rock wall near the home on “Bonds Hill”.  As fate would have it, we are staying on Bond Street and those rock walls call to me every time I drive by them.  I think of a little girl’s coin purse with 11 cents inside perhaps still right where she tucked it over one hundred years ago. And I think of the long past ties I have to this area and count myself blessed.

We visited the Railways recently.  As always, I am struck by the industrial beauty of the place.  I am grateful they are available for visits.

This visit brought to mind a couple of stops from the past:

Always changing, forever beautiful.

A true treasure is  located in a small room in the basement of City Hall. Gloucester Archives houses a wide variety of research tools including maps, directories, military records, property records, photos, books and stories.  The heart of the Archives is in the 10-12 dedicated volunteers taking turns manning the room from 9-noon weekdays ready to assist with various requests or to continue their work indexing records.

A friend recently mentioned they were curious about the history of their house.  I suggest going to the Gloucester Archives.  Anyone working on their Gloucester related genealogy should stop by.  The city’s history is well documented and preserved here in three vaults also located in the basement, which are a treat of their own.

Sarah Dunlap graciously gave me a tour of these vaults and described the services available (you do not need to be a city resident to take advantage).  The volunteers in attendance today included Sue Hall, Judy Silva, Peggy Calkins, Lois Hamilton and Sandy Williams.  A variety of personal interests drew them to become volunteers and they clearly enjoy their work.

I asked what was the most surprising or exciting discovery they had made and Sarah responded that they were inspired by a speaker who indicated it was information that couldn’t be found.   Sarah and staff took this as a challenge and labored to track down and verify  FitzHenry Lane’s name change from Nathaniel Rogers Lane in order to provide previously unavailable information. Dilly, Dilly to the staff!

In response to my question about what the Archives needed or hoped for, Sarah indicated that funding is always being sought. Even more importantly, climate controls for the vaults is a dire need as records are beginning to deteriorate.  This is an example of one of the storage vaults.  You can clearly see the need.

This is the main research room, easily accessible via City Hall’s handicap entrance on Dale Ave.  It’s pretty clear they are making good use of the space allotted–look at those jammed bookshelves!

Some additional vault pictures:

Gloucester Archives began in 1987 to organize and maintain these city and town records.  It’s pretty amazing it’s “only” taken these last 30 years or so to sort, organize and index this vast collection.  They provide services in person, by phone or email.  They accept donations and especially appreciate monetary donations.  Katelyn Vance is the current Archivist and is working to improve the collection and services.

If you aren’t tired of the pictures of the basement, please enjoy the following additional pictures to give you an idea of the “ambiance” in some areas.  Thanks to GMG Jimmy for his photography work.

Since it was kind of grey and wet, we decided to take a ride to Salem which has been on our list of inclement weather activities.  Strike One: the Peabody Essex Museum was closed—-and I think we’ve made that mistake once already…….

Off we go to the Salem Maritime National Historic Site.  What’s that you say?  Government shutdown???  Parks open but no staff or amenities???  Strike Two although just wandering around reading the signs was pretty interesting by itself.

Oh well, let’s look at the map and decide what next.  The New England Pirate Museum sounds interesting and it’s right here.  Oh…….Strike Three “Closed for the season”…..you would think with the federal government shutdown, those pirates would need someplace to go.

It was a very quiet Monday in Salem and I found myself really wishing I had a drone…..

I’m thinking the FAA would probably come right to life if I’d tested this NO DRONE ZONE out.