While out and about organizing jobs for my landscape design clients with my newest assistant Charlotte, we were planning to take more photos, but it was too dreary. Believe me when I write, all three of our fantastic local nurseries are bursting with beautiful plants and garden ornaments that would make wonderful gifts for Moms, and all the special ladies in your life. The weather forecast for tomorrow is mostly sunny and mid-fifties, perfect weather for plant shopping.
New assistant, Charlotte, and best mother’s helper, our Radio Flyer COLLAPSIBLE wagon!
I cannot say enough good things about BLACK EARTH COMPOSTand the amazing guys, Andrew and Connor, who provide this fantastic product. My client’s gardens have never looked as lush and beautiful since I began using strictly Black Earth Compost to replenish the soil.
Andrew even delivers to my butterfly and ABC gardens at Philips Andover. Thank you Black Earth for making such a great product!!!
Nature rarer uses yellow
Than another hue;
Saves she all of that for sunsets,—
Prodigal of blue,
Spending scarlet like a woman,
Yellow she affords
Only scantly and selectly,
Like a lover’s words.
Emily Dickinson
Photos from the planters that surround the Black Sheep Restaurant at the Kendall Hotel. We made an extra beautiful mix this year, and many of the varieties are fragrant. The weather was kind to tulips and daffodils this year. The nicest thing though is when city dwelling passers-by stop to take photos and tell you how happy the flowers make them feel 🙂
Black Sheep Restaurant and Bar at The Kendall Hotel
350 Main Street
Cambridge, MA 02142
For reservations call 617-577-1300
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Clearing at Grant Circle on the Cape Ann Museum properties revealed a carpet of grape hyacinth scilla (correction thanks to helpful GMG reader comment). The patch across the street is a favorite stretch of spring.
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There is much exciting work in progress along Stacy Boulevard including welcome tributes to women. Incremental aesthetic improvements, public access, ease of movement, and celebration of culture require many hands and deliver a huge impact. Here is a brief description of the special current projects and some people involved.
Two revitalized and enhanced gardens beyond the tennis courts will emphasize generations of care
“Remarkable support comes from volunteer expertise like award winning designer Ann Geraldi Johnson and Susan Kelly and the Generous Gardeners who have stepped up as the city’s groundskeepers on the boulevard.” Mike Hale, Director of Public Works
The Elizabeth Gordon Smith (Betty Smith) garden was cleared and the small Picture garden past the boulevard tennis courts was unearthed. Because Gloucester garden groups pre-date 1900, it’s especially moving to see the work in progess shoring up inspiring legacy connections. Incredible volunteers past and present serve the city’s Department of Public Works (DPW). Stacy Boulevard & Stage Fort Park advocates like Betty Smith, Louise Loud & the Gloucester Civic & Garden Council tended and protected Gloucester’s natural beauty — the very same grounds that are so lovingly served now by dynamos like Ann Gilardi Johnson and Susan Kelly & the Generous Gardeners. Plaques for Lucy Brown Davis, tribute by her sister Catalina Davis, and for Lucy P. Rogers ” president of the Gloucester’s Woman’s Club 1927-29″ are nearby.
photos: Betty Smith garden IN PROGRESS February (overgrowth and clearing underway–poison ivy was found) vs. March and can’t wait to experience the AFTER!
February 2019March 24, 2019 more progress two gardens revitalized- Paul Manship Triton fantastic enhanced boulder base clearingGloucester, Mass., March 2019. Pubic art – Walker Hancock Triton
March 2019 work continuing across Stacy Boulevard – read details HERE about these projects– Hancock Sculpture, Betty Smith Gardens & Tennis Courts to the East, and Blynman Bridge & railings to the West- additional stunning work and investment thanks to Gloucester MA Department of Public Works, Ann Gilardi Johnson, Generous Gardeners, CPA, Department of Transportation (DOT), and more. Stacy Boulevard Part 8
March 24, 2019 photos of Walker Hancock Triton and grounds prep before/in process.
Gloucester, Mass., March 2019. Pubic art – Walker Hancock Triton
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Their shadows in flight crisscrossing the light through my office window, I look up to see one feather-fluffed fellow sitting on a crabapple branch, gazing right back at me. I wonder, if I silently and cautiously open the window, will he fly in?
It is so very cold out doors. The flock seems more weary than in past years. One sits on the ground outside the window, barely moving aside when I walk down the garden path; another is half asleep in the holly limb overhead. There are fewer, too, perhaps only eight to ten when often we see several dozen. On this coldest of January days, it must be difficult to keep warm, especially as there are no little fish to catch along the frozen sea’s edge to warm their bellies.
This one appeared so worn out, he sat in the snow beneath the holly tree, eating what the other Robins dropped on the ground.
The winter Robins arrive to our garden every year in January, nearly to the day (today, January 21st). Our garden is a postage stamp but we have planted it richly for the songbirds. The pair of ‘Dragon Lady’ holly trees hold their berries for the Robins, the crabapples have yet to be sampled, the winterberry is still ripe with fruit, and the tiny rosehips of the climbing white rose are beckoning.
We’re fortunate that on Cape Ann many American Robins nest and migrate along our shores. Some Robins live here all the year round; some arrive in springtime, having spent the winter further south in parts warmer; and some–the ones I like to call winter Robins–arrive in January, from parts further north. We are like their Bermuda, and they are here to feed on wild fruits and berries, as well as small fish fry and fingerlings, and mollusks.
Rime-sweetened rosehips
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photos above- holiday window 2018 goodlinens studio, 130 Main Street, Gloucester, MA
photos below – They’re my towel of choice for piping plover watch at Good Harbor Beach, body surf days, and rainy camping. I love how quickly these towels dry out, and how light and compact they are– perfect to pack down.
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Main Street Gloucester, MA- First snow of the season Nov 15, 2018
goodlinens studio useful goods and gifts for bath, kitchen and home, functional art, fine art and featured artisan panels
NEW! custom order trays– featuring local work by artists Loren Doucette and Coco Berkman– were designed by architects Ann Clark and Lena Georas and digitally printed on Baltic birch plywood, each piece of LAMOU serveware is created in Rhode Island.
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Congratulations to Ross “Sandy” Burton, Chris Wagner, Russell Hobbs, Cheryl Mazer, Juidth Oleson, Christine Drohan, Carol Kelly, and many many other volunteers who rescued and repurposed Virginia Lee Burton artist studio into a most fitting new chapter
Come on inside the Virginia Lee Burton Writing Cottagewhich was once the acclaimed artist’s former studio of her own. Virginia Lee Burton’s personal studio was rescued and nestled into the Lanesville Community Center property. The center’s clubhouse and grounds, established in 1954, seem to be the ideal spot for a summer rec program, even more so now. As one enters the cottage through the custom built door, there’s a brand new window straight ahead where the stove and chimney – and asbestos– had been. Virginia Lee Burton needed a wood stove. Today’s visitors won’t. New materials and insulation make the cottage cozy and warm.
vs “The Barn” (1948) Folly Cove Designers large public space
Chris Wagner & Ross Burton (with microphone)
At the celebration presentation on October 21, 2018, Chris Wagner, President of the Lanesville Community Center and project manager, recounted some history. Virginia Lee Burton purchased her studio from the Building Center in 1963. It was a pre fab home that she repurposed for her needs. He explained that the volunteers leveraged outreach. The Building Center responded with “anything you need,” and was so supportive of the cottage regeneration that they offered the volunteers a $5000 credit towards building materials. It takes an inspiring and talented village. Other area businesses stepped up: Timberline donated shingles; Argentino handled plastering; Closed Cell Structures out of Reading handled the spray foam so the cottage was winterized; Carpenter & MacNeille designed and commissioned door and windows custom built by Chris Roe from Bayview; architectural drawings from Dore and Whittier; KML Electric; plants and flowers from Generous Gardeners; and cut sunflowers for the reception from Shaws. How inspiring to learn that Camilla MacFadyen, artist and textile extraordinaire, had a hand in this studio-raising. Character, warmth, and charm were added to the new exterior wood work. Volunteers salvaged what they could of the studio and rebuilt a gem. Work is still underway. When Burton exited her sanctuary studio, she faced the ocean. Now it’s an ocean of love. Plans for future community programs and events (see below) are underway and volunteers welcome.
Support for the cottage renewal came from residents of Gloucester via CPA funding and donations, various city staff departments (e.g. conservation and community development), and a slew of committed volunteers. Like Russell Hobbs! Here’s the modest presentation listing some key volunteers:
The poignant celebration was held inside the Lanesville Community Center and concluded with an apt recitation from a Little House passage read by Christine Drohan.
Annotated illustration: Note gardens on properties abutting City Hall. William Haskell’s lots spread between Dale and Pleasant (#44 now) streets and beyond where Carroll Steele is located now, numbered 32 Pleasant Street, rear when he lived there. On the 1884 Hopkins and 1899 Stadly maps the lot is identified where the new post office is now.
Another Haskell (Cpt. John Haskell) was associated with 34 Pleasant (former Moose Home*), and Melvin Haskell with 136 Main Street. *The house history trail for 34 Pleasant (THEN 26 Pleasant): Pearce-J. Haskell-Calef-Moose Lodge (razed 2011)-Cape Ann Museum parking lot. This area could be an African American history stop spotlighting both abolitionist and antiabolitionist connections.
Street numbers were shifted. Behind #44 Pleasant Street now (below)
44 Pleasant Street 2018
William Humphrey Haskell
Dates: b.January 23, 1810 – d.August 26, 1902 Parents: Eli (b. 1776 Gloucester, MA) and Lydia (Woodbury Bray) Haskell Brother: Epes Grandfather: Elias Haskell First Wife and two daughters: Sarah Ann Bray (1811-1836) “died September 12, 1836 leaving two daughters* now deceased, one of whom (Sarah*) married a Mr. (Thomas*) Symonds of Reading and the other (Judith*) married Edwin Bradley of Rockport and was the mother of Mr. Edwin Archer Bradley* of Gloucester, Mass.” E Archer Bradley was Captain Sylvanus Smith son-in-law. E Archer Bradley is listed in the 1913 Polk directory as Vice President of the Gloucester Mutual Fishing Insurance Co and Director Rocky Neck Marine Railway Company.
Second Wife and six children: Mary S. Smith (died August 15, 1889) Married July 19, 1838. They had six children: “William G. Haskell of Washington, DC, Col. Edward H. Haskell and Charles A Haskell of Newton, Frank A. Haskell of California and Mrs. Saddie, wife of Samuel W. Brown of this city. One son, Asaph S. Haskell, laid his life on the altar of his country at Morehead City, N.C., September 28, 1863, of yellow fever while a member of Co. C, Twenty-third Regiment, where he had gone awaiting transportation home, his death occurring on the date of the expiration of his term of enlistment.” Raised: West Gloucester, learned the trade of shoemaker according to obituary Gloucester 250th Anniversary: served as Vice President of 250th celebration committee Residences: 44 Pleasant Street (was between Dale and Pleasant streets and beyond where Carroll Steele is located now) formerly address 32 Pleasant Street, rear– either may have evidence Undergound Railroad. Haskell’s lots spread between Dale and Pleasant.* Another Haskell (Cpt. John Haskell) was associated with 34 Pleasant (former Moose Home) and Melvin Haskell with 136 Main Street.
Biographical information I dug up and researched then confirmed at Gloucester Archives August 29th with a special thanks to Sandy and Sarah with Gloucester Achives. I wanted to confirm Haskell’s address and home, because streets and numbers change on maps over time, and because I knew Sandy could help best with tracking down cemetery information about Haskell’s first wife and the daughters’ names missing from records and I wanted to spotlight her dedicated efforts.
Haskell’s first wife is buried in West Gloucester- historic Sumner St. Cemetery. Haskell and his first wife had two daughters. Sarah Ann Frances, born September 28, 1832 in Gloucester, died young, in December 1853. She married Thomas S. Symonds July 1851. (Haskell and his second wife named one of their daughters, Sarah “Seddie” Symonds Haskell, after his first child.) The second daughter, Judith Goldsmith, born February 20, 1836, married Edwin Archer Bradley on November 8, 1854.
OBITUARY WAS FRONT PAGE NEWS
“OLDEST MALE RESIDENT DEAD: William H. Haskell Closes Life at Age of 92 years- An Original Abolitionist and Life-long Republican
House History then and now for two former ‘old age homes’:
136 Eastern Avenue (Rt 127) 1911 and today- was a retirement home for fishermen
1911, Gloucester, Mass. “WILL OPEN ON CHRISTMAS DAY Several Old Sea Toilers Will Eat Christmas Dinner There Monday: Everything is in readiness for the opening of the Fishermen’s Home, formerly the Colby House, on Eastern avenue, and on Christmas day, a gathering of aged and disabled fishermen who have toiled their best days on the banks, but are no longer able to follow this hazardous occupation, will spend one of the happiest days of their lives and eat their first dinner in the new home…It would be a rather difficult undertaking to find a happier man today than Judge York. Two years ago after a conference with Dr. John Dixwell of Boston, who becoming interested in the work raised a fund among his friends for the relief of this class of men, who without friends or home were obliged to seek shelter in the house of coreection. Judge York went to Ipswich and secured the release of eight old fishermen, who were brought to this city and cared for at boarding houses during the winter months. Last winter the work was continued through the efforts of Dr. Dixwell and Judge York, and lately, their efforts were further crowned by the splendid gift of Mr. Hammond, who presented the home. The seven men who will become inmates of the home on Christmas Day are John Ryan, Joseph Alcott, John Nichools, Harris Atwood, James Halley, Robert Fraser and Henry Gormley.” article in the Gloucester Daily Times
The prior year “J. Hammond deeded lots for indigent fishermen at Beechbrook Cemetery.”- 1910 Gloucester Archives
After writing about his friendship with Captain Blackburn, “one of the most undaunted sailors America has ever had…I was proud to be one of the honorary pallbearers at his funeral…” John Hammond Sr. concluded his autobiography with more about Gloucester:
“I look back with the greatest pleasure on the hours I have spent with other old Gloucester fishermen. In the winter of 1910 several of these old fellow appeared before the district court and pleaded guilty to vagrancy. Without other means of gaining food or shelter, they were seeking some sort of sustenance in the poorhouse for the winter. In Washington, I read about this in the papers and got in touch with Judge York, Dr. Dickswell, Fred Shackelford, and others who were interested. We established a home to provide for these old fishermen. I learned to appreciate the fine traits of these men who were given refuge there. Often it was exceedingly difficult to persuade them that they were too old to stand the hardships of deep-sea fishing. Their truck garden faced the sea, and from there they could watch with their telescopes for the fishing vessels as they left and entered the harbor. Sailors, like miners, are notoriously spendthrifts and these of Gloucester were no exception. They would arrive at the Home in a destitute condition. Because they no longer went to sea, and there was no chance of their reaching the traditional sailors’ grave, they had a great dread of potter’s field. For that reason I provided a cemetery where all could be assured of decent burial. Above the gate is inscribed:
And here rest, brave toiler of the sea, sleep undistrubed, God’s peace be with thee.
Many of the inmates were choosey about the location of their graves. There were two in particular, bunkies since boyhood, who quarreled daily and, I fear, nightly, but who exacted from me a promise that they might be buried side by side.”
110 Prospect Street ca 1900 and today – was a former retirement home for senior women
Gloucester bought 110 Prospect Street in 1887 for $12,000 to establish the “Huntress Home for Old Ladies of Native Birth.” I’ll write more about this one later.
Here’s how both senior housing options were described in the 1913 Gloucester Directory (from Gloucester Archives):
photos & research – C. Ryan
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In response to Searching for artist Byron Brooks (Part 1) and (Part 2), David Collins, a Good Morning Gloucester reader and amateur geneologist, was inspired to act. First he emailed a PDF family tree for artist, Byron Lloyd Brooks, and then shared vivid remembrances and vintage photographs in response to the artist’s timeline in Gloucester, Massachusetts. These are wonderful additions to filling out Brooks story and a peek into Gloucester and Stage Fort Park history. Thanks so much, David!
For a time, Brooks lived in 12 Stage Fort Avenue. Collins’ family lived in 7 Stage Fort Avenue 1940s-1960s. Does anyone know the neighbors Collins mentions or have more photographs of long gone homes and Barrett’s Camp at Stage Fort Park? I’m looking forward to scouting for that boulder.
Part 3 Searching for artist Byron Brooks – David Collins responds:
ca. 1950, courtesy photograph to assist with Byron Brooks research from David Collins (his sister with her friend by side entrance 12 Stage Fort Ave, Gloucester, Massachusetts )
“Hello, Catherine, Here is a little more information on the artist Byron L. Brooks, in case you are still interested. I have attached a family tree for him. It does also have some information on his two wives that I know of. I am not a professional genealogist, so don’t take the information as gospel. I grew up at what was then 7 Stage Fort Avenue (no “Park” in the address) in the late 1940s, 50s and early 60s in the house that is now 1 Anchor Lane, I believe. We moved to Connecticut in 1961 the week I turned 16. The house Byron lived in, 12 Stage Fort Avenue, was, back when I lived there, a 2-family house. Most of the other houses in that part of the neighborhood were, or had been, summer camps. Stage Fort Avenue Y-ed at our house and both parts, one going on to one of the Park’s parking lots and the other going past us to Barrett’s Camps, were named Stage Fort Avenue. The house in front of Byron’s, the address was 10 Stage Fort Avenue back then and is now 7 Stage Fort Avenue, didn’t exist – at least not in the large form it is in now. Sam and Marion (Kerr) Johnson lived there. I think the house burned down in about 1975.
Ralph and Evelyn (DeCoste) Bradstreet lived in the downstairs part of 12 Stage Fort Avenue and several families lived upstairs over the years. Byron must have lived in the neighborhood a while before my family did. I think my folks moved to #7 about 1939 or so. I don’t know when the Bradstreets moved into #12. That said, Byron Brooks was my mother’s 2nd cousin. They share Ephraim Brooks [1818-1905] and Ruth Ward [1816-1892] of Nova Scotia as great-grandparents.
However, I had never heard of Byron until your 2nd GoodMorningGloucester article. I even collect art by people who called Cape Ann home – Charles Movalli was my best friend growing up*. I also have an extensive family tree that I have worked on for many years. Still, I had no idea Byron existed! Of course, I had his parents in my mother’s part of our tree. I have now added information on him and his many siblings because of your articles. Thank-you! Hope this helps you, in return.” David Brooks 7/1/18
photo credit: 12 Stage Fort Avenue, Gloucester, MA. ca.1947 photo courtesy David Collins
photo credit below (click to enlarge): 7 Stage Fort Avenue ca.1947-57 (L), and Stage Coach Inn vintage postcard, both images courtesy David Collins
about the photo with the girls on the rock and Stage Fort Avenue homes THEN (now gone):
“This one is of my sister and the girl (and her dog) who lived upstairs at 12 Stage Fort Avenue for several years while we lived on Stage Fort Avenue and then moved to School Street in Manchester. Her father, originally from Rockport, was a 7th cousin of Byron Brooks but I doubt he knew. The girls are sitting on a rock outside the side entrance to downstairs #12, the one the people we called Auntie Evelyn and Uncle Emerson (Ralph Emerson) Bradstreet (both cousins of each of my parents) probably used most often. It led into their kitchen. The doorway at the stairs in front (in the other picture I sent you) led into a hall, with stairs running up to the 2nd floor apartment and also a door at the left into the downstairs apartment.
The building behind the girls and to the left was, at least at one time, a Barrett camp. I think sometimes people bought them and made them more permanent homes even if they didn’t live in them year-round. The family’s name sounded like Brown-eyes but I don’t remember how it was actually spelled. Oh, I do remember: William and Irene (Douglas) Brauneis. Irene Douglas’ brother (a close friend and fishing buddy of my uncle) and his wife and family and his parents lived in the large house at the top of the hill behind the camps that was not a camp. I think the Brauneis family lived in theirs, maybe even full time eventually, long after we had moved.
The next home which looks altogether different was rented out in the summer, too, but I have no idea who lived in it. In the next camp to that one, not in the picture, a Mrs. Morrison spent the summer and her daughter and family, the Kilroys, would join her for a few weeks. Mrs. Kilroy had grown up in Gloucester. I hung around with daughter Carol and brother Robert the part of the summer when they were in town…Henry and Pauline (Osmond) Garvey and family lived in the Barrett camp that abutted our property on (what was then) Stage Fort Avenue. Great family. They would summer there from Tuckahoe, New York, but both had been brought up in Gloucester. ”- David Collins
Stopping today to purchase a birthday treat for my daughter at one of our favorite Gloucester shops, which is run by a lovely and capable senior lady, with all senior citizen employees, and the conversation went something like this. Me, “It’s so nice and cool in here. I am not looking forward to going home and cleaning my house in this heat. Senior lady #1, “wear something cool my dear.” Senior lady customer #2, “or just go naked.” #3, “good idea.” #2 adds, “just be sure to pull the drapes closed.”
Our home is without air conditioning, but we usually have a cooling cross breeze coming up from the harbor. Not in this weather though. I wonder if back in the day, sans air conditioning, naked house keeping was a thing?
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The exquisite Greek Revival architecture of The Mary Prentiss Inn complements perfectly our lively pollinator paradise, bursting with blossoms and bees. We’ve layered the garden in an array of nectar-rich perennials and annuals that bloom from spring through fall and the garden has become mecca for neighborhood pollinators (including seed-seeking songbirds).
Plant for the pollinators and they will come!
Three-bee-species scene at The Mary Prentiss Inn pollinator garden.
The Mary Prentiss Inn Owners Nicholas and Jennifer Fandetti
Perfectly lovely prior to turning the old garden into a pollinator paradise, but everyone agreed, it was time for a change.
Bee and blossom alike dusted in a fine golden shower of pollen.
Good Morning Gloucester 