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UnEarthing Rehoboth’s Farming Past:
Joan Olson and Walt Munroe Share Farming Memories
by Leslie Patterson for the Rehoboth Antiquarian Society
If there’s one thing that everyone knows about Rehoboth, it’s that it was once a rural farming community. Although a few family farms remain, many of the old farms have been sold. All the new houses that have been built in the past few decades are taking the place of family farms, and every time a farm is sold to developers, Rehoboth loses a piece of its farming past.
This past spring, the Carpenter Museum began an oral history proect called “UnEarthing Rehoboth’s Farming Past.” Students at Dighton-Rehoboth Regional High School interviewed several local farmers about what Rehoboth was like 50 or more years ago and how it has changed over the years. These video interviews will serve as a valuable record of farming in our town.
Local farmers who participated in the video recordings were Joan Olsen, Walt Munroe, Ken Santos, Dick Pray and Manny and Margaret Veader. Student interviewers were Elizabeth Beskid, Elizabeth Oakley, Kira Hitz, and Ed Medeiros. Each farmer was asked the same series of questions.
Joan Olsen worked on the Bowen Farm on Homestead Avenue with her dad Harold Horton until the farm was sold in the 1960s. The Munroe farm has been in Walt’s family since the early 1760s. Today the Munroe family business includes not only the farm but also Munroe Feed and Supply on Fairview Avenue.
Gunnar Manchester, a summer intern at the museum, has worked on the audio/video editing of the interviews, while I have been transcribing the interviews in print form. The Rehoboth Antiquarian Society newsletter will contain excerpts and you can see the videos at the Carpenter Museum.
The Munroe house on Fairview Avenue in the late 19th century.
Summer intern Gunnar Manchester working editing the interview videos
Young Joan Horton with calves “Patsie” and “Blinka” in 1943.
Bowen Farm on Homestead Avenue.
Walt Munroe (right) with brother Bob and dad Ralph on their turkey farm in 1951.
ARTICLES on this page also include:
Image Making Only 50 Cents a Week
Local Kids Learn About Llamas
Mysteries at the Museum
100 Years of Scouting Celebrated
plus older stories
New Restaurant Brings Fine Indian Cuisine and Culture to Rehoboth
After months of looking for just the right location to open a restaurant, the proprietors and chefs of Apna Punjab decided that Rehoboth offered a perfect location. They hope to draw not only local customers, but Indian food lovers from many area communities.
Opened in early October, the restaurant now has a full-liquor license and is open seven days a week for lunch from 11 to 3 PM, including a buffet lunch, and for dinner until 10 PM. There is a lounge adjacent to the main dining room.
“A friend brought me here,” said manager Jay Vij, who has lived in Massachusetts for the last thirteen years. “The closest Indian restaurants are in Providence and then in Franklin, so Rehoboth provided a central location.”
Jay is quick to stand back and focus attention on his colleagues, head chef Subash Singh, second chef Hardeeb Singh and third chef Raman Singh. All four men are from the Punjab region of Northern India, where Singh is a common surname.
Subash Singh, Jay Vij, Raman Singh and Hardeeb Singh in front of Apna Punjab in North Rehoboth on Park Street near the Attleboro line.
Along with delicious cuisine to enjoy there or take-out, Apna Punjab offers Rehoboth residents a chance to learn more about an ancient, rich culture, one that is being embraced worldwide through food, music, and dance.
The chefs utilize two, coal fired tandoor ovens shipped from India for both bread baking and cooking meat on kabobs used in a variety of dishes.
The restaurant logo features a male Bhangra dancer as he leaps into the air and the menu has an illustration of dancers and musicians. Bhangra began as a folk dance enjoyed by Punjabi farmers to celebrate the harvest. Music is performed on a folk drums and various stringed instruments. In the last couple years, Bhangra has become very popular around the world with college teams, televised competitions and countless YouTube videos.
“People from the Punjab region are very happy, joyful people,” said Jay. Culturally, they are known for being very hard working and very polite. “We are very excited to be in Rehoboth and look forward to meeting all of our customers,” said Jay. “We hope this will be a model for more restaurants, but right now the most important thing for us is to offer the finest Indian cuisine.”
Apna Punjab is open everyday from 11 am to 10 pm.
3 Park Street, Rehoboth, MA near the Attleboro town line.
Click on: APNA PUNJAB for more information.
Two tandoor ovens (below) were shipped from India to create a variety of baked breads and cooking meat on long metal skewers.
Poori bread (right) is fried bread that puffs into a crisp hollow sphere.
Arts in the Village Concert Series
Presents Frederick Moyer
On Saturday, December 10, concert pianist Frederick Moyer makes his debut in the Arts in the Village concert series in Rehoboth. The evening's program, which begins at 7:30 p.m., will feature beloved classic works by by Mendelssohn, Rachmaninoff, Chopin and Liszt, among others.
During over 25 years as a full-time concert pianist, Moyer has carved out a vital and unusual career that has taken him to over 40 countries and to such far-flung venues as Tokyo's Suntory Hall, the Sydney Opera House, Windsor Castle, and the Kennedy Center.
Always creative and engaging, Moyer's enthusiasm, exacting artistry, and adventurous programming have made him a favorite among audiences of all ages. In recital, his delightful commentary from the stage brings the listeners into the heart of the musical experience.
Moyer was born into an artistic family. On his mother's side, his grandmother was a poet, and his grandfather Paul Green was a Pulitzer-prize-winning playwright. On his father's side his grandmother was a singer, and his grandfather was a professor of piano at Oberlin College.
Moyer's father, a trombonist, was a member of the Boston Symphony for 35 years, and his mother was an accomplished pianist, harpsichordist, and singer.
Moyer began playing the piano with his mother at the age of seven. While still in high school, he received a full scholarship to attend the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and later attended Indiana University. Shortly after graduation, a highly acclaimed New York debut at Carnegie Recital Hall launched Moyer on a career that has flourished ever since.
He has appeared as piano soloist with orchestras including the Cleveland, Philadelphia, and Minnesota Orchestras; the St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Houston, Boston, Singapore, and Dallas Symphony Orchestras; the Buffalo, Japan, and Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestras; and the major orchestras of Australia.
This program is supported in part by a grant from the Rehoboth Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.
This concert will take place on Saturday, December 10, at 7:30 p.m., at Goff Memorial Hall, 124 Bay State Road, in Rehoboth, MA. Admission is $15 for adults, $13 for seniors, and $6 for students and children. Cash and checks only. First come, first seated. For information, please call 508-252-5718; www.carpentermuseum.org/Arts.htm.
Local Dancers to Perform in Fall River Nutcracker
Spindle City Ballet in Fall River is pleased to announce that four Rehoboth students will be performing in this season’s production of The Nutcracker. The dancers- Elizabeth Griffin, Stephanie Dessert, Mei Li Sicard, and Joy Lima- are all students of The Dance Academy, Spindle City Ballet’s official school.
The Nutcracker, which will be performed on December 17th and 18th at Bristol Community College, has been a local tradition for 17 years. The cast includes company dancers, guest artists, and 30 dance students from the Dance Academy and other regional dance schools.
For tickets and information call 506-536-6073 or visit www.spindlecityballet.org
Celebrating 100 Years of Scouting
Girls and Leaders Enjoy Recent Event at Five Bridge Inn
The Rehoboth/Seekonk Annual Leader/Daughter Pot Luck was held at the beautiful Five Bridge Inn in Rehoboth. This special celebration was full of delicious food, fun times and good friends.
All Girl Scouts, both adults and girls, participated in a very special ceremony celebrating Juliette Lowe and Girl Scouts 100th Anniversary. Many people were involving in coordinating the event including Ann Messenger, owner of Five Bridge, who welcomed the scouts, mothers and leaders for the special event.
“This wonderful location made it a night we will all always remember,” said area scout organizer Colleen McBride.
Best known as a wedding and event facility, Five Bridge Inn is also a Bed & Breakfast, as well as a popular fitness center offering yoga, Tai Chi, meditation and spin classes for teens and adults.
Mysteries at the Museum: Can You Help?
The Carpenter Museum has two mysteries on their hands
Mystery #1: Who ARE these people?
Do you recognize anyone in the group photo to the left? The Carpenter Museum would like to know. Please help the museum identify this family.
Mystery #2: An Apron with Ties to Rehoboth’s Past
Genealogist Lende McMullen is working on a request from someone in California who sent a picture of a Masonic apron painted on silk with a linen backing (see below).
This artifact is now in the archive of a Masonic lodge in San Diego. On the upper part of the apron there is an inscription that reads: George Atwood, Eastern Star Lodge No.1 in Rehoboth. Members of this lodge helped build what was then called Fort Hiram in the Fox Point section of Providence in 1814.
Lende says that she hasn’t found much about George Atwood, but there was an Eastern Star Lodge in Rehoboth in 1810. She would welcome hearing from anyone who has any further information on this subject.
If you have any information on this artifact, please contact the museum at
508-252-3031 or email: carpentermuseum@gmail.com
If you have any information on this photo, please call 508-252-3031 or email: carpentermuseum@gmail.com
Expert Visits Museum to View Clock
Carpenter Museum Curator Laura Napolitano and 18th-century American clock expert Peter Nunes admire the Peregrine White tall case clock on loan from Russell S. Carpenter, a descendant of original owner Asahel Carpenter. This is the only known musical clock by White (1747-1834), a famous Woodstock, Connecticut clockmaker recognized for his high quality and low production. He suggested that the clock dates to circa 1790. During his visit, we set up and wound the clock to hear the chimes. The clock contains seven different songs—the owner could choose which to play by moving a needle at the top of the face.
Head Start Preschoolers Learn All About Llamas
The children of the Rehoboth Head Start program were recently treated to a literacy learning unit on llamas by Rehoboth resident Neil Lynch, the director of Head Start programming for Citizens for Citizens, a nonprofit organization based Fall River that serves the greater Taunton/Fall River area including Rehoboth.
Not only did he read to the preschoolers, he invited the children to visit his home in Rehoboth and see his own small herd of llamas up close. Mrs. Lynch demonstrated how she spins fuzzy llama wool into yarn.
The children learned all kinds of llama facts that even most grown-ups don’t know, such as llamas have no front top teeth and have two coats of wool. They also enjoyed visiting with the Lynch’s pigeons and chickens.
Llamas were the theme for an entire week that concluded with the reading of "Llama Llama Red Pajamas. The children were allowed to wear their pajamas to school, "cooked" a special trail mix snack, and watched a movie featuring a llama.
Head Start is a free child development program which provides comprehensive education, health, nutrition and social services to pre-school children ages 2.9 – 5 years of age from income eligible families.
The Rehoboth Head Start is located at at the community center of the Rehoboth Congregational Church. For more information, please contact head teacher Pam Escolas at 508-252-4232.
One Mystery Solved
The Carpenter Museum had this photo with no identification. Thanks to Evelyn Bois, the the identities are now known! They are Rehoboth residents Martha and Manuel Rose surrounded by fourteen of their grandchildren. The photograph was arranged by Mr. and Mrs. Rose's daughter, Evelyn Rose Bois. It was taken in 1963 by Evans Studios in Taunton.
Imagine Making 50 Cents a Week
Group from Carpenter Museum Visit Slater Mill
by Leslie Peterson
The Blackstone River was roiling and churning after heavy rains so it was easy to see how powerful a force water was for propelling the mill wheels. After a low dam was built on the river, water was diverted into a raceway that led to a gate into the mill to power the machinery.
We were guided on our tour of Slater Mill, the Wilkinson Mill and the Sylvanus Brown House, all on the Pawtucket site, by Allan McGillivrary, who was dressed in a woolen cape and old straw hat of a Rhode Islander of 200 years ago, and Nelson Collins, who has served on Slater’s Mill’s board and is an expert on the mechanical workings of the mill. Allan told us about the founding of the mill in 1793 by Samuel Slater, who was only 23 then. The money behind this first water-powered spinning mill of its kind in America came from Moses Brown and his partner William Almy.
Slater’s first assistant at the mill was his young brother-in-law, who was only 10 at that time. Children in the Mills All older children worked 200 years ago, unless their families were quite wealthy. But prior to the industrial revolution, they mainly worked on farms, or as apprentices to tradesmen, or if they were girls, as maids to those who were well off. But this standing all day in a mill, tending complicated machinery, with scarcely any time off, in both the brutal heat of the summer and the bitter chill of winter, was something new.
A small group of us from the Carpenter Museum visited Slater Mill in Pawtucket on a crisp December day.
Samuel Slater started out with nine child workers, ages 6 to 12 and they worked from “see” to “not see”--that is, only during times of natural light. Winter work days at the mill were shorter due to the early darkness, so they didn’t have to work the 14 hour days (with half an hour for dinner) that they did in the summer. But of course they didn’t get paid when they weren’t working. And when they did get paid, boys got 50 cents a week (a week, not a day) and girls only 35 cents.
The Wilkinson Mill was opened in 1810, mainly to make the machine parts needed in the textile mills, though the upper floors of this mill were also used for textiles. The first thing you see in Wilkinson Mill is a sign saying “Loafers Not Wanted--Keep Out”. Those who were considered loafers would lose their job and also have their name put on a blacklist so that other mill owners would not hire them. Allan told us horror stories of fingers or hair caught in the relentless machines, the dangers of fire in a wooden building with whale-oil lamps and woodstoves in a time with no fire departments, and lung disease called “white lung” caused by breathing in cotton fibers that were constantly floating in the air.
Among other facts we learned was that cotton was best worked with high humidity. Windows were nailed shut, even in the summer, and it could get to be over 100 degrees in the mill in the summer. It was very cold in the winter and it was easy to slip and fall at any time. At that time there was no government intervention to require mill owners to take even the most basic safety precautions. Nor were there any unemployment benefits. If the mill was closed or you were sick and could not work, there would be no pay.
“There was a link between slavery and textiles,” Allan explained. After Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, also in 1793, it was possible to remove seeds from cotton much faster and more efficiently than by hand. Even a small cotton gin could do the work of 100 people working by hand. Cotton made the Southern plantation owners very rich and increased their demand for slaves to work the cotton fields. After the cotton was processed down south, it was baled and sent to the New England textile mills. The bales could be shipped up the river right to the bridge near Slater Mill, where the cotton was worked and turned into thread.
Our two guides gave us a thorough demonstration of how the process worked on the various pieces of mill machinery and how the thread was then worked on a loom to produce cloth. A Jaquard loom actually used a very early form of punch cards to program patterns into the woven cloth. In the Sylvanus Brown house we got a look at what a house from 200 years ago in Rhode Island looked like. It has low ceilings to conserve heat from the fireplace and no closets because people only had two outfits then and the one you were not wearing could hang on a peg on the wall. Also, closets were taxed in colonial days. Allan showed us a handloom with a sleeve being woven on it, giving us an idea of how long it would take to weave a simple shirt and what labor-saving devices machine looms were at that time. What was most amazing though is that Allan said that this fairly small house might have actually housed two families, with as many as 22 children between them.
Slater Mill is open for visitors throughout the year, though hours vary. In the winter it is only open to groups by appointment. It is located on Roosevelt Ave. in Pawtucket, across the river from the old Apex store. The site also holds special events throughout the year, including the popular knitting weekend coming up February 10-12. For more information, go to slatermill.org.
Arts in the Village Concert Series
Providence Mandolin Orchestra
On February 11, the Arts in the Village Concert Series welcomes back the Providence Mandolin Orchestra, directed by Mark Davis. Over the past 30 years, the PMO has become one of the leading American mandolin ensembles, performing throughout the Eastern United States and Canada, and at festivals in Spain, Germany, Luxembourg, France, and the Netherlands.
Its repertoire features a wide range of musical styles, from Renaissance dances to Baroque concertos, from turn-of-the-century nostalgia to avant-garde expressions.
The Providence Mandolin Orchestra was founded by the late Hibbard Perry in 1971, fulfilling a lifelong dream to revive his own Providence Plectral Orchestra from the 1930s. This group carries on an American musical tradition which goes back to the 1880s when a group of Spanish bandurria players toured the United States and began a craze for mandolin and guitar music that rivaled the popularity of rock and roll today.
For the February concert, this troupe of 24 musicians will present Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 and a new piece written in a classical/Romantic style, which the PMO recently premiered in Baltimore.
Also on the program will be the U.S. premiere of PMO member Robert Margo's "Nocturne," described by Davis as a "beautiful, moody, evocative piece of writing." Other works include Boston-area composer Owen Hartford's "Neponset Valley Suite"; a piece by Robert Martel that was written for and recorded by the PMO and has seen recent performances in Europe; and "Oblivion," an arrangement of a concert tango written by the acclaimed Argentinian composer Astor Piazzolla.
This concert, which is sponsored by Lydia Costa Interiors of Rehoboth, will take place on Saturday, February 11 at 7:30 p.m., at Goff Memorial Hall, 124 Bay State Road, in Rehoboth, MA. Admission is $15 for adults, $13 for seniors, and $6 for students and children, cash and checks only. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis, and the doors open at 7:00 p.m. For information, please call 508-252-5718, or go to the AIV's Web site: carpentermuseum.org.
is a publication of Image Communications, Copyright 2012
