Appleton Cheerleader Outfits
New Ipswich Historical Society
Alums Day at the New Ipswich Library
Show and tell on November 18, 2023 at the Alums day. Appleton cheerleader outfits.
Marion Davis Audio-Tape Transcriptions
Sometime before her death in 1986, Marion Davis recorded her memories at the encouragement of her brother, Walter Buck. The recordings were transcribed by a secretary.
The Friends of Wapack have made these available to the Historical Society. Marion was born on February 8, 1894 in Fitchburg, MA.
Cattle Drive
The next morning we generally left about 4 o'clock to drive the cattle. Generally we had a man who would go on ahead and take 10 or 12 of the cows that had been over the road and knew the route. It was generally quite a job. Sometimes they'd start ahead and the man that was with them would have to get ahead an of them and kind of hold them back a little. It was work keeping them all on the go; it took quite a crew to start us out. We'd wind up at Nopp's Pond in Groton for the first night's stay. There was a big pasture there that went down to the edge of a pond where the cattle could drink. We put up at Mr. Fernald's place; his wife would get us a supper and our breakfast the next morning. We'd leave again the next morning and we'd make the Townsend Poor Farm out of West Townsend for the second night. Lots of times when we got there there'd be another drove of cattle ahead of us that was going up to Stoddard. I remember they had the pasture, and we had to put our cattle into the barnyard, which crowded them some, but we managed alright.
The next day we'd make for the mountain. Sometimes we put the cattle into the Old Peppermint. That's where there used to be a tavern many years ago. It got its name the Old Peppermint because there was an old fellow used to go there because he could get a little bit of toddy. They didn't like to serve it much so they called it "Peppermint". At one time when they had a new woman helping he said, "I want my peppermint". She said, "Well, I can get you some". She brought him some, but it wasn't the kind of peppermint he meant. That is where Matty Granfors and his family now live.
Other times we'd make the top of the hill where the Brown place used to be, where the Wapack Lodge finally wound up. It took us 2 to 3 days sorting out the cattle to go to the different pastures. We'd take 15 to 20 head over to Sharon pasture; there was about 200 acres there. Some went up onto the north end of Barrett Mt. of the Haynes pasture. Others stayed at the McDonald and Gates pastures at the Brown place. There were
There were 3 generations of Browns that lived there years ago. One of them went to Siam as a missionary, that's in the history. At the time Mr. Robbins bought that land old Joe Silver, who owned the hotel down in New Ipswich Center was cutting off the beautiful maple trees that had been set out by the Browns running from the turnpike down thru to the further pasture for big chunkwood to burn in his big round-bellied stove in his office. Mr. Robbins put a stop to his cutting any more.
Some went over in the Reed and Wheeler--that was the old road that went up to the Livingston place. The old Livingston cellar hole was still there but they told us that many years ago the Livingston family that lived there had 7 beautiful girls. Old Jim Carr who used to run a mill over near Timbertop (old Cheshire place as we used to know it) said those were the handsomest girls in the country. We put quite a lot of cattle over there because there was big acreage. Then some went across the road from where the Lodge is, but that was a pasture that dried up, called the Fiske and Bowker pastures.
James Roger diary entry
2nd December 1912
Dull and showery but mild; wind westerly. David went for grain in forenoon and for coal in afternoon and paid grain bill. I wheeled in a cord of wood into the Church in forenoon and went to mail in afternoon; gave hens cabbage, water, and shells. David and I put in the settees into Hall. Heavy rain at night. Did not go for mail. I wrote to Miss Byer.
Marion Davis was a member of what I call the 'bridge generation', the generation that depended on 'horse power' initially and then railroad and the combustion engine. It amazes me that my grandfather farmed with horses (my father as a boy ploughed with horses). He later built his own tractor from a Model T to pull his horse drawn equipment. Cattle drives in New England go back to the early 1700s when New England was rural and the initial 'turnpikes' were straight roads built for cattle drives, either to pasture or the market. Tolls were 2 cents a head for cattle or a dozen pigs. Brighton Mass had the largest cattle market in the East. Cattle drives to Brighton came from Vermont and Maine as well as eastern NH. Cattle owners made arrangements with landowners along the way to graze their cattle and hold the cattle overnight at 10 cents /head. Inns and taverns sprung up on the cattle routes. There was no school on Mondays in Brighton (later changed to Thursdays) because ot was cattle auction day. Cattle could only travel 10 mi/day without losing weight, and some drives were over 100 miles. There was trading along the way, so that the herd could grow (or dwindle) depending on the expected prices in Brighton. There were cattle drives just for pasturing. Marsh grasses around Boston provided valuable fodder. It was a New England tradition that went back to the 1600s. Some say that it is the number of cattle held by colonial Americans that allowed them to defeat the British. However the public that rode in horse drawn carts did not like being behind a herd of cattle going 2 mph.
The rise of the automobile put an end to New England drives. However, the town I presently live in has a 'right-to-farm' law which means you can't complain about driving being slow moving tractors.
In spite of that, in 2013 I was rear ended while I was driving my tractor on the road along my farm.
Interesting...I always wondered where the Peppermint Tavern was. Livingston is a family name. I'll have to do a little research to see if the "Handsome" girls were related.