th On Saturday, December 7 , The Black Tavern Historical Society joined with the Friends of the Pearle L. Crawford Memorial Library to provide horse-drawn carriage rides

at the Christmas Open House. It The Society utilizes the was a wonderful event and we following media to publicize our appreciate your voluntary support, meetings and programs: The donations, and the beautiful Patriot, Webster Times, ornaments that were hung on our Worcester Telegram & Gazette, Blessed with ideal weather, Christmas tree at the Tavern. Dudley Public Access Cable TV, two early evening summer concerts were held in 2002. June 27th, the posting on the front door of The very popular HERITAGE STRING Black Tavern and at local BAND made a return visit; July 11th, businesses. the HEFFERNAN/SABATINI JAZZ QUINTET made their first visit to In January 2002, Ed The Tavern. Though the quintet was Hubbard presented the history of not from the area, ironically, one the Johnson-Foskett house in Dudley. This program drew a very member, Jim Heffernan, spent the first 4 years of his life on Dudley large audience who listened

Hill while his father taught intently to Ed‟s well-prepared economics at . The discussion of the area. The Open House guests boarding the Black Tavern Historical Society is program was well received. horse drawn carriage again grateful to the Massachusetts Cultural Council, which, in During February we held cooperation with the Dudley Cultural our infamous Dudley recalls Co uncil, helped to make these two program. The list of speakers included a group of local folks: very successful concerts possible. Tony DiDonato, Bob Ducharme, Joe Antos, Chet Kulisa, Janet We have scheduled one summer concert on June 26, 2003. Masler and Ed Patenaude. They

From 6:00 p.m. to dusk, TARA‟S enjoyed sharing some great old- time stories of how “it used to be” THISTLE (consisting of two Celtic in the Webster-Dudley area. folk singers with a variety of Singing Carols in the Tavern instruments), will perform for the first time on the lawn of The Black The 2002 Annual Business st Tavern. Meeting was held on May 21 at which time The Black Tavern By- Peg Pedersen Laws were updated and revised. The Annual Business

Meeting will be held this year on The 3rd Grade students Thursday, May 15, 2003. This from Dudley Elementary School meeting will include planning the

came to visit The Black Tavern on agenda of programs for the coming th Wednesday, May 29 . A special year. Anyone interested in becoming note of thanks goes out to the an active member within our Massachusetts Cultural Council, historical community should plan to who in cooperation with the attend this meeting. Dudley Cultural Council, assisted with funding for the buses to If you would like more rd transport the 3 Grade children information about The Black Tavern to and from the school. or becoming a member of The Black Volunteers are “always” needed at Tavern Historical Society, please The Black Tavern for this daylong, contact Joy Glynn @ 508-943-9611. “A “1861 Trip Revisited” Around the educational event. Period 2 2Hill” costumes are available for anyone who can participate.

Please Support

project

As the result of generosity of Dick and Betty Nevers of

The Barn Webster and Fort Pierce, Florida, As it appears today - The Black Tavern has a new United States flag. As frequent attendants Excerpt taken from the final page of of The Tavern‟s outdoor summer Black Tavern Tales, written by Dr. concerts, the Nevers saw the need Charles Goodell. for a new flag. It will be flown on the rear lawn flagpole. The Black

“HANDS ACROSS THE YEARS” Tavern Historical Society is most “Sit with me by the Homestead hearth grateful for this gift. And stretch the hands of memory forth To warm them at the wood-fire‟s blaze.” Snow Bound- Whittier Peg Pedersen As it was in the late 1800‟s - Strong hands! how eagerly they came To drag the yule-log to the flame, While showers of sparks went flying up Bread Pudding Recipe The chimney to its smokey top. Served at the Black Tavern

Trained hands! that filled the oven there With all the housewife‟s thoughtful care, ¼ cup butter or margarine

Lest any one of all her brood 1 cup dark brown sugar Should miss his meed of daily food. 3 slices bread (buttered)

To the left is the old Methodist ½ cup raisins (or berries) Church which is no longer there. Deft hands! that wrought the wool and flax In fitting garments for the backs 3 eggs Of man and maid and careless child, 2 cups milk And wrought with boundless love beguiled. 1/8 tspn. Salt As part of the fund raising Soft hands! that bathed the baby‟s face 1 tspn. Vanilla effort for The Black Tavern Barn And felt the thrill of tender grace, Restoration Project, the Board of Which only Mothers understand, Melt butter in the bottom of baking Who giver their all at love‟s demand. dish; Directors voted to reprint the book, Sprinkle sugar over butter. Black Tavern Tales, Stories of Old Sweet hands! that made their “pat-a-cake,”

New England The book, which was And laugh and crowed for Mother‟s sake. Butter bread and put over the sugar; written in 1932 by Dr. Charles L. Then fell asleep on Mother‟s breast; Add raisins. Goodell, is printed on acid-free As sleeps the birdling in its nest. paper, bound with a quality hard cover and comes complete with a Boy‟s hands! with racket, bat and ball, Beat eggs, milk, salt & vanilla; dust jacket. Black Tavern Tales is Impatient for the answering call Pour over bread (do not stir). Of mates, who hasten to the game available for $30/each at The Black To find their place and win their fame. Place baking dish over simmering Tavern or we can mail a copy for water @ 350 degrees for one hour. $35/each ($5 additional charge is to Pale hands! once stout and passing fair, cover the cost of shipping and All emptied now of fretting care. handling). Please contact Peg They kiss their old worn wedding ring, Serve warm with fresh cream, whipped cream or ice cream. Enjoy! Pedersen @ 508-943-8391 if you And sweetly smile, and softly sing. are interested in purchasing a copy of the Black Tavern Tales. So, “Memory‟s hands,” they come and go In fading firelight‟s fitful glow.

They gleam, and fade, and pass away, Joe Antos & Joy Glynn But pass to live in endless day!

views prior to the twentieth century And look at that barn! Who evolutions and influences from many built that?” (He never saw it in his lands and sources. Tracing the lifetime, as he passed away in 1817, changes and family histories is and the barn wasn‟t built until the beyond the casual inquirer of general mid 1800‟s) This print has a meaning to historic curiosity but is deeply felt Good chance “The Old Darnman”, in The Black Tavern story far deeper by those with involved connections. his endless and desperate than the surface value as primitive wanderings, trying to find his bride, art work of antiquity. It is the Charles Moseley crawled up to the hayloft for a good foundation of the story of Dudley night‟s rest. And what a playground Hill and its interrelated people who for the kids after attending class at founded and developed it. It is Becca‟s Stone Schoolhouse on typical of the family memorial Tanyard Road. tablets of the era. There is a A special word of thanks to weeping willow symbol, pictures of Bob Ducharme for the “Barn the surviving family members, and a During the past year, a lot Restoration” sign, an eye catcher, tablet memorial statement. These all of time and energy was spent by the and for a new “Black Tavern” sign relate to a quote from Whittier over board on acquisition of the “Annex”, over the entrance of the Tavern the large fireplace, to Whittier‟s the old, future “Barn”. It has been a itself. Also a special thanks to “The works such as “Telling it to the long and drawn-out process that Iceman from Center Road”, from way Bees” relevant to close family would not have been crowned with back then, Raymond Wieloch of activities. Whittier was a frequent success without the unrelenting “Wieloch Pond” fame, for donating visitor to this area and lived close to efforts and legal assistance of Jim his heavy, heavy-duty ice harvesting the Maudsley Park developed by Whitney. A very special word of tools to the Tavern, 5 in all. It took descendants of the Quinebaug thanks and appreciation to Jim who a strong man to work those tools! Valley. volunteered a lot of his time, and Wow! We will safeguard them, and if The family of the print built had to deal with a lot of frustration Mass Electric ever goes out of the Tavern in 1804 and members while pushing the process forward. business, well, Ray‟s son Paul will be were residing on the hill for 100 Big thanks again, Jim.!! more than welcome to pick up the old years before the Tavern was built. I have been asked many trade. One never knows! Thanks, Ray! While Nichols College has its own times: “Why does the Tavern want One more item of very story, the land earlier was developed that old building?” Fair question, historic importance. Thanks to by the descendants of the Tavern until I explained the consequences Charles and Marion Moseley, a copy antecedents. Except for the of having a parking lot next door of the “Mourning Picture” is now on corridor of mill villages along the with “activities” going on late at display in the Meeting Room. It dams of the Quinebaug and its night, etc…. shows Mrs. H. “Becca” Healy and her contributaries this watershed was “Ah, yes, now I understand, you are two daughters, Becca and Clarinda, developed into farms and their right!” It would go far beyond mourning the death of the Captain, necessary supporting villages such as merely changing the landscape! (+ 1817, 51 years old) and of Dudley Hill with stage route But the landscape WILL Hezekiah Jr., (+ 1821, 11 years old, connectors. Later water power and change! The board has voted to due to the accidental discharge of a rail transportation developed the demolish the section nearest the gun). A willow tree, and white mill villages with different ethnic Tavern, #140 Center Road, and kerchiefs, traditional signs of cultures. However the farm villages restore # 142, the original mourning, can be seen. This picture retained much of their character Barn/Carriage House. That way, the represents the very essence of what until the twentieth century. The in-between space will increase from the Tavern stands for. Thank you, great changes in science, business, 28 inches now, to almost 40 feet, a Charley and Marion. technology, transportation, life significant safety improvement. I styles, cultures beyond enumeration can see it already…. A rustic fence John Vanderaa no longer make the rural life as we with a flower-and-herb garden once knew it, a distinct and separate where # 140 now is, gently sloping life style entity visible today. toward the backyard. It will look Sadness is the burden of those very attractive! Even Capt. Healy whose memories can recall through would, I think, nod approvingly, early life and contacts the rural calling out to his wife Becca: “Come stories, life styles, and mental see what they did! Well, by golly!

breakfast, drilled, fired their rifles and sang period songs around the campfire. Many of the children

present enjoyed visiting the civil war

The Black Tavern now has a Curator surgeon who had set up a field In 1920 Bertha and Jesse and an Assistant Curator. These hospital inside the Tavern. Also on Downing were married and moved to positions were created, at the display were several artifacts from a farm on Dresser Hill Rd. August Board of Directors meeting, the civil war period as well as display About a third of a mile after an inventory of the entire entitled “Dudley in the Civil War” north of the farmhouse was the Tavern was completed. Appointed to which included the names of all the highest point on the farm, which is these new positions were Tom Boyd, men from Dudley who volunteered to the present location of Dudley‟s Curator, and Nancy Roberts, defend the Union. water tank. (the pavilion would have Assistant Curator. These positions The warm sunny spring day been directly in front of the tank) are for one year while a job was enjoyed by all present. After living there the first description is developed for each summer Bertha found so many people position. Bob Ducharme stopping to enjoy the view or for During the inventory it was picnics. She decided to put a box discovered just how many treasures with a cupboard on it and filled with the Black Tavern actually contains jams and jelly and her special salted inside its walls. Items range from peanuts. As time went on Bertha and butter molds to spinning wheels, old Jesse built a pavilion on Top O‟ the pictures of Dudley‟s past to ledgers Hill complete with tables and from businesses located in the benches. They also built a fireplace. Tavern, and clocks to a cobbler‟s On Monday, October 14th, They occasionally served “sunset bench. It really is an amazing array as one of the 79 walks of its Walking suppers” and had neighborhood of items that brings our past to Weekend 2002, the Quinebaug and dances. light. Shetucket Rivers Valley National

Hopefully, future issues of Heritage Corridor sponsored “A Trip the Black Tavern News will contain Around the Hill” covering Dudley Hill. This walk was co-sponsored by stories and legends about some of the Dudley Historical Commission the items in this amazing collection of memorabilia. and the Black Tavern Historical If anyone would like to Society. With Selena Reich, my donate an item(s) to our collection or assistant leader, we led a wonderful group of over sixty walkers around if you just have a question, please call Tom Boyd at 860-928-1969. the Hill. On a truly beautiful day, we considered the historical and The pavilion on “Top O‟ the Hill” Tom Boyd architectural backgrounds of a 19th century village stopping at the In 1938 the hurricane Dudley Hill Common, the First wrecked the pavilion. They rebuilt it Congregational Church, the Grange by popular demand but when the Hall, the former Center next big wind came along that was School two-room school house (now the end. the Currier Center at Nichols), the three designed buildings of Nichols Academy (now On April 27th Bob Ducharme, and Nichols College), the former Aaron Joe Antos along with several other Tufts House (now Nichols College members of the 15th Massachusetts Guest House) with the final stop at Volunteer Infantry Regiment, a local the Black Tavern. There our walkers civil war reenactment group, were generously treated to cider presented a “Living History and other little snacks, thanks to

Encampment” on the common across Tavern members. View of Dudley Hill from “Top O‟ the Hill” the street from the Tavern. Jim Conrad Throughout the day the public Joe Antos toured the camp as soldiers cooked

The Black Tavern

Historical Society of Dudley Dudley Hill P.O. Box 1804 Dudley, Massachusetts 01571

Newsletter January 2003 OFFICERS 2003

List of Events Chairman Marilyn Whitney D.V.M. Feb. Inside this Issue Vice Chair Peg Pedersen . 13 (Thurs.) Valentine Musical from 7:00 – 9:00 Vice Chair Joy Glynn pm / Mark Smith, flute, Tavern membership Clerk Jean Lonergan and Kirsten Lipkens, Treasurer Luree Barber oboe, assisted by John Vanderaa, on keyboard, 1 Asst. Treasurer Jean Williams will perform a repertoire of literature from the era 2002 –2003 BOARD OF DIRECTORS of the Black Tavern including classical and List of Events folk material. 1 Joe Antos Jean Lonergan April Faith Armstrong Charles Moseley . 26 (Sat.) Victorian Lady Curator‟s corner Elliott Barber Connie Nederoscik 1:00 – 2:30 pm / Kandie Karle of East Haddam, CT 2 Luree Barber Peg Pedersen will provide 1860’s Civil Tom Boyd Neal Slack War Entertainment. May Louis Coccia Raymond Stockley “1861 Revisited” . 15 (Thurs.) Annual James Conrad John Vanderaa Business Program 7:00 – 2 Bob Ducharme Marilyn Whitney D.V.M. 9:00 pm / Annual Membership, Business & Joy Glynn Jean Williams Program Meeting (to “ A Trip Around the include arranging the rd HONORARY DIRECTORS Dudley 3 grade student 2 Hill” visit). John Craver Robert Worrick May/June Ann Layton . Dudley Elementary “Top „O‟ the Hill” rd School 3 Grade Visit 8:00 – 2:00 pm 2 June . 19 (Thurs.) Strawberry The Memorial Print Festival on Dudley Hill 3:30 – 8:00 pm. June Presently our records show 3 . 26 (Thurs.) Summer eighty-seven family memberships, 68 Concert on the Lawn 6:00 single members, and 26 large donors. pm - dusk / Tara’s Thistle Tavern Miscellany Sept. Additions and deletions by movements, . 18 (Thurs.) Fall Harvest 3 deaths, interest changes, make updating Program continuous. However there are still Barn Restoration people who support effort to keep the For program information, contact 4 Project history of life in Dudley from its Joy Glynn (508) 943-9611. settlement in the early 1700‟s to its Events are Open to the Public & held at The Black Tavern, Dudley Hill, Black Tavern Tales current conditions available for Center Road. remembrance. The Tavern and the 4 history of its residents are unique To rent the Black Tavern for function/meetings, contact Eric & Sue symbols reminding us of the past events Clearwater (508) 943 4579). Summer Concerts of Dudley Hill history. The support for keeping this symbol a key to such 5 Please watch the local newspapers & remembrance is very much appreciated. listen to WESO for any changes with these events Programs Charles Moseley & Peggy Coccia 5