The Fairhaven Sesquicentennial Parade that was filmed on Main St. in 1962!

“I inherited several 8mm films and photographs when my wife’s uncle passed away about 4 years ago. Only recently have I started going through these after acquiring an 8mm film scanner that I’m using to archive some of the old family footage.

I ran across one reel that I thought you would be interested in. It’s the Fairhaven Sesquicentennial Parade that was filmed on Main St. in 1962 in front of the Riverside Cemetery gates. Ted Kennedy walked in the parade as well. The film was in pretty bad shape and was not stored in an ideal climate. The film was brittle, missing sprocket holes and frequently broke. I did a frame by frame scan of the film and reassembled it in a video editor to try and preserve it.

The camera shake and frame jitter were so bad that I had to run it through image stabilization software. It’s not perfect but at least it’s watchable and one for the archives. I wonder how many other films are sitting in damp cellars!

Credit goes to the original photographer, the late Paul Keane of Mattapoisett.” – Tim Smith

Here is another installment in our Who Remembers? series. You can browse previous articles by using the search bar on the right or by clicking here. These articles are strolls down memory lane. In some cases, the buildings, but new businesses have replaced them. In other instances, the buildings or even the properties have been razed. Instead of a building, it may be a TV show, personality, or commercial that no one longer exists. Either way, it can’t stop us from taking the Memory Lane stroll!

As always we would rather this be a discussion. No one knows this area better than those who grew up here! Please, leave constructive criticism, feedback, and corrections. We’d love to hear your anecdotes. Please share!

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My family has always been a family of gypsies. We’ve had members that have grown up on sailboats circumnavigating the world, currently spread out across Sicily, England, Hawaii, Florida, New Hampshire, and Australia. While I was born in Plymouth, I moved to Duxbury, then Kingston, then various places in New Bedford, to Rochester, back to New Bedford, then Fairhaven, Florida, California, back to New Bedford, to Germany and England, then back to New Bedford, then Acushnet. That’s the abbreviated version.

Point being that I have lived all over the South Coast and, assuming my memory is functioning properly, lived in 5-6 different houses in New Bedford. One of my favorite places was 868 County Street, 2 houses down from what used to be Kinyon-Campbell School. For a kid, it was a fantastic spot – the snowplows would pile 12′ or higher snow banks into the corners of the parking lot at the school. There was a pizza/sub shop across the street, Bob & Eileen’s Variety on the corner, the Car Barn when it was just that – a car salvage yard – where we could toss a football.

Of course, a few blocks down was Hayden McFadden school ground with its baseball field and a place to play street hockey right under the overpass.

Bob & Eileen’s was the spot to get penny candy. I’ve had a LOT of fond memories of that mom & pop – just staring at that wall of Mary Janes, Red Hot Dollars, Swedish Fish, dots on paper or whatever they were called, Bit-O-Honeys, Squirrel Net Zippers, et al.

On the opposite corner was a Mitchell’s Fish and Chips – and old-fashioned English battered fish and chips shop. Now, maybe all things are better when you reminisce, but I remember absolutely loving this place. Now, I’m traveling down memory lane with a broken brain and on top of that, decades have passed so please correct me if I’m wrong on something.

I recall they had irregular hours and were only open 2-3 days per week. I can’t recall how large it was inside since our family always called ahead and did take-out…or as the English would say “take-away.” There was a man who I vaguely recall (Bill?), that would open a steel gate or shutter and hand over your order wrapped in newspaper, just like the tradition “across the pond.”

Imagine that happening today? Getting your food wrapped in a newspaper? The city would incur their wrath with fines and/or shutting Mitchell’s down. Readers have made comments about the owner’s name being Brian and eventually his son taking over. I always wondered if the current mayor was related to the family.

Your order would usually be accompanied with tea cakes and a small bread roll. You could order a drink called The Suicide which was every flavor of soda mixed into one. In that day and age – the mid to late 70s – a small order of fish and chips was a whopping $.35 and a large order would set you back $.50. Sorry, I should have pre-empted that statement with a “Are you sitting down?”

Taste? Maybe it was that faded memory over decades or tainted perception from being a kid and falling for the coolness of the newspaper wrapping, but I remember it being absolutely delicious and you never had to twist this kid’s arm to eat dinner. If it tasting good was a product of faulty memory or perception, I don’t care. It was real to me, damnit.

While I had only ever been to this fish and chips shop, there has been mention of another shop on Cove Street – perhaps a different era? If you know, please chime in.

Anyhow, there are a lot of things from yesteryear that I wish were brought back, i.e. barter, stockades, pillories, penny candy that cost a penny….and Mitchell’s newspaper-wrapped fish and chips.

Imagine a return to those prices of yesteryear? That would be the Dog’s bollocks, mate.

You may have heard about Frederick Douglass, but what have you read or thought about his wife, Anna? Author M. Nzadi Keita will read from her book, Brief Evidence of Heaven: Poems in the Voice of Anna Douglass, on Friday evening, September 14, at 7:00 pm. This free event will be held in partnership with the New Bedford Historical Society. Reception to follow reading. The reading will take place at New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park, 33 William Street, downtown New Bedford.

Ms. Keita has worked in collaboration with numerous community social service and arts organizations, including the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, WHYY-TV/ Philadelphia, the Rosenbach Museum, Moonstone Arts Center, Germantown Arts Roundtable, USDAC, and the Philadelphia Mural Arts Project. Keita is a Cave Canem alum. An associate professor of English at Ursinus College, she teaches creative writing and contemporary literature.

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New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park was established by Congress in 1996 to help preserve and interpret America’s nineteenth century whaling industry. The park, which encompasses a 13-block National Historic Landmark District, is the only National Park Service area addressing the history of the whaling industry and its influence on the economic, social, and environmental history of the United States. The visitor center is wheelchair-accessible, and is free of charge. For more information, call the visitor center at 508-996-4095, go to www.nps.gov/nebe or visit the park’s Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/NBWNHP. Everyone finds their park in a different way. Discover yours at FindYourPark.com

About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 417 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Visit us at www.nps.gov, on Facebook www.facebook.com/nationalparkservice, Twitter www.twitter.com/natlparkservice, and YouTube www.youtube.com/nationalparkservice.

It’s hard to believe that there was a time in this country, not too long ago, when public punishment and shaming took on a different, more physical form. These days both still continue – we’ve just replaced brandings, placing people in stocks or pillories and throwing rotten vegetables at them, or tying them to whipping posts to be flogged with various social media platforms.

I guess one could say we went from floggings via whipping posts to floggings via social media posts.

While the method may have changed, the love affair is still a steamy one, and the eager pursuit of finding targets persists. Is it human nature? Both are archaic practices only separated by time and in my opinion, a bit sadistic and the world would be better off without them. In addition, often the mob exacts their brand of “justice” on the wrong target, but once that fervor is whipped up there is rarely a turning back and rescinding of the order.

Anyhow, I seriously doubt the practice will ever die out. There is no time in human history that war, punishment, and taxes didn’t exist and it’s unlikely to change any time in the near future.

But it’s not fun in any way or practical to spend time philosophizing and condemning the social mores of a particular Zeitgeist, so let’s check out some of the methods that we Americans utilized since the first Europeans landed on our shores to as recently as 1932. Yes, 1932 was the last time a pillory or stocks was used in America before the practice was abolished unlike in England where it is no longer practiced outside of charity events, but has not been abolished. In 2012 in Colombia, an amorous pair, one 39-year old female and her 18-year old “boy toy” were placed in stocks for 72 hours because the woman was married and committed adultery.

What are the differences?
First an explanation of the devices – no, not today’s stocks, pillories and the whipping posts called Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram but the various, incredibly creative ways mankind invented to publicly torture folks. Imagine what could have been if we had used that time, energy and creativity to create beneficial things?

The words stocks (short for stockades) and pillories conjure up people with their hands and/or feet trapped in a public square and their faces exposed for all to see and if one was feeling particularly “virtuous” they could spit upon their targets, throw dirt, vegetables, fruit or even human waste.

The Old Manchester Street Stocks, 1887 – Royal Jubilee Exhibition.

Even crueler is that locals were allowed to go right ahead and punch or kick the trapped “criminals,” paddle them or whipping their feet with a switch. I guess it would be subjective, but some were “tortured” by having their feet tickled. For those who don’t see that as punishment, have never been held down by a bigger sibling and tickled until they pee their pants and beyond.

Typically they were used to shame people for minor offenses, retain those awaiting trial, or as actual punishment for the more serious crimes. Depending on the society – Old World or New World – it was classism at its worst singling out the poor or lower class and not something to which the rich were subject. How’s that for privilege for the “1%ers”? But fear not, in some segments of society, even the wealthy weren’t immune as the banner image shows.

A creative array of Stocks or Stockades
Generally speaking, a stock is somewhat like those clapboards utilized in between move takes where a crew member yells “Aaaaand…ACTION!” but of a much larger size. On each half of the hinged human clapboard is a semi-circle so that the “to be shamed” could rest their wrists or ankles and when the other half was joined it would trap the hands or feet leaving no means or escape.

Some were high, trapping the hands and forcing a person to stand for hours on end and some – called foot stocks – were low and more “humane” allowing a person to sit on the ground. Others combined hands and feet for an incredibly uncomfortable feeling, and some even were made to shame multiple people – perhaps couples or families. There were also Finger Stocks whereby just the finger was inserted, bent into the stocks, then the upper half was lowered making it impossible to remove your hand without snapping your finger into bits. They were a particular favorite form of punishment dished out by school teachers in Victorian England.

There were Hanging Stocks where only your hands were placed in the stocks but as high as they could over your head. Stocks were even mobile! The standard stocks would be placed on a cart so you could place multiple people on them and have the horse pull them around. A yoke was a board that had either just the hands, just the head or both. The varieties – I’ve only covered a few – are astounding.

If the head was trapped and the stocks were atop a post or side runners, that was a pillory. Therein lie the difference and common confusion that leads to the two becoming interchangeable terms.

Common crimes that would get you sent into stocks or pillory ranged from adultery, stealing, violating rules of the Sabbath, having a “forked tongue,” public drunkenness, accruing debt you couldn’t pay, begging, being a witch or pretty much just about anything. Non-criminal acts include placing a slave into them for escaping the plantation, not working hard enough, or as an alternative to whipping and damaging them so they couldn’t work. Foot stocks were the preferred device to keep slaves from escaping while being transported across the Atlantic during the slave trade, or from their quarters once they were interned.

There are absolutely abhorrent, vile and disgusting historical cases of slaves being sent to the stocks or pillories because a slave owner was too exhausted from whipping a slave. In the cruelest and most inhumane of cases, slaves were not only placed in them but were flogged and even had red pepper rubbed in their eyes. It was also not unheard of for slaves to spend days or weeks, or even until they died.

Barrel Pillory, Drunkard’s Cloaks, and Whipping Posts
One particularly unusual form of pillory that was popular in the Old World, but never caught on as much here in America, was the Barrel Pillory which allowed officials to parade the perpetrator around. It consisted of strapping a person into a barrel leaving the top and bottom open so their feet and head were exposed. In America it was limited to being used to punish prisoners within the penitentiary system or on soldiers during the Civil War when it was called Drunkard’s Cloak for soldiers who couldn’t perform their duties because they were inebriated.

Women got their very own traveling pillory called a Shrew’s Fiddle called so because it was in the shape of a fiddle and was for especially quarrelsome, ill-tempered women. The lightweight fiddle trapped their head and hands and had a leash that allowed the official to drag them around in public. There were even fiddles that could hold two women at a time for the cases when women were at each other’s throats too often.

What must have made it even more torturous is that the fiddle was made so the two women had to face one another. Imagine your face being 6 inches away from someone you really don’t like for 24 hours?

The Whipping Post was a catch-all term that could be a post or could be a beam or joist. A person could be in stocks or a pillory, but didn’t have to be. In addition, the could be on a cart or seated in a wooden box trapped about the waist keeping their upper body exposed so it can be lashed.

An example can be seen in Acushnet today in front of the Humphrey Hathaway house near the Post Office which historic documents refer to as far back as 1785 when it was last used “…in front of a lot of bystanders and schoolchildren who had just been let out of school. It was administered to John Black who was punished for stealing.” It is also said that there was one in Fairhaven on the northwest corner of Center and Middle Streets, but there is nothing there today.

Contemporary Versions
In modern times, there have been cases where a judge has given a defendant the option to serve jail time or be publicly shamed by wearing a sign (called a sandwich board) just like in the 17th and 18th century that stated the crime with which you were being punished. Of note was the 2004 case of a person convicted of stealing mail and sentenced to wear a sign declaring “I stole mail. This is my punishment.” for 8 hours. I’ve seen video and images of parents making their teenage kids wear signs like this as well.

In 1989, officials in Dermott, Arkansas passed a law for violating a curfew that made it punishable by imprisonment for the violator and up to 2 days time in the stocks for their parents. The stocks were never utilized because oddly enough the town didn’t have the funding to erect one.

An article on Rotten Scallop, a satire site based on local news and current affairs discusses bringing it back.

“Go ahead and try to wear your pajama pants before 7 p.m.,” stated David Coelho, who earlier in the month got his measure to ban pajama pants in daylight hours passed. “That’s an hour in the pillory. Baggy pants? That’s two hours and 10 whacks from the paddle.”

Other suggested offenses that would merit time in the pillory were voting for a Republican, panhandling, caught wearing New York Yankees gear or saggy jeans exposing your underwear and my personal favorite, “Threatening to ‘unlike’ New Bedford Guide’s Facebook page.”

These days they are used as entertainment at “Ren Fairs,” to help raise funds for charities and as photo opportunities in old quarters of towns and cities. I mean, who doesn’t want a “selfie” of one of their friends in a pillory to stand out from the rest of the selfies? Some people have even suggested that having a friend that constantly uploads selfies is a form of punishment in itself.

People get boycotted, asked to resign, lose their jobs, are ridiculed, and shamed all day, every day on social media platforms. Personally, I’d rather spend a few hours in stocks and have rotten vegetables thrown at me, even paddled. I’m sure there are those that would find much happiness in that.

Which sort of begs the question: since we have always had a love affair with social punishment, shaming and justice and it’s part of everyday life these days, why not just bring back the shaming element as a form of punishment for minor crimes instead of bloating the local jails and prisons and at the taxpayer’s expense?

Well, I am not suggesting it, I’m asking for a friend.

New Bedford’s history has always been characterized by strong shades of light and dark. More than most cities our highs are very high and our lows are really low and there seems to be an aversion to that middle gray area. It just seems to be a characteristic of New Bedford throughout its history and continues today.

We’ve had summers when shooting innocent moms and grandmoms in gang retaliation, a highway serial killer, and several mob riots and mob hitmen like Joseph “The Animal” Barboza. Early in the city’s history religious intolerance was commonplace especially towards Quakers, we’ve had several brothels, and police brutality during protests like that during the textile mill protests in the 1920s.

Yet, New Bedford is always doing wonderful amazing things – from building its “spiritual” and common parks, having frequent pollution clean-ups and promoting a multi-cultural identity.

Through the years New Bedford has welcomed the Germans, Portuguese, Jewish, Dutch, and French-Canadians, the Puerto Rican, Cape Verdeans, Brazilian, Guatemalans and many other ethnic groups. For a city whose population has hovered under 100,000 for quite a while (we’ve had over 200,000 during the height of whaling) the diversity is a rich one.

Social activism is alive an well and New Bedford has always promoted tolerance and fought for equal rights. The city was an Abolitionist hotbed leading up to the civil war and after it, there was an underground railroad, the African-American 54th Regiment and in modern times groups like the New Bedford Historical Society and 3rd EyE Unlimited. Great figures and personalities like Lewis Temple, Frederick Douglass, Paul Cuffee, James Reed and Robert Carter have all left indelible marks on the city’s identity. Some amazing writers and artists have also – folks like Samuel Twain, Herman Melville, Arthur Moniz, and Albert Bierstadt.

We brought the world light, products from the whaling industry, amazing art and artists, The Tavares, Quinn Sullivan, the movie Passionada, and on and on. Anyhow, I blather – you get the point.

One of the “dark” parts of the city’s history is one of the aforementioned brothels on Palmer’s Island named after an original settler of Old Dartmouth, William Palmer. The island’s dark history began when it served as an internment camp during the King Philip’s War in the mid-1670s. This sort of set the tone for the coming years when in its heyday, Palmer’s Island was a very popular destination for what was referred to as a “pleasure resort.” Which is kind of like calling a garbage man a waste management specialist – many locals preferred to call it a whorehouse or drug den.

The 6-acre Palmer’s Island had a stone rubble lighthouse erected in 1849 by architect Charles M. Pierce using $3,500 allocated from Congress and slowly adjacent structures were added. Shortly after the Civil War, the island was a sort of a small hamlet with a hotel, dance hall, and wharf so that local steamer services could use the island as a pit-stop. This attracted whalers, sailors and shady characters to the island, so much so that lighthouse officials decided that the best way to keep the riff-raff out was to surround it in barb wire in 1883.

Near the end of the 1880s the lighthouse notably served alongside with the New Bedford/Fairhaven Bridge’s light to help incoming sea vessels safely navigate past Butler Flats’ rocky shoals. It was around this time that the island had such a reputation for debauchery that in 1890 it was closed down.

At the turn of the century many changes were made to the lighthouse itself – a new deck and stairs, boat slip, an improved fog bell with automated machinery, oil house, riprap stones barrier offering protection from inevitable storms, and a covered walkway.

The surrounding land was eventually purchased and turned into an amusement park, but it did poorly because there were issues with the wharf (I couldn’t find the specifics for it in the historical documents) that made coming and going an issue. Lack of visitors and poor revenue led to the park’s demise.

The historic hurricane of ’38 came along and destroyed all the structures on the island excepting the lighthouse. Use of the lighthouse was discontinued in the 1960s since the service it provided was no longer needed when the hurricane barrier was built. The shoals were no longer a danger and the hurricane barrier’s lights provided all the beacon needed for captains making the lighthouse redundant.

In 1980, the Palmer Island Light Station was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Here is another installment in our Who Remembers? series. You can browse previous articles by using the search bar on the right or by clicking here. These articles are strolls down memory lane. In some cases, the buildings, but new businesses have replaced them. In other instances, the buildings or even the properties have been razed. Instead of a building, it may be a TV show, personality, or commercial that no one longer exists. Either way, it can’t stop us from taking the Memory Lane stroll!

As always we would rather this be a discussion. No one knows this area better than those who grew up here! Please, leave constructive criticism, feedback, and corrections. We’d love to hear your anecdotes. Please share!

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The other day I showed my daughter an image that had a cassette tape and a pencil in it that was captioned “Kids these days will never know how these 2 go together.” It got me thinking about VHS or videotapes – remember “Be kind, rewind”?

It seems like a convoluted idea today, but the concept of going to a store to pay to borrow a movie or video game for a few days was once a common, accepted part of everyday life. In fact, hardly a weekend would go by without a trip to the video store to grab 2-3, or 6 movies, perhaps a game. Of course, you could get candy, popcorn, even soda to complete the concept of bringing the movie theater to your living room.

Ironically, the business model seemed to be one based on generating revenue on the reliability of human fallibility. Is it an urban legend that Blockbuster generated a significant amount of their revenue – even the lion’s share – from late fees?

Why was this even a “thing”? For the younger generation, it may be hard to believe but there was actually a time when movie theaters had ushers. If you talked a lot or were generally disruptive during the movie, an usher would ask you quiet down and being asked more than once, could get you kicked out. You could even be walked down the aisle to an empty seat – which was needed because an usher had a flashlight in an era before you could simply bust out your cell phone to light the way.

When theaters began to eliminate the usher job – sending it into the bin with pinboys, the milkman, caller-ups or one of the other forgotten occupations and services – anarchy ensued and the atmosphere in a movie theate deteriorated.

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This allowed anyone and everyone to do whatever they wanted in the theaters and how many of us have had a movie ruined by disruptive people? All of us. Now, it is just accepted as part of going to the movie theater.

Since people got fed up with disruptive people, Blockbuster and other movie rental stores saw a need and in 1985, Blockbuster Video opened their first store in Dallas, Texas. By the early 90s and a bunch of mergers and acquisitions, Blockbuster spread like wildfire across the nation and had hundreds of stores and continued to open stores until its peak in 2004 when they were found the world over in their 9,000 stores – half of which were in the US alone.

How did they go from such popularity to their demise in 2013? Starting with video on demand services, and then automated movie kiosks like Redbox, and of course, Netflix they slowly struggled. Don’t forget that when Netflix first started and was competing with Blockbuster they would mail you DVDs and weren’t known for what they are famous for now: streaming movies.

Have a memory to share about Blockbuster video? What do you miss most? A topic to suggest for the next “Who Remembers…?” Comment below or send an email to infor@newbedfordguide.com.

Welcome to next installment in the New Bedford Streets; A Piece of Americana series. Previously we covered William Street, Kempton Street, Middle Street, Centre Street, Ashley Boulevard, Elm Street, Coggeshall Street, Mechanics Lane, Washburn Street and others. If you would like to read those or perhaps revisit them, they can be found by using the search bar to the right. You can also select the “Streets” category.

As usual, I’d like to reiterate the importance of reader feedback, correction, and contributions. In the process of exploring these streets, I try to confirm or validate statements and dates by finding multiple sources. Unfortunately, if all those sources are making their statement based on an older, incorrect source, and there isn’t any dissenting information available, there’s no way to know otherwise. So by all means, please join in.

In addition, when trying to validate some statements, often there is very little to no information available. I haven’t decided which is worse – finding one source, or finding multiple sources, but not knowing if they were all founded on an inaccuracy. So help from local historians, those who remember, oral histories and anecdotes handed down through the generations, people with private collections, and even know-it-alls will help!

By all means, let us make this an open discussion to keep the “wiki” accurate.

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Some streets in the city are of the nature that you are on them so much that they are just a part of proverbial “furniture.” Just another part of daily life that you pass by and don’t pay any attention. County Street is one of those streets that we often drive down, but really never give much thought.

Of course, why should we? Why should we pay any mind to a street name, how it got its name or its meaning? Well, maybe you are a history buff or nerd, like me. Maybe, also like me, you love New Bedford and want to glimpse into the idea of “What’s in a name?” A name has power and is a doorway to all the knowledge and happenings associated with it.

So, let’s open that door.

The first historical mention of County Street that I could find was from 1675. At that time conflict between settlers and Amerindians was at an all-time high and King Philip’s War was in full swing. Villages, towns, farms, homes, and lives were destroyed on both sides – both for their futures, but one in the name of “progress,” the other for their very existence. It was said that most of Fairhaven, Dartmouth, Westport, Acushnet, and swaths of New Bedford were completely destroyed and the remaining homes were secluded ones set at a distance.

Those settlers survived either did so by fleeing into the woods, local garrisons to ride out the hostilities or to some of the fortified homes of the “well-to-do.” Courts in Plymouth decreed that Olde Dartmouth residents would have to rebuild as close to the garrisons as possible for their own safety. One such garrison was John Russell’s at “Ponagansett” which held Amerindians who had surrendered.

The famous Captain Benjamin Church sent troops to the region to serve as relief and to march captured Amerindians back to Plymouth – they did so by going through present day Dartmouth and New Bedford via the head of Clark’s Cove, and down County Street which was then called County Road.

There really is not much of a mystery when it comes to the origins of the name. It was clearly a street that was part of a much larger delineation of the county’s borders. While hard to believe today, County Road was at the fringes of the then sparsely populated Bedford Village. As you head east from County Street and head towards the water, it was primarily large farmhouses with tracts of land between them. The main farmhouses were built on higher ground and thus along County Street itself.

During the Revolutionary War thousands of Redcoats landed at Clark’s Cove to do their worst to New Bedford. They went straight up Brock Avenue (appropriately called Middle Road at that time), hopped onto County Road and went to Main Street or Union Street. When they arrived, the village was mostly abandoned – the village artillery company had gone off to fight- so they torched, destroyed, pillaged and plundered everything – even the vessels that were docked at the piers.

At this point in County Road’s history, we reach a rather infamous event.

John Gilbert, who was a servant of New Bedford’s Joseph Russell lingered in the city to transport some of Russell’s household goods and wife to safety. When he arrived he found that Mrs. Russell had already left, but she had left a note for him to assist a Mrs. Akin – a lady from another well-to-do household.

While fleeing, both were intercepted by British soldiers, but Gilbert broke free…leaving Mrs. Akin behind, likely knowing that she wouldn’t be harmed by the soldiers. While fleeing he ran into two other city residents, William Hayden and Oliver Potter and together the three made their way to County Street, near North Street and hid behind some trees.

From their hidden vantage point, they fired on the British killing two and were able to get away. However, what they did was whack a hornet’s nest and impassioned the British to retaliate, which they did by firing upon the very first residents they came across. Unfortunately for Abram Russell, Thomas Cook, and Diah Tafford – citizens who were on their way out of the city – they were the first to be spotted.

The British fired upon the trio from a distance and then charged with sabers and bayonets. 20-year old Tafford was shot through the heart and died where he stood, but the enraged British continued to hack his lifeless body.

Cook was shot in the stomach and leg and left to die in the road, as was Russell. There they lied in the road bleeding and suffering through the night. When locals begin to filter back into the city in the morning, Cook and Russell were discovered still there. Cook had passed in the night and Russell died early that afternoon.

There is still a small memorial on County Street commemorating this event, but it is hidden and you have to look for it on foot.

The next mention of County Road is from 1795 and mentions that Bedford was still a small village with a population of approximately 1,000, only a handful of passable streets which ran off of County Road, no courthouse (but did have a Quaker lawyer), a school teacher or two, and even a doctor. At this time Union street was a simple cart path that ran to and from the water.

At this point, the New Bedford/Fairhaven bridge was a year away from being built. Imagine that? No bridge, no getting stuck on it, no traffic. The coming bridge -first of many incarnations – was a simple one, so they meant it didn’t turn or lift and that means it couldn’t break down.

In 1815 it was said that pretty much everything West of County Road was all forest. This is also the year of the “Great Storm” or what we would call a hurricane. The hurricane came during a high tide and created record flooding – 10′ above normal readings and the water went as high as Third Street. The New Bedford/Fairhaven bridge which had just been built was dashed to pieces as was the bridge in Acushnet at the head of the river. Many buildings were destroyed, ships pulled from the dock and moorings and smashed, and there was a tragic loss of life.

In the 1820s a circus came to the village and was a part of the regular entertainment for the locals for years. That took place on the corner of County and Elm Streets right across the street where McDonald’s is today. Selectmen thought of it as a form of debauchery and fought constantly against its existence – apparently, it went against their conservative Quaker values.

In 1830 New Bedford was growing exponentially, the Portuguese started arriving to look for whaling and whaling related jobs. County Road was handling most of the city’s main traffic and was designated a street. It grew up.

The William Rotch, Jr. House, now called the Rotch-Jones-Duff House and Garden Museum was built in 1834 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

In 1836, the aforementioned circus on County and Elm Streets was replaced with “The Lions Theater,” but the city’s Quaker officials didn’t think it any better than the circus. We can’t be having people sinning by watching a little Shakespeare.

Lest you think this was limited to some cranky, uptight officials: when the city had a vote on whether the theater would be allowed to have a license and continue as a busines, the results were 12 “Yeas” and 566 “Nays.”

In the 1840s, County and Wing Streets were known as “Dog Corner” where “…daily and nightly constant exhibitions of drunkenness, brawling and profanity; and at dusk such is the concourse assembled there that it is not only disgusting and indecent, but such is the character of the assemblage, that it is dangerous for civil persons to pass in the vicinity.” Can you think of any similar spots like this today?

In the 1860s, the Wamsutta Club – which did quite a bit of bouncing about – made its home on County Street. 1892 was, of course, the year Lizzie Borden would be prosecuted by a New Bedford lawyer for her crimes. The trial was held at the Superior Court House on Court and County Streets.

In 1909 New Bedford’s first high school would be erected right on the site where our earlier player, Joseph Russell, had his home. Though by 1909, it was Charles W. Morgan’s estate. In 1963 Channel 6 began broadcasting from a studio on County Street and their call letters would be WTEV until 1980 when it became as most remember, WLNE. Remember Bozo the Clown, Dialing For Dollars, Creature Double Feature, Kung-Fu Theater and other childhood shows?

The street would be placed on the National Historic Register during the nation’s bicentennial in 1976. And the rest, as they say, is history…

Do you remember an old business that used to be on County Street? Have memories of an event in the city’s history? Know of an historical piece of information you want to share that is related to County Street? Comment on this article to share with the community.

If you were to randomly ask many locals on the street to explain why Patriots’ Day is a state holiday and so many have it off, they would struggle. I mean, ask them without allowing them to access their smartphones.

Most know that it has something to do with the military or soldiers. They aren’t exactly sure if it’s a sort of Memorial Day where we remember those who have fallen in service, or if it’s something similar to it. So, why do we celebrate the holiday? Does everyone in the country celebrate it? Is it a celebration of New England’s Football team?

It seems fitting to ask since today’s political climate brings up the conversation about what it means to be a patriot or patriotic. For some, the definition of patriot or patriotism is something that is flexible and can be defined however one wants, e.g. I’ve seen people say, that you can burn a flag or step on it and it doesn’t mean you aren’t patriotic.

Don’t worry – I abhor politics and am not going in that direction. No one needs to be told where to go for a political argument which is always divisive, seldom civil, and rarely, if ever, fruitful: it’s everywhere. So, let’s just keep it historic in nature.

Patriots’ Day is not a national holiday, and, in fact, only a few of the New England states celebrate. Four states in total celebrate – one just started celebrating it this year and one is encouraged. Only Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut (if you consider them as part of New England – they support the Yankees) started this year, and the non-New England state (duh) of Wisconsin, observe Patriots’ Day.

What do these 5 states have to do with one another? How are they connected to this holiday and why don’t the other 45 states celebrate? Is the “other” Patriot Day in September related? What’s going on here? Can I get a refresh on my cup of Joe? Does coffee refills even exist any more?

Patriots’ Day, which is celebrated in April, is not the one observed in September as a National Day of Service and Remembrance as well as, a tribute to the people killed in the September 11 attacks of 2001. Today’s Patriots’ Day primarily came about because of a very important historical event: the Battles of Lexington and Concord which, if you paid attention in history class growing up, were the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. That happened on April 19, 1775.

But, wait. April 19th? Then why are we celebrating today, April 16th? Three New England states – only one starting this year – random Wisconsin and an “encouraged” Florida, are the only states who celebrate a holiday on April 16th that commemorates an event that happened on April 19th. Got it? Again, what’s going on here?!

Well, state politics is what happened here. Mainly the kind for which Massachusetts has always been (in)famous. The state that has had a long love affair with complicated and bogged down rules and regulations was excited about a chance to add some red tape and complications.

Well, remember where I said, “Today’s Patriots’ Day primarily came about because of a very important historical event…”? Well, Patriots’ Day didn’t exist until 1894 – a full 119 years after the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Believe it or not, since 1670 Massachusetts celebrated Fast Day:

“A day of public fasting and prayer…that had its origin in days of prayer and repentance proclaimed in the early days of the American colonies by Royal Governors, often before the spring planting. It was observed by church attendance, fasting, and abstinence from secular activities.” -Wikipedia

Come 1894 the Battle of Lexington and Concord became the Battle between Lexington and Concord. The Lexington Historical Society got the idea to declare April 19th “Lexington Day” so they asked Massachusetts State Legislature to do just that. However, Concord town officials thought “Well, that’s a bunch of cockamamie. Youse guys was sleeping when the Redcoats began shooting at us.” Let’s call it “Concord Day.” The rest of the nation just wondered what Massachusetts townees were going on about and couldn’t care less about the day at all.

The 38th Governor of Massachusetts, Frederic T. Greenhalge, stopped the bickering and abuse of grammar by proclaiming April 19th, Patriots’ Day. There’s some irony here: Greenhalge was English, born and raised. So, while England had a hell of a time with the Battle of Lexington and Concord – they were thrashed, or in Twitter-speak, “BRUTALLY DESTROYED” – it took an Englishman to put an end to the Battle Between Lexington and Concord.

Greenhalge’s decision to make April, 19th as the special day was chosen for two reasons beyond the battle in 1775: it marked the first bloodshed of the American Civil War in the Baltimore during which four members of the Massachusetts militia were slain and 36 injured. Sorry, Puritans…Fast Day got the boot.

So, why doesn’t Maryland celebrate it? Well, that would make too much sense and we can’t have that. Florida wants to, Wisconsin does and neither make much sense (yet), and Maryland should but shouldn’t. Got it, again?

That very first Patriots’ Day celebration turned out to be quite a pleasant spring day…unlike today’s weather. So, people came out to celebrate and decided to head to Lexington and walk and ride to Boston. Hey, it’s only 12-13 miles and you could drink booze the whole way. Everyone counted themselves in.

It would be this walk and horse ride together that would be the inspiration for the Boston Marathon and when the 1896 Olympics rolled around…well, the rest is history. Pardon the pun. Someone connected th Olympics to Patriots’ Day and the first Boston Marathon was in 1897. The tragedy of the first Boston Marathon was that a local didn’t win, a New Yorker did.

In 1907, Maine who was actually part of Massachusetts until the Missouri Compromise of 1820, decided to join in. They clearly just wanted an excuse to have a three-day weekend. Wisconsin came out of nowhere and decided that they also wanted a three-day weekend and in 2001, they jumped on board. My guess is that they either really like their history or are just filled to the brim with patriotism. Any patriot is more than welcome to join in.

Connecticut felt bad since they were considered part of New England, and Wisconsin made them look bad. So they joined in in 2017 they declared April 19th, Patriots’ Day too, and this year will be their first. Florida is a strange bird – just read a news headline, so your guess on why it is encouraged and what exactly that means, is as good as mine. Perhaps they are just patriotic too.

So, why are we celebrating on April 16th this year? In 1969, Massachusetts and Maine decided to officially observe Patriots’ Day on the third Monday in April. I’m not even going to get into the red tape behind that, nor will I get into the other spelling “Patriot’s Day,” which Maine uses.

Finally, if Wisconsin celebrates and Florida kind of celebrates, how come Vermont and New Hampshire don’t? I don’t have the answer for that one.

Either way, the Battles of Lexington and Concord in 1775 were historically important in the sense that it was the beginning of the end for British Rule. We owe a debt to the casualties of the men who took up muskets in the first battle for our independence: 49 killed, 39 wounded, and 5 missing.

Those brave men felt that certain freedoms and liberties were worth fighting, and even dying for. If it wasn’t for like-minded individuals we may still be a British territory. So, whatever it is you decide to do today, or however you decide to commemorate Patriots’ Day, just pause for a moment and thank those 49 killed, 39 wounded, and 5 missing. For a day off, for fighting for our eventual independence, by dying for their principles.

Either way, they made the ultimate sacrifice for a dream of a better tomorrow for their fellow Americans. I’m grateful.

Here is another installment in our Who Remembers? series. You can browse previous articles by using the search bar on the right or by clicking here. These articles are strolls down memory lane. In some cases, the buildings, but new businesses have replaced them. In other instances, the buildings or even the properties have been razed. Instead of a building, it may be a TV show, personality, or commercial that no one longer exists. Either way, it can’t stop us from taking the Memory Lane stroll!

As always we would rather this be a discussion. No one knows this area better than those who grew up here! Please, leave constructive criticism, feedback, and corrections. We’d love to hear your anecdotes. Please share!

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It’s fun to reminisce of things that have passed. Remember having to walk to a payphone when your car broke down? Pressing a number multiple times to get the right letter for a text? Having to listen to white noise, static, bells and beeps while waiting for your computer to log onto the internet?

One of these fun things to recall is the soda fountain. Some young-uns or whippersnappers will think that you are pulling their leg when if you try to tell them that once upon a time – or as they would refer to as the olden days or the Jurassic Period – we would go to a Woolworth’s Five & Dime or local diner to hang out at the soda fountain. You didn’t need your arm twisted to be convinced to tag along with mom while she did some shopping.

Yes, you could be left alone at the soda fountain at a young age. There you could choose a flavor of soda and it would come out of a hose into your glass. And these kids think Cherry Cola is a modern invention! This was served by a soda jerk, which was his title, not something you’d call him if your customer service was horrible. See some of the popular lingo or slang from the jerks here.

Of course, you could also make it afloat by having a scoop of ice cream added to it. When mom was going to Woolworth’s Five & Dime it was a no-brainer that you would tag along.

The soda fountain can’t be found anywhere today, but it had been around for a long time. In fact, the first patent was granted in 1819 and the first operational soda fountain was built in 1858. The first ice cream “float” was served in 1874, carbonation was an option once it was invented in 1888 and the front service soda fountain we are familiar with wouldn’t be designed until 1903 – by a doctor to boot!

While today soda conjured up a sweet concoction, the younger folks of today would be horrified to find out that soda was actually first used to make medicines easier to imbibe. Most medicines were a cocktail of some pretty disgusting things and many chemists or apothecarists – what pharmacists were called “back in the day” – would assemble a variety of roots, herbs, spices caffeine, even cocaine, and opiates, for many ailments such as “nerves, “dyspepsia,” headaches, cramps, fatigue, and virtually anything else. Yes, you could get drugs “over the counter” and it wasn’t illegal until the “Harrison Act” in 1914.

Once prohibition came around in 1919 the soda fountain filled a void in American society since bars were shut-down – excepting Speakeasies, of course. It was at this point in history that the soda fountain became synonymous with the ice cream parlors or saloons that we know today and was no longer a stand-alone business.

It was with the advent of prohibition that the term “soft drink” would come about and the drinks would get sweeter and start losing their association with pharmacists and medicine. Owners would advertise their compliance with the government as well as to let the general populace know that there was still something enjoyable to be had. Find some great soda recipes here.

By offering a number of items to the menu, the ice cream parlor became a place to have some ice cream, sandwich, classic PBJ, or egg phosphate (remember those?!) or even more disgusting sardine and potato salad on rye bread. Kids these days will never know of these last two “pleasures” or having to take a spoonful of castor oil or sucking on a bar of soap. Kind of hard to tell the difference between punishment and a meal back then.

Thus began the golden age of the ice cream parlor and it became a slice of good ‘ol Americana for decades. So, what happened? Well, Walgreens happened. Or should we say, the march of progress and a capitalism? Walgreen’s was perhaps the largest chain of American drug stores by 1950 and they added the concept we have today of a full-service drug store taking away a substantial amount of the soda fountain’s chunk of business.

Toss in the American love affair with automobiles that was in full swing by 1950 and people could get their soda, ice cream, sandwiches, burgers, and everything else that you could get at a soda fountain or ice cream parlor, and the industry was hurt even more. The final blow was the mass production of aluminum cans and glass bottles, so you can get your favorite soda to go.

From medicinal purposes to a replacement for bars, to a place for people of all ages – soda and the soda fountain altered with the times as much as it could, but it wasn’t enough. Within less than a century the ice cream parlor or soda fountain went from being on every street corner on the Main Streets of America to have gone the way of the dinosaurs.

Now, they just live on within vintage photos….and our memories.

By Yue Ryder

“I just wanted to share my thoughts with you because I just realized something about new bedford that I never really thought about before… I hope you like this as much as you liked the photo.”

Settled in 1652 and incorporated in 1787 New Bedford is the sixth largest city in the state of Massachusetts with a population if 95,072 people.

New Bedford is nicknamed “The Whaling City” because during the 19th century, the city was one of the most important, if not the most important, whaling ports in the world. Today I was wandering around and I always asked myself “I don’t know too much about my home town, so what makes this city so known?”

After doing some research I came to realize that I had some misconceptions about the city. Yes, there is violence and yes, there have been some bad things that have happened here – but the reality of it is that this city is a great city. With history we barely know or acknowledge, we now forget that this city was built by settlers who moved here for freedom and independence. It is also known to be one of the most important whaling ports in the world along side with Nantucket, Massachusetts and New London, Connecticut.

I honestly am happy to know that my hometown has such a great story behind its cover and just to show the real meaning of this city I wanted to take a photo of this clock in Downtown New Bedford.

To me this clock symbolizes the time that has passed by throughout the years of this city. This clock to me represents the time, patience, and strength of the struggles that we all have faced living in this city. But like they all say “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” Well, this clock has stood its ground through good and bad times with this city and honestly I’m inspired because it gives out the true definition of that saying.

I hope others can see and understand that just because there is violence doesn’t define a city if anything it just shows that violence is all around us no matter where we are. Instead of feeding into that we should understand that nothing is more important than patience and peace…

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