Profiles in Belmont: Scott Ferson

 History, Newsletter, September/October 2023  Comments Off on Profiles in Belmont: Scott Ferson
Sep 012023
 
Profiles in Belmont: Scott Ferson

By Elissa Ely The start of the pandemic elongated time in lonely and frightening ways. People craved the consolation of community but were prohibited from human contact. Screens were a brilliant technologic substitute, yet just as lonely in their way.   Sometime around then, Scott Ferson drew a hopscotch board on the sidewalk in front of his School Street house, and an inspirational message above it. Solitary pedestrians—who were all of us—found it hard to pass without noticing, and maybe without a small involuntary skip between squares. It was a bright bit of humor we could share without knowing one [READ MORE]

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How Can Belmont Use the McLean Barn?

 July/August 2023, Newsletter  Comments Off on How Can Belmont Use the McLean Barn?
Jun 302023
 
How Can Belmont Use the McLean Barn?

By Carl Solander How can Belmont use the McLean Barn? The Land Management Committee of Lone Tree Hill (LMC), in consultation with the Belmont Historic District Commission, is seeking ideas to give new life to this remnant of Belmont’s agricultural past.  The McLean Barn, also known as the Brick Barn at Rock Meadow, was conveyed to the town in 2005 by McLean Hospital following the 1999 agreement that created the conservation land now known as Lone Tree Hill. The barn has been unused since that time, patiently awaiting the next chapter in its long life. In 1892, as the central [READ MORE]

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Belmont Was a Town of Market Gardens

 Environment, History, March/April 2022, Newsletter  Comments Off on Belmont Was a Town of Market Gardens
Mar 032022
 
Belmont Was a Town of Market Gardens

By Jane Sherwin For about a century, areas around Boston that are now suburban housing were in many cases devoted to market gardening. Arlington, Lexington, Belmont, Watertown, Brighton—all grew produce very profitably.  A market garden, sometimes known as a truck farm, produces on a small scale a variety of fruits and vegetables for local markets. Around Boston, this intensive form of farming was supported by heated greenhouses. The market gardens were so close to Boston that they had no need to pay railroad charges, using their own trucks and wagons instead. The gardens were profitable, and families could afford the [READ MORE]

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Historic Clock Project Seeks Donations

 donations, Historic Preservation, History, March/April 2022, Newsletter  Comments Off on Historic Clock Project Seeks Donations
Mar 032022
 
Historic Clock Project Seeks Donations

By Michael Flamang The First Church in Belmont Unitarian Universalist is seeking funds and a qualified contractor to restore the historic clock in the church’s tower on the town green to functioning condition. In December, the Community Preservation Committee approved a grant application for the repair funds and included it in the projects to be considered by Town Meeting. (See “CPC Recommends Funds for Seven Projects,”  in this issue.​​) There is a great deal of precedent in our area for cities and towns successfully using Commonwealth-designated Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds to implement this type of project in religious buildings. [READ MORE]

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Events July-August 2021

 BCF Events, July-August 2021, Newsletter, Plants  Comments Off on Events July-August 2021
Jun 252021
 
Events July-August 2021

Though days are now long and warm, event listings for local organizations harken back to the dreary depths of winter. Few groups are planning meetings this summer, the season of bittersweet freedom, of sunny days so many people did not live to see. Voltaire wrote in Candide, “We must tend our garden,” but he didn’t specify how, or who should benefit from said garden. If you’d like to help support your local web of life, consider enrolling in a class with the Native Plant Trust: “Native Species, Cultivars, and Selections: What’s the Difference?” held on Friday, July 16, from 1-3 [READ MORE]

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Belmont Once Had a Cooperative Market

 Historic Preservation, History, July-August 2021, Newsletter  Comments Off on Belmont Once Had a Cooperative Market
Jun 252021
 
Belmont Once Had a Cooperative Market

By Jane Sherwin Many people are aware that Belmont was a town of farms until the mid-twentieth century, but fewer may know that we also had a cooperative grocery: the Belmont Cooperative Society Market, which opened in 1911. The Market, the earliest commercial building in Cushing Square, was located on the southwest corner, where the Bradford development now stands. A second store stood in Belmont Center. In his wonderful Footsteps Through Belmont, the late Richard Betts, town historian, wrote that among other things the market sold spring water from a nearby well, and later, gasoline for horseless carriages. A 1905 [READ MORE]

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Time to Fix the Town’s Historic Clock

 Historic Preservation, History, May-June 2021, Newsletter  Comments Off on Time to Fix the Town’s Historic Clock
May 042021
 
Time to Fix the Town’s Historic Clock

By Michael Flamang Since the invention of mechanical clocks in Renaissance Europe, town governments have installed clocks in prominent buildings in town centers to standardize time in support of commerce. In New England, many of the clocks that we see in historic churches on town greens were purchased and maintained by town select boards. In Belmont, in 1889, Town Meeting voted “that the selectmen be authorized to place a clock in the new Unitarian Church to be erected this year and the sum of $500 be appropriated for the same.” When the church was dedicated in 1890, the clock was [READ MORE]

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Historic Reischauer House Demolished

 Historic Preservation, January 2021, Newsletter  Comments Off on Historic Reischauer House Demolished
Dec 312020
 
Historic Reischauer House Demolished

By Gary Wolf, FAIA Belatedly learning of the demolition of the Edwin O. Reischauer Memorial House in Belmont was disappointing on two counts. First, because the residence/cultural center was under my radar. I had not known about it, even though my architectural practice was based in Belmont for four years, and I have worked on such nearby local landmarks as the Belmont Woman’s Club’s William Flagg Homer House. And second, because not only have I been active in historic preservation, but, even more specifically, I’ve been an advocate for preserving “the recent past”—buildings like the Reischauer House that date from [READ MORE]

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BCF Editor Publishes “The Truth About Baked Beans”

 History, Newsletter, Sept/Oct 2020  Comments Off on BCF Editor Publishes “The Truth About Baked Beans”
Sep 032020
 
BCF Editor Publishes “The Truth About Baked Beans”

When she isn’t editing the BCF Newsletter, Meg Muckenhoupt writes about land use, the environment, gardening—and food. Her latest book, The Truth About Baked Beans, was released on August 30 by NYU Press. As the NYU Press states, “The Truth about Baked Beans explores New England’s culinary myths and reality through some of the region’s most famous foods: baked beans, brown bread, clams, cod and lobster, maple syrup, pies, and Yankee pot roast. From 1870 to 1920, the idea of New England food was presented in magazines, newspapers, and cookbooks, often through fictitious and sometimes bizarre origin stories touted as [READ MORE]

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Belmont’s Last Pandemic: the 1918 Flu

 History, May/June 2020, Newsletter  Comments Off on Belmont’s Last Pandemic: the 1918 Flu
May 032020
 
Belmont’s Last Pandemic: the 1918 Flu

By Vincent Stanton, Jr. Thought you could escape coronavirus news in the pages of the BCF Newsletter? You are safe, but there is a catch. If you can tolerate more grim news, consider taking a trip back to the last global pandemic, the so-called “Spanish Influenza” of 1918. The story of how Belmont responded is replete with both striking similarities to the 2020 coronavirus response and sharp differences. A weekly record of the influenza pandemic as it swept through Belmont in the fall of 1918 can be found in the pages of the Belmont Patriot. However, before diving into the [READ MORE]

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