Caryl Farm
Sandwiched between the playing fields and tennis courts of what is now Caryl Park, it is difficult to imagine the Dover Historical Society’s Caryl Farm at 107 Dedham Street as an 83-acre country farm. Now a house museum with a contemporary barn saved from another Dover property, the house was home to Dover’s first minister. Benjamin Caryl was born in Hopkinton in 1732 and graduated from Harvard College in 1761. In 1762 he was ordained as Minister of Dedham’s Fourth Precinct, later to become the Town of Dover. Later that year he married the widow Sarah (Messenger) Kollock of Wrentham
Powisset Farm – A Brief History
One of the most visible reminders of Dover’s rich agricultural heritage is Powisset Farm. Situated on Powissett Street, the land is said to have been used by Dedham residents to pasture cattle as early as the 1660’s and has been farmed continuously for more than three centuries. Onetime local historian Frank Smith (1914) tells us that Powisset Farm was first settled by Samuel Chickering (1689-1778), presumably at some point shortly after his marriage to Mary Harding in 1720. Smith adds that the Chickering homestead was situated “near Rattlesnake Rock” which may be the area known today as Powissett Peak, although
Introduction to the Dover Historical Society
Welcome to what will be a monthly column about the history of Dover. This month will be an introduction to me, to the Dover Historical Society, and to the little museum that is our base of operations. In the months ahead I hope to present a variety of locally oriented historical matters, focusing upon the organizations and people that have made the town what it is today, and the roles played by Dover residents in national and world events. My name is Elisha Lee and I first came to Dover with my parents in 1959. I grew up on Powissett
Historical Society Receives Gift Of Rocking Bench
The Dover Historical Society is pleased to announce the recent gift of a 19th Century rocking bench built by noted Martha’s Vineyard furniture maker Heman Arey of Edgartown, Massachusetts. Born in 1788, Arey was noted more for the prolific nature of his work than for its innate artistry. Ours is a classic Windsor style bench with a removable railing along one side that allowed a mother to rest her infant by her side in a secure fashion. This particular bench was made for Jared Coffin of Edgartown, who married Sarah Baylies in 1819 and constructed a home at 26 School
Tisdale House
Readers with an interest in Dover’s oldest homes may have noticed the Tisdale House situated at the corner of Walpole and Hartford Streets. Local historian Frank Smith tells us that this house was built for Captain Henry Tisdale in 1774. Given its extraordinary similarity to the Benjamin Caryl House, it is probable that the Tisdale House was also built by Ralph Day of Dedham Street (1717-1795). Henry Tisdale was born in Lebanon, CT in 1750, one of three brothers who settled in Dover and Medfield just prior to the Revolution. On January 4, 1774 he was married by Reverend Benjamin
Mr. Ed’s Alan Young on Knollwood!
As stewards of the Town’s institutional memory local historians have much to be serious about, and yet there are times when our past and our present intersect in a lighter fashion. Readers of a certain age will no doubt recall the popular television show Mr. Ed, which ran from 1961 to 1966, featuring a talking Palomino and his hapless owner, Wilbur Post, played by actor and one-time Dover resident Alan Young. While best known for his role as Wilbur Post, the British born Canadian bred actor had a lengthy career beginning with The Alan Young Show which aired on Canadian
Pauper’s Register and the Town Poor
Explorers of town property may have hiked the cart path leading from Strawberry Hill Street to the 66-acre Larrabee-Whiting Estate. While all that remains of Thomas Larrabee’s farmhouse is a cellar hole, our erstwhile Town Historian Frank Smith tells us that it was built by Larrabee’s fellow veterans upon his return from the Revolutionary War in 1778. In 1865 the property was willed by his son Deacon Joseph Larrabee to “to the inhabitants of Dover forever for the relief, comfort, and benefit of the poor persons who have a legal settlement in Dover.” Deacon Larrabee’s language is revealing in its
Luke Dean Spike Tomahawk
I came upon the above artifact some years ago while exploring the Luke Dean cellar hole, which lies on the northwest side of Powisset Pond on land now owned by Hale Reservation. I believe Bob Campbell excavated the site in the 1970’s though I have never seen any documentation of that work. In Biographical Sketches of Dover Soldiers Frank Smith states that he was born to Joseph and Hannah (Baker) Dean on May 29, 1750 on “the homestead” which was then (in 1909) the grounds of the Powisset Club. He married Rebecca Russell in 1771 and had 11 children before
Dover Church Bell: Holbrook Bell Foundry, Millis
One of the pitfalls of local history is the tendency to see one’s community as an entity apart from its surroundings. In actuality, of course, Dover was a part of Dedham until 1836, and the original Dedham Grant encompassed 200 square miles stretching from Boston to the Rhode Island border. It is not surprising, therefore, that our history is very much interwoven with that of the surrounding area. One particularly audible manifestation of this connectivity is the bell in the Dover Church. The church itself was established in 1754 as the Fourth Parish of Dedham. The original structure burned in
Our Earliest Residents: The Native American Artifacts Collection
Visitors to the Sawin Museum will note a small collection of Native American artifacts on the Main Level, including both stone tools and a number of baskets. While relatively small in size, the collection is of interest in that it spans roughly 6,000 years of human occupation. Native Americans first arrived in New England with the retreat of the Ice Age roughly 10,000 years ago, however the majority of the stone artifacts in our collection can be reliably dated by their size and shape to the Late Archaic period, between 3,000 and 6,000 years ago. Distinguishing characteristics of the Late
