The cultural and societal value of history cannot be overstated. Whether it is our family history, national or even global history, and yes, local history. It tells us who we are, where we’ve been, and aids us as we plan our futures.
The Massachusetts Historical Commission, under whose guidance all local historical commissions are charged, provides cities and towns with directives for archiving local history and its importance therein. One of the single most important aspects of work performed by local commissions is documenting a town’s historical assets. The process of collecting data and then formatting it for inclusion on the state’s commission website is no small task. It requires expertise the average person does not possess. Enter Preservation Consultant Lynne Smelidge.
Smiledge’s role is to identify all manner of historical sites, structures, and places of archeological significance in Mattapoisett. In December, the commission announced the following:
“The Mattapoisett Historical Commission is pleased to announce that Phase One of the multi-phase community-wide survey of the Town of Mattapoisett’s historic and cultural resources has been completed by preservation consultant, Lynn Smiledge. The project was funded by a grant from the Community Preservation Act and the Massachusetts Historical Commission.
Identification and documentation of historic resources is the foundation of community preservation. The survey identifies buildings and structures that are historically and architecturally significant in the history and development of the community. The goal of the survey was to document representative historic resources from major themes in the development of Mattapoisett including agricultural, maritime, commercial, institutional, and an undocumented resource from an underrepresented community. The survey thoroughly documented 112 properties, which included three area forms and 75 individual resources. Additionally, five properties were recommended as eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
The inventory forms have been submitted to the Massachusetts Historical Commission where they are in the process of being scanned and placed on an easily accessible database, MACRIS, Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System. The forms will also be available in hard copy at the Mattapoisett Public Library and on the Mattapoisett Historical Commission website.
A Historic Property Survey Plan, completed in January of 2023, identified approximately 300 high priority resources. The Historical Commission is currently moving forward with Phase Two of the survey and has contracted with Smiledge to document an additional 100 resources. This project is being funded by a grant from the CPA, and it is expected to be completed in the summer of 2025.”
The commission has applied for another CPA grant to continue with another phase of research and documentation.
It will take several years for the full scope of Smiledge’s research and documentation of the town of Mattapoisett’s history. Her first efforts have yielded insights into this small New England town long forgotten but now revealed.
Smiledge has identified Homestead Court and Barlow Cemetery as sites of historic significance. Many throughout the community are aware that the cemetery contains the remains of Revolutionary War soldiers. But the military significance of this neighborhood (Barlow Cemetery and Homestead Court are situated close by one another) may not be as evident.
The residential homes were built for the benefit of WWII veterans, and the cemetery is the final resting place for local soldiers who participated in securing independence for our country. Mattapoisett’s history in honoring its service men and women is a story onto itself.
Smiledge notes that while the grounds and fencing of the cemetery are in pretty good condition the grave markers, headstones and such are in seriously poor condition. They need cleaning and conservation. The cemetery was deeded in 1789 to Rochester’s second precinct, aka Mattapoisett. A plaque erected during the town’s bicentennial committee in 1975 notes nine Revolutionary soldiers buried there. They are: Gibeon Barstow, Seth Cowing, Elisha Dexter, Thomas Ellis, Gideon Hammond, James Hammond, Stafford Hammond, Thomas Tobey, and Stephen Wing.
The report goes on to read: “The land that was to become Barlow Cemetery, the oldest burial ground in the town of Mattapoisett, was located north and west of Mattapoisett Village along the Mattapoisett River in what was one of three 18-century settlement nodes. The property was owned in the 18th-century by Elihu Sherman, a shipbuilder. Sherman (1744-1817), who was born in Dartmouth and married Elizabeth Claghorn Sherman (1746-1813) in that town in 1766, came to Mattapoisett with his wife to work in the local shipbuilding industry. On June 8, 1789, Sherman conveyed a one-acre parcel land to Enoch Hammond, Gideon Barstow, and Benjamin Dexter, Jr., members of a committee charged with acquiring land for a burial ground for the inhabitants of the First Precinct of Rochester, also known as Mattapoisett. The deed noted that the piece of land included ‘the graves called Barlow’s burying place.’ In exchange for this parcel, Sherman received six acres of land in the Mattapoisett precinct that were not described in the deed. The burial ground was identified as the ‘Old Cemetery’ on the 1856 and 1879 maps and later reverted in name to its earlier association with the Barlow family.”
Centuries later, the town would strive to help the living veterans of WWII. Homestead Court was built after protracted negotiations with the property owners who were not in total agreement for the sale of the land for a low-income housing project. Suffice it to say, what can be found in Smiledge’s report is a state-mandate to seize the acreage for the benefit of returning soldiers and their families.
“These one-story houses are built to two plans – Cape-form and ranch. Each building has a concrete block foundation, an asphalt shingle roof, and a brick chimney on the rear roof slope. The houses are clad in vinyl shingles in either beige or pale ochre. The main entries front shallow concrete stoops and concrete walkways leading to the street and the driveways. The two-bedroom Cape-form dwellings are three-bays-by-one-bay, 31 feet x 26 feet, and 767 square feet in living area with a slightly set-back block at the outside bay nestled under the roof of the entrance bay. The deeply recessed center entry contains a glass-and-panel door framed at the façade plane by wide, flat, vinyl pilasters. Windows include double-hung, one-over-one sash with molded vinyl surrounds at the façade and mulled one-over-one sash at the side elevations.
The three-bedroom ranch style homes are four-bays-by-one-bay, 41 feet by 23 feet, and 931 square feet in living area. The openings at the façade comprise a shallow recessed center entry, a small one-over-one window abutting the entry surround and mulled one-over-one and single one-over-one windows at the outside bays. The doors and trim match those at the two-bedroom homes. Single one-over-one windows occupy the side elevations.”
Today the properties are managed by the Mattapoisett Housing Authority as affordable housing for homeless families.
In her historic narrative, Smiledge wrote, “The end of the Second World War in 1945 returned more than six million members of the armed forces to civilian life. Census records show that 511 men and 40 women from Mattapoisett had served during the war. These veterans married at unprecedented rates – more than 2.3 million weddings took place in 1946. This dramatic spike in the number of new family households brought on a corresponding demand for housing.
Mattapoisett stepped up providing housing for those who had served in WWII and later for those whose need hung in the balance between a home or a state of homelessness. As Mattapoisett Historical Commission Chairman Rachel McGourthy put it, “Learning about this made me feel proud of Mattapoisett.”
While Smiledge’s work is far from complete, the wheels are now in motion thanks in no small part to the efforts undertaken by the town’s historic commission, the townspeople in supporting the work via Town Meeting vote, and the dedication of the commission to archive the town’s full story for generations to come.
Mattapoisett Historical Commission
By Marilou Newell