On June 15, a day that can only be described as a picture-perfect summer’s day, more then 30 people assembled outside the Sippican Historical Society (SHS) Museum and office to embark on the first of three historic walking tours planned in partnership with the Healthy Tri-Town Coalition.
The tour guide was none other than long-time SHS and current treasurer Judith Rosbe. Rosbe is also an author whose book, Images of America – Marion, provided the background data shared during the tour.
Prior to the start of tour, Rosbe explained that there had been several efforts to have parts of Marion designated as historic districts. However, those efforts failed to gain sufficient backing at town meetings. In spite of that, the village area of Marion maintains the flavor of a historic seaside community -one rich in ship building, trade, and – in more recent decades – grand homes.
Across the street from the society’s building is the newly restored Marion General Store that was built in 1710 and was the first Meeting House for the Congregational Church. Rosbe said that the second-floor ceiling is adorned with a breathtaking religious mural. The structure is still privately owned, but the society holds a covenant on the building which protects it from real estate development into perpetuity. The Marion Post Office enjoys the same protections, she quickly added.
From here, Rosbe lead the group south on Main Street, stopping first at number 22. Within this part of the community, there are three main architectural styles: Greek Revival, Italianate, and Cape Cod. However, she also said that local craftsmen took liberties with those traditional styles in what she termed, “vernacular.”
This home, like many on this street, is situated in a somewhat smaller lot and close to the road. It was owned at one time by the last whaling ship captain from Marion, Captain Hathaway. Rosbe said that most of the homes on Main Street were owned by tradesmen and those supporting the local waterside industries such as fishing, boat building, and saltworks.
Rosbe said that many of the Main Street homes were owned by ship caulkers, the men whose tools made a ringing sound heard throughout the village as cotton and tar were seamed between the ship’s planks for a watertight seal.
The oldest home in Marion is located at 21 Main Street. Rosbe said that when the home was constructed, there were several Mayflower passengers still living. The house is dated somewhere between 1675 and 1691, and was at one point during those early years either a parsonage or the Unitarian Church. In the 1920’s it became a tearoom.
At number 15 Main Street, a Cape Cod cottage, Rosbe shared that underground passageways were located during a renovation, passageways believed to have been used for the Underground Railroad. While those tunnels are still below ground, they have long since ceased to be accessible.
Number 13 Main Street, now owned by Christina Bascom, has a unique feature known as a “good morning staircase.” As Rosbe was describing the stairway Bascom opened her front door welcoming one and all to take a look at the stairway. There, in a sharp vertical ascent is the ladder like staircase which split left to right at a landing on the second floor, thereby granting access from both directions. Now-a-days the Bascoms use a less athletic set of stairs located in the back of the home. Bascom also shared that at one point in its history, the kitchen was a mere dirt floor. There was also a birthing room on the second floor and a window used for the removal of bodies. Real life and death stuff.
An original and tiny one-room schoolhouse is located in the backyard of 14 Main Street where children were taught their a-b-c’s from none other than Elizabeth Taber.
Rounding the corner, the group then headed north on South Street passing by the Beverly Yacht
Club that had once been owned by a merchant who sold candles.
Rosbe said that there were saltworks along the shoreline here and that the legendary Revolutionary War patriot known as Swamp Fox, aka, Francis Marion had fought and eluded the British in these waters.
Rosbe said that the homes on South Street were primarily built for ship captains noting the larger buildings and lot sizes constructed here. These homes as with the homes throughout the village neighborhood, have been lovingly cared for and restored. However, some no longer bear a resemblance to their original construction. Defying time are number 25, a Colonial Revival, and number 28 a Greek Revival she pointed out.
Sandria Parsons lives at 24 South and proudly announced it was her 77th birthday. In celebration, she invited the group to take a brief look at her backyard gardens. Parsons said the home originally had only four rooms and a front raised porch. During one of the home’s renovation, newspapers from 1937 were found stuffed behind a wall. If only these walls could talk!
The group was invited to indulge in refreshments at the society museum where mementos from the Marion General Store grace a window.
The second walking tour in the series will be in Mattapoisett on June 23. The walk will kick off at the Mattapoisett Historical Society Museum on Church Street, hosted by museum chairman Jennifer McIntire. The third and final tour in Rochester will be on June 29 and is in partnership with the Rochester Historical Society (RHS) and will meet at Plumb Corner in the parking lot near Countryside Day School. The tour guides are longtime RHS members Susan LeFluer and Connie Eschbach. All tours begin at 10:00 am.
By Marilou Newell