The picture with this article is a little hard to see, but it is a picture of Bob Hiller, owner of East Over and his 3 yr. old grandson, Jacob. They are riding in a wagon pulled by the farm’s iconic Clydesdales at the Rochester Women’s Club 3rd Annual Earth Day Expo in 1992. With Earth Day this past Monday, the Women’s Club continued their annual Earth Day events with a town-wide cleanup as did others in the Tri-Towns.
When Earth Day was first celebrated in 1970, it was because of a realization by some that the earth which had been taken for granted for centuries needed protection. The concept of protecting the earth takes many forms; acknowledgement of climate change and working to slow it; sensible development that doesn’t overwhelm our land and water and the simple act of not littering.
In order to achieve these goals, land preservation is important, and it was important to Bob Hiller who worked with the Trustees of Reservations and the townspeople of both Rochester and Marion to preserve the lands of East Over. The Rochester Land Trust works hard to protect the fields, woods and streams of Rochester for all of us.
Equally important is the preservation of our history and this is where the Rochester Historical Society comes in. To paraphrase one of our ancestors, knowing where you come from is important in forging plans (for a person or a town) for going forward.
At the Society we work to save and (importantly) share the history of our town and its residents. We do this with our collection of newspapers, maps, letters, books, pictures and other ephemera as well as physical items like antique clothing, signs, the organ, tools etc. all stored in our Museum at 355 County Rd.
The Museum housed the East Rochester Congregational Church and was passed on to us by the last congregation. We are the stewards of this 1887 structure which is on the Register of Historic Places. We take our stewardship seriously, but we are a relatively small nonprofit (though one we hope has a big presence) and we receive no financial aid from the town of Rochester. This means that we rely on memberships, donations, raffles and bake sales to maintain the church/museum building. When we replaced the roof, I always say that we did it one cupcake at a time, but to be honest, it would not have been possible without a very generous donation by George Church.
Currently we need to repair our steeple from which panels have been falling. This is causing some leaks and falling plaster inside so it can’t be ignored. George is no longer here to help us out, so we are hoping that those who agree with us on the importance of preserving our historic buildings will donate to the $3000.00 that we need to fix the steeple.
Donations should be sent to: Rochester Historical Society, PO Box 322, Rochester, MA 02770. We will be happy to send you a receipt to use with your taxes.
By Connie Eshbach
My dear father, Rev. George OLiver Donner rescued this dying church and brought it back to life in the 50-60’s I believe. My mother was the church organist and us 7 children would provide the special music once a month when we could attend as we were actively involved in Central Baptist church at the time. We lived and went to school in Middleboro. Sadly ,I understand this great church has also changed hands too.
I am interested in any information you can give me, I am hoping to visit the site next spring with my brother Jonathan Donner who currently resides in New Bedford.
My e-mail is[ elaine.barnett@aimint.org [I served with Africa Inland Mission for nearly 50 years and am now retired in Minneola,Fl.]