What's Next for Haskins?

That's what I'm hoping to clarify when I meet with the Town Administrator.  I emailed her this morning and I'm hoping that I can fit into her schedule within the next month.  G from SBHS wants to be at the meeting, too.

Several items will be on my agenda.

The first is to get the entry walls repaired.  Much needed on the right hand side as you approach the park, and less so (but still needs attention) on the left.

The right side curved wall has been destroyed by snow plows.

Then there is the matter of how to accept the donations of funds for new picnic tables. We have the offer.  We don't have any authority to accept or to expend those potential funds.

These are some of the old decaying picnic tables.

And...from the historic view...we want a large boulder in place, with a plaque that remembers Leander Haskins contributions of the park and other town benefits.  It would also be nice to have a second plaque,  maybe on the back of the stone, that gives a chronological history of the property.  The stone pictured below is located at a park in Newburyport and illustrates what we have in mind.

The memorial boulder and plaque in Newburyport.

I'd also like to discuss the remainder of the phase one clean-up and include in that the planting of a small, self-sustaining garden in the area of the arborvitae.  My plant ideas include day lilies, Queen Anne's lace, and rhododendron.

Maybe the home of the first of several flowering gardens?

There are many other items that will need attention as the project progresses.  But these will get Phase One nearer completion.

Now if I could just get that appointment with the Town Administrator.

A Weighty Subject

You just never know what you may find in the oddest places.

So...do you suppose that Capt. James Babson is indeed interred in the workings of a pipe organ at a church in Lanesville?

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"Dev" read on to the Rowe post....

Another Rowe?

This is a bit off the general train of thought from the last few posts.  However, I received a comment on an older post that got me to thinking...and checking back...and failing to find the ebook documentation that I had found a half year ago.

Anyway, here is a photo of the memorial stone of Major John Rowe of Rockport.

Dev?????  Comment?  Based on everything I have read online and at the Sandy Bay Historical Society, I'm still betting that they are one and the same...that is, Major John Rowe is actually buried in NY but this is the memorial stone in Rockport.  (As I recall, Sr. was a different rank.)

Even In the Fog

Haskins Park is beautiful.

Heberle Week at Haskins Park and Beyond

Foggy and damp at Haskins Park

Wow, where to begin.

With their mother, RH seated, CH standing

These two little boys are now 82 and 83 years old.  The Heberle brothers spent 6 years of their childhood living on the grounds of the Haskins Hospital when their father ran the sanitarium, Restcroft.  This week they have traveled from Florida to Rockport and Gloucester with other family members.  They have spent the week showing off the area to their relatives (7 total of daughters, sons-in-laws, sons, cousins...) and telling them stories of life here back in the 30s and 40s.  Along with a couple trips to Haskins Park and a meeting with the Board of Selectman, they've been antiquing in Essex, toured Hammond Castle, eaten at Sailor Stan's, taken the train to Boston and visited the USS Constitution and a ship that CH served on that's currently in dry dock, and driven past former houses and old haunts. Their visit was the main reason we got to working on the Haskins Park clean-up right away.

Mom and I bought some chrysanthemums to brighten the entrance

Monday afternoon R and I met RH up at the park.  We walked around while he told stories and we showed him the temporary access to the pools that R, T, and I had cut.  RH said that he brought the family up on Sunday afternoon, but it was damp and drizzly so they didn't stay long.  He had looked for the path, but hadn't found it.  After an hour or so, we said byes and that we were looking forward to meeting the entire clan at the Board of Selectmen's meeting Tuesday evening.

The Special Recognition is read...

The BoS decided to present a Heberle Family Recognition at the meeting.  They thought it would be nice to acknowledge the contributions to the community that Dr. Heberle had made.  It was a full house!  First on the agenda, after the Pledge and such, was the Heberle Recognition.  Selectwoman Fleming read the certificate that had been prepared and presented each brother with a copy.

and presented to CH (left) and RH by Selectwoman Fleming

Then she asked if they had any comments.  RH got up in front of the crowd and told a few stories from the hospital years.  The first, I think, was how his father had saved the life of a local farmer who had been gored by a bull.  The second was a very humorous tale about RH nearly being sat upon by one of the hospital nurses while he was 'using the facilities'.  He was about 4 at the time and couldn't reach the pull chain for the light so was in a very narrow WC in the dark.  He hadn't locked the door.  Nurse W evidently was quite an enormous woman who walked in, pulled the light chain and turned not seeing that the WC was occupied, with her back to RH she hiked her skirts and dropped her drawers.  RH screamed and bolted out of the WC with his view of Nurse W imprinted in his young mind, if not on his young body!

RH telling history with flair!

Everyone at the meeting was in stitches as he related the story.

In conclusion, his brother, CH, said that he wished he still lived here.

The meeting continued with a special thank you to the volunteers that have maintained the property over the years and a thank you to those who worked on the clean-up day.  R gave special recognition to TT and TA (who were at the meeting) for all their hard work on clean-up day.

After all those praises and thank yous, the Heberle crowd left the meeting.  My mom invited everyone back to the house for coffee and dessert.  Twelve of us spent more than an hour with stories, photos, and time getting to know each other.

All together a very nice evening.

In the Park

I suppose a few of you might be wondering.

What?  No one is wondering?  Oh well, I'll tell you all anyway.
Volunteer Clean-up Day at Haskins Park was a success!
A HUGE success.

A neighbor, a dog walker, and R loading the last load of the day (we filled it with twice what is shown here)

It all started last Wednesday when the DPW sent two representatives to meet with me at Haskins Park.  D, C and I walked the grounds and discussed the property.  I requested only their crew mow and weed-whack.  Two areas in particular.  Oh, and park a couple small dump trucks on site for Saturday. They obviously thought I was taking on too much for volunteer labor (and they were correct) because they offered to bring up big equipment on Friday to do the massive loading and hauling.  They also offered some welcomed suggestions for future improvements to the property.  I was pleased.
More than pleased.

As a matter of fact...after they had left and at the finish of an impromptu walk that I took in the woods with a local artist...I got back to my truck amazed to find one of the guys already weed-whacking!

On Friday morning the big equipment was on site.  Major debris pile removal was taking place.  I could actually see the southwest stone wall!  The crew had filled two small dump trucks and one massive truck by 9 a.m.!

R and I arrived at 7 a.m. Saturday morning.  After seeing how much debris the DPW had removed, I had figured the volunteers would only need one truck.  It arrived by 7:30.  It was full by 11 a.m. and one brave volunteer drove it to unload at the 'dump'.  We filled that truck two more times before our pack of 21 hard-working volunteers finally could work no longer.  What a day.

R dragging a load of clippings from the east wall

 At some times there were only 3 or 4 of us working hard at loading up debris, other times there were a dozen folks at a time.  The average age of our volunteers?  62!

One of the first of the day volunteers working on trimming overgrowth from the stone pillars

Thank you everyone.
Amazing what a bunch of older folks can do!

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I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more photos over at Mr. Scribbler.  He took some great shots on Saturday AND from the DPW work on Friday.  Please encourage him to post them.

On Our Street

Our street is narrow and there are many spots where you must pull your car over to the very edge of the road and stop to let a second car pass in the opposite direction.  There are also a few twists and turns.

It's also a dead end.

Probably not a good route for a very large tour bus!

Yep, he's backing all the way out.

This must happen to him a lot as he was quite good at navigating in reverse.

Time the company springs for a new GPS.

In The News(paper)

The stone mounds at Haskins Park

Although there are a few glitches, the essence is written in the article.

It was short notice for me to meet up with the Times reporter and photographer.  It got squished in, with only about an hour notice, between reed organ work in the morning and an afternoon tuning for a Dana Farber benefit concert.

You can read it all here:
http://www.gloucestertimes.com/topstories/x2076994994/New-life-for-historic-Rockport-park

New Promise and Recognition

Well, I didn't want to say anything here until I was sure that it would be a go.

I have met with the Town Administrator - twice. 

I have submitted a 17 page proposal to the Board of Selectmen from the Sandy Bay Historical Society.

I have attended two Board of Selectmen meetings.

Soon the Heberle brothers will be traveling to Rockport and they will be visiting the Haskins property.  Their father was Dr. Heberle...the doctor who ran Restcroft at the Haskins Hospital...and they lived on the property for six years.  Richard from the age of 2 and Clem from the age of 3. 

So, the brothers will be traveling with daughters, nieces, and cousins. The first of several goals is to be sure the property looks nice for them. 

This is what the posters look like (my contact info won't be whited-out).  They will be all around town by Tuesday.
___________________________________________________________

Waiting...

 and waiting...

Sometimes you just have to wait!

I've been working on a Mason & Hamlin reed organ rebuild for a church in Boston.  It's a complicated job.  Bits and pieces of oddly manufactured stuff.  Fun and annoying at the same time, if that's possible.  So, right now I'm waiting for my glue pot to heat up and thought I'd fill some blog space while I'm waiting.

'A' and I went for a long walk this morning.  I'm trying to walk at least 5 days each week with her.  She's trying to lose weight and, well, I am too.

So here are some of the things we saw on our walk today.

The seven swans that swam

Added my bit to some sidewalk writing.  Nice that they left the chalk!

Guess that glue should be hot by now.

Very Clever

Dickiebo sent this along...outstanding! Don't bother with volume, you don't need the narration anyway.

Just For Fun

The Doors Are Closed

In 1960, after remaining vacant for 22 years, Leander Miller Haskins’ home-turned-hospital was burned to the ground as a firefighter training exercise.  The barn remained in use as a DPW storage building for a few years and then, along with the laboratory and the caretaker’s house, was demolished.   

The drive...Haskins' home used to be in the clearing to the right

 When all that was left of Leander’s bequest was the grounds, the so-called town park was maintained by the DPW and often mowed by a caring neighbor.   

The stone mounds, Autumn 2011

 In recent years, the property has been used for passive recreation activities such as hiking and dog walking.  The Westbrook, CT Fire Department camps on the grounds each year before participating in our Fourth of July parade.  The Cub Scouts use the woods for their annual Haunted Hayride.   

The cellar of the caretaker's house

 Unfortunately, much of the estate grounds are unusable having been left to become overgrown with weeds, cat-briar, and useless, light-starved saplings.   

The swimming pool with spillway at bottom right

The overflow pool with spillway from swimming pool at top

 Careless disposal of brush, leaves, and trash have marred the beauty of the spot.   

Piles of leaves and brush cover the SW stone wall near the caretaker's house cellar

 Currently weeds are encroaching on the once-maintained stone mounds section of the property.   

Lack of mowing allows weeds to invade west of the mounds

Although considered a park, it has never been thoughtfully developed as one, therefore very little remains to show our appreciation of Leander Haskins’ philanthropy.

What is being done to correct this?  Stay tuned to read some updates in future posts.

The Heberle Years at Haskins Hospital

Brochure (courtesy SBHS)

 In 1932, the Haskins Hospital was reopened by Dr. Clement K.Heberle as Restcroft and the hospital once again served the residents of Rockport while also operating as a private sanitarium.  Dr. Heberle utilized the entire Haskins estate as his facility.

Dr. Clement King Heberle (photo courtesy SBHS)

While the hospital and sanitarium were in the original Haskins house, Dr. Heberle moved with his wife, and two young sons, Clem Jr. and Richard, in to the former caretaker’s house.   

Margaret Heberle with sons Richard (seated) and Clem, Jr. (photo courtesy Dick Heberle)

One large shed was converted to an up-to-date laboratory, the barn and stables housed horses available for recuperating patients to ride, and a ‘sun garden’ was built next to the swimming pool.   

The laboratory

 When able, patients were encouraged by Dr. Heberle to enjoy all outdoor activities available to them on the hospital grounds.   

The swimming pool, hosp. to the left, caretaker's house to right (photo courtesy SBHS)

View of barn and stables from atop water tower (photo courtesy SBHS)

Dr. Heberle specialized in a revolutionary treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and many of his patients were well known.  Among those were Bette Davis, Lefty Grove, Clarence Birdseye, and Boris, John Hays Hammond’s arthritis stricken German shepherd.   

Hammond's dog, Boris, receiving treatment at Restcroft.  Dr. Heberle (L), Dr. Babson, a vet (R) (photo courtesy SBHS, Boston Post 1933)

Additionally, Restcroft became the hospital of choice for Rockport mothers-to-be with over 200 brand new Rockporters being born there.

The final years of the hospital (photo courtesy Dick Heberle)

Possibly due to accessibility difficulties during the snowy, winter months, or possibly due to deteriorating facilities, in 1938 Dr. Heberle ended his lease of the hospital property.  A Dr. Layton expressed an interest in assuming the lease until he discovered the town was unable to fund a repair of the furnace.  In 1938 Rockport’s first and only hospital closed its doors forever.

More about the Haskins property in future posts.

Business on Facebook

Since Facebook had already provided a basic page under my business name, I decided I'd better claim it.  I'm not a big fan of Facebook, nor of its clumsy approach for doing just about any kind of modifications, however, since people had visited the 'blank' page...well, you know how things go...

There's not much on the page right now.  I plan to add photos and some piano related tips in the future.  If you so desire check it out here and please Like me!

Me tuning at the RAA last year.

The Big Walk

Not a huge distance...maybe a mile.

Not a long time...about an hour, give or take.

However the views.....................................

BIG sloop in Sandy Bay

BIG blossom on Bearskin Neck

were rather large!

The Town Has a Hospital!

(If you haven't read the previous post, please do so before reading this one.)

 The Haskins Estate

1. main house  2. caretaker's house  3. shed  4. water supply tank  5/6. swimming pools  7/8. barn and chicken coops          9. stone mounds  (photo courtesy of Dick Heberle) 

In 1905, the town of Rockport accepted Leander Haskins' bequest of his estate but funding specific to the equipping and function of the Leander M. Haskins Hospital was not made available within the town budget.  From 1905 until the hospital’s final days, all major financing came through private donations.  As a result of those donations the Leander M. Haskins Hospital Trust Fund was established.  Other funding came with the formation of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Leander M. Haskins Hospital.  This benevolent organization held large fairs on the hospital grounds featuring games, a restaurant tent, bake sales, contests and performances by local musicians in order to raise money to support the hospital.  Also, for several years, a major theatrical production was staged on the former estate with ticket sales benefiting the hospital.  These monies were held in trust as the Ladies Auxiliary of the Leander M. Haskins Hospital Trust Fund.

Restaurant tent at an Auxiliary Fair (photo courtesy of SBHS)

Another Fair scene (photo courtesy of SBHS)

The following are taken from two annual reports of the Trustees of Leander M. Haskins Hospital, 1905 and 1906:

"Difficulties having been encountered in obtaining possession of the premises from the Executor of the will...Your Trustees found the premises stripped of everything movable, the electric fixtures taken out, the mantels removed leaving the walls disfigured, even the locks on the doors, outer and communicating, tampered with and a large number of them filled with nails, the whole place being left in a very much upset condition, necessitating the expenditure of considerable money before it could take even the semblance of that for which it was devised."

And,

"Your Board of Trustees are of the opinion that it was hardly a fair proposition on the part of the town to put them in charge of a set of buildings having not the slightest resemblance to a hospital, denuded of everything movable and expect us to convert them to the required uses, fully furnished, supplied with medical appliances and instruments of all kinds, without once appealing to them to contribute to its expense.  Perhaps we are somewhat mistaken in our position; perhaps it is that the town only wished us to undertake the necessary changes and repairs to the buildings to establish a hospital and then come to them for the funds which had been expended for the purpose; however that may be, we undertook the work of establishing the hospital, of supplying it with all needful articles, furniture, medical instruments, etc., and then filling it with a staff of physicians and nurses who are a credit to any institution; in fact we undertook to create a thoroughly equipped up-to-date establishment without, if at all possible, asking the town in its corporate capacity to contribute one dollar for its support."

Leander M. Haskins Hospital (photo courtesy of SBHS)

One of the parlors/reception rooms (photo courtesy of Dick Heberle)

A hospital room (photo courtesy of SBHS)

 The hospital, under the direction of Drs. Hall and Baker, served the varied medical needs of the community and saved patients the long and often painful journey to Gloucester for emergency and hospital care.  In addition to an urgent care facility for the town, the Haskins Hospital was vital in providing treatment during the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918.  Having closed its doors early in 1918 due to a lack of adequate funding to meet ever growing expenses, the hospital was quickly reopened to serve the stricken citizens of Rockport.  So great was the need for care in this community at that time, the Massachusetts National Guard was called to assist the doctors and nurses of Haskins Hospital.

During the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918 (photo courtesy of SBHS)

After the flu epidemic the town, once again, closed the hospital doors and it stood unused until 1932 when the town leased the facility to Dr. Clement K. Heberle.  

Watch for my next post about the Heberle years.

His Name Is...

Leander Miller Haskins.

And here he is sitting in his buggy.

Leander Miller Haskins (photo credit: Sandy Bay Historical Society)

Leander was born in Rockport on June 20, 1842 to Moses and Betsy Haskins.  The family had been around Rockport for many years, Leander's grandfather, Bennett, having arrived here from Virginia in 1756.  Leander was educated in the Rockport schools and then attended Phillips Andover Academy.  After his graduation from Phillips, he attended Dartmouth College graduating in the class of 1863.  Immediately upon leaving college, Leander enlisted in the Army.  He was a Commissary Clerk with the 19th Army Corps.  Later that same year he mustered out to recuperate from a fever he had contracted.  Once he regained his health, he joined the Navy for the remainder of the war.

At the conclusion of the Civil War, Leander and his brother, Moses, Jr., opened a fish processing plant at T Wharf in Boston.  In 1878 Leander opened a second business on his own.  That business was the Haskin's Isinglass Factory located in the former Manning Organ Company building in Rockport.  As the business grew, it was soon moved to new facilities on Railroad Avenue where it remained operational until Leander's death in 1905. (The current Isinglass Place.)

Though Leander maintained his primary residence in Boston, he spent a great deal of time in his hometown of Rockport.  Early on he had taught in the Rockport schools in order to finance his higher education.  In 1885 he became the first commodore of the Sandy Bay Yacht Club.  He was a member of the Ashler Lodge of the Masons and the Order of Red Men.  Additionally, he was Director of the Rockport National Bank and the Rockport Street Railway.  His business training was instrumental in gaining funding from Carnegie to build Rockport's public library.  He was a major participant in getting the railroad extended from Gloucester to Rockport.

In 1892, Leander built a summer residence in Rockport and called it Kismont.

Haskins House (oil painting by Deb)

When Leander's will was probated after his death in 1905, the people of Rockport benefited.  He took care of his home town. $1,000 was left to the Carnegie Library.  $1,000 to the Congregational Church and $300 each to the Baptist, Catholic, Episcopal, Methodist, and Universalist churches.  A $10,000 scholarship fund was left for any Rockport graduate wanting to attend Dartmouth (or MIT).

And Leander's 70 acre estate, Kismont, including the main house, caretaker's house, barn and stables, shed, and swimming pool was left to the town of Rockport to be used for a hospital or park.

Look for upcoming posts and photos showing Leander's estate, from the days when he lived there to it's service as a hospital to what remains today and my 'master plan'.