Misplaced Pages

#523476

39-579: Tantiusques ("Tant-E-oos-kwiss") is a 57-acre (230,000 m) open space reservation and historic site registered with the National Register of Historic Places . The reservation is located in Sturbridge, Massachusetts , and is owned and managed by The Trustees of Reservations ; it is notable for its historic, defunct graphite mines. This is a rural area with much of the adjacent and surrounding area undeveloped and forested. The reservation

78-556: A Boston merchant , purchased the property. He successfully mined the graphite for over a quarter of a century until his death in 1864 when the mining operation ceased with his death. He had employed Captain Joseph Dixon and his son, who would later found the J.D. Crucible Company of New Jersey . This company eventually evolved into Dixon Ticonderoga , the famous manufacturer of pencils . By 1910 all mining operations at Tantiusques had ceased. Although forest has since reclaimed

117-485: A couple of shards of redware. The entire reservation is designated by Massachusetts BioMap as Supporting Natural Landscape for Core Habitat. The Tantiusques is a densely forested landscape mostly dominated by oak and hickory trees with the occasional hemlock. Mountain laurel is patchy but forms a dense understory throughout the site. This forest serves as an interior habitat for wildlife, including more than 25 species of birds. A total of 25 species of birds were observed at

156-436: A horseshoe around a common, but his son George B. proposed creating a live village with operating shops and a source of water power. Within a week of the meeting, the museum purchased David Wight's farm and soon after hired Malcolm Watkins as the first curator of the museum, which they called Quinnebaug Village in honor of the river. Architect Arthur Shurcliff was called in to help lay out a suitable country landscape. By 1941,

195-425: A land or water area for the sake of recreational , ecological , environmental , aesthetic , or agricultural interests; or the management of a community or region's growth in terms of development, industry, or natural resources extraction. Open space reserves may be urban , suburban , or rural; they may be actual designated areas of land or water, or they may be zoning districts or overlays where development

234-515: A significant contribution to the preservation of history through the arts. Recipients have included Norm Abram , Cokie Roberts , John Williams , Tom Brokaw , Sam Waterston , Doris Kearns Goodwin , and Laura Linney . In July 2017, Old Sturbridge Village CEO Jim Donohue, who had previously founded the first charter school in Rhode Island, announced the opening of Old Sturbridge Academy Charter School, which would open in modular classrooms on

273-406: A working farm. Third-person costumed interpreters demonstrate and interpret 19th-century arts, crafts, and agricultural work. The museum is popular among tourists and for educational field trips. In the early 19th century, the land on which Old Sturbridge Village stands was a farm owned by David Wight which included a sawmill, a gristmill, and a millpond. The millpond was dug in 1795 and still powers

312-522: Is a general area of open space surrounding an urban area. Green infrastructure is the total mass and viability of undeveloped, natural, and agricultural land and waterways, protected or not protected, within a particular community or region. Nature reserves and wildlife refuges are areas of open space set aside for the sake of protecting non-human species. National parks , state parks , and municipal parks, recreation areas, and reservations are types of open space reserves managed by government agencies for

351-473: Is entirely forested with oak-hickory forest and red maple in the wet areas and mountain laurel abundant throughout the understory . The name Tantiusques comes from a Nipmuc word meaning “the place between two low hills." The Nipmuc used the graphite to make ceremonial paints. The property also contains the ruins of a 19th-century period house that belonged to a mine worker of mixed African American and Native American ancestry. In 1644, John Winthrop

390-421: Is frequently host to a naturalization ceremony on the fourth of July. In 2018, 152 new United States citizens were naturalized at Old Sturbridge Village. The Village is a popular wedding location. Old Sturbridge Village has been used as a set in many historical movies, TV shows, and documentaries, including Hawaii (1966) starring Julie Andrews , Reading Rainbow (1984), Glory (1989), Slavery and

429-724: Is limited or controlled to create undeveloped areas of land or water within a community or region. They may be publicly owned or owned by non-profit or private interests. A certain amount of overlap occurs with similar planning and conservation terms. Protected areas are open space reserves in which certain resources indigenous to the landscape are protected as opposed to conserved . Urban open space specifically refers to open space reserves within an urban setting; such may include natural landscapes or manicured urban parkland. Greenways are linear open space reserves, linear corridors that span interconnected open space reserves, or linear chains of connected open space reserves. A green belt

SECTION 10

#1732797626524

468-477: Is open year-round, sunrise to sunset, for hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding, cross country skiing, and hunting (in season). A 1.5-mile (2 km) loop trail leads through forests filled with mountain laurel to the former mine. This trail connects to a spur trail that passes through the adjacent Leadmine Wildlife Management Area and ends at the ruins of the Robert Crowd Site. Visitors can view

507-856: The Fitch House, the Miner Grant Store, and the Richardson House (now the Parsonage) were on the common and the Gristmill was in operation. After a pause for World War II, George B.'s wife Ruth became acting director of the Village. They changed its name to Old Sturbridge Village and opened it on June 8, 1946. Attendance climbed, mostly through word of mouth. In a 1950 article in The Saturday Evening Post ,

546-521: The Making of America (2005), and ‘’ Fetch! With Ruff Ruffman ’’ (2009). Filmmaker Ken Burns 's Hampshire College undergraduate thesis was an educational film made at Old Sturbridge Village called Working in Rural New England . Burns remains a patron and supporter of the museum. Old Sturbridge Village now awards a yearly "Ken Burns Lifetime Achievement Award" to individuals who have made

585-603: The National Register of Historic Places. The Crowd Site, a satellite parcel belonging to the Tantiusques reservation and purchased in 2002, contains the foundations of a house and barn belonging to Robert Crowd, of mixed African American and Native American ancestry, who worked in the mine in the 1850s. Among the customers of the mine during the time it was operated by Crowd was the pencil factory of Henry David Thoreau better known as author of Walden; or, Life in

624-588: The Tantiusques during the a breeding bird survey which was conducted in 2008. Of the species observed, six are listed as priority species. The most common species reflect the common habitat at the reservation which is forest, including areas of dense understory. No state-listed rare species were observed on the property. Few wide-ranging, or area-sensitive species were observed. These include raptors and larger birds such as turkeys and pileated woodpecker which roam over hundreds of acres as well as smaller species, which only nest in large blocks of habitat. The size of

663-645: The US state of California, leading to concerns regarding Open Space Accessibility in California and other areas. Old Sturbridge Village Old Sturbridge Village is a living museum located in Sturbridge , Massachusetts , which recreates life in rural New England during the 1790s through 1830s. It is the largest living museum in New England, covering more than 200 acres (81 hectares). The Village includes 59 antique buildings, three water-powered mills, and

702-508: The Village, stranding 15 staff members. The Freeman Farmhouse was flooded and the covered bridge was swept off its foundation. Helicopters kept staff members supplied for three days until the waters receded. The damage was estimated to be $ 250,000 in 1955, but Village employees managed to re-open the Village in just nine days. Old Sturbridge Village has more than 40 structures, including restored buildings purchased and relocated from around New England, as well as some authentic reconstructions, and

741-508: The Woods . Crowd's house measured 20 by 25 feet (6.1 by 7.6 m) and was constructed circa 1815 by a newlywed couple, John Davis and Rhoda Vinton. They built their home on land owned by Rhoda's father, Jabez Vinton. With the death of John Davis in 1820, Rhoda moved back into her father's home and the house she and her husband built became a rental property. For the next 22 years it remained so and in 1830 its occupants included men who worked in

780-658: The Younger , son of the first leader of the Massachusetts Bay Colony , “purchased” the area now occupied by the reservation from the Nipmuc and began a commercial mining operation. Besides graphite, the mine yielded modest amounts of lead and iron . The mine stayed in the hands of the Winthrop family until 1784 despite difficulties extracting minerals and its poor financial return. In 1828, Frederic Tudor ,

819-491: The area, mine cuts, ditches, tailings piles and several shafts are still visible. The mineshaft that tunnels into the face of the low ridge is the most recent of the excavations, dating to 1902. Most of the mining at Tantiusques was of the open trench variety. A cut along a ridge top on the property is the partially filled-in remainder of what was once a trench 1,000 feet (300 m) long, 20 to 50 feet (6.1 to 15.2 m) deep, and roughly 6 feet (1.8 m) wide. Tantiusques

SECTION 20

#1732797626524

858-742: The corner of Leadmine and Goodrich Roads. Archaeological evidence on the layout of the Davis/Crowd farm, and from the artifacts found at the site, is scheduled to be used in Old Sturbridge Village's Small House Exhibit, a departure from the larger houses typical of the period village museum. The interpretation of the superstructure of the Crowd house is based in part on the examination of a couple of comparable sized and organized houses in Sturbridge and Brookfield, Massachusetts, and on

897-502: The early 1930s, AB had more than 45 rooms full of antiques in his Southbridge home. The Wells family and others formed the Wells Historical Museum in 1935, gave it title to the various collections, and charged it with the care and exhibition of the artifacts. In July 1936, the museum's trustees met to determine how the collections would best be presented to the public. AB wanted to create a small cluster of buildings in

936-724: The entire village is divided into three main sections. The Center Village represents the center of town, with the town green as its focal point. Countryside consists of outlying farms and shops. The Mill Neighborhood features various commercial structures that rely upon the millpond for their power. The Center Village contains: The Countryside section contains: Mill Neighborhood features: Old Sturbridge Village has several buildings devoted to displaying their assorted collections of early American antiques. The Village hosts history- and seasonal-themed events such as homeschool days, kids' summer camps, Christmas by Candlelight, Fourth of July, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. Old Sturbridge Village

975-468: The foundations of the house and barn of the African-American and Native American man who worked at the mine in the 1850s A trailhead is located on Leadmine Road in Sturbridge. Open space reservation The purpose of an open space reserve may include the preservation or conservation of a community or region's rural natural or historic character; the conservation or preservation of

1014-664: The logging was complete, they dug the pond with a team of oxen and a scoop. This entire process took two and a half years. George Washington Wells started a small spectacle shop in Southbridge, Massachusetts , in the 1840s which became the American Optical Company . His sons Channing, Albert (called "AB"), and Cheney followed him into the business, which continued to expand. In 1926, AB began to shop for antiques, and this influenced Cheney to collect early American timepieces and Channing to collect fine furniture. By

1053-530: The mills today. In 1795, Wight's son went to Boston to conduct some business on behalf of his father. While in Boston, he bought tickets to the Harvard Lottery which was a fund-raising technique for Harvard College. He won $ 5,000 (equivalent to $ 97,404 in today's dollars). He gave his father money to pay off the mortgage on his farm and logged the timber of the cedar swamp which today is the millpond. After

1092-593: The nearby graphite mine. In 1842 the house and property were purchased by Robert Crowd and his wife Diantha Scott. Town records show that the Crowds continued to increase the size of their land holdings, but seem to have made few improvements to the house itself. Illness and changing fortunes eventually led the family to move away around 1860. After that, others lived in the house until it burned down circa 1924 In 1994 and 1995, staff of Old Sturbridge Village (an 1830s-themed village) conducted archaeological excavations at

1131-557: The occupation years of the Crowd family. Most artifacts from the Crowd family associated feature include a piece of raw graphite, a couple of black glass buttons, a fragment of brass jewelry, a sawn beef bone, a pigs tooth, fragments of tinware and a glass inkwell. The ceramics include a shard of yellow-ware with blue dendritic decoration, three shards from a blue transfer printed teacup bearing an oriental landscape motif, two shards of polychrome handpainted ware with slightly different design styles and probably from two different teacups, and

1170-464: The primary purpose of passive or active human enjoyment. National forests , state forests , and municipal forests are types of open space reserves set aside for the primary purpose of forest conservation. Flood control projects and protected ecological research areas may also be considered open space reserves secondary to their primary purpose. There is growing evidence that open space is unequally distributed based on race and class, particularly in

1209-455: The probate inventories of two occupants of the house prior to the Crowds. In a multi-occupant site it is almost impossible to differentiate the artifacts of one family from another except. There is one deposit of artifacts that has been attributed to the Crowd family occupation and dates to the period from 1842 to 1860. This is the lower portion of a post hole located between the house and the well, part of whose contents seem to be sandwiched into

Tantiusques - Misplaced Pages Continue

1248-472: The property is a mine shaft entrance about 150 feet south of the parking area. This shaft runs about 50 yards into the side of the ledge. The shaft entrance suffers from bad drainage, filling with ankle-deep water during wet periods. The Crowd Site consists of the remains of two foundations, a deep cellar hole where the house was, and shallower one for the barn. There is also an old well which has been capped. These features are on an otherwise wooded 2 acre lot on

1287-427: The remains of the graphite mine consist of several trenches, debris piles, mine cuts, and remnants of cart paths made from various mining operations. The main rock-cut is a trench about 400 feet long along the side of a ledge. The mine shaft that tunnels into the face of the low ridge is the most recent of all the excavations, dating to 1902. Most of the mining at Tantiusques was of the open trench variety. The cut along

1326-446: The reservation may have affected the survey since many of these species are not well detected using the point count method. Neotropical migrant species that typically require large patches of forest to support viable populations are well represented and include ovenbird , black-throated blue warbler , eastern wood pewee, red-eyed vireo , scarlet tanager , eastern wood pewee and veery . Neotropical migrants represent more than half of

1365-468: The site, which along with documentary research indicated that the Davis/Crowd house was very similar to other period small houses, of a housing form that is now almost completely vanished from the New England landscape. These houses had chimneys located in their northwest corners or along the north wall and unfinished attics. Most of the downstairs space was taken up by one single room. Currently,

1404-410: The species observed and four out of the five most abundant species recorded. Invasive plants currently occur at very low densities within this site. The non-native insect hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) has the potential to severely alter forest species competition and structure. Although hemlock is not common the Tantiusques, nearly half of the trees samples were infested with HWA in 2008. The property

1443-458: The top of the ridge is the partially filled-in remainder of what was once a several thousand foot-long trench, 20 to 50 feet in depth and roughly 6 feet in width, which followed the vein of graphite. Today this trench is separated from the main rock-cut by Lead Mine Road. At one time these two trenches connected, forming most of the mine. Over the years many sections of the mine have collapsed and filled in with material. The best preserved feature on

1482-997: The village was featured as "The Town That Wants to be Out of Date". By 1955, it acquired the Meetinghouse from the Fiskdale neighborhood of Sturbridge, the Salem Towne House from Charlton, Massachusetts , the Fenno House, the Friends Meetinghouse, the Pliny Freeman House, the Printing Office, and the District School. On August 18, 1955, gale-force winds and a torrential downpour from Hurricane Diane created flood waters that broke dams in surrounding towns and flooded

1521-552: Was acquired by The Trustees of Reservations in 1962 through land donated by Roger Chaffee, given in memory of his professor, George H. Haynes, of Worcester Polytechnic Institute . Professor Haynes, a Sturbridge native, published The Tale of Tantiusques - An Early Mining Venture in Massachusetts in 1902. In 1983, through the efforts of the Sturbridge Historical Commission, the mine was placed on

#523476