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Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
Postcards from Falmouth Oral History Transcript
Recorded: August 19, 2021
Oral Historian: Mark Schmidt
Interviewer: Troy Clarkson
Topic: Falmouth Historical Society
Note: The right column references postcards by identifiers searchable in the Digital
Commonwealth online collection.
00:00
[Music]
00:45
Mark welcome thank you for having me so
00:47
we have the opportunity the honor really
00:50
today of discussing uh what has become
00:52
an entire campus of the Falmouth Museums
#falmouthhistoricalsociety
#falmouthmuseumsonthegreen
00:55
On the Green but your postcard is of um
00:59
an an old
01:00
historic home
01:02
that has had many names uh and the
01:05
beautiful gardens which have a rich
01:08
history so just tell us a little bit
01:10
about uh those postcards but also the
01:13
history of the Falmouth Museums On the
01:16
Green sure absolutely it's a pleasure to
01:17
be here today and thank you for having
01:19
me um the Falmouth Historical Society
01:23
and later the Museums On the Green
01:25
they're kind of one in the same
01:27
um
1
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
01:28
was founded in 1900 and there's two kind
01:30
of rather colorful individuals one named
01:33
Henry Herbert Smythe who was the rector
#henryherbertsmythe
01:35
of Saint Barnabas uh church
#saintbarnabaschurch
Gunning_Village_Bldg_0316
through 0343
01:38
in Falmouth and he had
01:40
a friend named Robinson Crocker Bodfish
01:44
and
01:44
these two started up what they called
01:46
the Falmouth Historical Society in 1900
#1900
01:49
and later incorporated it in 1904.
#1904
01:52
they started it because they wanted to
01:54
capture the stories of whaling families
01:57
while they were still relevant you know
01:59
and still around to um to to capture
02:02
them
02:03
so
02:04
um Smythe became the first president
02:06
Bodfish became the treasurer
02:08
they had their meetings
02:10
at the old town hall as well as the
02:13
library
02:16
they incorporated in 1904
02:20
later in 1932 one of the postcards that
02:23
you've got there is a house that was
02:25
owned by a woman named Julia Wood and it
#robinsonbodfish
Gunning_Village_Bldg_0451
through 454
2
#juliawood
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
02:27
was originally built in 1790 by a
#1790
02:30
gentleman named Dr. Francis Wicks
#franciswicks
02:34
Wicks was a leader in smallpox
02:37
research he was also
02:39
a privateer during the Revolutionary War
02:42
um the house was essentially the
02:46
most stately mansion on the town green
#americanrevolution
#falmouthvillagegreen
Gunning_Village_Sts_0053
through 0078
02:48
at the time and it was bequeathed to the
02:52
Historical Society in 1932 by a woman
02:54
named Julia Wood now interestingly with
02:57
the house it also came with a ten
02:58
thousand dollar mortgage which if you
03:00
think about it we're at the height of
03:02
the Depression so they you know it was
03:04
great to get the building but they it
03:05
took them a while to get out of debt
03:07
until 1942 but that's where they then
03:10
had their meetings and um
03:13
so for a
03:16
good deal of time it was referred to as
03:18
the Julia Wood house or the Wood House
03:20
but
03:21
people got a little confused well of
03:22
course there's a Wood House what else is
03:24
it going to be made of
03:26
so it
3
#1932
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
03:27
then
03:28
in about 2005 the Historical Society
03:31
said let's start calling it the Dr.
03:33
Francis Wicks house
03:34
to kind of delineate where it is
03:38
also in that not included in the
03:39
postcards but next to it was a house
03:42
that Julia Wood had also owned at one
03:44
time called the
03:45
the Conant House which was built in 1730
03:48
and then the campus now entails the two
03:51
houses
03:52
a rebuilt barn
03:54
called the Hallett Barn that was
03:56
on the grounds that had had been
03:59
infested with powder post beetles the uh
04:02
the Historical Society decided to tear
04:04
it down rebuild it
04:06
and
04:08
that's what's now used as the visitor
04:09
center on the campus and in 2012 the
04:12
Historical Society build a cultural
04:14
center so if you come to the grounds now
04:16
at 55 and 65 Palmer Avenue
04:18
that's entails the Museums On the Green
04:21
the name Museums On the Green
04:23
came into the lexicon right around 2000
#wickshouse
#conanthouse #1730
#hallettbarn
#2012
#palmeravenue
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�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
04:27
because basically when you heard the
04:28
words Historical Society it gave the
04:30
inference that it was a bunch of
04:32
blue-haired old ladies dust-covered
04:34
stuff it sounded rather non-dynamic
04:37
the Museums On the Green
04:39
said
04:40
what we do where we are and
04:43
kind of gives a better location for that
04:45
so that's a little backdrop to the
04:47
Historical Society
04:49
and the building which they've they've
04:51
had since 1932 and that's really the the
04:54
Wicks House the Julia Wood House
04:57
has really been the center of what has
05:00
happened um with the Historical Society
05:03
since the 30s um the first tours were
05:06
given I believe in 1938 it cost 15 cents
05:10
um the first
05:12
school tours were given to fourth
05:14
graders starting in 1950
05:16
um and another postcard that you've got
05:18
in there as well and jumping a little
05:20
bit ahead is also the gardens the the
05:22
the Historical Society started working
05:25
with the um
05:27
Falmouth Garden Club
#1938
#falmouthgardenclub
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�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
05:28
in the late 30s early 40s
05:31
and the there are two separate gardens
05:34
that's next to
05:36
the Wicks House in between the Wicks
05:38
House and the Conant House
05:40
one is called um
05:42
uh
05:43
Memorial Park which is closer to
#memorialpark
05:46
Katharine Lee Bates Road
#katharineleebatesroad
05:48
and the other one is called the Colonial
#colonialgardens
05:49
Gardens which has some original cuttings
05:51
from way back when and and from the
05:53
ground so it's a
05:55
it's really been
05:57
a snapshot of Falmouth's past being on
06:00
his on the grounds of 55 and 65 Palmer
06:03
Avenue where the Museums On the Green
06:04
line is now located
06:06
as to
06:07
why they're called what they're called
06:08
and uh what's gone into that so
06:11
the um the Wicks House has been the
06:14
center of our universe for you know
06:17
better part of
06:18
nearly 100 years
06:20
and
06:22
it's been something that the Historical
Hunt_Village_Bldg_029 &
Gunning_Village_Bldg_0455
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�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
06:23
Society has maintained it's gone through
06:25
a couple of iterations
06:27
among the things that are in the Wicks
06:30
House is some
06:32
18th century French wallpaper that was
06:34
originally brought back
06:37
by a whaling captain
06:39
in 1802 and set up in a different house
06:42
but brought over to the Wicks House in
06:44
the 1950s so it's not original to the
06:47
House but it's one of the own the Wicks
06:49
House is now one of the only three
06:50
buildings in the united states that
06:52
actually has 18th century French
06:54
wallpaper the other two are
06:57
located in Washington, D.C and in Boston
07:00
um uh it's also
07:03
walls have been removed um it used to be
07:06
uh
07:08
multiple walls and what's now the dining
07:10
room but the the uh
07:13
the Board at the time said let's try to
07:14
make a little more stately so they took
07:16
out different walls so it's a much
07:18
larger dining room
07:20
so it's gone through different
07:21
iterations but it's definitely been
7
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
07:25
the absolute
07:27
apex of what the Historical Society has
07:30
wanted to do and show off since they
07:31
acquired in 1932. so they were they're
07:34
rightfully proud of it and they've the
07:36
boards over over the years have done a
07:38
good job of maintaining
07:40
um its elegance
07:44
and thank you for that wonderful and
07:45
detailed intro and so
07:47
over the decades
07:49
the campus has really become
07:53
a cultural center for the community
07:55
where people come and gather and not
07:58
only have the ability to
08:01
see the artifacts that are on site in
08:03
the Wood slash Wicks house
08:06
but then
08:07
hear a living history of the town
08:10
through the
08:11
visitor center and the authors and the
08:13
speakers that you have there so it's
08:16
really grown from
08:18
a static display to a living
08:22
breathing example of our local history
08:25
and the people that have contributed to
08:26
it thank you for saying that that's
8
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
08:28
that's really our intention we we
08:30
realize that um we're right at the
08:32
beginning of uh the downtown area that
08:35
we we know that there are people who
08:37
uh come into town and want to learn more
08:40
about what's going on in Falmouth and we
08:42
try to provide that it's a bit of
08:45
education entertainment information
08:48
that we hope we can provide to people
08:50
through
08:52
guided tours of the Wicks House who are
08:53
walking towards the town through um
08:56
uh
08:58
lectures and talks
08:59
uh obviously through the through the
09:01
pandemic we've had to do things
09:02
virtually although the walking tours
09:04
remain in person and they've been very
09:05
popular with
09:07
because of the um
09:09
the pandemic we have to make sure that
09:11
people still wear masks when they go
09:13
into the Wicks House
09:15
because we don't want any docents any
09:16
volunteers any visitors to get sick but
09:18
then
09:20
but it's been
9
#pandemic
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
09:21
our way of kind of showing people how
09:23
the the town has changed how it's
09:26
progressed how things how things have
09:29
gone from
09:30
um
09:31
the Federal period in which the house
09:33
was built
09:34
through through whaling through
09:38
whaling captains and on through
09:42
tourism being the main
09:43
industry of the town so it's our way of
09:46
trying to give a doff of the cap to that
09:48
and inform people that this is what
09:50
happened
09:51
through the years
09:52
tell us a little bit about the the
09:54
whaling history and Falmouth it's not
09:57
something that's often discussed but in
09:58
the day was an important economic driver
10:02
for the community people forget that
10:03
that um that for about a 30-year period
10:06
this really was the business of Falmouth
10:09
and uh so from 1920 to 1820 1850
10:14
um Falmouth was
10:16
a major whaling port it was not
10:19
Nantucket it was not
10:21
New Bedford
#whaling
10
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
10:22
but
10:23
arguably it was third and
10:26
there there were famous whaling captains
10:27
that went all throughout the world
10:30
if you go up and down Locust Street
10:31
there are whaling um captain's homes in
10:34
fact
10:35
um
10:36
the
10:37
the aforementioned Wicks slash Wood House
10:40
was actually a whaling captain's house
10:41
for the better part of 86 years so it's
10:44
um
10:46
as much as we focus on Wicks
10:50
and end with Julia Wood in between were
10:52
some significant whaling families that
10:55
lived in that house as well as other
10:57
houses in the town and uh until oil is
11:01
discovered in Pennsylvania
11:03
um that was really
11:05
whale oil was really the driving force
11:07
for Falmouth's uh economy for a good 30
11:11
years
11:13
so as you've noted uh in
11:16
one of the portions of the museum uh
11:18
there are
11:20
displays of
#locuststreet
11
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
11:22
clothing and
11:24
different tools and artifacts from
11:26
Falmouth's history highlight a couple of
11:29
maybe your favorites or the the more
11:31
interesting items you have on display
11:34
well if you would walk into
11:37
the Wicks House
11:38
itself we want to give a guided tour so
11:41
you can go through everything and try to
11:43
see
11:44
uh furniture from the you know from the
11:47
18th and 19th centuries
11:49
china
11:51
paintings and portraits of of some
11:54
major luminaries from the town
11:56
um
11:57
if you go into
11:59
the Conant House right next to it you can
12:01
get a self-guided tour
12:04
of a timeline of Falmouth's past
12:06
I personally my favorite artifact in in
12:10
the whole collection is a 1939 jukebox
12:14
that was in the Falmouth Grange that
12:16
still plays
12:18
one of our
12:20
one of our members a long time had it in
12:22
his barn he passed away his widow asked
12
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
12:24
would we like it I
12:26
couldn't say yes fast enough
12:28
it took a couple years to get restored
12:31
but it plays beautifully and I think
12:33
it's
12:34
amazing to watch people of any age
12:37
understand appreciate and really
12:40
uh just glow when it plays so so you see
12:44
different things all throughout um
12:47
Falmouth's past we've got something from
12:49
the wreck of the Andrea Doria you know that uh
12:53
there are things that go back um
12:54
obviously there's a painting of the HMS
12:56
Nimrod which attacked
12:58
Falmouth in 1814
13:00
that you can
13:01
see an artist's rendition of that so
13:04
there's so many things we literally have
13:06
over a hundred thousand artifacts in our
13:08
collection much of it's paper and books
13:10
and
13:11
ship’s logs
13:12
but
13:14
we feel that we're the repository of
13:15
Falmouth's past and we try to do
13:19
a good job of protecting that past
13:23
in climate controlled environment and
#andreadoria
#hmsnimrod
#1814 #warof1812
13
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
13:25
making sure that what we have
13:28
is
13:29
protected and ultimately offered for the
13:31
public to see
13:33
one of the uh I think
13:36
critical roles that the Historical
13:38
Society uh and
13:40
and your leadership play is
13:44
creating
13:45
uh
13:47
capturing today's
13:49
history so that a generation or three
13:51
generations from now when people visit
13:54
the Museums On the Green they'll be able
13:56
to get a sense of what it was like to
13:58
live today
14:00
and
14:01
uh this is conjecture on my part but I
14:03
would venture to say that when people
14:05
from future generations look back on
14:06
this era in Falmouth uh from an artistic
14:09
standpoint because you mentioned
14:11
paintings that they will look back on
14:13
Karen Rinaldo as one of the the leading
14:16
artistic voices of our time uh and you
14:20
have on display
14:22
one of her most prominent paintings tell
14
#karenrinaldo
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
14:24
us a little bit about that yeah I mean
14:26
um
14:28
Karen painted uh something in 1995
14:31
called The First Thanksgiving 1621 and
14:33
she actually did it for
14:36
a church group out of Wisconsin they are
14:38
the actual owners of it
14:40
and it's the one painting
14:43
that
14:43
has all of 51 surviving members of the
14:46
Mayflower the 91 Wampanoag who came to
14:50
visit them
14:51
who were in attendance at the first the
14:53
first Thanksgiving in 1621 and she did
14:56
copious research on this and it's
14:59
it's the one
15:00
obviously there was nobody there with a
15:01
Polaroid or with it with an iPhone but
15:04
it's the one painting that's got all of
15:06
them there and we have it till the end
15:08
of the year
15:09
um
15:10
then our loan agreement I don't know
15:12
where it's going to go after that but
15:13
it's been a real honor to have that and
15:16
uh
15:17
um
#1995
15
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
15:18
so that's one of the things we have and
15:19
I’m really glad to mention that and
15:22
and thank you for saying two about the
15:23
future generations our research
15:25
librarian Meg Costello is second to none
15:28
and she does a great job of informing
15:30
people
15:31
of what has happened in days gone by and
15:34
and we we try to make sure that we tell
15:36
little interesting stories about
15:38
uh snippets of Falmouth's past we also
15:41
have tried to make it a point the
15:42
pandemic has kind of put
15:44
a little crimp on this and so we're
15:46
going to try to pick it up when things
15:47
get a little bit back to normal
15:50
as you mentioned one of the things that
15:51
we want to be able to do is to
15:54
acquire stories have oral histories of
15:57
people
15:59
from things that are not so in the
16:01
distant past that aren't necessarily
16:02
18th and 19th centuries that
16:07
if you stop and think about it and
16:09
not to make everyone feel old but uh
16:12
you know if you're in high school right
16:13
now you weren't alive at 9/11. you know
16
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
16:16
that that so that's
16:17
that's a story to you you weren't there
16:20
but we know that there's people in town
16:22
that might have attended Ted Williams’
16:24
last game or their they watched Bobby
16:26
Orr play they saw the Beatles in at
16:28
Boston Garden or um
16:31
they made a they might have been living
16:33
in Boston during bussing or they were
16:34
working in Washington during Watergate
16:37
it's those kind of stories that we'd
16:39
like to accumulate while people
16:41
are still around to talk about them
16:43
because
16:45
there are people that is
16:48
maybe not ancient history but it's
16:50
certainly history so it's um
16:52
it's one of the things that we want to
16:53
be able to focus on it's not just about
16:57
um
16:59
yesteryear it's about
17:01
days that haven't gone that aren't all
17:04
that far in the rearview mirror but
17:05
people are still lucid and and and
17:08
can tell stories that firsthand
17:10
experiences
17:12
that are really
17
#watergate
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
17:14
important
17:15
to catalog and and to have in the
17:17
database so that's
17:19
one of our real uh points of emphasis
17:22
that
17:23
we really hope to be able to pick up on
17:25
when we can get back to some air fingers
17:27
normalcy and uh in this world so that's
17:30
I’m thank you for bringing that up well
17:32
it I think it it's an important
17:35
perspective because from the beginning
17:36
of time
17:38
up until yesterday
17:40
right that entire span is our collective
17:42
history exactly and so to capture the
17:44
more recent history is important so that
17:48
people in the future look back on these
17:50
times it's funny you mentioned Watergate
17:52
and
17:53
as I’m sure you know right here in
17:54
Falmouth we have
17:57
the gentleman who actually drafted the
17:59
articles of impeachment against
18:00
President Nixon lives here in Falmouth
18:03
uh I actually did not know that so
18:04
there's a bit of our history that that
18:06
we can share in this interview and uh
#impeachment
18
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
18:08
and uh
18:10
he's actually a dear friend and a
18:12
volunteer at the Carousel of Light so uh
18:15
but I think that's the ongoing value
18:18
because I you raise an important point
18:20
Mark people when they think of history
18:22
they think of ancient history right yeah
18:24
and
18:25
to people of a certain age uh you know
18:28
that the 70s the 80s the 90s were part
18:32
of our lives but
18:34
to young people who were born after the
18:35
turn of the century that's
18:37
ancient history and so to capture
18:40
that's why these oral histories are so
18:42
important because it allows us to just
18:44
have a conversation about
18:46
our community and what
18:49
uh
18:49
all of that collective history has led
18:51
us to the to be the community we are
18:53
today I’m into that I mean it we we tend
18:56
to think that if it happened in our
18:58
lifetime it's quote not cool or just
19:00
it's not that important well we've gone
19:02
through some pretty
19:04
major things in our lifetime you know
19
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
19:05
that uh
19:07
um you know we just mentioned 9/11 which
19:09
is you know epic but you know
19:11
that
19:12
I’m sure that there were people in the
19:14
town that were at Woodstock you know
19:16
that that that uh or that protested
19:19
against the war or served in Vietnam or
19:21
served in Afghanistan or
19:23
um may not have anything to do with the
19:25
military but that they they were
19:28
they were at Fenway Park when the Red
19:30
Sox won you know that
19:32
you know look as I’m a lifelong Chicago
19:34
Cubs fan I finally got to live long
19:36
enough to see the Cubs win a World
19:37
Series I didn't think that was going to
19:38
happen
19:40
but it's those kind of memories it's
19:42
those kind of
19:44
pass-downs that we want to be able to
19:46
capture record and set and savor
19:50
for
19:52
current grade school high school kids
19:54
and their kids you know that uh what was
19:56
it like when
19:57
you know people forget that we're going
#redsox
#chicagocubs
#worldseries
20
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
19:59
through this golden era of
20:01
the Patriots
20:03
what was it like when Vinatieri’s kick
20:05
went through and you won it for the
20:06
first time
20:07
wow this is awesome that the that you
20:10
finally got to see the Bruins win the
20:11
Stanley Cup
20:13
you know it's those kind of things that
20:16
uh while they're fresh in your mind you
20:18
want to be able to um to to detail and
20:21
to record and say this is what it was
20:24
like
20:25
or how you felt when the ball went
20:26
through Buckner’s legs
20:28
so as a Cubs fan I’m sure that was not
20:30
as crushing to you as it was to me I uh
20:34
look I I I have no love for the Mets
20:38
so for those watching who weren't alive
20:40
in 1986 uh that was when the Red Sox
20:43
lost game six of the World Series to the
20:44
New York Mets for me it's 1984 watching
20:47
the ball go through William Durham’s
20:48
legs but yeah
20:50
but all of that
20:52
it is relevant to our discussion because
20:53
it's part of our local history and so
21
#1986
#1984
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
20:56
it's great to have you to be able to to
20:58
share that with us and to catalog it for
21:00
future generations
21:03
what else would you like to share with
21:04
us
21:05
speak to a future generation of
21:07
Falmouthites and and talk to them about
21:09
what it's like to be in Falmouth in 2021
21:11
well I think it's been it's been really
21:13
interesting watching the world go by and
21:16
how people have
21:18
really had to
21:20
retrench
21:21
and
21:25
re-prioritize things because of the
21:27
pandemic I mean
21:28
as a history major as somebody who used
21:30
to teach history or something who's paid
21:32
to to educate people in history it's
21:35
it obviously hits me at my core
21:37
when watching history getting
21:40
devalued and de-emphasized in school
21:43
curriculum that that that cuts and it
21:45
hits me where I live
21:47
so I want people to understand
21:49
what it is that we went through and why
21:51
history is important and that's why we
22
#2021
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
21:53
do as many of the
21:56
the talks as we do and and doing them
21:58
virtually
22:00
um
22:01
I can ask just about anyone from just
22:03
about anywhere to talk about just about
22:05
anything historically and the worst
22:07
thing they can say is no that if they're
22:09
doing it from their house
22:11
that if Troy Clarkson is in Seattle and
22:14
he's got a book about
22:17
fill-in-the-blank historical topic
22:20
I can ask you to talk about it and we
22:22
can we can discuss things that might be
22:26
of
22:28
current interest
22:30
be it what's going on in in the world of
22:33
politically uh socially economically
22:36
and put it into some kind of a
22:38
historical context we don't have to get
22:39
into it into any kind of
22:42
take political positions but but we can
22:44
sit there and kind of educate about
22:47
why this is relevant and germane
22:50
so for me
22:53
I think that being in Falmouth in 2021
22:57
and
23
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
22:58
what's been really gratifying for me and
23:01
we're at the studios of FCTV for
23:04
right now
23:05
is knowing that
23:07
people like Debbie Rogers at FCTV have
23:10
been there
23:11
all along to make sure other non-profits
23:13
are still doing okay that
23:16
um
23:17
that we're making sure that
23:20
restaurants are still surviving and that
23:23
the the library is reopening to people
23:25
and
23:26
um that it's been difficult
23:29
to watch businesses that had been
23:32
thriving prior to all of this
23:35
not
23:36
or maybe go under it's it's been it's
23:39
been heartbreaking and um
23:41
I’m
23:42
I’m very gratified for the fact that
23:45
we've been able to endure this we've had
23:48
some
23:49
great supporters great members great
23:51
donors
23:52
who have made sure that we didn't
23:55
suffer as much as we could have
24
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
23:58
but there's other businesses that can't
24:00
necessarily say that so I
24:03
I
24:05
the pandemic has taught us lessons in
24:07
business as to what we can do and
24:09
prioritize and maybe do a little bit
24:11
better
24:13
but I don't wish this on anyone you know
24:15
that this is
24:16
this
24:17
I can think of other ways to have fun
24:19
and this this has not been one of them
24:21
but I’m I’m very uh gratified for those
24:24
who have
24:25
banded together and
24:28
tried to weather the storm you know that
24:30
we are going to be doing something
24:31
called the One Falmouth project there's
24:33
14 non-profits
24:35
that are going to do a a televised event
24:38
we hope in the first quarter of 2022
24:40
to try to show that we're still around
24:42
and we still need support we're still
24:44
going to be here and we and we want this
24:45
to be the first of many iterations of
24:47
that
24:49
but
#onefalmouth
#2022
25
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
24:49
that's been a real
24:52
um gratifying takeaway for me is that
24:54
there's been
24:56
we've been able to stand together and
24:58
you know it you know it's that uh famous
25:00
historic line about from uh from the
25:03
Revolutionary War if we don't hang
25:04
together all hang separately and uh I
25:06
think that we've we've hung together
25:09
that's a great way to wrap it up we are
25:11
indeed one Falmouth and thank you for
25:13
spending a little time with us here to
25:15
be able to capture
25:17
Some of Falmouth's history and and what
25:19
it means uh to all of us moving forward
25:22
so Mark Schmidt thank you very much and
25:23
uh it's been great visiting with you
25:25
thank you for having me it's been a real
25:26
pleasure and honor
26
�
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Transcript of Mark Schmidt's Oral History on the Falmouth Historical Society
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american revolution
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Postcards from Falmouth
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https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/32209/archive/files/7ab354b8042c50266babb47ce05e9e91.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=mpNf9QljCy-isRnPtvLXfewehdsVIG9YbzMwtx0nIn%7EYRmK6lhaS3ycWGDvX9BhPtbfso7QcEIrnVCqLwqAk9p6f0LdqDTvDewqD7RJmbw5CN5TrAisI2bQebrv2awB0vqZ%7E9R%7EuyYUDr-sarBYcfmi-M94yXMrNJDRL1YGYirVUpmvxBmKTaf43iYvlXZ%7ETylOSUbWY19omBHuHxwEGG-qq2V34ARA-oZB8ENoTpr34UkIIJ%7E6vIbtYTRSLx8nw88ddIeyfEmGPecXQyOhByebk4piKUY7o8dpBQ%7EAdFg1yWGujig3yCMVY79L%7EMa9iPo5ZYZ1iNl393i3RDZQ4ug__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
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Text
Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
Postcards from Falmouth Oral History Transcript
Recorded: March 3, 2020
Oral Historian: Richard Kendall
Interviewer: Barbara Kanellopoulos
Topic: Falmouth Heights Baseball
Note: The right column references postcards by identifiers searchable in the Digital
Commonwealth online collection.
00:00
[Music]
00:45
welcome to the program
00:46
and um thank you very much about
00:50
Falmouth Heights well if we're talking I
00:53
think I’m talking a little bit about the
00:54
ballpark
#falmouthheights
#falmouthheightsballpark
Gunning_Heights_Ball_1251 through
1265
Hunt_Heights_Bldg_267 through 269
Hunt_Heights_Bldg_194
Hunt_Heights_Bch_274
00:56
at the great park that was set up in
00:58
1870
01:00
Falmouth the Heights as a summer resort
01:03
was really starting to be put together
01:05
and over the next three years
01:07
the six gentleman from Worcester
01:09
Massachusetts acquired all of the
01:11
properties
01:12
and uh zoned it on their own zoning map
#1870
1
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
01:16
very tight restrictions decided where
01:19
the parks would all grow
01:21
uh go so they had a really uh
01:24
it was the first planned unit
01:26
development in the history of
01:27
Massachusetts
01:28
so it ran in those years and it evolved
01:31
as it as the years went by but that
01:34
particular year set up everything
01:36
every single park throughout the
01:39
the system the whole Falmouth Heights
were all
01:41
part of the grand design
01:42
and when you walk through Falmouth
Heights
01:43
you can take a look at that
01:45
and and uh admire it and the largest
01:48
parcel of all was what we call the ball
01:51
field
01:52
and that has been used for all sorts of
01:54
things everything from
01:56
uh a children uh boys and girls
01:58
campground with tents and religious
02:00
training uh had
02:02
had political events uh Herbert Hoover
02:05
had a
02:05
fundraiser in there on that that with two
2
#herberthoover
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
02:07
thousand people
02:09
uh there's all kind of uses but even in
02:11
the 1870s baseball was an attraction
02:15
so in my contact don't go back to 1870
02:18
although I’m
02:19
wondering how I look like I might go
02:21
back to 1870
02:23
but it was taken over the the developers
02:26
of Falmouth Heights
02:28
did so in such a way that you would
02:30
always have an area
02:31
that could be used for spectacular
02:33
events
02:34
and baseball was one of those for them
02:36
and it was for myself as I grew up as a
02:39
youngster 10 11 years old there were
02:42
teams from Falmouth Heights teams from
02:45
Falmouth and we would either ride our
02:47
bikes from Falmouth to Falmouth Heights
02:50
or we would if we were lucky we would
02:53
had a nickel we could go on Palmer's
02:55
bus station which was on Walker Street
02:57
and for a nickel you could ride to the
02:59
ball field
03:00
and that's how we went back and forth
03:01
but Belvidere Plains had a team Falmouth
3
#walkerstreet
#belvidereplain
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
Hunt_Village_Har_114
03:03
Heights had a team
03:04
and we all played on the Heights ball
03:06
field and I remember
03:07
most of my youth traveling to that ball
03:10
field and I went back
03:12
as years went by to play on it as in
03:14
Cape Cod League which was
03:16
already it had been going on since I
03:18
guess there were baseball in the Heights
03:20
since the
03:21
1870s but the Falmouth All-Stars a lot
03:24
of the local people that you would know
03:26
Willard Boyden who was principal of the
#willardboyden
03:28
East Falmouth Elementary School was the
#eastfalmouthelementaryschool
03:30
coach for the Falmouth All-Stars
03:32
and the old original Cape Cod League
03:35
with great players like
03:37
Butts Jonas if you remember about Jonas
03:40
so Roche Pires is just
03:41
outstanding athletes who competed in the
03:43
league
03:44
there was a team from the military
03:46
reservation
03:47
uh had great stars the young uh
03:50
professionals who had been drafted who
#capecodbaseballleague
#falmouthallstars
#rochepires
4
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
03:52
played in the cape league
03:53
Mass Maritime had a team Mashpee had a
03:56
team Barnstable
03:57
went all the way down to Eastham and
03:58
baseball league
04:00
say we were the Falmouth Falcons so we
04:02
were the second team from Falmouth
04:03
playing on the
04:04
Falmouth Heights ball field so many of
04:06
the names that
04:08
we that I’m familiar with I just happen
04:10
to be talking to Billy Swift who's doing
04:12
another tape for you folks
04:14
who played left field for our team in
04:16
that league and could tell you the same
04:18
stories of
04:19
Cape League baseball three days a week
04:21
and we just lived for it
04:23
as soon as somebody was old enough to
04:25
have a driver's license we were on the
04:27
road
04:28
but Norman Allenby uh Billy Swift
04:31
[Charlie Board] and Jack Cavanagh a list
04:34
of 100 people that probably played in
04:36
the leagues during that decade
04:38
but the ball field was always there for
5
#falmouthfalcons
#williamswift
Sp. unknown
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
04:41
the folks who need it by deed it had to
04:44
be available and accessible for every
04:46
property owner and that was the mandate
04:50
that was
04:50
by the original planners who founded
04:53
they were the Land and Wharf
04:54
Company and they just they dictated
04:56
everything rezoned it much like our
04:58
zoning maps of today
04:59
only with very carefully placed parks
05:03
all of those parks in Falmouth Heights
05:05
were turned over to the Town of Falmouth
05:06
for one dollar
05:08
so the ball field and all of the parks
05:10
throughout Falmouth Heights were deeded
over
05:12
to the Falmouth
05:13
Town of Falmouth for posterity and I
05:16
think that was a great
05:17
uh a great thing to have been done but
05:20
the ball fields themselves
05:23
everybody has a story about games on the
05:25
on
05:26
the Falmouth Heights ball field and
05:28
practices on the ball field
05:30
and I go down periodically and I’ll see
#falmouthheightslandandwharfcompany
6
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
05:32
youngsters playing
05:33
up front not from the pitching rubber
05:34
but playing from 20 feet earlier in
05:37
underhand maybe a little bit but playing
05:39
on the big field
05:40
or watching uh seniors play softball on
05:44
the field it's always a ball field
05:46
it hasn't changed in a hundred years the
05:48
the desire to have
05:50
events out there are just I guess it's
05:53
instinctive you have a big field and you
05:55
got to play a game
05:56
so that was my part of the uh the
05:59
baseball year the Cape Cod League for
06:01
several years
06:02
my brother Bob and I would be there
06:04
Charles Robb
06:06
Billy Swift who as I mentioned just has
06:08
another taping for you
06:11
but many were very memories a great deal
06:13
of memories
06:14
all together but
06:18
were the games organized today we have
06:21
um
06:22
organized baseball for young people and
06:25
yours seemed to be rather pickup games
#robertkendall
7
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
06:29
whenever you could get the groups to get
06:31
together
06:32
that that's the big difference there was
06:33
no Little League or Babe Ruth League and
06:35
what we would do is organize
06:36
teams in our region as Belvidere Plains
06:39
or Falmouth Heights or East Falmouth
06:42
or North Falmouth and we would use the
06:44
Heights as our ball field so we've made
06:46
up our own teams
06:47
with our own bats and our own balls and
06:49
we coached them within ourselves
06:51
it was just youth youth youth baseball
06:55
a lot of fun but no organization and
06:58
there was no
06:59
you never really won or a loss you just
07:01
played the game
07:02
so it wasn't too competitive it was very
07:05
competitive the team from the base had
07:07
uh
07:07
probably four minor league double a ball
07:10
players our star pitcher for the Falcons
07:13
was
07:13
had played double a for the Red Sox so
07:16
no the competition was good
07:18
the leagues now were outstanding
8
#bostonredsox
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
07:20
collegiates waiting to be drafted
07:22
our league had professionals former
07:24
professionals
07:25
college stars high school stars
07:29
it was a very competitive league I’m
07:31
sure that some of you looked up to the
07:34
stars oh absolutely absolutely when you
07:37
got up when you came up to bat as a
07:40
late teenager and you had a former
07:43
double
07:44
a major minor league pitcher going
07:46
against you you were
07:47
in awe you were definitely you know
07:50
a lot of ball players the older Jack
07:52
Cavanaugh had played Navy baseball
07:55
so they were the league was fast
07:58
Roche Pires as I mentioned probably one
of
08:00
the fine
08:01
when the Negro leagues were the only
08:04
place that uh that a non-white could
08:06
play
08:07
and Roche Pires was a triple sport
08:09
athlete magnificent
08:11
by any stretch of the imagination would
08:13
have been a high high minor league or
9
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
08:15
probably a major leaguer
08:16
given the opportunity and when you faced
08:18
Roche Pires in a game you knew you were
08:20
going to whiff three times
08:23
so that was before blacks were
08:26
bigger I’m talking about the 40s 40s
08:31
40s and 50s and do you remember some of
08:34
our own Falmouth
08:36
boys who went on to become professionals
08:39
well Rusty Robbins was in my high school
08:41
class he became a lieutenant in the fire
08:43
department here
08:44
Rusty was the three sport athlete in
08:46
Falmouth High School
#falmouthhighschool
08:48
the Boston Braves before they moved to
#bostonbraves
08:50
Milwaukee gave him a
08:51
minor league contract and Russ went down
08:53
to Florida to play for a minor league
08:55
team
08:56
he broke his leg as I recall early on in
08:59
his career and came back to Falmouth and
09:02
did not continue but Rusty was a real
09:05
real prospect
09:06
probably the finest prospect that I saw
09:08
in my years
09:10
you had to mention the fact that the
10
#rustyrobbins
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
09:13
land
09:13
has what's given uh does it
09:16
it seems that there were a lot of
09:18
wealthy
09:19
summer residents who bought property and
09:22
were quite generous
09:24
the corporation that bought from
09:27
Worcester the six gentlemen business
09:29
people were civic minded and they
09:31
understood the responsibility they had
09:33
they zoned it
09:34
we would be pleased with the zoning it's
09:36
it's equivalent to what we have today
09:39
uh it was all residential but the parks
09:41
had to be in
09:42
these spots here but the big changeover
09:44
was
09:45
when they had sold out all of their real
09:47
estate
09:49
they wanted to make sure that the parks
09:50
remained under care
09:52
and so everything was deeded as I
09:53
mentioned earlier to the town
09:56
were they retiring these gentlemen
10:00
the six people they would know they were
10:01
in the business to make money
11
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
10:04
they made a fortune they bought up all
10:06
of the Heights you think of Falmouth
10:07
Heights
10:08
as a land mass with no property owner
10:11
except one
10:12
and so it was re-zoned and they sold
10:14
every single piece of property
10:16
that was to be there and allowed it to
10:18
be there's a building on the water that
10:20
we now know as the casino a an
#casino #casinobythesea
Gunning_Heights_Bldg_1144 and 1146,
Gunning_Heights_Bldg_1151 through
1157
Hunt_Heights_Bldg_195
Hunt_Heights_Bldg_208 through 218
10:22
equivalent building to the casino has
10:24
been there for 100 years
10:27
so the Heights then was
10:31
the ball field but how about uh the rest
10:33
of the Heights did you have the kinds of
10:35
restaurants and
10:37
no they came later they came later what
10:40
you had was a really elegant
10:42
summer resort and people from
everywhere
10:44
that could travel that distance
10:46
would go to Falmouth Heights and that
12
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
10:47
was their desire
10:49
to establish the most elegant summer
10:51
resort uh
10:53
and as I think I mentioned in my early
10:55
mentionings it had been
10:57
around since the 1600s when the queen of
10:59
the Narragansetts
11:01
summered in Falmouth Heights so
11:04
Falmouth then was the watering hole for
11:07
the rich and famous
11:08
I would say the the Rose Kennedy
11:12
actually lived on the Heights looking
11:15
overlooking the ball park
11:16
as a summer person John Kennedy's
mother
11:21
they were what was it about Falmouth I
11:24
suppose it wasn't very crowded at that
11:27
time
11:28
the population was very small
11:31
well by comparative I don't know what
11:33
the high school classes are today but
11:34
our classes were
11:35
50s and 60s a little different
11:40
small town and uh well well managed as
11:44
it is today
11:45
very well managed but Falmouth is a has
#kennedy
13
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
11:47
been growing and growing
11:49
responsibly for some time
11:53
do you um do you think that was the
11:56
climate
11:57
different than uh do you see
12:01
for playing outdoors or did you have
12:05
any longer summers than we seem to have
12:07
today
12:09
I go back a few years but not that far I
12:11
think
12:13
I think the other things that were going
12:14
on the beach at Falmouth Heights
12:17
was deeded over to the town and
12:19
purchased by private sector people and
12:21
needed over a lot of the Falmouth
12:23
Heights
12:24
perks really came by uh gifting
12:27
or donating over by a wealthy group
12:31
that owned the whole Falmouth Heights
one
12:34
financial institution owned all of the
12:37
real estate on Falmouth Heights
12:39
when those individual owners had
12:42
property
12:43
the was the situation the way it was along
12:46
Surf Drive where
#surfdrive
14
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
Gunning_Village_Sts_0085
12:48
when you owned a house really not a
12:51
cottage but kind of a palace
12:53
did you also own the beach the beach was
12:56
public
12:57
uh restricted to and mandated that the
13:00
beach was always successful
13:01
accessible to property owners so there
13:04
was never a restriction at all
13:06
and that that was one of the clever
13:07
things in the deeding
13:09
they made sure that the population would
13:11
get to enjoy the benefits of what they
13:12
had
13:13
including the ball field and
13:16
uh so um when you were playing ball
13:20
um how about the rules of the game did
13:22
you have to have
13:24
a ball of a particular weight or the
13:26
right kind of bat
13:27
or was it well we
13:30
we probably so I think I don't think
13:32
that has changed a whole lot and we
13:34
struck out as much as
13:36
against the good pitches and walked
13:37
against the other ones who were not
15
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
13:39
quite so good
13:40
did you have your own you had to bring
13:42
your own ball and back oh you did always
13:45
well you everybody came with their own
13:46
bat and you thought that that was magic
13:49
and your own glove everybody had their
13:50
own glove for sure some of those
13:53
players that you played with were they
13:55
at the high school
13:57
and perhaps uh we were a mixture
14:01
our particular teams and the Falmouth
14:03
All-Stars too were made up of
14:05
high school Russ Robbins who I
mentioned
14:07
earlier who had signed the contract
14:10
high school he played for the All-Stars
14:12
I played for the Falcons a couple of
14:14
high school players
14:17
were in on the League the rest were
14:18
college ball players are
14:21
players who were really good in high
14:22
school maybe played college who wanted
14:24
to continue to play
14:26
in the Cape League was a fast enough
14:27
league that they wanted to play in it
14:29
was a good league it was probably
16
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
14:31
competitive the better teams
14:33
would play competitively with the
14:35
college kids today and the base team
14:38
would have
14:39
the athletes who were minor leaguers who
14:40
had been drafted into the military
14:43
but we're probably the equivalent of
14:45
almost a triple a
14:46
team you you never beat them most of our
14:49
ball games today
14:51
are go for a field but um
14:54
have you seen still pick up games going
14:57
on
14:58
today at the ball field I’ve been well
15:01
as
15:01
Falmouth fortunately has set
15:03
up ball fields around the town I guess
15:05
when my
15:06
two youngsters played Little League and
15:08
Babe Ruth I followed them to their
15:10
respective
15:11
game fields Falmouth is
15:14
very good and very conscious of youth
15:16
youth activities
15:17
yes yes yes well I thank you very much
15:21
for
17
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
15:22
telling us about Falmouth Heights and
15:25
the baseball field
15:26
well I thank you for inviting me and I’m
15:28
glad that uh
15:30
I didn't tell you how many times I
15:31
struck out in the Cape Cod League
15:35
there's a history that I probably should
15:38
mention
15:39
without delay one of the pitchers for
15:42
our team was named Phil White
15:44
and I’ll talk about Phil was a very good
15:46
pitcher pitcher at the University of
15:47
Massachusetts and very good in the Cape
15:49
League
15:50
but I think I want to add a little bit
15:52
to his father and mother
15:53
who ran the Lawrence White dairy on
#lawrencewhite
15:55
Shore Street for those who don't
#shorestreet
15:57
remember it it's right at the foot
15:58
of as you come up Clinton Avenue and in
16:01
Shore Street intersection
16:03
but and they they actually had a running
16:06
dairy where they delivered milk in the
16:08
bottle but all that was left in my
16:11
generation was the stalls for the cows
16:13
and next to it a field that
#philwhite
#universityofmassachusetts
18
#clintonavenue
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
16:15
did the corn and the hay for the cows
16:17
but Phil would be young enough to have
16:19
remembered when his dad
16:20
was delivering milk and the cows were
16:22
being milked on a regular day
16:40
[Music]
19
�
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Title
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Transcript of Richard Kendall's Oral History on Falmouth Heights Baseball
1870
Barbara Kanellopoulos
Belvidere Plain
Boston Braves
Boston Red Sox
Cape Cod Baseball League
casino
Casino By the Sea
Clinton Avenue
East Falmouth Elementary School
Falmouth All-Stars
Falmouth Falcons
Falmouth Heights
Falmouth Heights ballpark
Falmouth Heights Land and Wharf Company
Falmouth High School
Herbert Hoover
kennedy
lawrence white
oral history
phil white
Postcards from Falmouth
Richard Kendall
robert kendall
roche pires
rusty robbins
Shore Street
Surf Drive
transcript
university of massachusetts
walker street
willard boyden
william swift