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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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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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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
-
https://d1y502jg6fpugt.cloudfront.net/32209/archive/files/e5b7f76fd4005bc13851b743690be3b5.pdf?Expires=1712793600&Signature=J88dN96HiivnN2K7snuYnRukuyRQmk7yh6Mb4IaSx6nwCOioi3rKtoyM8KmEWyluN1ATP8iZ9nBFaZpnYXfsxVaQf2iAUGqXUwBTzcoG0WHwWNuxMnYiY90365uVqS2jVJav9Ed2br2A%7EueOk41%7E%7EX3Bqbq2ehfFo8tB9oMXn2E8ir5zLXjNDIf%7ErmtlryxtzIHoTcfhqZ8n9252tE86UTkxsYNXrbhwZXlpYgCWrWJfElMi0g-oaO%7EitXFYNoKEaUM7e7nkbmS21zIdQRyR5vHrCf1Y2UuNwxHrPYy8zDJi2tOoC8m3mc%7E3W0Cbk4FMac7q8Usw0lgiGpDZUQq6Cw__&Key-Pair-Id=K6UGZS9ZTDSZM
2e45fec831c936a87446358361be0122
PDF Text
Text
Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
Postcards from Falmouth Oral History Transcript
Recorded: January 17, 2020 at the Falmouth Elks Lodge
Oral Historian: Donald Fish
Interviewer: Carrie Aiken
Videographer: Cameron Aiken
Topic: Buzzards Bay Electric Co., Shiverick’s Pond, Shore Street, Stephen G. Cahoon
Note: The right column references postcards by identifiers searchable in the Digital
Commonwealth online collection.
Part 1
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01:00
so we're here with Donald Fish
who has lived here his whole life uh all
91 years not yet not yet
yeah that's right that's right um
Donald is a direct descendant of
Jonathan Hatch
who is the founder yeah the founders of
Falmouth
and Donald has an extensive collection
of historic pictures of Falmouth
and he sends them to the Enterprise each
week right you share them how long have
you been doing that
oh over 10 years now sharing sharing the pictures
yeah it's just such a
legacy for the town of Falmouth the
natives
yeah yeah that's how it is just leave a
legacy
yeah so I guess we can get started on a
on a postcard are we ready yeah
yeah yeah now
a lot of people didn't know
this building existed it's the old they
called it the Parthenon
#hatch #jonathanhatch
#parthenon
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it was there was an old dance hall
across the harbor Falmouth Heights
and electricity was going to come to
Falmouth 1917.
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so they needed electric light plant so
they moved this whole dance hall
across the frozen harbor a couple years
earlier made a big
cement concrete foundation for the new
and built
and remodeled built up what we call the
Parthenon
and made a big electric plant to supply
Falmouth
with electricity it lasted a few years
until we had
electricity come in from out of town later
but that building I didn't know too much
it wasn't there too long
because in the 40s it was gone
and all I remember is
in the 40s when we lived up the street
on the harbor during the 44 hurricane
that platform was there when I was a
young fella
just the platform the building was gone
well the resident
the Wormelles bought that land and they
built the cottage
from their mother and father Fred
Wormelle and his wife
oh yeah and they destroyed all remnants
of the old
Parthenon and while I’m at it
we lived on the other side in 44
in a cottage next to the
about a hundred feet from the boat
Wormelle’s boatyard
and lo and behold we had a beautiful
summer there with the sun porch
the boats coming in peaceful and quiet
and it was so different then the harbor
was very peaceful not too many boats
and sure enough the 44 hurricane
finally comes
we get word of it coming up the coast
in school that morning
the teacher warned us if you people got
any belts tie up we’re supposed to get a
2
#1944 #hurricane
#wormelle
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
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hurricane
we didn't believe her and we joked
about it
but sure enough that hurricane came up
the coast and hit us
around eight at night as the sun set
the east winds start coming across the
harbor
and I’m not going to [unintelligible]
and then it gets severe
and my father was worried he says I’m
going over the boatyard where he worked
check this the wind picked up
as it got darker the wind picked up
severely
he finally come home we gotta get out of
here
the water's coming up set yachts are
foundering
along the shore raising hell here
so I remember we had a
new washing machine afraid the water
would come up over the bank from the
house
my mother father put it on top of the
table so it wouldn't flood and ruin
the washing machine new washing machine
so then we gathered I had the dog
my little puppy dog my sister had her cat
and my mother and father we took what we
could and my father had a little box of
batteries that's all we could get
Mr. Hathaway come over and took us in his
coupe
and we were going to sit in the boat sheds
so we got his car and went back to the boat sheds
figuring they were strong
no sooner we went down Scranton Avenue
and I happened to look out the rear window
and the whole sliding doors crashed across
the highway
just behind us just beside missed the car
we drove a little further down and then
the roof of an old boat shed that was there
near the water and over here blew up
3
#scrantonavenue
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
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way up and over and down on our car
we were in wow it was an old-fashioned
car but
all it did was dent in one corner my
sister let out a screech
well when that guy luckily this side was
open so Mr. Hathaway helped my father and
me
I had the dog sitting up in my jacket my
dog nothing could happen well in the
panic
we went behind a building a house there
across the Scranton Avenue and we got in
the lee of the wind
one by one we went behind there
and we had to go through the fields Mr.
Hathaway was I gotta go back to the boats
you're on your own you've got to go so
my father
my mother father my sister myself and
I had that dog
sit back my jacket with his head
sticking out
oh I was worried about that dog more
than anything
and off through the fields we went
it was today it's all houses Swing Lane
Bel not Belvidere but all them they're all
plains then
yeah so we went off to the field said
sure enough
there are these two old men in a
old beach wagon and they had a boat in
the back
saving their boat and we come across
we gotta get uptown climb in back they
said we'll take you down the fire
station
well lo and behold they did the wind's
blowing
everything was snapping it was a
horrible night
we got in the back my mother was
panicked
a rowboat in the back of a beach wagon
4
#swinglane
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
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sitting there cramped like this
okay oh should get us out of here all
right I’ll take
ya they took us to the fire station
and ironically that big trunk
no the firemen outside says no
refugees here
what my father got real mad that's the
true story
what no refugees we've been driven out
of our house on the harbor we've
gotta
no [unintelligible]
no refugees here and my father and the
firemen
almost had a fight in the middle of a
hurricane
right in front of the fire station my
father was mad
then the man said it’s the law we'll take you down
to the old
town hall right down the street they
have refugees
we went down there for refuge they led
us down wire snapping
trees leaves oh always a mess
and we stayed there for a while and I
know
town hall as strong as it was shaking in
the wind
and we were well the National Guard then
look my mom and sister down on
Shore Street were walking down Shore Street
during
#shorestreet
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08:34 we had to cross Main Street and down Walker
#mainstreet #walkerstreet
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08:38 well we crossed Main Street and windows
08:41 were
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�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
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snapping and blowing out like little
wires popping
but we made it the National Guard
helped my mother
and got us down to Andrew [unintelligible] house
On Walker Street and we stayed there
for the rest of the storm then
three o'clock in the morning I still
have my little dog now
oh I did but
I asked my sister where's the cat oh in the
excitement I left him in the car
and my father left his strongbox well
whatever he had in there that left in the
car
says look it's just getting
dusk early dusk three in the morning
see a little
we better get back before the looters come
and sure enough we walked back
through Main Street the windows are
blown out so dark
trees over climb over trees
watch out for snapping wires broken
glass all over Main Street
we walked all the way down to King
Street
big tree down we had to climb over
chunks of big trees Dad hauled my mother
over
it was and me with the dog
finally made it down Clinton Avenue
no not Clinton what was uh Queen
Queen Street yep sorry and we went down
and then we go through the path
it's our house now but it's a long path
to a house
oh we found it gosh and I ran ahead
then I let the dog down to free the
storm abated
and the dawn's early light if I may
quote a phrase
I could see the sun just light and the
sun coming out
I saw the outline of the house
6
#kingstreet
#queenstreet
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
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and I hollered back the house it’s still
there it's still there to them
oh good my mother says going down the
path
and we got there guess what
nothing happened the water came way up the
top of the bank
and not in the house it blew all the
screens out of the sun porch
and a few channels off that's all that
we could’ve stayed there but
we did not but the boathouse they had
a lot of damage we'd be better off we'd
stayed right in that house but we didn't
so it was where the Flying Bridge is now
#flyingbridge
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they moved the house way over to one
of them lanes
them new lanes they put in later housing
and the Flying Bridge it's on the site
where our little cottage was a
summer cottage and after the hurricane
Pa says no more harbor I think
I want to move inland within
six months my father bought a house way
inland away from the water
where we've been since okay that's that's
right
Part 2
00:00 now very interesting picture here
00:03 Shiverick’s Pond brings back old memories
#shiverickspond
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when we were young
there's a lot of stories about Shiverick’s Pond
I could tell
the Shiverick family lived on Main Street
where the post office is today
7
#falmouthpostoffice
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
00:22 I even saw them tear the old house down in the
40s
00:25 to build a post office
00:28 but the old Shiverick house and the one next
00:30 to it they named the pond after the
00:33 Shivericks
00:36 now it was a large pond then it went from
00:41 behind Eastman’s and had a big
00:46 cove in there when we were kids
00:50 they had Eastman built a cement wall
00:52 and
00:53 we were kids in the 30s we'd sit on that
00:56 cement wall and put
00:57 our skates up but now it's all filled in
01:01 and they filled and built Kathy Lee
01:03 Bates Road.
01:05 so it’s changed some and
01:08 in this picture I have it shows
01:12 a little cottage and the old ice houses
01:15 that sit there
01:18 that location now is where the new
01:20 pumping station is
01:23 where those ice houses were and they
01:25 said get ice now as little kids
01:28 ice houses were there in the 30s
01:30 they were abandoned and we could jump
01:33 from
01:34 a stone wall right next to the academy
01:38 building
01:39 we could jump right over on the roof
01:41 slant roofs on those old ice houses
01:43 run all over the roof in the summer
01:46 and we had fun as kids
01:50 one man he was always getting in
01:53 some kind of getting hurt he fell
01:56 through one of the
01:57 hatches up above and broke his leg he fell
02:00 down the sawdust
02:02 when they packed the ice in and the poor
02:04 guy
02:05 broke his leg well anyway
02:08 but years later
02:13 I’m going to the 30s it was uh
02:16 all the locals would go to Shiverick’s Pond
02:19 for years great entertainment
8
#shiverick
#eastmanshardware
#katharineleebatesroad
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
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and later on when they built the new
police station behind the town hall
they built a nice big pier so then we
could sit on that pier and put on our
ice skates
and just off to the left always
had a bonfire
all these people brought wood rubber
tires
whatever we always had a bonfire
and one year I remember
a whole bunch of us after Christmas
it got very cold the ponds froze solid
but on Main Street they had all these
Christmas tree and lights
they took all the lights off the trees
were just sitting there
so we were not in January
a whole gang of us collected all the
trees
and pulled them down to the pond and we
put them
and we had the biggest bonfire anybody
seen on that part
that's kids then good thing then
across Shiverick’s Pond you could skate it
was a big pond way up behind the library
and we skated all over the pond
and there was a canal connecting a nice
six-foot-wide canal river
connecting Weeks Pond with Shiverick’s
and we could skate right through with no
problems
and we’d skate from one pond to the
other
and they the kids from the other
side would have a bonfire over
there
so we'd go over escape through the canal
Way over the other side their bonfire
then we'd come back to skate the pond
was big then
all over the oh we had fun and
a lot of strange things happened through
the years
9
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
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there's some sad things happened way
back
when they used to cut ice on the pond years
before my time
this horse unfortunately drowned
they use horses to drag the big saws
and the hunks of ice
and the poor horse went in and they could say
and another local fellow young fellow in
the 20s drowned and for
I shouldn't say that I know it’s sad but
anyhow
it's all changed now that little river's
all overgrown they built
the new extension of [unintelligible]
to the new school
this conduit’s under here and I go
it's all full of shopping carts and rubber
tires
trash it's all blotted it's too bad
they don't clean that out like it used
to be it was beautiful
now Shiverick’s Pond sometimes we'd get
down there
really skating on the weekend and sure
enough cold morning
there was some kind people there almost
they'd chop a hole for the ducks but
one morning we went sure enough the
ducks were frozen overnight sleeping in
that little
oh and they were frozen they were frozen
so they said don't worry they went and got
their axes chopped all around chop chop chopped
out
to
save ducks that happened more than once
to four little ducks and we all
chopped a swimming hole for the ducks
then the other group over here would
have a hockey rink
play hockey and the rest of it oh and a
funny story during the war
we're all on the pier behind the police
station oh and my sister and all their
10
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
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girlfriends
they all had their skates on and it was
during the war
this is funny and sure enough the
soldiers
come down looking for Main Street
over the pond looking around fell wow
look at the bow
oh look at them young girls stuff so
soon enough down the pond they come
what if they left a bar I don't know
oh here comes the wise guys from Texas
Division
we'll fix them so
the boys couldn't they'd skate out about
20 feet
hi fellas hi young girls
oh and they get on the ice slipping
sliding around
chase the girls over here as soon as
they get near they'd skate off to
another place
oh boys we’re over here they teased them
they had fun it was all in fun
they laughed they knew what was
happening
they had a fun time trying to chase some
young girls all over the pond
slipping and sliding the pond
but a lot of good things happened
and way back in the before the turn of
the century
I got old pictures of course there's
stuff deciding
these to make wooden
like kites with old sheets or something
and using this wind just
skate across the pond using the wind
like kites dragging them all over the pond
that was an old entertainment back then
and Shiverick’s Pond and one more funny story
if you don't mind my father named Fish
well this man came to Falmouth looking for
my
father and he asked different people I
11
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
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mean do you know where Mr. Fish
lives
yes one wise guy said yes
he lives down behind Eastman's
Well sure enough the man walked down this little
road down Eastman’s it's a pond
well he saw the guy says well that’s where he
lives it's a pond
my father was furious
before we had and another quick joke
they'd asked my father
the tourists would come to Falmouth I’m
going way back in the
1917-18 my father was young
and the tourists would come and my
father met a tourist in the post office
In Eastman [unintelligible] then
said you know
mister sir I find this a lot of strange
odd people down here on the Cape
yes I agree with you but don't worry
come Labor Day they'll all be gone
so let me come back
okay good very good
Part 3
00:00
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go now another interesting
story it's about Stephen Cahoon
Stephen Cahoon owned
property on Main Street where the library
#stephencahoon
#falmouthpubliclibrary
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is now he had his
home right where the memorial
is on the library lot right in the
center
he had his property and on the end he
had barns
and he did all kinds of he was in there
for doing he did
repair work carriage work all kinds
12
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
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he owned land on Shore Street near the old
Beebes which I could tell you a certain
violation but I won't go into that
but let's go back Stephen Cahoon also
owned the land across the street where
Cahoon Court is
he had all that land through the years
the
houses moved from Main Street onto that
land
and he utilized it and down the end
the very end of the Cahoon Court was a little
swamp
it would dry up in the summer but it was
you know a little swamp well
the very last house Doyle’s
Doyles had a rooming house the
Cahoon Court in 1916
17 back then then there was an old barn
right down the end of Cahoon Court
in back of it was that swamp
getting back to the old stage coach
that ran in Falmouth to North Falmouth
maybe a couple trips to Boston I'm not
sure about
but now William Hewins was the driver
back then
they come to Falmouth stop at North Falmouth
Inn
and down summer North Falmouth Inn
they had chains if they had a prisoner
they put him in the cellar and chains
while the guests stayed upstairs
then the next day they had to make it to
Falmouth
now in 1970
sorry 1872 the railroad come in
that was the end of the stage coach
they went all the way to Woods Hole the
railroad that's the end of it
now what happened to that stage coach
unfortunately there wasn't that
interest in it
it was just an old relic it took me
years
13
#beebe
#cahooncourt
#williamhewins
#northfalmouthinn
#1872
#woodshole
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
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but I figured out
when we were kids now
in the 30s my brother and his friend now
I’m a little boy
they my brother had to take care of me
then and I
I was he was stuck with me but we went
down
behind the old shed at the end of your
garage
at the end of
Cahoon Court and then the swamp out back
we look it was dry in the summer we look
that looks like a framework we saw a
framework oh that looks like an old
stagecoach
the framework skeletal works
well we went from the reeds and sure
enough
there was a skeleton you knew it was a
stage coach
to shape, the outline, the wheels were all
rotted down
and on and all leather seats would
springs sticking up it was
gone but we knew it was by god
where did that come from we were kids we
didn't know
it was a years later I
found out yeah Mr. Cahoon
who owned the property and took care of it
after the stagecoach went out with the
railroad
he evidently took the stage and
wheeled it down Cahoon Court and
put in that barn and after a few years
the automobile why keep that on
stagecoach
wheeled it down around that pushed it in
the swamp
where the stage rotted
sad ending if we only knew now
we would do everything to protect that
old stagecoach
but no foresight then this is it's a
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gone by era
away with it that's
I think that's it and by the way Stephen
Cahoon one more story
he owned land on
Shore Street the Beebes
E. Pierson Beebe or one of them all that biggest
[unintelligible] Shore Street
and of course Mr. Cahoon wanted to
sell the land to the Beebes he wanted to
make money
he didn't need that land so Beebe refused
his price now
too much too much I’m not paying it
so Mr. Cahoon
smart businessman he got all the junk old
wagon wheels and old buggies all
broken down and loaded the property with
junk
oh god god the Beebes
would look out across set up a beautiful
field
they'd see all that junk oh
they complained no you can't do nothing
that's my property I can put whatever I
want there
finally showing up Beebes bought it at
his price
we'll buy it take that junk away we'll
buy the property that's a true seller
all right we'll close on that
Part 4
00:00 now very interesting picture of Shore Street here
00:05 brings back many old memories many old
memories of Shore
00:10 Street when I was a kid
00:15 In the 30s my mother would walk us down Shore
Street
00:20 To the beach that was before I knew much history
about it but through the years
00:25 Of course I learned Shore Street was
00:30 Down from Main Street that’s a long straight
narrow
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And I wondered most roads are curvy and there’s
why Shore
Street straight you can see the Vineyard
From one end to the other excuse me
Come to find out the old ship builders
In the 1700s built ships on the library lawn
In that era then across they built Shore
Street straight and narrow after they built their
ships on rollers
They roll straight down Shore Street all the way
mile and a half
Whatever it is and right on the very end they had
ramps and they’d launch
The ships right next to the Old Stone Dock
#marthasvineyard
#oldstonedock
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Was this building way back many many years
back
And Shore Street
At the end it was very busy with the stone dock
ships
Would come in from New York the [Knoll]
Sp. unknown
brothers
One of the brothers I think it was [James Knoll]
Sp. unknown
had a
Ship sailed out of stone dock went to new York
and up the
Hudson to get goods up the Hud
It sailed back New York it sailed back to
Falmouth
And on the very end of Shore Street on the
Falmouth end
In town there was a ship’s store run by his brother
And his brother sold all the goods in that ship’s
store
Right now it’s right on the southeast corner
Of Shore Street and Main Street it is now the
Falmouth Hotel
They added on to it through the years
Years later they made a hotel the old Falmouth
hotel
But way back in the old days and then
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The stone dock was beautiful
in 19 I believe it was 1819 or 16 or 19
Somewhere in there a big storm southeast storm
destroyed a lot
Of the Old Stone Dock and it almost became
uninhabitable
For ships to come in the water filled in the sand
Ruined the dock. Then they needed a good harbor
They they used Falmouth Heights cove
A little harbor then they were like no then soon
after that they dug
Through Deacon’s Pond
To make Falmouth harbor around 1909
They started dredging and I found out
Just recently Goethals who worked on the
Panama Canal also
Worked to have that dug up Goethals who
worked on the
Had something to do with digging out
Falmouth harbor a lot of people don’t know that
I just found out that every day I live
I’m not a young chicken but every day I learn
something you can live day to day
No matter how old every day I learn something
new
You’re never too old you’re never too young
you’re never too old
Every day is another lesson so don’t
give up and one more Shore Street
When we were little kids a fond memory
My sister took care of me and my little brother in
the [unintelligible]
Cause we were happiest little kids in the sandbox
you know
And we went the beach and up come a disastrous
awful
A terrible thunderstorm lighting a terrible
Storm we ran from the beach
Put our towels whatever we hand and start
running
Just on Shore Street there’s a big tree and we
stood under the tree oof we’re afraid it’s pouring
Thunder lighting I’m scared shaking
17
#deaconspond
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#falmouthharbor #1909
#georgewashingtongoethals
�Falmouth Public Library – Postcards from Falmouth
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And guess what we’re sitting there getting soaked
We were in our bathing suits anyway and this
kind woman had an old
Car an old sedan she looked
at us kids and said oh you poor children you look
like you escaped
Jump in my car we jumped in her car and she
took us home
Kind old woman whoever she was
But that’s [unintelligible] we used to have it
seemed we had more
Thunderstorms we’d sit at the beach about 3 in
the afternoon
A rumble would come maybe since they widened
the canal I don’t know
But sure enough thunderstorms would come the
weather must be
And we’d all run in the bathhouse and I
remember some people
Sitting under an umbrella like this and waiting
they only last
Five or ten minutes and they’d sit there and wait
and the
And they’d face the old casinos we were
surrounded by
The big bathhouse which the 38 hurricane
destroyed
Most of the bathhouses we knew and cottages
Along the beach because my brother this is
interesting my brother and I went
Down if you don’t mind okay
The 38 hurricane we were in school
There was no warning no one knew in school
And about the time we got out of school it was
very cloudy
And windy not much rain but heavy wind
So we all got out of school amazed the trees and
What’s going on we never saw wind like this
ferocious
And my brother [unintelligible] and we crossed
main street from the village school
We lived behind the stores and the Methodist
church
Right on the corner of Elm Arch Inn that’s the
Elm Arch Inn
18
#bathhouse
#1938
#elmarchinn
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Right across the steeple had blown off
One of they have little steeples on that old one
speared in the ground
And they had it roped off and we knew something
was going on
Gee to blow one of them off we went home
Then my mother says I come from Nova Scotia
We’re having a hurricane she knew we’re having
a hurricane
First one we had in many years on the cape
She knew and my brother says Donald
Let’s go to the beach down it’s gonna be fun
Imagine the waves I mean oh yes we
Ran all the way almost couldn’t wait to see them
waves
Well my brother and I we were little kids what
was I
Ten years old he was twelve
All excited we went down to the water Surf Drive #surfdrive
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We got the end of those swamps it’s all houses
now on both side of those swamps
And the waves are coming over the road
smashing
And uh bathhouse smashing
Them and smashing them and in the swamp
across the road
All the little clothing boxes that people stored
their clothes in
They were floating in the swamps across I
remember this enough
As far as we could know it was worse than we
thought and them waves were
Humongous and we could hear that crashing in
the and guess what
Behind us two or three older boys older
And says they got more guts than brains my
brother says and sure
Enough they went across Surf Drive up to here to
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To get out to that bathhouse to see more
excitement
Oh he says Donald they’re nuts I’m taking you
home
[unintelligible] then he took me home then the
next
Day went down there and there was devastation
all along
Too much to explain right now
And unfortunately if I didn’t you can cut this if
you don’t
There was an unfortunate family this is a true
story
We went down the beach with my older much
older brother
Way down Surf Drive where all the bathhouses
most of them were gone across the pond lot of
them wrecked
We saw a little coupe in the pond Salt
#saltpond
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Pond and we looked and my brother
We had heard word that a woman died well come
to find out
Later these three people from woods hole
This couple took Mrs. [unintelligible] were gonna
they
Didn’t know about the hurricane they left Woods
Hole to go shopping in Falmouth
They got in their coupe and took her along to do
her shopping
Their neighbor unfortunately
Going by all them little cottages they ran out of
gas
And the wind was coming out and the waves oh
we gotta
Walk to Falmouth with the get gas and come back
She said oh no I love to watch the waves coming
in she stayed
You better come no them waves didn’t know how
She saw the big waves she thought it was nice she
stayed
Well they went off and when they come back the
firemen even come and that
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Big area the no way the road was swamped Surf
Drive and the
And no way the firemen could get to her she got
out of her car they couldn’t
Get to her she was [unintelligible] very sad
Very sad thing yeah
All right well
21
�
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Title
A name given to the resource
Transcript of Donald Fish's Oral History on Falmouth Center
1872
1909
1938
1944
bathhouse
Beebe
Cahoon Court
Cameron Aiken
Carrie Aiken
Deacon's Pond
Donald Fish
Eastman's Hardware
Elm Arch Inn
Falmouth Harbor
Falmouth Main Street
Falmouth Post Office
Falmouth Public Library
Flying Bridge
George Washington Goethals
Hatch
hurricane
jonathan hatch
katharine lee bates road
king street
martha's vineyard
north falmouth inn
Old Stone Dock
oral history
parthenon
Postcards from Falmouth
queen street
salt pond
scranton avenue
shiverick
shiverick's pond
Shore Street
stephen cahoon
Surf Drive
swing lane
transcript
walker street
william hewins
Woods Hole
wormelle