The Statue of Hope was given to the town by Susan Preston Draper, wife of Gen. William F. Draper. In 1903, the general became worried that the statue wouldn’t be completed, so he wrote to the sculptor, Waldo Story about the rumors he’d been hearing. “There was also talk of a lady in the case, whom you were supposed to have met going to Europe…” Click here to see the general’s letter, and more about the sculptor and the opera star. The letter is about a third of the way down the page.
Flowering crab tree in my back yard.
Hopedale Pond - May 1.
Part of the foundation of a building at the Madden farm off of Route 140 near the Hopedale/Upton line. For a little more, see the Milford News article below. For a lot more, click on either picture above.
New words in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary in 1972.
Drone view of G&U Railroad work on the West Street property. Click on it to see more.
For the latest (as of May 2) in this situation, click here and go way down to the bottom of a long page about it.
The Twice Blessed Thrift Shop will be open Saturday, May 7 from 8:30AM to 12 noon!! So much to see! (Check out and “like” our FaceBook page) Visit our new children and junior’s room (see attached photos) There is a large selection of women’s activewear in all sizes and styles.Our menswear includes dress and casual shirts, suits, activewear and casual pants and jeans – including a large selection of Vineyard Vine polos, chinos and shorts in XL and XXL.
Our “Boutique” corner features such labels including Talbots, JCrew, Calvin Klein, Anne Taylor etc. We also have a large selection of spring outerwear!
This month, all Old Navy children’s and juniors will be $2.00 each and Old Navy Adult will be $3.00 each. PLUS…other in-store specials!
A huge THANK YOU to everyone who supports the shop with donations. At this time, we can only accept clothing, shoes and jewelry. Please do not leave household items, Christmas decorations, etc, as we have no room for storage.
I was thinning pears in one of my trees on May 12 when I noticed a bird’s nest. When I got to the point where I was able to look into it, I saw these eggs. Looks like the color called robin’s egg blue, so… I hope the parents will get back there soon. Here’s the story on robin’s egg blue from a site called The Spruce.
Why Are Robin’s Eggs Blue?
The bile pigment biliverdin is responsible for blue tones in bird eggs, including robin’s eggs. The color of an eggshell is determined by these pigments as they are deposited as the shell is formed in the shell gland. The shell gland is the avian equivalent of a mammal’s uterus and is near the end of the oviduct, just before the cloaca. The shell is formed just before the egg is laid. Depending on the concentration of the bile pigment, the coloration can range from bright, bold blue or blue-green to pale ice blue and every shade in between. Smaller eggs and those laid first in a brood are usually more intensely colored than larger eggs or those laid later in the nesting cycle.
Paul Butcher posted the drawing above on Facebook, along with the following comment.
The end of an era. At 9:51 pm on Wednesday, May 11, 2022 the Hopedale, Massachusetts planning board voted 3 to 1 in favor of the Warehouse to be built by GFI Partners LLC on the Rosenfeld property at 75 Plain Street. Abraham Rosenfeld bought the land in 1931. The business started in Milford in 1922,
Jones Road. Click here to see more about it c. 1913.
No, we didn’t go to Nantucket. On May 14, my son DJ and I paddled around in New Bedford Harbor. We passed by loads of fishing boats and even the Nantucket lightship. Click here for more.
Here’s what DJ found on Wikipedia about how the lightship came to be in Nantucket.
WLV-613 (which was originally the Ambrose lightship) was berthed at the Wareham Shipyard along Main Street in Wareham, Massachusetts from about 1990 until she was moved to New Bedford, Massachusetts on December 1, 2014. The vessel (now painted as “NANTUCKET”) is now privately owned by William B. Golden and Kristen Golden, owners of WLV-612 that also served as the Nantucket station lightship. Currently, she is located in New Bedford, MA but closed to the public.
Train going over the bridge at Hopedale Street, heading to Milford, Bellingham and Franklin.
New sidewalks, and (I was told) traffic lights project at the Route 16/Hopedale Street intersection underway. May 26.
Google Earth view of the intersection in 2015.
This postcard was written during the time of the IWW strike against the Draper Company in 1913. Click on it to go to a page about the strike. The card has been on sale on ebay this month. Hopedale cards usually sell for between three and twelve dollars. The starting price asked for this one is $74.99. That’s not unusual for a postcard connected to a strike.
Thirteen days after this card was mailed, striker Emilio Bacchiocchi was shot and killed by one of the policemen. A postcard with a picture of his two children sold for $271 in 2005. Click here to see a photo of it.
Memorial Day at Hopedale Village Cemetery. Click on the photo for more.