Neighboring town photo for December - The bandstand
    on the common in Grafton Center, shown above, was built
    for a scene in the movie, Ah, Wilderness!, which had been
    adapted from a play of the same name by Eugene O'Neill.
    As you can see in the Milford News clipping on the left, two
    lucky Hopedale girls got parts as extras. In 1935, the
    names Tiffany and Lapworth were probably almost as
    well-known in Hopedale as Draper and Dutcher. Click
    here to see a Wikipedia page on Ah, Wilderness!

Thanks to John Butcher for the Milford News articles.

    Since the 1840s, this lot at the corner of Adin
    and Hopedale streets has gone from home to
    boarding house to rubble pile to parking lot.

    Above - two former Hopedale Coal & Ice buildings.

    Below - photos of the remains of the Coal & Ice garages.

Hopedale in December 2014

Hopedale in November   

December 1 ezine - The Hopedale Community   

December 15 ezine - Three at 100   

Ezine Menu                            HOME   

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    There used to be a large number of garages like
    this in Hopedale. Click here to read about them.

Train rolling through the Parklands - December 3.

Former Hopedale Coal & Ice buildings.

Above - December 1, 2014

Right  - December 6, 2014

Former Hopedale Coal & Ice office

Above - November 14, 2014

Right  - December 6, 2014

Former Hopedale Coal & Ice garages

Above - May 1, 2014

Right - December 6, 2014

Click here for more on this.  

    GoogleEarth view of Hopedale, with a bit of Milford on the right and Mendon
    on the left, in 2013.The dump was in the midst of a capping job, so it appears
    quite light in color. The pipeline can be seen going roughly north-south a bit
    to the left of center. That's Miscoe Hill Elementary School at the middle-left.
    Memorial School is quite visible in the lower-right quarter. It's easy to see that
    the upper two-thirds of Hopedale Pond was covered with weeds. The G&U
    tracks can be seen going to the right ot the dump and the left of the pond.

Bancroft Library reference room

    Mendon Street. The online ad promotes it as a one or two-
    family home, but also mentions, "...and located in the newly
    zoned GA area but close to Historic Downtown Hopedale."

    Council on Aging room - Community
    House. The hats were knitted at the
    senior center and will be given to the
    Massachusetts Society for the Prevention
    of Cruelty to Children in Worcester.
    .

Hopedale Pond from the Rustic Bridge - December 12

Parklands brook

From 1914 town report.

Hopedale Street in Allston can be seen in this Google Earth view.

    Ice cream vendor's license on display
    at the Town Clerk's office.

But it's December the 24th
And I'm longing to be up north.

It won't be a white Christmas here this year.

    Hopedale Pond - Christmas afternoon. The  the temperature
    got up to 52. I thought about getting the kayak out on the pond,
    but the wind convinced me to just walk around it instead.

    The temperature reached 50 on the 27th, so DJ and I took the
    kayak out on Hopedale Pond. Here's DJ with the Rustic
    Bridge ahead of him. We got about a quarter mile beyond it
    and had to turn around at what appears to be a beaver dam.
    It's been there for couple of years and we've been able to get
    over it in the past, but today the water was too low for that.

    December 31 - Four days ago we paddled under here,
    but today the temperature has been in the low 20s and
    most of the pond was covered with a skim of ice.