The SNETT (Southern New England Trunkline
    Trail) in Blackstone. The photo at the right was
    taken looking down from a SNETT bridge at the
    P&W bridge and track, and the Blackstone River.
    From Blackstone you can walk or bike the trail to
    Route 146A. To get to the parking lot for the trail at
    the Blackstone end, take Bridge Street from
    Route 122 in the center of town. From the parking
    lot, go to the right on the trail. The left just goes for
    a very short distance.

    If you'd like more information on the trail,
    including many pictures, click here to go to a
    page about it by Marjorie Turner Hollman.

Hopedale in January 2017

and a few items from Januaries of the past.

More photos will be added during the month

Hopedale history ezine for January 1 - 1917, Part 1   

Ezine for January 15 - 1917, Part 2   

Ezine Menu                       HOME

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Hopedale Pond - December 31

    For many years in the twentieth century, the house in
    the picture above (200 Dutcher Street) was the home
    of the Henry family. They had a farm on the site; first a
    dairy farm, and later a chicken farm. Click here to read
    Muriel Henry Tinkham's memories of growing up there.

    Up until a few months ago, Hopedale had two
    "caboose houses." The one that was at 212 South
    Main Street was razed, and now just one remains.
    It's at 7 Overdale Parkway, and as you can see from
    the sign in the picture above, it's for sale. The picture
    to the right is from a real estate page. Click here to
    go to the site, which has 24 photos and the sales
    information. Click here to go to the page on this site
    with the story of Hopedale's caboose houses.

The Parklands, near the Rustic Bridge.

Click here to see more of Hopedale Coal & Ice.

    Click here to see photos of the
    waste water treatment plant.

    The Milford history museum at Memorial Hall. (Next
    to the Milford Library.) Open Thursdays, 1 to 4.

    Above, what used to be called Patrick's Corner, and now maybe Cumbie's Corner. January 5

    Below, the same location, looking toward Milford, in 1888. That's Hopedale Street going left to right
    across the picture. What's now Mendon Street/Route 16 was then called Main Street, and sometimes
    West Main Street; the name left over from when Hopedale was still a section of Milford. The caption for
    the map identifies the building under the 17 as A. Moran, Blacksmith & Wheelwright.

    Way down south in Spindleville, there's still lots of open water, at
    least a week after Hopedale Pond was covered with ice. Water from
    the sewage treatment plant enters the river a bit above Spindleville
    Pond. Is that the reason there's not much ice there? I have no idea.

    Some rocks are being carried away from the empty lot
    near the corner of Hopedale and Mendon streets. I was
    told that this is because the rocks were purchased and
    not because of any building there at this time.

    "Track me at Wheresgeorge.com," it says. I got the bill above when I cashed a check.
    I decided to follow up on the message. As you can see below, only one other person
    had done that with this bill, and that was in Oxford last August. Now that I think of it,
    that must have been the person who stamped the little message from George onto it.
    Here's a link to wheresgeorge.com.  

    Our first big storm of the winter is
    predicted for today, January 7. The
    snow started coming down at about
    11 a.m. and these pictures of
    Hopedale Highway Department
    plows were taken at about 2:30.

    Could have been worse. We went out
    to snowblow and shovel around six.
    There was seven inches of powdery
    snow on the ground then, with a little
    more still coming down.

I think I'll leave the kayak there for a while.

    Do you have a metal detector? If so, maybe you could solve the
    mystery of the missing General Draper statue. Here's the story.

Hopedale Pond, January 8.

    Above - Clearing snow off of Hopedale Pond years ago.

    Left - Clearing snow off of Hopedale Pond on January 10, 2017.

    Below - Hockey game shortly after the snow was cleared.

    The fabric is finally gone from the fences around the Draper plant on
    Hopedale and Freedom streets. It was put there in the summer of 2008
    during the filming of The Surrogates, to prevent accidents because drivers
    going by were paying more attention to what was happening inside the
    fence than to traffic. Below are two photos from that time. Click here for more.

    January 13 and still very little ice on Spindleville Pond. Probably the current
    there, no doubt faster than on Hopedale Pond, has something to do with it.

    I've received three emails in the past week about the pictures showing the lack
    of ice on Spindleville Pond, so here's another. This one was taken on January
    20. The ice on Hopedale Pond isn't in good shape, with the warm weather, but
    the lower end is still pretty much covered. Much different than at Spindleville.

    Photos of Helen Draper, daughter of George Albert and
    Jessie Preston Draper. Thanks to Giancarlo BonTeimpo
    for sending a link to a University of Kentucky page with 24
    photos of the family. Click here for more about Helen.