The Jackson Homestead, located 1/2 mile from Exit 17 on the Massachusetts Turnpike, now home of the Newton (Massachusetts) Historical Society, was the home of the man (William Jackson) who brought the railroad through Newton (actually, the train ran along Washington Street right across the street from his house) and was a stop on the Underground Railroad (significantly so!)
Marash Girl remembers Miss Griffin, third grade teacher at Claflin School, taking her class (Marash Girl included), on a field trip through Newton where the class visited Cheesecake Brook (the folks who lived along the brook reported that there were river rats running along its shores), the John Eliot Memorial (commemorating the first missionary to the Native Americans in Newton, Massachusetts, the preacher after whom Eliot Church in Newton Corner is named), and, yes, Jackson Homestead where the class visited a stop on the Underground Railroad, the dry well in the basement of the building at the bottom of which many a runaway slave had hidden awaiting safe journey to Canada. Yes, and all this right here in Newton Corner, Massachusetts!
Take advantage of today's free admission and visit the Jackson Homestead this afternoon. Perhaps you'll get to meet Marash Girl saying a prayer for the misfortunes of all of the folks who had hidden in that dry well, awaiting safe journey to freedom.
I fondly remember visiting The Jackson Homestead with Miss Griffin's class - the original Claflin School (we're talking 60 years ago), and how each of the rooms in the main house was incredbly furnished with the original ANTIQUE furniture.
ReplyDeleteLast year, on a return visit to the Jackson Homestead with one of my California friends,
how disappointing it was . . . the original furniture was no longer there, the displays were pathetic --- descriptions and history summarized on large pieces of flimsy cardboard and the rooms that had been so beautiful furnished were now transformed into offices for the staff.
NEWTON'S HISTORY SHOULD NOT BE REPRESENTED THIS WAY. THIS IS A WONDERFUL HOUSE WITH A TERRIFIC STORY; THE GROUNDS WERE BEAUTIFUL . . . BOTH THE HOUSE AND THE GROUNDS HAVE EVOLVED INTO A PATHETIC DISPLAY OF "THE STORY" THAT NEEDS TO BE TOLD.
SUGGESTION: GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER, NEWTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY.