I was born in the house where I live now; 120 Mill Street. My mother told me that the people they bought the house from had raised chickens in the attic. She said she had quite a time getting it cleaned up. When my grandfather died we moved down the street to the house next to the mill and lived with my grandmother for several years and then moved back here.
My father, Asa Augustus Westcott, was selectman for around thirty years. Victor Pepper served for many years with him.
One of my fondest memories was Christmas. The Drapers would give all the children a gift, such as an orange or a small box of Christmas candy.
We used to skate on Spindleville Pond. We couldn't skate there too often, though. I think it was because of the current.
I remember sliding and tobogganing down Mill Street. Roberta Simmons' father used to worry. He thought we'd end up in the pond.
My father had horses and a sleigh. He called the sleigh a "pung."
Dad's farm covered part of what is now the golf course and also Laurelwood. He had hay for the horses and cows. If it were wet, it could smolder, so we dried it in the fields. We used to like to slide down on it, but Dad wouldn't let us because the cows wouldn't eat it then. We used to put it on a hay rack in the barn. Dad had as many as a dozen cows some years. He also raised pheasants for the state. They would pay farmers to raise them and when they were old enough someone would come and take them and release them in the woods.
Evelyn Westcott, an aunt, lived on Greene Street. She had an electric car. She let me drive it one day.
I can remember teaching kindergarten at the Community House. Margaret Stanas and I taught there in the '50s while Memorial School was being built. We were up on the top floor.
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