I've lived in eight different houses on Mill Street. I remember when it wasn't paved.
I used to swim in Spindleville Pond. I'd use Uncle Ray's [Westcott] boat there, too. I can also remember skating on the pond. We used to build a fire on the ice and roast hot dogs. I'd make fudge and bring it skating with me.
We'd walk uptown barefoot to go swimming in Hopedale Pond. We'd break tar bubbles with our bare feet. How hot the water inside was!
My aunt, Blanche Whitney, (my mother's sister) once taught at the South Hopedale School. [next to the South Hopedale Cemetery] She lived on Oak Street. She'd have to walk all the way to school, and when she got there, if the weather was cold, she'd have to build a fire. When the kids arrived, she's send one out to the well for a pail of water. Aunt Blanche never married, and eventually moved to Maine.
I recall where yellow lady slippers grew up in the area of Frog Pond. Hazel Caulfield would bring them to school.
Where Laurelwood is, there used to be a gristmill.
Uncle Walter Durgin was a policeman. He was also lifeguard and tree warden.
My dad helped to build the Community House. It opened in 1923. There was supposed to be a swimming pool there. It would have been where the flagpole is.
I used to go have lunch with my dad at the Community House. I did this from when I was in kindergarten through grade eight.
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