Mr. History Post #13: Squirrel Nuts!

The Squirrel brand dates back to 1890 when it started as the Austin T. Merrill Company in Roxbury. Incorporated in 1899 as the newly named Squirrel Brands Salted Nut Company, the company’s ownership changed and two long-time employees, Perley G. Gerrish and Fred S. Green, began to run the business. As the company grew, it moved from its Boston location to Cambridge in 1903 and then to this building in 1915.

The company was here in Cambridge from 1915 to 1999.

Their popular flagship product was the “Squirrel Nut Zipper,” a vanilla, caramel, and nut taffy that supposedly was named after an illegal drink during Prohibition. The candy was always regionally popular, but it made more of a national comeback during the 1990s when a retro swing band named themselves the Squirrel Nut Zippers and gave out the candy at their performances.

When Hollis Gerrish, the son of the founder, died in 1997, he left instructions for the company to be sold. In 1999, Squirrel Brand Company was purchased by Southern Style Nuts and the operation was moved to Texas. Its leaving marked the departure of the city’s last major independent candy manufacturer.

My personal connection is that I can remember my late grandmother telling me when I was a kid that she worked there probablyaround the kate 1940s. (My mom might have also worked there at the same time for a while.) Everytime my granny would tell me of her time there I kept imagining in my head that famous I Love Lucy episode. My grandmother was on the line!

This one was for some of our memories together Grandma.

Added a new category called History to link all these history visit posts.


Gametime: Sokobird 2.

Sunday We Do Yard Work

We were quite busy today getting a bunch of stuff done around the house. But first we saw a promotion from a local floral business that stated if you brought them 2 or more old vases you would get a free floral bouquet. So we looked around, found two old vases that we had no real attraction to keeping anymore and went down and met the folks. And got the free bouquet. Pretty good idea actually.

Then it was on the yard tasks. First before anything else, I put the AC up in the window because it’s going to start to be getting hotter. Then I went ahead and gave the outdoor grill a thorough cleaning, inside and out. I also cleaned down the patio table and LD planted more potter plants. Then we went over to the “prairie area” we have a weeded out there. Now the 100 year old lilies that we planted there a few years back will have more room to grow and prosper. I have to say they look really good and healthy so far, I guess they like the location. I then decided to go ahead and mow the lawns and edge the fences. That took a while since it’s a pretty big yard, but I like the job that I did. I left a spot in the middle of the lawn where some wild buttercups are in bloom for pollinators though. Once they’re done I’ll mow over them.

As a reward LD decided to take me to a place I saw on tv the other night that makes mochi donuts, an Asian specialty that I wanted to try. I got three different kinds but I think my favorite of the ones I got was the taro. Now it’s wind down and relax time as our bodies muscles are hurting! Escpeally mine after all that biking yesterday.

Saturday Morning City Bike Ride

Took a picture of this church before the ride.

This morning was the annual spring bike ride that the city of Cambridge puts on that I try to do every year. This year’s theme was a tour of Cambridge’s off-leash dog areas. We also stopped at Fresh Pond for a water and restroom break and to hear from a guest speaker about the City’s biggest dog and wildlife hotspot. The ride was really good, mostly level terrain, with a police escort. If you weren’t near the front though I don’t think you’d actually know where the parks were because there wouldn’t be anyone to point it out to you as you rode by. This was a good 11 mile ride with about 115 participants. The best parts were the dogs that came along for the ride. After it was all over I headed to place a saw on Chronicle last week in my neighborhood that I wanted to try out, a Rwandan couple that has a coffee shop and serves coffee from their homeland, I must say it was pretty good! Would definitely go back and try some other things.

Below Listing:

  1. Cambridge city bike ride start
  2. Doggo on the ride
  3. Rest stop
  4. Wildlife by the Charles
  5. Back on the road
  6. Only time we can bike this underpass
  7. Again
  8. Drinking coffee from Rwanda!

Swinging into the Weekend Like…

I was able to find a book of some of Edgar Allen Poe’s most famous stories in a little library while I was hanging around, It’s been a while sine I read those. This version looks to be nicely put together, with illustrations and editorial thoughts in the margins. Afterwards we picked up some more plants, which we’ll get into their pots this weekend, along with a stone cat figure that reminds of of Carson. Probably put it near where the bunnies lay their nests in the pot as he is the protector of the baby bunnies!

mr. History Post #12: Winter Hill Gang HQ

It’s a church now, but the building at 12-14 Marshall Street, a landmark in the history of 20th Century organized crime, served as the headquarters for the infamous Winter Hill Gang.

With 12-14 Marshal St. as its headquarters, Winter and James “Whitey” Bulger directed a criminal organization that fixed horse races along the east coast, corrupted the Boston office of the FBI and provided the basis for an academy-award winning film (“The Departed” was loosely based on Bulger’s role as an FBI informant). From the 1970s until 1994 when Bulger fled Boston to avoid law enforcement, the gang rivaled the local Mafia in brutality and profits. And until 1980, when Winter went to jail and the gang moved to Boston, Marshall Street was the crew’s command center.

In 2008, the garage’s infamous trapdoor, which led to a basement where the Winter Hill Gang tortured or disposed of their rivals, was still intact. A significant place in the history of organized crime in the United States.

Mr. History Post #11: The Birth of Reddit!

Mr. History post #11: Birth of Reddit.

Some of you might have seen this elsewhere but anyways in 2005, college roommates Steve Huffman and Alexis Ohanian created Reddit from their apartment at 265 Elm Street in Davis Square, Somerville.

Today, their creation ranks as the 18th most-visited website in the world!

I grew up just a few blocks from this location and must have walked by it thousands of times, especially during that time, and I never even knew!

May the 4th Be With You!

Started out the day walking a trail in Wellesley that I’d been meaning to do for quite some time but never got around to it until today. We had to be in the area so I decided to take the oppurtunuithy to get some steps in. The Fuller Brook Trail is really beautiful. Such a lovely trial to walk and enjoy.

After that I decided to treat us brunch over at The Cottage.

It was also Somerville Open Studios weekend so I decided to relive visiting the Museum of Modern Renaissance.

Finding the Daffodil Fields

Finally got a chance to check out the Daffodil Field over down in Dartmouth. It’s at the end of a short hike over a scenic trail to get there. I believe there’s also something similar somewhere in Rhode Island which may be worth checking out some time. Anyways, according to local lore, the daffodils were planted by Raymond Pettey in the 1940s to sell during WWII when the U.S. was unable to get bulbs from Holland. The war ended and the flowers remained!

Hiking the Mattapoisett Rail Trail

This scenic and spectacular mile that crosses the Mattapoisett River estuary, salt marshes, and Reservation Beach at the head of Mattapoisett Harbor connects neighborhoods and conservation areas with car-free biking and walking. I also caught a glimpse of an American Oystercatcher, a first for me!

This one is so awesome, especially where the river meets the sea!

The last few pics for from Ned’s Point Light which isn’t too far from the rail trail.

The Museum of Ice Cream

Not generally a place we would normally check out, but we do like to shake things up and try something different now and again. This place surely was that. This was the kind of place you visit just once.

Currently Reading: The Devil at His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty. I happened to see the author of this book doing a talk on C-Span after just flipping around the dial in a moment of boredom and it sounded interesting. I mean we all know the story but this traces the history back to the great-grandfather and all the previous fathers leading up to Alex. Come to find out, they’ve been pretty corrupt all along! When I saw how big it was I started to get a little daunted but the style is perfect and it’s easy to read. I recommend it, especially just to see how corrupt this family was from the start,

Mr. History Post #9: Mourning Victory

Concord, Mass. In 1897, the Boston businessman James C. Melvin had commissioned a funerary monument from Daniel Chester French to honor his three brothers who had died in the Civil War. French was a famous sculpture who has stuff all over, including Lincoln sitting in his chair in the Lincoln Memorial and the Minuteman Statue in Concord among others. The massive figure of Mourning Victory emerges from the block of stone projecting two moods: melancholy, in her downcast eyes and somber expression, and triumph, in the American flag and laurel she holds high. French captured the sense of calm after the storm of battle, which must have referred to the pride, after the sorrow of grieving, felt by the surviving brother. It’s a pretty impressive tribute.

Since I was here I also checked out Author’s Ridge which has a bunch of famous authors buried there. The list of names of famous authors who died while living in Concord is impressive. There are Thoreau and Emerson, but also Nathaniel Hawthorne, Louisa May Alcott and her family, and William Ellery Channing, all interred near one another.

Mr. History Post # 8: Black Dahlia and Jingle Bells

he Medford Edition! I’m checking out a few origin stories today. First up, the birthplace of the Black Dahlia. It’s still an unknown grizzly murder mystery that baffles people to this day. Sadly, her childhood home was razed to make way for the Interstate 93 Rotary that abuts this spot. Poor Liz. Also, since it was so close, I also checked out where the Xmas tune Jingle Bells was supposedly written. The old pub is now an eyeglasses store. I’m trying to imagine two horse open sleighs skidding down Medford Center. 🤷

The Goatfather Makes an Offer We Can’t Refuse

It’s springtime, baby goat season – these little guys were born shortly ago, in fact while we were there a mother goat was giving birth to 4 babies (!) which I hear is unusual to have that many at once, it’s usually 2, or 3 at the most. Glad the rain stopped for us yesterday afternoon! Mt shirt says :The Goatfather” in the logo manner of the Godfather. It was a birthday gift from some pals of ours, I just finally got a chance to wear it out. It’s also a nice feeling to have a baby goat just fall asleep in your arms, so trusting, and they are so warm. The one I had even started dreaming at one point I believe!

Mr. History Post #7: The Viaduct!

Canton may be best known at the moment for Karen Read, but this awesome structure precedes her by 190 years! The Canton Viaduct, a stone arch bridge that spans the Neponset River, was constructed in 1835 as part of the rail line connecting Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, and it remains in use in the 21st century!


Ended up watching some really old 48 Hours rerun and they had this story on about an event that happened in Falmouth down on the Cape back in 1979. I found it so interesting I had to download the book about the events so, Currently Reading: The Year We Disappeared.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

People say that with age and experience comes wisdom, and with wisdom comes enlightenment. Well, I don’t know how much of it is the truth, but I have grown up and grown with you to realize what love means and what it really means to love someone. Love goes beyond time, age, or even the person, and I have experienced love in its purest form; I feel nothing but gratefulness today. All these years strong with you and more to go, I stand here a happy man thanks to you, and I love you with all my heart.

Our relationship might not be perfect, and certainly has its ups and downs, but our love for each other is still strong and is wonderful all the same, and that’s all anyone could ever ask or hope for. I am truly blessed to have found you. I just want you to know, that when I picture myself happy, it is with you.

In a world where so many things can be uncertain, you are the one thing that I will always be sure of.

Better than I was, more than I am.

I’m so glad to be able to spend this day with you and all the days with you. The good things in life are better with you. Seriously, you’re amazing! This lowly kid from Somerville hit it big when he met this Jersey Girl!

Happy Anniversary, Ladydoc!!

Mr. History Post #6: The Echoing Bridge!

Mr. History post #6: The bridge that echoes! A National Historic Landmark, this handsome stone bridge, built in 1876 by the Boston Water Works, contains the Sudbury Aqueduct, with a pedestrian walk on top. Visitors standing under the arch can make echoes and view the deep river gorge, waterfall, and steep hemlock-covered banks. Spectacular views atop the bridge! Crazy to think this is basically next to Route 9!

Mr. History Post #5: Harvard Square Edition!

Up first, the Harvard Lampoon Building. Sometimes referred to as the “Lampoon Castle,” it was built in 1909 by Edmund M. Wheelwright, who took inspiration from the local architecture of Jamestown, Virginia. From the front it bears an obvious resemblance to a human head wearing a Prussian helmet. At the top of the building is a four-foot copper ibis, the mascot of the Lampoon. This ibis has been stolen and returned several times since 1909. Same famous peeps who worked here are Conan O’Brian and Colin Jost.

Since I was in the area I also swung by the puppeteer tiny bronze. The bronze statue is a replica of the “DooDoo” puppet used by street performer Igor Fokin. Igor Fokin was a puppeteer from St. Petersburg, who delighted passersby on the streets of Cambridge with his hand-carved marionettes that frolicked and danced to traditional Russian music. Fokin passed away of heart failure in September 1996, and the sculpture and accompanying plaque were commissioned to pay tribute to Igor and all street performers.

Finally passed by the old theatre. I haven’t been to the square in years, it’s looks almost the same, but a lot if it is very different.

Mr. History Post #4: The Viking Tower

The viking tower in Weston. Beginning in the mid-to-late-1800s, a food chemist, inventor, and major donor to Wellesley College named Eben Norton Horsford became obsessed with the idea Vikings were in New England around 1000. We know Leif Erikson and other Europeans visited North America before Christopher Columbus. However, Horsford deeply believed Erikson had established settlements in the Boston area.

Some maps from the 1500s refer to New England as “Norumbega,” and there were stories about explorers seeing mythical cities and houses made of gold. However, much of that information appears to have been misconstrued or invented. Most of Horsford’s assertions about Vikings in present-day Boston were rooted in bad science. Evidence from his “archeological” digs didn’t provide solid proof of links to Vikings.

In any event, Horsford had the money to erect various plaques and statutes in the Boston area to memorialize his beliefs. Along the banks of the Charles River in Weston near Waltham he erected Norumbega Tower. The tower stands at the site Horsford believed housed a fort protecting the legendary Norse city of Norumbega. Horsford asserted that the city of Norumbega was located just downriver in Watertown, where he erected a memorial plaque.

Again, there was never any real evidence of a Norse fort or city here. Perhaps more than anything, the tower is a monument to how money can shape history. Thanks to Wikipedia for the write up.

Mr. History Post #3: I’ve Got the Whole World in my Hands!

Mr. History Post #3: The Babson Globe. I figured I’d do another one of these posts. Maybe I should rename them more as curiosities than history, but what the hell, plus being a cartographer for almost 30 years, this one speaks to me. Weighing 25 tons and with a diameter of 28 feet (8.5 meters), it was the world’s largest rotating globe when it was built in 1955 but now it’s 2nd place. Still pretty freaking big though! The last pic is me being Atlas helping them move to globe to its current location a few years ago (jk!)

Mr. History Entry #2: Spin Me Right Round baby!

Mr. History post #2! I promise these posts aren’t all going to be about houses. It was just that I happened to be in the area. Anyways… This is the Robinson Round House located in Somerville Massachusetts. It was built in 1856 by hardware manufacturer Enoch Robinson and is considered an offshoot of the octagon house-style popularized by phrenologist Orson Fowler because who needs corners anyway!

Mr. History post #1 here , the oldest still standing house in America, if you missed it… stay tuned for more!


Bonus!

A pic of me exploring the colossal colon circa 2003. I was just passing through! Bringing awareness to colon cancer.