North Attleborough Historical Society

Jan. 2006

Apr 13, 2006

January Meeting
On Sunday, January 15th at 2 PM, Society member and Middle School teacher James Hale presents "A Look at North Attleborough 100 Years Ago". Through ads, directories, and almanacs from the early nineteen hundreds we will study what businesses were here, and who lived where. In the case of bad weather on the 15th the meeting may be postponed. If in doubt, call Bob Lanpher at 508 695-6649. The postponement date is Sunday, Feb. 5th at 2 PM. Our next meeting is in March.


Yard Cleanup and house preparations
The Society wishes to thank all those who gave their time to cleaning up the property and preparing the house for the annual Christmas Fair and Open House. Thank you to James Hale who gave the lawn a last mowing that rid the lawn of many of the fallen leaves before the cleanup started; Cheryl Kummer for putting the Gulski Garden to bed for the Winter; Claire Harrison for cleaning around the entrances to the house; Claire Golembewski for raking around the house and trimming the holly bushes; Nancy Campbell for hanging some of the greenery; Claire Harrison and Dorothy Conroy for putting the house in order, setting up the trees and overseeing the decorating of the house; and Ginnie Gilmore, Marilyn McDeed, Beth Mansfield and the rest of the Angle Tree Garden Club members who donated decorating material and worked on decorating the house; and any other anonymous members who may have come unnoticed during weeks before the events.


Holiday Fair and Open house
The Society's Holiday Fair, Second Chance Fair and open houses were well attended and financially successful; raising about $2500. Thanks to Heather DeMelia and all of her helpers who crafted, baked and sold; those that bought at the fair and those that guided at the Woodcock Garrison House. Also, thanks to the many local businesses that donated, including Briggs Nursery, Col. Blackinton Inn, Downtown Associates of North Attleborough (DANA), LeStage Mfg. Co., Nolan's Flowers and Gifts, Soupworks, and Total Image Salon. If you patronize any of these businesses, be sure to thank them for us.


New Member
Welcome to new member Muriel Crockett. We hope to see you at many of our future meetings and events.


Happenings at Area Societies
Jan. 18 at 7:30 PM "Ice Harvesting" presentation by George Shelton at the Norton Historical Society
Jan. 19 at 4:15 PM tour the Sun Chronicle with the Attleboro Historic Preservation Society
Feb. 9 at 7:30 "The Evolution of Christmas in New England" at the Wrentham Library for the Wrentham Historical Society ($5 for non-members)
Feb. 16 at 6:45 PM "Unique Photography" of Dr Guillette at the Attleboro Industrial Museum
for the Attleboro Historic Preservation Society
Feb. 21 at 7:30 PM an antiques appraisal night with Ralph Steffanelli at the Norton Historical Society


President's Letter


A big thank you to our Christmas Fair chairperson, Heather DeMelia, all of her helpers, the crew working at the Garrison House, the Angle Tree Garden Club and all of our donors for another successful, profitable, and much enjoyed fair and open house. Again this year we decided to open the house up two different days; once on a Sunday and then again on the following Saturday, which allowed some holiday visitors to tour the house after Thanksgiving. We had many tour the house for the first time as well as those who do it every year.


This year we had a meeting at the schoolhouse in between the two sales, which caused us some extra work in tearing down the sales tables before the meeting and setting things up again by the following Saturday. We added more items and rearranged the layout for the second sale. Sales were better at the second sale this year than last year so it was worth the effort. We have some very crafty and generous members in our society!!


I hope that you all saw the full-page article that ran in the Sun Chronicle and highlighted the repairs and painting that took place to our two buildings this fall. The article was written by board member Diane Viera, who contributes stories to the paper in her role with Historic New England. I'm sure that we have this article to thank for many of the new visitors to our Christmas open house. The article included information on our Guardian program and one first-time attendee told me that he planned to make a yearly contribution based on the article and what he observed of our efforts in maintaining our buildings.


Lastly, I would like to thank those of you that responded to my last letter and made a year-end donation to the society. We will use the money wisely.


Happy New Year,
Bob Lanpher