No trout stocking for you Wellesley

March 23, 2019 by bbrown Leave a Comment

Swans on Morses Pond — Morses Pond: No trout stocking here

This is one of the 2 times of the year that the state stocks bodies of water with trout from its hatcheries, but Wellesley is not among its targets.

Lake Cochituate, the Charles River and Dug Pond in Natick are getting fish, as is Crystal Lake in Newton and Trout Brook in Dover. But Lake Waban, Morses Pond and the Charles River in Wellesley are not among candidates. Not to say some of those trout from Natick’s section of the Charles might not find their way into Wellesley.

According to John Sheedy, fisheries manager for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife (MassWildlife), “Trout are cold water fish and water bodies need to meet certain requirements for the trout to survive. There are no suitable waters in Wellesley that meet the criteria needed.”

Sheedy adds that “In order for trout to survive, certain requirements must be met during the fishes’ most critical time (or biggest limiting factor), the summer months. In stream and rivers water temps should not exceed mid-60 degrees Fahrenheit, and have enough flow to maintain decent levels of dissolved oxygen. Lakes and ponds need to be of a depth that allows for the formation of a thermo cline. This is a layer of cold, well oxygenated water located about midway in the water column that trout will spend the summer months in to survive the warm water above and the cold low oxygen water below.”

One local fisherman we reached out to said, “I would quite like the chance to catch trout in Morses Pond. But I have noticed that stocked ponds seem to attract people who indulge in angling on an ‘industrial scale’ to get as many fish as possible.”

So maybe it’s best off to leave the trout stocking to neighboring communities after all.

MORE: The running of the fish in Wellesley

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Wellesley Hills Library Hearthside historical talk: “Race to the Pole”

March 23, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

The Wellesley Hills Branch Library presents “Race to the Pole,” a talk by local historian Bob Begin about Antarctica exploration in the 1900s.

In 1900, Antarctica represented the last unexplored and unclaimed region of the world. Great Britain felt it her duty to explore and claim this region for the British Empire. She would sponsor expeditions to achieve this goal. Other nations would also enter the race. Learn about the explorers who risked life and limb to conquer the Antarctic: Scott, Amundsen, and Shackleton. What drove these men?

Ernest Shackleton’s men struggle to free their ship, The Endurance, from the Antarctica ice.

WHEN: Thursday, March 28, 2019, 6:30pm – 7:45pm
WHERE: Wellesley Hills Branch Library, 201 Washington St.

Beyond Wellesley: New Bedford Whaling Museum, lunch, and a winter beach visit

March 22, 2019 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

It’s smack-dab middle of winter here in New England, a time when it can seem easier to just hibernate at home rather than venture out into the cold, bleak world. Let me encourage you to join the resistance to such inactivity with a road trip to the New Bedford Whaling Museum, a nearby lunch at the family-friendly Whalers Tavern, followed by a constitutional on a little-known New England beach frequented all winter long by locals and their dogs.

The New Bedford Whaling Museum

New Bedford in the early 19th century was the world’s busiest whaling port in the world’s richest city. Whaling was at the center of everything in the busy port town, a place that was populated by the Wampanoag Indian nation before Europeans landed onshore. In the early 1600s English settlers took a look around the coastal area, took note of its favorable position, and came back fifty years later to settle the area. That didn’t go well for the thousands of Wampanoag residents who soon found themselves at war with the European colonists. Significantly reduced in number by disease and ruthless war tactics, the Wampanoags were quickly pushed off land they had occupied for perhaps thousands of years.

It’s a dramatic story, and the museum’s exhibits showcase the area’s history, the whaling industry, and its impact not only on New Bedford but globally. Not to be missed (and impossible to do so): five massive whale skeletons, the world’s largest ship model (the Lagoda), and America’s longest painting. Every room in the museum, opened in 1903, is devoted to all things whaling — paintings, costumes, ship models, maps, an astonishing number of scrimshaw arts and crafts, and more.

The whaling vessel Lagoda takes center stage in one of the galleries as the world’s largest ship model. To call it a model ship, although accurate, almost fails to give it its due. The 1/2 scale replica looks ready to set sail at a moment’s notice, and visitors are welcome to climb right aboard and imagine what it must have been like to make Lagoda both home and office for anywhere from six months to four years, just as 19th-century sailors did.

Whale hunting was deadly to whales, of course, and it also was risky business for the hunters. A small boat of about six or eight men would row within hurling distance of a 150-ton whale and let fly at least seven harpoons into whichever part of the mammal they could hit. The whales often didn’t welcome the attention, and there are several paintings in the museum that depict seriously angry whales getting their revenge on hapless sailors, most of whom were non-swimmers.

Which brings us to author Herman Melville, who in 1841 shipped out from New Bedford on the Acushnet. His experiences on that whaling ship helped form his great American novel Moby Dick. In chapter 20 of the 585-page tome, Melville describes The Seamen’s Bethel, a small wooden structure just across the street from the museum and included in the admission fee. Built in 1832 as a non denominational church, Melville’s narrator, call-me Ishmael himself, described how sailors bound for their dangerous work on the sea would stop in to offer up prayers before they set sail: “In the same New Bedford there stands a whaleman’s chapel and few are the moody fishermen shortly bound for the Indian or Pacific Oceans who failed to make a Sunday visit to this spot.”

New Bedford, Seamen's Bethel — New Bedford, Seamen’s Bethel

Also in the museum is the 3,000 square foot Casa dos Botes Discovery Center for kids. Don’t miss the observation deck on the top floor of the museum for a great view of the New Bedford harbor. The door out to the deck doesn’t lock behind you, even in the dead of winter. I nervously checked that out for you.

The New Bedford Whaling Museum
18 Johnny Cake Hill, New Bedford, MA 02740
(508) 997-0046
Hours, January through March:
Tuesday – Saturday 9 am – 4 pm
Sunday 11 am – 4 pm
Admission: Adult $17; seniors (65+) $15; students (19+) $10; Child/youth $7; under 3 free
Tickets include admission to the Mariners’ Home.

Lunch at Whaler’s Tavern, 24 North Water Street

About three-tenths of a cobblestone-street mile from the museum is a great family friendly lunch spot that likely becomes a different sort of lively with a more adult crowd come evening. The staff told us to sit anywhere, so we took a high table in the bar area and perused the menu. I started out with the excellent Quahog Chowder made with applewood smoked bacon, onions, celery, red bliss potatoes, and plenty of chopped quahogs. Next up for me was the arugula salad with sun-dried tomatoes and generously portioned sushi-grade ahi tuna, very fresh and a nice light counterpoint to the richness of the chowder. My companion ordered the BLT on a buttered toasted bun, downed it, and left full and happy.

Whaler's Tavern, New Bedford — Whaler’s Tavern, New Bedford

Other menu items that looked tempting: Shark Bites, locally caught, breaded, and deep fried and served with Cajun remoulade; lobster quesadilla; burgers; grilled chicken sandwich; Korean BBQ pulled pork sandwich; chourico melt; soba noodle bowl; and more. Show up Monday – Friday, 3pm – 6pm for raw bar buy one, get one free littlnecks and oysters. They have a full bar, so plenty of chaser options.

Whaler’s Tavern
24 N Water St, New Bedford, MA 02740
(774) 206-6303

Walk it off at West Island Town Beach

About eight miles away via cottage-lined Sconticut Neck Rd. (plug in West Island Town Beach, Fairhaven, MA into GPS) you can find a little-known beach overlooking Buzzards Bay. During the off season you can just pull into the lot, a casual and muddy affair when we stopped by, and join the locals and their dogs as they enjoy the general solitude.

I probably wouldn’t plunk my family down there for a summer day. The sand was covered with seaweed, and the swimming area was quite rocky. But for beach walking a couple miles in either direction on firm footing you can’t beat it, and the sunsets must be amazing. Avoiding the Cape Cod bridge traffic is also another plus that locals swear by.

West Island Town Beach

Beyond Wellesley: sneak peek at the renovated Hood Museum at Dartmouth College

Beyond Wellesley: Family fun at Versus arcade in Boston

Beyond Wellesley: a visit to a North End restaurant in Boston

More pictures from our New Bedford adventure:

[Read more…]

Pictures of Spring 2019, Wellesley

March 20, 2019 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Spring’s only job is to be beautiful, and today it rolled into town under blue skies and temperatures that climbed into the 50s. Happy spring, Wellesley. Here are some pictures that prove that fine-weather days are coming.

Wellesley Clock Tower, Spring — Witch Hazel in bloom at Clock Tower Park. The park is looking tidy, with recently raked and edged beds.

Wellesley Spring — A satisfying clump of snowdrops outside the Wellesley College Club.

Wellesley College, greenhouses — Most of the old Welleseley College greenhouses have been razed to make way for new, more energy-efficient greenhouses. Saving the 10-foot high camellia tree, a gift from Wellesley’s founders, Henry and Pauline Durant, was one of the project’s major challenges. Workers built the above cylindrical structure to protect the over 130-year-old tree, which is in bloom now.

North 40, Wellesley spring — This North 40 garden plot was obviously put to bed properly last fall. I am not worthy.

Wellesley North 40, Spring — This North 40 gardener first tidied the raised bed then covered them with hay for the winter.

North 40, Wellesley — The North 40 boardwalk project was approved last year by the Wetlands Protection Committee and the Design Review Board, and will feature a boardwalk and educational signage that will be accessible from Turner Rd., which is located off Weston Rd.

Beebe Meadow, Spring — Beebe Meadow. Nothing says spring like a big pile of mulch. A Beebe Meadow neighbor said that this pile was most likely chipped on-site by a Town crew from trees that had fallen in the Meadow. There are still many other downed trees on the property, possible toppled during last month’s wind storm. Although sometimes mystery tree-cutters take things into their own hands at Beebe Meadow…

Beyond Wellesley: a visit to Spring at the Boston Flower Show

March 15, 2019 by Deborah Brown Leave a Comment

Every year around this time it feels hard to believe that spring is coming. Right now in Wellesley snow is still on the ground, the trees are bare, and the temperatures are not expected to creep even as high as 60 degrees anytime soon. Keeping the faith is a challenge.

The Boston Flower & Garden Show has had no such crisis of faith since 1834, when the event started out in Faneuil Hall more as a country fair than what is today a showcase for backyard suburban paradises. At the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston through March 17, the show’s theme this year is “The Beauty of Balance.” Wellesley’s own Massachusetts Horticultural Society’s Interim Director and President Suzanne Maas serves as Show Chair, and Hannah Traggis, Senior Horticulturalist at MassHort is Vice Chair of the flower show.

Mass Hort also manages all the amateur competitions at the show, which include floral design, amateur horticulture competitions including plant rooms, bay windows, individual house plants/horticulture exhibits, and junior horticulture, Ikebana display, miniature gardens, and photography.

Here are a few pics from my wander through spring bottled up in a vast convention center and put on display for the masses, hungry for a glimpse of what is to come.