Mysterious Rooster Sculpture Appears

Six foot tall painted rooster sculpture
currently at Marble Farm Historic Site

In September a six foot tall, painted, iron rooster sculpture appeared at the Marble Farm Historic Site (the modest-sized park across from Christmas Motors). Discreetly located at its back is a sticker of the Town of Maynard logo (the clocktower), yet neither the Select Board nor Department of Public Works professed knowledge of the sculpture. Nor was the ad hoc sculpture group that was responsible for the installation of the bicycle/bicyclist sculpture across Main Street from Ray & Sons Cyclery involved.

Whence, then, did the rooster come from? why a rooster? and who was responsible for its appearance? The whence part turned out to be easiest. Tractor Supply Co. sells these iron rooster sculptures with various paint jobs for $175 to $250. Each comes with three stakes to anchor its feet.

Why deserves a longer explanation. Several years ago, a family in Maine took in a child, first as a foster, then adopted, who was diagnosed with autism. She arrived with a stuffed rooster as a comfort device. During a family visit to Tractor Supply she asked her parents what the big rooster was saying. Her father answered "I think it wants to come home with us." 

First one, then several, then many more, the roosters adorned their yard. They saw that their daughter was more at ease waiting for the school bus with a rooster for company. Trouble, or more specifically, notariety, arose when her parents added rooster images to shirts and other merchendise for their restaurant, The Omlette Factory. The town saw their lawn statues as unaurthorized advertising, and issued a fine. A compromise was reached - their lawn display would be limited to two roosters and the fine dropped via a "disability variance." 

As a consequence, the family loaned/gifted roosters to others to “foster” and show their support for autism acceptance, first locally, and then farther afield. Independently, people have been buying and displaying Tractor Supply roosters beyond Maine, and in fact, beyond the United States. Roosters of Ogunquit Facebook provides an origin story with its Mission Statement "The mission of Roosters of Ogunquit is to advance autism and neurodiversity awareness, acceptance, support, understanding, and inclusion through community connection and collaboration, advocacy, and education." Pick-up by local and national media for this 'feel good' story added to the exposure. And, we must assume, the appearance of a rooster in Maynard.  

A painted rock from Maynard's painted rocks era

Given the ease of supply, one has to hope that our resident rooster remains a one-off rather than the harbinger of a pink flamingo-like group proliferation. And on behalf of the Town of Maynard, I am asking that the anonymous person(s) responsible for this installation add a comment to this column to provide a name and a confirmation that this is intended as a symbol of awareness and support for families with members with autism. Perhaps the sculpture might move at times to different locations along the Assabet River Rail Trail, accompanied by a sign that explains the significance. Or stay where it is with such a sign.

Coda: One trait linked to people on the autistic spectrum is collecting rocks, not necessarily as geological specimen samples but more for unusual/comforting shape/feel. Finding rocks that other people have painted and placed in public spaces fall into pleasing collectables. Kindness Rocks is a project that started on Cape Cod in 2015, which in turn triggered Tacoma Rocks (2016), and that from that one to Maynard Rocks (2017). For the artistic, inspired and autistic, fall is a good time to break out your paint brushes and contribute to Maynard's life outdoors. 

 

Invasive Species: Tree of Heaven and Spotted Lanternfly

 Hundreds of Mark's columns from his 12 years writing for the Beacon-Villager are accessible at maynardlifeoutdoors.com. The website includes an article directory by category (History, Nature, etc.). 

SUMMARY: There is an interesting confluence of an invasive plant and insect species that may change our biosphere going forward. The Asian-origin tree species Tree of Heaven became a widespread invasive in the United States in the mid-1800s. An insect, the spotted lanternfly - first observd in the US in 2014 - prefers Tree of Heaven (TOH) as a host species, but also afflicts grape vines and fruit trees. It has been observed in Maynard as of 2026. As a means of dealing with both trees and insects, species-specific fungi and parasitic insects are being actively researched by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).   

Adult Spotted Lanternfly on trunk
of a Tree of Heaven tree

Ailanthus altissima is the Latinate name for Tree of Heaven. The common name refers to its extraordinary growth rate. Ditto the Latinate name, as Ailanthus derives from an Asian word for sky-reaching-tree while altissima has Latin roots in altus, for high or highest.

As with many later-deemed invasive plant species, the initial introductions were deliberate. By the 1840s these trees were being sold commercially in the eastern United States, popular for city plantings because it thrives in poor soil and is resistant to drought and pollution. In California, immigrant Chinese workers at mines and railroads brought Tree of Heaven with them for its traditional medicinal purposes - the bark used to make an astringent tea.

Trees are either male or female. Both have flowers, but only the female trees create seed clusters. A mature tree can produce more than half a million seeds in a single season! These disperse by wind, and are rarely eaten by birds, mammals or insects. Deer will not eat the leaves nor nibble on the bark of saplings.

This species does not play well with others. As with garlic mustard, this plant produces chemicals which inhibit the growth of other plants, a trait that is referred to as being allelopathic. Combine that with prolific seed production, a growth rate much faster than any native tree, plus resistance to pollution and drought, and this tree is a major nuisance in urban and semi-urban environments unless vigorous combated.

Tree of Heaven smells bad. One disparaging nickname is 'stink tree.' Anyone who has tried to pull up seedlings or cut sprouts knows this tree has an offensive odor - sometimes described as having overtones of rancid peanut butter and/or cat urine. This test provides a mean to differentiate TOH from similarly leafed sumac, black walnut and other plants.   

Tree of Heaven is difficult to kill. Cutting results in new growth from the stumps plus a massive production of shoots from the surviving roots as far away as fifty feet from the original trunk. Systemic herbicides that kill roots (for example, triclopyr and glyphosate) currently provide the best chemical control. These can be sprayed on shoots, or holes can be drilled in the stumps of freshly cut trees and high concentration herbicide products applied directly. However, both application methods can cause collateral damage to nearby plants. The USDA is actively researching a fungus and several insect species as being specific to TOH, i.e., not causingt collateral damage to native plant species.  

Spotted Lanternfly showing forewing and underwing

Our second invasive, the spotted lanternfly (Lycorma delicatula), prefers TOH as a host species for the completion of its lifecycle, as they mate there in the early fall, lay eggs that will over-winter, and have wingless nymph stages which will feed on in late spring. Without TOH, nymph survival is lower and adult egg laying is less. Thus, removing the trees in the fall or spraying them with insecticides in late spring are important management stratagies. Adults are 1.0-1.5 inches long, with tan/grey forewings that have black spots and underwings that are partially bright red. The first documented appearance in the United States was in Pennsylvania in 2014. Since then it has spread to 17 states east of the Mississippi, with a financial impact on the grape, fruit and forestry industries already in excess of one billion dollars.

Given the very recent appearance in Maynard, it is unlikely that there will be large numbers of adults present this fall. However, if the infestation becomes bad in future years, large numbers can be expected to gather on TOH tree trunks, fruit trees and others. Insecticide sprays can be useful at these times.  

Several other means of controlling spotted lanternfly are being explored. A fungal pathogen that kills Tree of Heaven is being tested. Four species of fungi that kill spotted lanternfly are being evaluated as being species-specific, i.e., not killing native insects. These would require annual spraying of target food plants. In addition, three species of wasps native to China that are known to lay their eggs on spotted lanternfly egg masses. Again, care must be taken to confirm that bio-antagonists are specific to the target species. An example of succesful bio-control is the introduction of a parasitic wasp and a fly species to eastern Massachusetts about ten years ago that ended the infestation of winter moths. 

MORE ON MANAGEMENT

Plantings of Common Milkweed and Swamp Milkweed, in addition to supporting Monarch Butterfly caterpillars, cause deaths of Spotted Lanterfly that feed on the plants, as the same toxins which the butterflies safely absorb and make them distasteful to predating birds are poisonous to the lanternflies. 

Areas in infested states that have had population explosions sometimes have much lower insect counts in subsequent years. This can be due to a boom/bust population cycles* frequently seen in insect populations, but there is also evidence that native insect eating species now recognize spotted lanternfly nymphs and adults as edible. Predating birds include cardinals, bluejays, catbirds and titmice. Predating insects include yellowjackets and praying mantis. When Spotted Lanternflies feed on Tree of Heaven as nymphs and adults they are more successful to complete their life cycle, possibly due to bitter-tasting chemicals they absorb from the trees; all the more reason to kill Tree of Heaven.  

*Boom/bust ecology is extremely complex. Often, the introduction of an invasive species results in an initial massive boom - sometimes multi-year - followed by a decline as species-specific diseases and parasites increase, and also native responses increase. However, some native and some established invasive species have repeated boom/bust population events. For example Gypsy Moths have boom years every 10-15 years, in part caused by ideal weather.  

Alice Warren wrote about Maynard 1914

Alice Warren was hired in 1914 to be a teacher in Maynard. This memoir is from the Maynard Historical Society collection. Her maiden name was Lynn, she married Charles Warren in 1923. Alice taught in Maynard until she retired, she was also active with Maynard Girl Scouts. She died in 1980, age 89, and is buried in Glenwood Cemetery along with her husband and his parents. Charles' father, Alonzo Warren, was Maynard's last surviving Civil War veteran! I have added content in [  ] brackets to expand on what she was writing about.

                                                "I Remember. Do You?"

I was asked to write about what Maynard was like when I first came to town. I was one of the many school teachers who were hired to teach in the public schools. At that time it was customary for the teachers to live here during the school year.

The sun was shining that September Sunday when I left the train at the station. I was amazed at the crowd that came to meet it. [Maynard's population was 6,800 then, 11,000 now. The railroad right-of-way that went through the center of Maynard became the Assabet River Rail Trail.]

There were many boarding houses along Main Street and that day the porches were filled with inmates enjoying the comfortable chairs and watching the crowds go by. Everyone seemed to be walking as there were very few motorcars at that time. [First motorcar 1899, a Stanley Steamer. By 1914 there were car dealerships, repair shops, car rental and gas stations, but still about 150 horses.]

I entered the school system under Mr. Brick and found my work most interesting. I was surprised to see so many tow-haired children ["tow-haired" meant light blond, likely children of Finnish immigrants]. They were courteous, and the parents cooperative and it was a joy to teach here.

One of the outstanding clubs at that time was the Maynard Women's Club [1904-1976] which was at its height with 200 members and a waiting list. Teachers were honored guests and were allowed to close school early so as to attend the meetings. The programs were outstanding. The members dressed in their silk and satin gowns with hats, and white kid gloves. In looking over one of the old reports, I came across a notation where someone suggested that the Street Railway was to be asked to lower the step on the trolley as the women were required to show too much of their limbs in getting aboard.

Warren was active in Maynard's Girl Scout organization and 
was the founder of a Brownie Troop. In this circa 1960 photo
she is on the right (Maynard Historical Society archive).

The churches were very busy places in those days. With clubs for the young people it was an excuse to get out of an evening and the rule was to get home right after Christian Endeavor [youth group organization with evening meetings]. In the old days you hired a pew in some of the churches, and if the family was small you paid for half a pew.

The town seemed a very busy place to me with so many trains [passenger trains 1850-1958] and street cars [1901-1923] coming in and leaving. I sometimes think it was easier to get one out of town then than it is now. Street cars went up Nason Street to the Actons and the length of Main Street to Hudson and Concord. At times there would be standing room only and you could ride all day for a dollar. Many people went on excursions to the Street Railway parks in Lexington, Whalom, Canobie Lake, and the Clinton Dam which was being built then.. This was a great treat. [A group could hire a fancy trolleycar with a driver and have it transfered to other street railway systems for a day-long excursion. Canobie Lake amusement park was in New Hampshire, 40 miles from Maynard.]

As for recreation there was plenty to do. There were many Finnish people who put on their snowshoes and skis and it was a happy sight to watch them come over the hills. Pung rides [a pung was a small sleigh pulled by one horse]  and sleigh rides in winter where the destination called for a good oyster stew or chowder to break up the ride. There were livery stables where one could hire a horse and buggy and take rides along the countryside during the different seasons. Bicycles had been at their height before I came here and I loved to hear of the Priest Brothers and their many friends and the distances they made in a day. It almost seemed impossible. [Maynard had two all-male bicycle clubs. Although Alice does not make mention, the "bicycle craze" led women to abandon long skirts for either bloomers or knickerbockers.] Canoeing on the river and at Lake Boone, skating in the mill pond, dances, balls, band concerts, baseball, and basketball games at the "Rink" just added all kinds of fun for the young folks. Sideshows and Chautauqua came regularly and once a real circus was rerouted into Maynard. The movie houses where the shows were changed twice a week and where all could attend without seeing any movie in bad taste.

While in the last paragraph Alice wrote that Maynard
did not have planes, this certificate shows that
just over a dozen years later she had a 
plane ride over Washington, DC.

Every nationality had its own clubs and organizations and entertained the people at least once a year. At that time there were quite a few Scottish people and I especially enjoyed their shows. Everyone applauded the take off on Harry Lauder. [Lauder (1870-1950) was a famous Scottish singer, at one time the highest paid performer in the world and the first to sell a million records.]

I went away from Maynard for a while and came back as a housewife. In those days I did not have to go out and pick up groceries, for good Mr. Morse, from the Riverside Cooperative [1875-1936], came in the morning to take your order and bring it back by four o'clock in the afternoon. On Sunday morning a man came around with beans, brown bread, horse-radish and succotash. Fresh fish was brought into town twice a week and came to your door. Numerous cats followed the wagon and every once in a while a fish head would accidentally(?) fall off the tail-board to get rid of the animals. [Dairy, eggs, bread, coal and ice were also home delivery, and dirty laundry picked up by trucks from the Harriman Bros. New Method Laundry would be returned a few days later cleaned, ironed and folded.]

I never knew what real fresh strawberries, corn and asparagus tasted like until I came to Maynard. Such a difference from produce bought from fruit stands. Farmers picked their corn, left it at the back door step, you helped yourself and left one cent an ear.

Many people bought flour, sugar and other items by the barrel and it was quite a sight at the railroad station when this landed. Those who could, baked their own bread. It was a poor housewife who bought her bread. It was five or ten cents a loaf at the store and pretty poor stuff.

We did have excellent stores. Case's, a large department store, where you could purchase anything from a collar button to a pair of shoes, and many other good stores to take care of all of our needs with never a necessity to go out of town. [The Case building later became home to an A&P supermarket, an Army/Navy Surplus store, and currently The Outdoor Store.] We didn't have motor cars, planes, supermarkets, and five and ten cent stores, but we did have a library, good schools and all those beloved people who gave of themselves to make our town a blessed place to live.

Old House Expenses and Capital Gains Taxes

 SUMMARY: This is an expansion on a column that was originally published in the Beacon-Villager newspaper in 2010, the first year I was writing for the paper. Some content has been removed. What has been added is a description of the typical expenses for maintaining an old house, and how keeping records of those may save capital gains taxes when a primary residence home is sold.  

A reproduction of an 1875 street map at the Maynard Historical Society shows a house at 10 Maple Street belonging to Charles Brooks, so our house is at least 151 years old. Learning the names of the owners required leafing through records of past property sales. The oldest showed A&L Maynard Company selling the property to Charles Brooks in 1870 for $2,430. The 1870 U.S. Census described Brooks as a 56-year old widower working at a saw mill, with four teenage daughters. The saw mill was most likely the one owned by the woolen mill, near the Walnut Street bridge.

The deed does not specify whether there was a house on the property at the time of the sale to Brooks, but Amory Maynard and his son Lorenzo owned other lots on Maple Street at the time. It is likely they were building and selling houses in addition to owning and operating the woolwn mill. In support of this theory, most of the houses on Maple Street and Maple Court have a similar architecture, indicating they were built at about the same time. 

The property owners:

Before 1870 A&L Maynard Co.

        1870-1879 Charles G. Brooks

1879-1896 Alexander and Elizabeth Greer

1896-1924 Mary Hanna

1924-1926 Charles T. Partridge

1926-1953 William and Carrie Barlow

1953-1987 Thomas and Blanche Marsden

1988-2000 Craig and Tresa Jones

2000-present David Mark and Jean D’Amico

The Barlows or Marsdens were most likely responsible for converting a front porch to a room on a concrete slab, for extending the kitchen, and for adding a downstairs bathroom and a screened-in back porch. We removed the cramped second floor bathroom and attic space over the kitchen and converted that into a full-size bathroom plus a walk-in closet with clothes washer/dryer. 

The property also includes a 25x40 foot, two-story barn, with what was a stall for one horse. Construction date unknown. A good guess would be that Brooks or Greer kept a horse and wagon to haul freight to and from the railroad. The other back corner was a chicken coop.

EXPENSES 2000-2026

An internet search on expected annual maintenance and repair costs yields several websites with wording along the lines of  "A common rule of thumb for home maintenance is to budget 1-2% of your home's purchase price annually for repairs and upkeep for a relatively new house, and 3-4% per year for an older house; this, to cover both routine maintenance and unexpected failures. Major remodeling of kitchen, bathrooms, etc. would be extra."

'Expected, unexpected and extra' turned out to be an underestimate of our experiences. A pre-purchase inspection in 2000 stated that the barn's sills were rotten, and the wiring knob-and-tube so inadequate that the home insurer refused to cover the barn. The former required the barn to be jacked up for sill replacement. Rewiring included an upgrade for power for an electric pottery kiln. In time, the chicken coop became an insulated and heated pottery studio, five windows replaced, a leaking roof reshingled, exterior painted, and dealing with carpenter ants.

Housewise, the aforementioned house second floor addition, roof reshingled, exterior painted twice, interior once, eleven windows replaced, wiring brought up to code, kitchen and downstairs half-bath remodeled, driveway widened and repaved, walkways replaced. Appliance-wise, refrigerator/freezer once, stove once, dishwasher twice, clothes washer/dryer twice, furnace twice, hot water heater twice. 

When it comes time to sell a house, keeping a record of expenses can save a bundle on capital gains taxes. See www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p523.pdf for all the itty-bitty details. Simplified - if you and your spouse file taxes jointly and sell the house, a $500,000 profit is exempt from federal and state capital gains taxes. If you spouse dies and you sell within two years, same exempt. If you are single for more than two years prior to selling your house, only $250,000 is exempt. As to where that might matter - Maynard, not so much yet. Over 25 years the median sale price increased from $225,000 to $600,000. For Sudbury, median increased from $500,000 to $1,115,000 so capital gains exposure could apply to many house sales.

Those dollar triggers for taxing profits were set in 1997 and were not indexed for inflation. However, there is a bill before Congress, the "More Homes on the Market Act", which proposed that the triggering profit values be doubled. This is separate from legislation recently passed in the House and Senate and forwarded to the President for signing, as that bill is designed to promote new housing construction and also prevent speculators from buying up lots of houses as investment opportunities. 

As for all that record keeping, sale price minus purchase price equals capital gains, but from that - according to page 10 - can be subtracted cost of additions to the house, fencing, landscaping, new windows, roof replacement, siding, insulation, bringing wiring up to code, kitchen or bathroom remodeling, etc. But not exterior or interior painting or replacing appliances. Best to maintain a folder of invoices for all major work. 

Gum Chewing - "Out Damned Spot!"

Morning cup of coffee

 As an amateur historian perpetually searching for ideas for this column I am sometimes asked "What do you mean by 'history'"? Academic definitions assign 1500-1815 as Early Modern History, 1815-1900 as Late Modern History and after 1900 as Modern Times, segueing into Contemporary Times. Personally, I just consider everything up to this morning's coffee as history.

This helps, because Maynard as Maynard is not that old. The town was founded in April 1871. While a goodly share of the houses are more than 100 years old, few of downtown's buildings surpass their centennial. Some history is not only very recent, but, literally, underfoot. As one approaches the entrance to CVS there are stains on the concrete sidewalk and asphalt of the parking lot from discarded chewing gum. These black spots start appearing 100 feet from the entrance and increase in density as one nears the door. 

Painted gum spot

The solution to preventing gum spots is to not sell gum. As people who are chewing gum approach a store, an idea flies into their minds - buy gum!  This thought triggers an immediate, almost Pavlovian distaste for the piece of gum in their mouth, which just seconds before was perfectly satisfying the urge to fruitlessly chew and chew and chew. The old and now flavorless gum is mentally compared to the Platonic ideal of a new piece of gum - and spat out onto the sidewalk or parking lot surface. 

Today's gums are made mostly with a synthetic-polymer gum base rather than tree sap. From Wikipedia "The hydrocarbon polymers approved to be in chewing gum are styrene-butadiene rubber, isobutylene, isoprene copolymer, paraffin wax, and petroleum wax." The non-chewy ingredients include sugar or non-caloric sweeteners, sorbitol, lecithin, glycerin, flavor and color agents, and preservatives.

What this all means is that well-chewed gum is primarily long-lasting synthetic rubber. On concrete or asphalt the three-dimensional, pale-colored blobs are pounded by foot traffic to nearly circular flat spots about an inch across and impossible to scrape away. Over time dust is pressed into the hardening gum and it turns black. 

Worth noting - gum spots last a long time, but not forever. This column is basically a recycling of a Beacon-Villager column from October 2013. Today, the Nason Street entrance to what had been the CVS building has no more gum spots than the average downtown sidewalk, confirming that years of foot traffic and weather will in time erode these permanent-seeming residues.   

Ben Wilson painting a sidewalk gum spot

A few companies have developed technology to remove gum. GumBusters has a device which blasts superheated steam blended with a cleaning agent onto the impacted gum. Franchises are available. Given that the most popular model GumBuster requires 3,000 watts to operate, the full package includes a generator. Alternative technologies use a power wash or a blast of powdered dry ice. To quote Lady MacBeth: "Out, damned spot!"

Or discarded gum can become art. Ben Wilson, an artist in England, famously paints miniature scenes, portraits and abstracts on gum spots (he uses a really small brush). A computer search on his name + gum will yield articles and images selected from the more than 10,000 gum paintings he has created. He has been arrested several times - all cases dismissed because he is not littering, only adding colors to someone else's litter. 

There is an easy way to avoid creation of gum spots: have a garbage can near the store entrance. CVS does not, whereas the Cumberland Farms gas station/store does. Gum, garbage can; gum, garbage can. It's not complicated.