"Notable residents" of Stow and Maynard

Update at bottom of article (Julie Berry moved to California). Originally posted July 2013.

A visit to the Wikipedia entries for Stow, Acton, Sudbury or Concord (neighboring towns in Massachusetts) will in each instance find a list of Notable residents. Notable in this usage is not synonymous with famous – perhaps closer to 'at least slightly famous.'

Names listed by town typically also have links to Wikipedia entries on the persons themselves. But before you start crafting your own autobiographical claim to fame, or decide that a family member or friend needs to honored, entries are supposed to be based on published content about a person, not memoirs and memories.

Stow lists six notable residents: M.T. Anderson – author; Tom Barrasso – NHL Hall of Fame goaltender; Dan Duquette – Red Sox General Manager; Grace Metalious – author of 1950s best-selling novel “Peyton Place”; Lee H. Pappas – publisher of several computer-related magazines; and George P. Shultz – U.S. Secretary of State.

A person who became famous in adult life may be honored at the site of their childhood – think Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood log cabin. Or became famous in place: Alcott, Emerson, Hawthorne and Thoreau are all in Concord’s tally. Finally, those already famous can relocate. These moves typically align with availability of luxury housing and convenience to work. When Shaquille O’Neal rented a mansion in Sudbury his one year in residence matched his brief employment by the Boston Celtics - yet Sudbury claims him as a notable resident.

Reviewing Stow’s notable six, there are three who left before they became famous (Anderson, Barrasso, Shultz) and two who lived in Stow during or after their careers (Duquette, Pappas). The sixth, Metalious, barely qualifies as a resident - her husband accepted a teaching job in Stow just before her book was published, but she did not make the move with him and they separated soon after.

When this was originallywritten there were no entries for notable residents for Maynard. Zero. Zilch. Zip. Was this only an oversight? Can't history can be dredged to find those who were famous later, famous here or arrived already famous?

Let's start with the town's founder. Amory Maynard was so central to the town’s formation that it was named after him while he was still alive. There are hints that this was his idea, although one history book claims that it was by unanimous vote of the residents (Ha). Prior to the town's formal birth all those south of the Assabet River were residents of Sudbury and those north of the river, Stow. Amory Maynard's fame did not extend beyond the town’s borders. He lacks a Wikipedia entry of his own, and anyway, he is adequately covered in Wikipedia's entry about the town [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maynard,_Massachusetts]. 

Ken Olsen you say? Olsen put Maynard on the map as the “mini-computer capital of the world,” but while this was the site of Digital Equipment Corporation’s headquarters, he never lived in town, only worked here.

Scanning the various history books about Maynard turned up one candidate. Waino Kauppi (1899-1932), an immigrant from Finland, was a child-prodigy musician on the cornet, who by age 14 was touring with big-name bands. According to authors Paul Boothroyd and Lewis Halprin, Kauppi was considered the best cornet player in the country. In Massachusetts he was featured soloist with the Edwin J. McEnelly's Orchestra. Although not identified, Kauppi is probably one of the Orchestra members in the Victor Recording tracks that can be listened to at http://www.rivermontrecords.com/1140.html.  In New York, he was billed as "Wizard of the Cornet" in the well-known, radio broadcasting, Goldman Band (see link, below). All that is needed to qualify Kauppi as notable is a concise Wikipedia write-up.        

The alternative to being home of notables is to remain a place of no one notable. Yes, Maynard has a few people-named buildings and parks, but who remembers for whom? Fowler School? Crowe Park?

In truth, Stow is no better and Maynard no worse for borrowed glory or the lack thereof, respectively. Tourists do not flock to one and avoid the other. (Actually, tourists never wander far from Concord.) There are no souvenir shops selling T-shirts and coffee mugs emblazoned with STOW or MAYNARD followed by some pithy epigram. And that’s just fine.

Julie Berry, author 2014 photo

After drafting this column other plausible Maynard-linked names have surfaced. Four even have their own Wikipedia entries. In alphabetical order: Julie Berry - author; John "Red" Flaherty - baseball umpire; Michael Goulian - airshow performer and race pilot; Waino Kauppi - cornet player; Jack Mendelsohn - Unitarian minister and author;  Leo Mullin - CEO of Delta Airlines; Frank Murray - college football coach; Jarrod Shoemaker - Olympic triathlete; William Tapply - author; and Stephen Weiner - author and graphic novels expert. Links to mentions of Maynard's potential notables:


2017: Kauppi, Mendelsohn off; Herb Greene on.


Julie Berry: http://www.julieberrybooks.com/
John "Red" Flaherty: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Flaherty
Michael Goulian: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Goulian
Waino Kauppi: http://mtr.arcade-museum.com/MTR-1925-81-13/MTR-1925-81-13-42.pdf
Jack Mendelsohn: http://www.uuworld.org/life/articles/279161.shtml
Leo Mullin: http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/biography/M-R/Mullin-Leo-F-1943.html
Frank Murray: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Murray
Jarrod Shoemaker: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jarrod_Shoemaker
William Tapply: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_G._Tapply

NOTE: After this article was published in the newspaper and posted to this blog, someone (not me) used this list to revise Maynard's Wikipedia entry. And then someone else delisted a few - the criteria appearing to be a lack of a separate Wikipedia entry on those persons or independent confirmation they they did or do live in Maynard. As of March 2017, Maynard officially has eight "Notable residents." Stow's count is ten. Henry Gardner (1731-1782), who was born and lived most of his life in Stow, was the first Receiver General-Treasurer for Massachusetts when it joined the other colonies in separating from England. Henry was the son of Reverend John Gardner, the second minister at Stow. Henry's grandson, Henry J. Gardner, was Governor of Massachusetts 1855-1858. As of 2014 Julie Berry and family have moved to California. However, Wikipedia's "Notable" criteria allows former residents to stay listed, so JB stays on the Maynard list. 

Gunpowder Mill on Powder Mill Road

Label would have been on a wooden keg or tin can
of black powder. Courtesy Maynard Historical Society

Ka-boom! There was a 105-year history of gunpowder manufacture in this area. A 1921 history of Maynard noted that many local men found employment in the American Powder Mills, adding, "...occasional explosions, sometimes serious, do not permit us to ignore their [APM's] existence." A newspaper account of an explosion on March 12, 1878 described widely scattered body parts of two workers being gathered in pails, including a detached finger with a gold ring. The location of this spread-out complex was along what is now Route 62, encompassing parts of Maynard, Acton, Concord and Sudbury, on north and south sides of the Assabet River.

Millstone in the woods, likely deposited by an explosion.
Ruins of a building, including bent one inch diameter
steel rods and broken timbers, about twenty yards away.

The black powder manufacturing process in brief: potassium nitrate, sulfur and charcoal are each milled separately to a fine powder then mixed together while dampened with water. The blend is pressed to remove water, the resultant slab, called "presscake" then broken into the desired coarseness (for cannon) or fineness (for guns) in the kernel-house, sieved to remove dust, resulting grains glazed with graphite to prevent sticking, dried in a drying oven, and then packed into copper-nailed oak barrels or tin containers. 

Same stone, uncovered; estimated weight 4,000 pounds.
Dimensions are 58 inches across and 16 inches thick.

Thoreau’s journal mentions the gunpowder mills several times. Passing by on an 1851 walk to Lake Boon, Thoreau complained that the harsh chemicals irritated his throat. Later the same year he recounted having asked a worker about the dangers of working with gunpowder. Per his journal, the workmen wore shoes without iron tacks, so as to reduce the risk of striking a spark. The workers considered the kernel-house the most dangerous, the drying-house next, and the press-house next.

Two years after Thoreau's first journal entries there was an explosion at the mill. Thoreau wrote: “About ten minutes before 10 a.m. I heard a very loud sound and felt a violent jar which made the house rock and the loose articles on my table rattle... I jumped into a man’s wagon and rode toward the mills.

"Arrived probably before half past 10:00 a.m. There were perhaps 30 or 40 wagons there. The kernel mill had blown up first and killed three men who were in it said to be turning a roller with a chisel… and fragments mostly but a foot or two in length were strewn over the hills and meadows, as if sown, for 30 rods [165 yards]. Three other buildings were destroyed or damaged.

Courtesy Maynard Historical Society

"Some of the clothes of the men were in the tops of the trees where undoubtedly their bodies had been and left them. The bodies were naked and black. Some limbs and bowels here and there, and a head at a distance from its trunk. The feet were bare, the hair singed to a crisp. I smelt the powder half a mile before I got there."

Henry David Thoreau was rubbernecking at the site of the gunpowder mills that Nathan Pratt built in 1835 and owned until 1864. Because of the dangerous nature of gunpowder, this type of operation was typically composed of modest-sized wooden buildings quite a distance apart. Under subsequent ownerships by the American Powder Company, American Powder Mills and American Cyanamid Company, the operation grew to some 40 buildings scattered over 401 acres, employing at times as many as 70 men and women (the latter to assemble cartridges).

Descriptions of the time mention willow tree trunks being brought in from Sudbury to make the charcoal, and of unshod mules being used to pull wagons within the mill compounds because of the fear that horseshoe shod horses might strike sparks. Coming off work, men would leave their gunpowder-soiled clothing in the changing room and wash thoroughly - including their hair - before changing into clean clothes to go home. 

"DEAD SHOT" watch fob (Internet download)
Click on any photo to enlarge.

American Powder Mills added production of smokeless powder, including the renowned brand "Dead Shot," but continued making black powder. Interestingly, during World War I the facility's entire production was contracted to the Russian government. And why weren't they selling to the U.S.? Because DuPont had an exclusive contact.

The first fatal explosion mentioned in historic records occurred in 1836. The Concord Freeman newspaper reported that three men were blown to bits and a fourth succumbed hours later to burns and fractures. Various records documented 23 explosions - most with fatalities. A New York Times article told of five deaths in a multi-building series of explosions on May 3, 1898. A September 4, 1915 explosion was heard as far away as Lowell and Boston. The last three explosions on record took place in 1940; the mills were closed shortly thereafter.

Soon after gunpowder manufacture ceased ownership of most of the land in Acton devolved to W. R. Grace, an international chemical company, and later still to various business sites such as the Stop & Shop Plaza and the car dealerships on both sides of the river. Remnants of gunpowder mill buildings can be seen on forays into the woods. The dam still exists, with an adjoining, recently modernized hydroelectric facility operating under the name Acton Hydro Company. Electricity is sold to customers of Concord's municipal power company.

Tax records show that in addition to the various mill buildings the facility included boarding houses for workers and also a small gauge railroad. The latter was probably used to bring raw materials in and finished goods out to the regular railroad. The engine could have been a fireless steam locomotive - meaning that it operated off a pressurized tank filled with superheated water at a site distant from the actual gunpower manufacturing buildings. This would eliminate the risk of a trains' smokestack cinders setting off fires and explosions. Oh, and the A.O. Fay shown as President in the label was the son of A.G. Fay, previous owner, who died in an explosion in 1873.    

You know you're from Maynard if...

Bikeworx moved to Hudson

...you remember ten or more of the following: 17 Summer restaurant, 51 Main Street restaurant, the A&P, The Alchemist Health Foods, Allen's Cafe, Alphonse's Powder Mill restaurant, Amory's, Anderson Ford, Army & Navy Surplus Store, Assabet Institute for Savings, Avalon restaurant, the B&M Railroad station (passenger trains to Boston until 1958), Bacharach's Grocery, Batley & Sons Florists, Beacon Santa Telethons, Bikeworx, Boeske`s gas station, getting driving lessons from Bug-eyed Bob...

Opening Day, 2011 (note snow on roof)

Brick Oven Pizza, Butler Lumber, Cafe La Mattina, Carbone's Twin Tree Cafe, Cast Iron Kitchen, Center Dance Studio, Ciro's restaurant, the Clothes Inn, Colonial Theater (movies for 9¢), The Copper Kettle restaurant, The Corner Closet, Dennison Manufacturing Company, working for DIGITAL, Donutland (now Babico's), Dunia, Dunn Oil, Easter Egg hunts at Crowe Park, Elizabeth Schnair's newsstand, the Elmwood Street bath house and sauna, Erikson's Ice Cream, Factory Outlet, feeding Mill Pond ducks and geese at the Farmers' Market...

Mill Pond goose, Farmers' Market

Fine Arts Theatre, why the fire station horn sounds at 12:10, Fleepo the Clown (aka Philip Bohunicky), Flipside Records, the flood of August 1955 (Hurricane Diane), Fred's TV, Geek Boutique, The Gail Shop, GO TIGERS!, Grandmothers' Trunk, Gramps' Garage, Grappas restaurant, Gruber Bros Furniture, the gym at Emerson-Fowler School, the hurricane of 1938, ice skating on Cemetery Pond, India Palace, Irene's Stitch-It Shop, JJ Newberry variety store, Jacob's Market, Jimmy's Variety, John J. Tobin  ("Mr. Maynard"), Johnson Pharmacy, JoJo's West...

Kelly's Bowling Lanes (candlepin, of course), Knights of Columbus, La Petite Auberge, Leapin' Lena appearing in parades, Lovell Bus Lines, M&B Lunch, Malcolm's Steakhouse, Manning Pharmacy, Massa's Bakery, Martin & Doran Funeral Home, the Charles A. Welch Lodge in the Masonic Building, Maydale Beverage Company, Maynard High School bonfires at homecoming, Maynard Motel, Maynard Smoke Shop...

Peeking through the door into the Maynard family crypt, Maynard's centennial celebration in 1971,  motorcycle charity rides parading through town and ending at the Rod and Gun Club, Mr. Takeout, Murphy & Snyder Printers, Nason Street Spa, New Idea Store, Northern Recording Studio, helping OAR (Organization for the Assabet River) pull tires and other trash out of the river, Oktoberfest fireworks, "Only in Maynard" T-shirts, Oriental Delight, drinks at the PC, Parker Hardware, Parker Street Hall (the Finnish Workingmen's Socialist Society)...

Patty's Donut Shop, Paul's Bakery, Peoples' Theatre (movies for 25¢), Prescott Paint, Priest's Cafe, Quinteros, The Red Door (and Ma), Rickles Cut Rate, Rob Henry's Tavern, Rodoff Shalom Synagogue, Russo's restaurant, St. Casimir's Polish Catholic Church, St. George's Episcopal Church, St. John's Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church, Salamone's, Samuels Studio, Santa arriving for the Christmas parade by helicopter, Screech Owl yearbooks, elementary school trips to the Clock Tower to see the clock...

Sears & Roebucks catalog store, Sheehan and White Funeral Home, Sid's Airport, drinking Bud Light on Silver Hill, live music at the Sit N' Bull Tavern, skating at Thanksgiving Pond, sledding at the golf course, Sons of Italy, Speedy's Pizza, Stretch's Tavern, T.C. Lando's Subs & Pizzeria (and the fire of 1998), Taurus Leather Shop, horrible smells from the Taylor mink ranch, Tennis Court Dances, Teresina's vintage clothing, Tobin's Pizza, Town Paint, Tutto's Alleys & Pool Hall, Taylor Chevrolet, United CO-OP, Victory Market, Vincent's Antiques, W.A. Twombly Funeral Home...

When traffic was two ways on Main and Nason Streets, Walking the trestle, WAVM, W.B. Case & Sons, Western Auto, Woodrow Wilson School fire (1952), going to a woodsy, Woolworth's, and Ye Olde Town House Pub... With apologies to all the other businesses, people and events, both past and present, worthy of mention but not identified in time to make this litany.

Compiling this list would not have been possible without all the people who posted at the Facebook site "You know your from Maynard if," so many, many thanks to them. Please share it with people who have moved away from Maynard. Who knows? Perhaps they will move back. Or at least visit.

Various businesses and people came to our attention after this article was published: 38 Studios, Chin Lee Laundry, Firestone, Gutteridge Jeweler's, Irwin's Cigar Store, Maynard Taxi, Leher's, Muzzey's, The Nickel Inn, Speedy's Pizza, Tarny's Barber Shop, Whitmac Furniture... 

With apologies to Maynard, IA (pop 513), Maynard, AK (pop 426), Maynard, MN (pop 366) and Maynardville, TN (pop 2,390).

Babe Ruth: Sudbury, Massachusetts

Inside the Smoke Shop (courtesy Maynard Historical Society)
The space is currently two stores. Click on photos to enlarge.

Sudbury in the early 20th century was a quiet rural community twenty-five miles west of Boston. Babe Ruth and his wife spent at least two winters there: 1917-18 (while with Red Sox) and 1922-23 (while with Yankees). 

From a book "Babe Ruth and the 1918 Red Sox" by Allan Wood: "Babe and Helen Ruth spent the winter of 1917-18 at their farmhouse in Sudbury, MA. They often took a horse and buggy into the nearby town of Maynard, where Helen would shop for groceries or clothes, while Babe would buy cigars and play pool at the Maynard Smoke Shop, which was owned by Frank and Joe Sheridan. The owners' younger brother, 19-year old Ralph Sheridan, had followed the Red Sox since 1908, and he recognized Ruth the first time he walked into the store."

It makes sense that the Ruths shopped in Maynard. Sudbury was a quiet farming town of 1,100 people, whereas the population of Maynard was close to 7,000. Maynard had grocery stores, band concerts, dance halls, pool halls, bowling alleys, bars, a Woolworth's and daily trains to and from Boston. Sudbury had vegetable farms (including greenhouse farms serving the Boston market) and chickens.

Outside the Smoke Shop (courtesy Maynard Historical Society)

To the end of his days, Sheridan was known to greet people with "Shake the hand of a man who shook the hand of Babe Ruth." For those familiar with the sweet science, it's a take on "Shake the hand of a man who shook the hand of John L. Sullivan."



The Maynard Historical Society has a tape of an interview with Sheridan, made in 1994 when he was 96 years old. The interview can be listened to online from the MHS website as Podcasts. The last one mentions Ruth at 22 and 30 minutes. The Smoke Shop was the east end of the 100 Main Street building, where Classic Hair Design and Legends Comix and Games are now.

Why was the young Red Sox pitcher living in Sudbury? Firstly, this was not the Dutton Road farmhouse that Babe bought in 1922, when he was already a star for the Yankees. Rather, the story goes that a couple of his teammates with the Red Sox had invited him to visit Sudbury, where they would rent cabins near Willis Pond to fish and hunt. For the winter of 1917-1918, Ruth (22 years old at the time) rented a modest waterfront cabin (since burned down) near the end of Butler Road. Maynard was the closest place to go shopping and also to drink, play pool and otherwise carouse.

This story is not complete without a connection to the legend of Babe Ruth's piano. Again, Ralph Sheridan's reminisces, as recounted by Allan Wood: "Several times that winter, Ruth invited young men and kids from the area out to his house. Ralph Sheridan worked in a nearby woolen mill and on the weekends, he and some friends, all teenagers, would walk from Maynard, about one mile, across Willis Pond to Ruth's farm. Babe and Helen were often out playing in the snow when Sheridan and his friends came by."

In a letter, Sheridan recalled that he and his friends and Ruth would play outside. When they got cold, Helen invited everyone into the cottage and served them hot cocoa and cookies. "Mrs. Ruth would play the old battered piano and we would all sing along, including the Babe. He loved kids and always liked to have them around. And, always when we would leave, he would say, 'Come over again and bring the gang.' We were thrilled to be with him."

So how did that upright piano supposedly end up in Willis Pond? As one version of the story goes, a daytime gathering at the house got overcrowded - the cottage being only 20x50 feet - so Ruth and others pushed the piano down the hill and out onto the ice. There, they continued the party complete with singing and dancing while Helen played the piano. When it was time to move the piano back it was too heavy to push up the hill. So, the Babe simply left the instrument on the ice, where it eventually sank to the bottom.

Kevin Kennedy, a resident of Sudbury, has been searching for the piano for many years. Teams of expert divers have been in the pond more than once. In 2010, a group of divers pulled out pieces of wood, possibly white oak, that piano expert David Sanderson of Sanderson Piano in Littleton believed could be the veneer of an old upright piano. The divers also believed they had located the piano's harp beneath the murky waters. But as of November 2013 there is no additional news.

Where Babe lived off-season
1914-15     Baltimore, with his father, after Babe and Helen married in October 1914
1915-16     Baltimore
1916-17     ??
1917-18     Sudbury, in cabin on Butler Road, waterfront on Willis Pond
1918-19     Sudbury?? No mention in various biographies
1919-20     Sudbury?? No mention in various biographies. Traded to Yankees 1/5/1020
1920-21     The Ansonia Hotel, Manhattan, New York
1921-22     The Ansonia Hotel, Manhattan, New York
1922-23     Sudbury, 558 Dutton Road = "Home Plate Farm"
1923+        The Ruths owned the Sudbury house until 1926, but Babe may have been spending
                   most of his time in NY, only occasionally visiting his wife and daughter
                   in Massachusetts.

Babe (center) and his father (right) at his Dad's saloon in Baltimore, taken
 December 1915. His father died August 1918 (Internet photo download)

What Babe was paid by the Red Sox
 [http://www.baseball-almanac.com/tsn/babe_ruth_salary.shtml]

The amounts below are base salary and equivalents in 2013 dollars. Players who had a good season were sometimes paid bonuses. Play-off teams got play-off income. And players or all-star teams sometimes did post-season exhibition games for money. All told, a star could perhaps double base salary. One reason salaries were modest is that there was no television or radio advertising income for the owners. Today's top-paid baseball players make on the order of $20,000,000 plus $1,000,000 from endorsements.   

YEAR     DOLLARS      IN 2013 DOLLARS

1914         1,300                  30,000

1915         3,500                  80,000

1916         3,500                  75,000

1917         5,000                  91,000

1918         7,000                108,000

1919       10,000                135,000

1920       20,000 (Yankees)

BABE RUTH DRANK HERE?

Lore of Babe Ruth drinking and/or otherwise carousing in Maynard is just that [see newer info at end]. A few neighboring town waterholes - such as the Dudley Chateau in Wayland - claim to have been speakeasies frequented by Ruth back in the day. The timing would have been in the early 1920s - after national Prohibition was in effect. What is missing from this story is confirmation of sites within Maynard that were serving booze back then. The two oldest bars extant - The Pleasant Cafe and Stretch's Tavern (now Morey's) - both postdate the end of Prohibition.

Babe Ruth could have been buying in Maynard and drinking at his Sudbury estate just two miles away. When he bought the farmhouse in 1922 it included a simple cabin on Willis Pond, about half a mile from the house. Babe and his friends could head out there for an evening of drinking, cardplaying and whatnot without disturbing his wife and daughter at the farmhouse. His name for the cabin was "Ihatetoquitit."
     

A quote often attributed to Babe Ruth, but in fact the work of current-day comic writer Jack Handey: "Sometimes when I reflect on all the beer I drink, I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. I think, 'It is better to drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver.'" 

On the other hand, this one appears to be true Ruth: "I learned early to drink beer, wine and whiskey. And I think I was about five when I first chewed tobacco."

Babe may or may not have been drinking heavily during his Red Sox years; a time when the sale of alcohol was still legal in Massachusetts, albeit banned in many individual towns. In Ralph Sheridan's reminisces about visiting Ruth's cabin on Willis Pond he said he never saw Ruth drink, nor saw any alcohol in the house. Babe Ruth spent mid-1914 through 1919 with the Red Sox, initially as a pitcher, but by the end pitching less and putting in more time as an outfielder. He was sold to the Yankees before the start of the 1920 season. He was 25 years old.

Contract Morals Clause

After two years of Ruth's successes and shenanigans in New York, Colonel Jacob Ruppert, the owner of the Yankees, attempted to curtail Babe's drinking and partying. Thus an addendum to the contract signed in late 1922:  "It is understood and agreed by and between the parties hereto that the regulation set forth shall be construed to mean among other things, that the player shall at all times during the term of this contract [$52,000/year] and throughout the years 1922, 1923 and 1924, and the years 1925 and 1926 if this contract is renewed for such years, refrain and abstain entirely from the use of intoxicating liquors and that he shall not during the training and playing season in each year stay up later than 1 o'clock a.m. on any day without the permission and consent of the Club's manager..."

Babe Ruth and admirers (Internet download)

This appears to have been the first morals clause for a professional athlete. Ruppert may have hoped that the Sultan of Swat would also curtail his compulsive womanizing, but did not try to get that into the contract. Supposedly, at the time of that meeting the Babe told Ruppert: "I'll promise to go easier on drinking and to get to bed earlier, but not for you, fifty thousand dollars or two-hundred and fifty thousand dollars will I give up women. They're too much fun."

While a Yankee, Ruth and his wife made one more stab at reconciling. He bought the farmhouse at 558 Dutton Road, in Sudbury, after the 1922 season, and Babe took up the public image of a gentleman farmer living the good, clean life in the country with his wife and their adopted daughter. He called the estate "Home Plate Farm"

Babe was in residence the winter of 1922-23. After that, his wife continued to reside in Sudbury or elsewhere in the Boston area, but Babe was mostly in New York. They formalized their separation (not a divorce) in 1925 and she sold the house in 1926.  

As a postscript, the Dutton Road house and barn, situated on two acres, recently sold for a bit under $1.3 million, while in 2012 a Yankees baseball jersey worn by The Bambino in 1920 sold for $4.4 million.

Evidence for drinking in Maynard
After the articles appeared in the Beacon-Villager I had a phone conversation with Bob Merriam, Maynard High School Class of 1962. Bob told stories about how his grandparents, Niilo and Saimi Hirvonen, knew firsthand about Babe Ruth drinking in Maynard. 

According to Bob, during the time when Ruth was still with the Red Sox (and liquor was still legal), Babe would show up at Bughouse Corner* with a big roll of cash in his pocket, slap it on the bar, and tell the bartender "Everyone drinks on Babe Ruth." Not only was he buying, but he insisted that everyone stay until the bar closed, because he liked being around lots of people. 

Ruth in 1918 (photo from Library of Congress collection)

This would have been circa 1917-1918, and Ruth would have been in his early 20's at the time. He and his wife were living off-season in a modest rented house in Sudbury - not to be confused with the large house and farm he bought in Sudbury in 1922, when already a Yankee.  

Bughouse Corner* was a small bar on the corner of Waltham and Parker, in front of Parker Street Hall (the Finnish Workingmen's Socialist Society), where the brick apartment building is now. It was a popular but low-key drinking haunt for workers coming off shift at the woolen mill.

More than one night, Babe Ruth was too drunk to drive the two miles back to Sudbury, where his wife was home alone in the remote cabin on Willis Pond. Instead, Niilo - himself being a drinking man -  saw no problem in bringing Babe back to his place, where Ruth would sleep it off on the living room floor. 

As Bob Merriam told it, "When I was growing up, my grandfather was proud that he had known Babe Ruth, but my grandmother had nothing kind to say. The way she told it, 'That man would wake up in the night and go outside and pee off the porch instead of using the bathroom.'"

When Bob asked his grandfather if this was true, the diplomatic answer was "Your grandmother has a good memory."      

Another story about the Babe and urination is not as well documented, but as the story goes, he was an avid golfer, at times played the Stowaway Golf Course (in neighboring Stow), and when he did, had on occasion stepped into the woods to relieve himself. Players joke that they may be wetting the same spot honored by Ruth 90 years ago.

*"Bughouse" was turn-of-the-century slang for an insane asylum. Likewise, "Bughouse Corner" was a slang term for street corner locations in cities were orators and prophets of doom would stand on overturned soap boxes and lecture whoever was walking by on their pet topic. How the bar came by its name is anyone's guess.

ANOTHER MAYNARD CONNECTION

In 1914, the same year Babe Ruth was traded to the Red Sox, Fred "Brick" Wilder, former Maynard High School baseball star, was signed by the Red Sox as a catcher and assigned to a minor league team in Buffalo. He was called to The Show at the tail end of the 1915 season, but did not play, and was in Providence for 1916. Wilder was in spring training with the Sox in 1917 - which would have had him catching for Babe Ruth and the other pitchers - but injured his throwing arm. Wilder never made it into a Red Sox game. He was among the many players in the Red Sox organization who were either drafted or volunteered for military service during World War I, in his case into the U.S. Army. After the war he had an eight year career in the minors out west (first base/outfield), retired from the sport, married, and returned to Maynard, where he lived until his death in 1967. 

Geocaching in Maynard, MA

Logbook and cache contents at It Ain't Everest (Maynard)

It's pronounced "geo-cashing." And the word cache, for the singular of what is being sought by people engaged in geocaching is pronounced "cash." Late fall is a perfect season to take up this pastime because hard frosts have reduced the risks of deer ticks and poison ivy, but the caches will not yet be hidden by snow.

Geocaching is a modern outdoor hobby with historic roots. First the modern: in May of 2000 the worldwide Global Positioning System (GPS) was accuracy-upgraded to within 10-20 meters. Within days, people were experimenting with the idea of hiding a marker or container, then posting GPS coordinates on the internet and seeing if searchers could find it. In September 2000 the website www.geocaching.com was created to provide a system of hiding caches and logging finds. Massive publicity followed.

As of October 2013 there are over two million caches and six million Geocache members worldwide. According to one on-line listing, Maynard is host to 10 (11?) caches and Stow to 30. All of Massachusetts has a tally a tad under 12,500. Some members have taken it upon themselves to find one cache in every city and town - the Massachusetts 351 Challenge. Maynard's oldest, "Grave Calculations" - near Glenwood cemetery - was created in the first year of geocaching.  

The rules are simple. Any member (basic membership is free) can use a computer to find existing caches. Next step is to home in on the site with a GPS device - either a dedicated GPS device such as Garmin, or a smart phone with a geocaching app. Premium membership provides on-line tools for cache selection and access to a set of members-only caches.  

August 2013 geocachers at the Summer Hill site logged
 that they were unable to complete their visit because
as they approached the tree near the cache they were
viciously attached by hornets, ending up with ten stings
amongst them. A November (post-frosts) visit found
this remnant of the hornets' nest.

There are no valuable treasures in this treasure hunt. The containers at these cache sites range in size from a marshmallow to a gallon milk bottle. Caches will have a logbook to write an "I found it" entry. Most will contain trinkets of nominal value - small toys, foreign coins, etc. The idea is to take something out and add something you brought. Once home, geocachers log in to enter that they found (or failed to find) the cache. Geocachers can also add notes and photos to be viewed by those considering visiting the site. 

Members can also create caches. Geocache.com provides extensive guidelines, as do various books on the hobby, such as The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geocaching. Once a reviewer has approved a proposed cache it is posted on the website.

All caches are rated on a one- to five-star scale for difficulty and terrain. The former applies to both the difficulty of puzzling out the GPS coordinates, if encoded in some way rather than just given, or in actually finding the cache once on location. Small caches can be disguised as a rock, or perhaps a hollowed out golf ball in the woods near a golf course. Terrain ranges from child- and handicap-accessible to extreme. If instructions suggest rappelling equipment, spelunking expertise or the existence of a waterproof cache, a cache chaser might assume cliffs, caves and SCUBA gear will be involved!

Pastimes generate their own lexicon and geocaching is no exception. TFTC is Thanks For The Cache. YAC stand for Yet Another Cemetery (common cache sites). CITO refers to the practice of going in to place or find a cache and taking trash out on the way out. Non-cachers are referred to as muggles (borrowed from the Harry Potter books' term for non-wizards) and a cache that has been taken or vandalized has been muggled. The cache creator can either restore the cache or delist it if expectations are high that it will be damaged again. 

As with any hobby, participation can be recreational and/or competitive. Once a Geocache Reviewer officially publishes the existence of a new cache there is a mad rush to be FTF (First To Find). Some people specialize in extreme geocaching, meaning they focus on caches in the most difficult terrain. Others prefer night searches. The latter require flashlights to detect nail head sized reflectors attached to trees. Or even a UV flashlight.    

Historically, there were systems of hiding and seeking caches that predate GPS-aided geocaching. "Letterboxing" refers to boxes hidden in outdoor public places. Finders follow clues which involve deciphering puzzles, map reading and orienteering. This all began in Dartmoor, England, circa 1854.

THE MAYNARD LIST

YEAR     LAST        D/T*         NAME

2001       8/13        3.0/1.0       Grave Calculations

2006       12/13      3.0/3.0       Mom's River Cache

2008       11/13      1.0/3.0       Summer Hill

2010       10/13      2.0/2.0       2009 Red Sox Roster - Wakefield

2010       10/13      1.5/2.5       Oogity Boogity Buggity

2012       11/13      2.0/2.5       It Ain't Everest

2012       11/13      2.0/1.5       Tour of Maynard

2012       7/13        2.0/2.0       Togo's Trail

2012       10/13      1.5/2.5       Tripletree (starts Acton but may end in Maynard)
2013       10/13      1.5/1.5       HeatWave & Jayden

????        ????        1.5/2.0       Beetles Bracelet Exchange (Premium members only)

* Difficulty and Terrain on a 1.0 to 5.0 scale; 5.0 = hardest

MASSACHUSETTS WEBSITES OF INTEREST
http://www.massgeocachers.org/
http://www.geocaching-capecod.com/index.htm