Mutton Eaters Photo Album 2009

[Shelley]

Now that we've had a day to recover, we will try to get up a few photos here of the weekend festivities. The weather was all one could hope for, climbing to 91 on Sunday. We started out on Friday for our jaunt to the New Bedford courthouse. In the above photo we are on the front steps:back row right to left, Ted, Richard, Mike Shogi, Don and JoAnn, Second Row: Anna, "Kfactor", Constantine and Bob Shaw, Third row:
Lorraine, Katrina, "Mr. Winward" and in front, Lady Barbara. We enjoyed a good snoop around the courtroom, nearly just as it was in Lizzie's day.


Then it was off to Marion for a great visit with the Sippican Historical Society where we learned all about the Knowltons, Handys and the mystery ship the Mary Celeste.

[Shelley]

The folks at the historical society could not have been nicer! We really enjoyed looking through the old obits, newspapers and wonderful diaries of a man named Bates who wrote about every detail of Marion life and photographed all the old houses including Dr. Handy's original cottage where Lizzie stayed. She and Dr. Handy's daughter Louise were good friends.



We were really excited to learn all about the Mary Celeste whose captain was from Marion and also revelled in a great sketch book of Charles Dana Gibson. The society boasts several original pen and inks of his famous "Gibson Girl"- this was worth the trip!

We were thrilled to learn a lot about Mrs. Knowlton who was not a bit like she was portrayed in the Elizabeth Montgomery movie for TV- and we were treated to a few photos of her. These we will save for an article later on.

[Shelley]

On the way over to 9 South Street where Dr. Handy's cottage stood, we saw this company branch removal truck grinding up wood and were amused by the name
can't get away from axes.
This is the site of the original cottage with the fishing hole just at the end of the street, very close to the cottage. Lizzie would probably have used Long Wharf here pictured.



After a great lunch at the Sippican Cafe, it was off to see the house where Knowlton rented in the 1890's

Then a view of the house he built in 1899 on the waterfront (probably just the middle section of this photo which is now a dorm for Taber Academy
His ashes were scattered right in front of the house possibly from the old pier which looks as if it were original and from the era. Knowlton died in 1901 and only had 2 summers at the new house.
On the way back to Fall River we stopped by Green Street to see the Brownell place and were in luck to meet all the contractors there who let us take a few photos of the interiors and even kindly gave us samples of the old wallpaper as a souvenir.

More photos will soon be appearing on the Mutton Eaters website.
we finished up the day at White's Restaurant which is in Westport and filled with Fall River Line memorabilia.
Len Rebello stopped by for the banquet and we gave out our awards before dinner in the Presidents Room. Best Actor 2008 Lambie went to Andrew Correia for his amazing portrayal of Undertaker Winward, and to house staffer Kathleen Troost who plays Bridget Sullivan with a letter-perfect accent.

[Susan]

Great pictures, Shelley, thanks for sharing! It looks like you had a fun time and with some really good weather to boot. Would love to see the interior of Brownell place all cleaned up, hopefully they haven't gutted the interior?

[Kat]

Thanks for the pics!
Everyone looks so handsome!
Reminds me of a jury- 12- with alternates!

Lucly ducks!!

[Shelley]

The photos above are just a sampling of our first 12 hours. The best is yet to come! Yes, the interior of Green street had to be gutted. Only the vertical studs are there awaiting sheetrock. The contractor told me the fireplace literally crumbled to dust-I am assuming he meant the mantle and surround because that is being replaced. The original staircase is dark wood and very elegant. Happily it can stay. We came on the day the entire back annex was demolished so it was interesting watching the demo. We did not go upstairs but were told there are only two bedrooms up there now and some smaller closet spaces. Maybe at one time there were more smaller bedrooms and alterations might have been done to expand. Our second day, Saturday, took us to Bristol, RI to visit our Victorian venue which we include every weekend-Blithewold-where we saw 60,000 daffodils, the mansion and extensive gardens and grounds. Then we had lunch in the town (which is oozing charm and history as America's site for the oldest Fourth of July parade). Afterward we adjourned to the Borden house for our Mad Hatter Tea Party where the hats were so good we could not choose a winner for the prize, then we had the annual Open House and dessert party for staff. Sunday was an all-day antiquing jaunt for some of us who were still around. More photos to come. . . . Wait until you see this year's cheesecake!

[Angel]

Thanks for sharing the pictures. So glad you all had such a nice time and good weather.

[Shelley]

Friday night ended with two great presentations, one by JoAnn and Barbara on the Dedham pet cemetery and Lizzie's dogs, and another on the Villesca Axe murders by Mike Shogi. We needed cake after hearing all the details!

Saturday morning was a perfect day- lots of sun and warm temps as we headed for Bristol, RI to Blithewold mansions for Daffodil Days. Everything was in mad bloom with 60,000 daffs-although Bob said there were only 59,997. We were 15 at this outing, and here we are at the Moongate with the house in the background.



The giant Sequoia


Afterwards we returned to the house for our Madhatters' Tea Party and were thrilled to use the Cook Borden tea service. We had our cucumber sandwiches and Earl Grey tea and used my 1892 silverware and Victorian silver pieces-more sugar cookies and cakes and pies than I ever saw on one table! The hats were so good that we could not pick a winner.

Kristin had a great Lizzie Hat for Marion complete with lures and gummy fish.

Joann made up a hat of the Bordens laid out in the diningroom which was amazing and Lady Barbara had the whole family on her hat- in sheep. I will find a good photo of these! Ted and Lorraine had sheep on their deerstalkers

but the piece de resistance as ever, was this year's cheesecake created by those "Billerica Girls" featuring the Muttoneaters parading through the gates of Oak Grove to a cheesecake monument depicting the graves in 1893.


Even Miss Lizbeth of Maplecroft and her little Boston Bull Laddie Miller were there (played to the nines by Ellen Borden).

Afterward we enjoyed chitchat and our Victorian "tableaux". Constantine grew an Andrew beard just for the occasion.

Tour guide Ben Rose stopped by along with Sue and Dee and Kathleen from the house staff and LeeAnn made it back from London to join the crew. A good time was had by all and we are already working on next year. Many more photos will be going up on the Mutton Eaters site Monday. Right now- we are in recovery!

[Constantine]

Thanks for the pics!
Everyone looks so handsome!

You're very kind, Kat.

Had a great time. Great seeing everyone again and meeting Andrew, Anna, Lorraine and Ted. (I'll have more comments later.)

[mbhenty]

Well Shelley, I would have to take exception to that. When I was working I entered 10 to 15 homes a week. I did that for over 30 years crawling in attics behind walls, cellars, on my back in crawl spaces, including 92 Second, the 3 oldest houses in fall River, the Lafayette House, the historical society, Lizzie's church.......................... etc, etc.

along with 15 and 20 thousand other places.

Very few to none of the historical buildings I have entered could not have been brought back.

I don't know the contractor for the Green Street house, so I will not call him incompetent, instead I will say he is taking out his foot. If he feels there was no course but to gut the Green Street House he doesn't know what he is talking about.

After all, what do you think he does for a living?

Of course he views every old property as in need of renovation.

Contractor who makes a living renovating has no interest in restoration.

As far as the fireplace mantle: there is no way it was crumbling. Come on now. That is the same statement the owner of Maplecorft claimed. And that is a lie.

The actual brick chimney, more than likely, needed a lot of work. The mortar was probably dried out and crumbling. But, what we have here is a modern contractor who could not be bothered making repairs. It is much easier to take it down. In today's world, unless you plan to have a fireplace, no contractor builds a chimney. They are expensive and most contractors would dismantle one rather than repair one.

Thus, it is easy to say that it was crumbling. That is probably true. But, to make it sound like it was ready to fall is very doubtful.

Everyone is looking for excuses to why the Green Street House had to be gutted..............that there was no other alternative.

................that is just not true.

Yes you say, "but it looks so prutty now". Yes it does. And the truth behind it is that most of it's historical significance has been peeled away. Other than it's connection with the Borden case it is just another "prutty" face. As a valuable historical example of pre-Civil War Fairhaven architecture the Green Street Houlse has all but lost it's place.

If I could walk into that house before it was dismantled I could show you how easily it could have been saved. To make the claim that it needed to be guttered is just not true.

It is just what people want. There is no money to be made restoring the old.

But, to make it sound like there was no other alternative but to gut the Green Street house is misleading, a passive fabrication, a smokey deception, and for those who stand by it, a falsehood and repulsive untruth.

[Shelley]

Well, MB, inasmuch as I do not know exactly what condition the place was inside in any detail before the renovation, it is hard to say if gutting was needed or not. I had to recently gut my mudroom, thanks to horrific termite damage. All the verticals had to be sistered onto new ones. I believe there was an issue of old and dangerous wiring, plumbing, pipes, etc which were also involved and had to be replaced.

I do not know if he meant the mortar of the chimney was unsafe or if he was referring to the mantle and firebox inside which was crumbling. It seemed to me he was talking about the inside of the house, not the exterior chimney. I would assume, given the age of the house that the walls were plaster-and lathing with horsehair-and I did not think to inquire what the situation was as far as mold (which I suspect was present), or how extensive the water damage had been from the leaks and having been open to all sorts of weather.

Once again, I don't know if the house had ever had any renovations before so there may have simply been wallboard there and not plaster and lathe. I should have looked in the dumpster. The light fixtures, which I did photograph were not Victorian-probably 20's or 30's. The kitchen annex added on the back of the house did come later and was a wreck. That was removed and actually the house looks better without it and that sagging deathtrap of a porch on the front of it. The porch was most certainly Victorian, and if I were to guess I would say, based on the millwork, that it had been added on around 1880's.
"But, to make it sound like there was no other alternative but to gut the Green Street house is misleading, a passive fabrication, a smokey deception, and for those who stand by it, a falsehood and repulsive untruth." This sounds pretty strong language considering that neither of us knows very much about the structure's condition inside, and the situation in question, I, perhaps marginally more from having seen the interior and speaking with some of the workmen and the contractor.
You should drive over, MB and speak with the men- they are actually pretty forthcoming about discussing what is happening inside. I was also very happy to note that the most attractive architectural elements were not hidden under siding. Yes, the windows look too modern, and I do not believe the new shutters were wood-I forgot to feel them to see what they were. As far as the wallpaper sample which was in the downstairs hallway and going up the curved front staircase, it did not look Victorian. It was a red on cream pattern, something like a toile. It had been up there a while and was put on with wheat paste. I have a sample to check to approximate the date. The house obviously must have had some things done to it since 1893 at least by way of decor and fixtures. When the Bruces lived there, Len said there were Victorian furnishings-not repros, in the front parlor. He interviewed them for his book.
The original thick granite slab at the base of the front stairs outside will be left. The wooden steps had completely collapsed, and I would be surprised if they had been the original steps when the house was built.
In any event, we stopped there just to visit the place where Emma once stayed as part of a weekend of tracing Borden footsteps. It was very exciting to see the front staircase and imagine her going up to bed all those years ago. I would not like to make judgements on the people who will live there. I asked and -yes- the buyer of the house who is renovating IS going to live there, according to the contractor. Loving old homes, as I do, still, I am afraid I would be inclined to make many modern updates myself were I the one to live there.




Yes, I am well aware that extremely decrepit places can be saved and that possibly Green Street MIGHT have. My husband and I nearly bought an old Victorian in Westerly years ago -then we found the dryrot in the cellar floor beams and the wiring was a nightmare waiting to happen and we did not want to live in the place in that condition.

[Shelley]

I want to correct a mis-impression-again. The fireplace "poem mantle" and the At Hame in My Ain Countrie mantle in the library are INTACT. The mantle which was removed was the one in Lizzie's bedroom over the kitchen in back. I misunderstood LeeAnn- some people think the second floor front room was Lizzie's "Winter bedroom" so when she said bedroom I thought it was this one. The one in the back over the kitchen was completely unremarkable architectually-it was replaced with one , I hear, of rose marble. Would I have preferred the one Lizzie chose? Sure.

[kfactor]

We musn't forget the shining moment when Shelley was awarded the first-ever "Lizzy" award from the Muttoneaters, in recognition of all the wonderful work she does for the "Flock" as Mama Ewe. The "Lizzy" was crafted by Michael Shogi...

[Shelley]

It was a very lovely tribute. I was thrilled (even though I look as if I had just sucked a lemon in the photo above).

[Harry]

Shelley, even though I wasn't there I know it's well deserved!

Just know how much you do for those staying at the B&B.

[Shelley]

Thanks, Harry! The site links seem to be working today so I can post th elink to the Mutton Eater's slideshow http://secondstreetirregulars.wordpress.com/
Dear Old Rudy Vallee singing the Whiffenpoof Song.

[Shelley]

Some new photos just arrived from Nadzieja -some different and some nice ones of Green Street and Lizzie's courtroom. Thanks Lorriane! New slideshow at the site. http://secondstreetirregulars.wordpress.com/

Max had been away while LeeAnn was in Europe but mysteriously returned the day she got back. We were glad to see Himself.

[Don]

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[Shelley]

Nice to see some new shots. I forgot to mention that the Borden parlor now hosts an oil repro of Gainsborough's Blue Boy-as you can see above. The weekend went by so fast, some of the things we wanted to accomplish never got done. How I wish we had some of that perfect weather now after days and days of rain.Angel- you were sorely missed. Next year. . . . I will have a GPS system in my car-but then that takes all the fun and mystery out of getting there.