CapeCodToday Blog Chowder

A Sachem's sad tale; A Thanksgiving trip; Train station for the casino

   The darkened area shows the approximate areas of the sachem's concern.

A Rock-Solid Escapade

A Heaping Helping Of History, From Mayflower To Museum

In this storied harbor town where the Mayflower landed nearly 400 years ago, generations of Americans have claimed and reinterpreted the Pilgrim story.Part of the fun for 21st-century visitors is sampling the various layers of history.
Any itinerary should include Plymouth Rock (carted ashore in 1774), Pilgrim Hall Museum (open since 1824, renovated this year), the National Monument to the Forefathers (dedicated in 1889), the Mayflower II (built in 1957) and, of course, the area's premier attraction, Plimoth Plantation (open since 1947).
Take a cranberry farm tour while you're in the area, and cap off a perfect autumn day with a seafood dinner. Start your visit at Plimoth Plantation, a living-history attraction with a settlers' village that re-creates everyday life in 1627... Hartford Courant.

Preserve the way, nix the prejustice
Wampanoag Sachem tells of slavery, plunder

Sachem Rodney Randy Joseph is a descendent, lucky enough to be hundreds of years from the legally enforced prejudice and discrimination the Andrades suffered.  They negotiated their lives around state and federal laws that attempted to shut them out of society, relegating them to South Plymouth reservations where Native Americans like them were called “niggers.”

Nigger Pond was the original name of this body of water, which has been retitled several times over the years. It became Negro Pond then Black Pond long before the Baker family renamed it Ingalls Pond, which is owned today by Anthony Baker. Ingalls is a family name, Baker said.  But, while Joseph feels his Native American brethren lived on the 30,000-acres of land around the pond, local historian Jim Baker disagrees... Old Colony Memorial.
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Proposed new `T' station sites include downtown Middleboro
Would also service Mashpee Wampanoag Casino

A "village-style" commuter rail station with limited parking would be built in downtown Middleboro if one of the Middleboro routes to restore commuter rail service to New Bedford and Fall River is selected. Bernard Cohen, secretary of the state Executive Office of Transportation (EOT), has released a station siting report that identifies 18 station sites along the five separate routes.

After reviewing six Middleboro sites, one off Rte. 105 and four off Everett Street near the intersection of Rte. 44, the project selected the site of the former train station, near the Washburn Grain Mill site. The station would be one where most commuters would be dropped off and picked up, and it would also serve the proposed Mashpee Wampanoag casino with a shuttle service to transport people back and forth, according to the report.

The report notes that the downtown site "supports smart growth principles" in that it would not require development of a currently undeveloped area and the site is already served by municipal water and sewer systems. "The site could spur more village-style development in the downtown," the report suggests... Standard-Times.

The complete report is available online here.