This cache was approved by the Ames Free Library. Please don't feel intimidated while looking for this cache. You have their blessing. If you feel inclined to thank the library for allowing this cache please feel free to do so!
Please just be very respectful of the library patrons, staff, facility and grounds. You will not have to disturb anything to find the cache container. When you find the cache container, please include in your log a creative name for "it".
This cache used to be a multi but now only the final stage exists. Good Luck and enjoy! Bring your own pen. The container is possibly big enough for stickers or other small items that the kids will enjoy, so please feel free to leave some SWAG.
The Ames Free Library is the public library in Easton, MA.
Please take time to go inside the library and experience the beautiful building. Library operating hours which are: Mon - Thurs, 10 am - 8 pm, Fri & Sat 10 am - 5 pm, Closed Saturdays in July & August, Closed Sundays, and closed Holidays (see below for 2013 Holidays). The library's website can be visited at http://www.amesfreelibrary.org/index.htm. This cache is fun for kids and adults alike. So please take time to visit Easton's library and take in the architecture and beauty of both the building and the garden.
January 1st – New Year’s Day
January 21st – MLK, Jr. Day
February 18th – President’s Day
April 15th – Patriot’s Day
May 27th – Memorial Day
July 4th – Independence Day
September 2nd – Labor Day
October 14th – Columbus Day
November 11th – Veteran’s Day
November 27th – All Staff 10-5pm (pending)
November 28th – Thanksgiving
December 24th – Hours for working staff 10-1 (pending )
December 25th – Christmas
December 31st – All Staff 10-5pm (pending)
The Ames Free Library first opened its doors in 1883. Under the terms of the will of Oliver Ames II, $50,000, in trust, was left for the construction and support of a Library for the benefit of the inhabitants of Easton, MA. Fifteen thousand dollars of this amount was designated for a permanent fund, the income of which shall be devoted to increasing the library and keeping the building, its appurtenances, and contents in repair.
This fund was added to by his descendants through the years and constituted its sole support until 1972 when town support was given in order to qualify the library for state aid.
The main building was designed by Henry Hobson Richardson in 1877 and opened in 1883. One of the outstanding men in the history of American architecture, Richardson was the teacher of Louis Sullivan, the father of the modern skyscraper, whose pupil, Frank Lloyd Wright remains one of the foremost architects of this century. The Ames Free Library is one of four public libraries in Massachusetts designed by Richardson. The others are located in Malden, Quincy, and Woburn.
The library is built of Milford granite with the same Longmeadow trim used on Trinity Church in Boston. The very low cavernous arch over the doorway was used here by Richardson for the first time and became one of the most prominent and widely imitated characteristics of his style.
The picturesque carvings and corner gargoyles on the outside of the building are the design of Stanford White as is much of the interior wood detail, including the unusual barrel-vaulted ceiling in the book stack wing. The ceiling is butternut wood. White also designed the ornately carved mantelpiece of Portland stone in the reading room which bears the handsome bronze relief of Oliver Ames II, by Augustus St. Gaudens.
Renewed interest in Richardson's work has resulted in students from all over the country and abroad coming to study and examine this finely preserved example of his work.
The children's wing, built in 1931, was the gift of Mrs. William H. Ames (Fanny Holt Ames), a member of the Board of Trustees for 40 years, in memory of her husband William Hadwen Ames. The addition was designed by Shepley, Rutan, and Coolidge of Boston, the architectural firm formed by three members of H.H. Richardson's office upon his death in 1886.
In February of 1998, the library received a large gift from the estate of Fanny Holt Ames in order to increase the endowment funds of the library to benefit the school children of Easton.
Through the years, several small architectural changes have taken place within the library. When the library was established, the top floors were used as the apartment for the librarian. Indeed, the space had been used until the early 1990's as an apartment. The book stack wing has also seen significant changes. Originally, it was separated by a beautifully carved wooden screen and a desk for the librarian that created a barrier for the public. In those days, it was accepted practice to keep the collection closed to the public and to have the staff retrieve the desired material.
A building of great architectural interest, the Ames Free Library continues to be a vital educational influence in the community it serves. Six generations of townspeople have received learning, inspiration, and pleasure from the original bequest due to the perseverance and dedication of successive trustees to the high ideals of the founder.
The Queset Garden is a beautiful Italianate style garden and a newly restored historic location that links the Ames Free Library to Queset House.
In the early part of the century, in our little nook of the world, noted Broadway producer and playwright Winthrop Ames was inspired to reorder five acres of wooded space adjoining his charming stone mansion. This was manicured into an elaborate Italianate style garden, replete with ten foot stone columns to mark the entrance, a reflecting pool with fountains and statuary, symmetrical semicircular stone stairs, elegant moon-gates, terraced land, ornate balustrades, and the unique addition of a stage with pergola that reflected Winthrop’s professional interests. It took five hardworking gardeners to maintain this little oasis of calm and beauty.
For twenty six years Queset Garden thrived. Actors such as Leslie Howard and Katharine Cornell were frequent visitors. High school graduation ceremonies were conducted in the garden. Ice cream socials were held. Photographs of Winthrop’s young daughters lounging in the garden evoke a strong sense of nostalgia for an idyllic past.
Fast forward to 2005. Where once was a magical garden, there was nothing left but an angry tangle of brush, bramble, poison ivy, fallen trees, and rampant overgrowth with hints of mortar visible here and there. Winthrop Ames had been dead since 1937, and so it appeared, had his garden.
In 2006 the library bought Queset House with the aim of creating a library campus. The garden was leased from the town as part of the campus, connecting the main library to the mansion. As the formal 99-year lessee of the town-owned land, the library moved quickly to stabilize the area so that the community would not be vulnerable to security hazards. Providentially, Katherine Holland, an Easton resident, had submitted a landscaping design thesis on the restoration of the garden to the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. The thesis became the blueprint for the development of the area. Hardworking Easton volunteers and farseeing members of the library staff and board pushed to find funding to reclaim the wasteland and recreate the beauty begun far back in 1911. The town’s Community Preservation Committee granted funds as did Rick Smith of Forest Systems. Brush was cleared, fallen trees were removed and the garden of yesteryear began to emerge.
It is the year 2011. A hundred years have passed since the birth of the garden and a rebirth is in process. Phase 1 of a three-phased plan to restore Queset Garden has been completed. In the past one year alone, the garden has played host to formal Sweet Sixteen balls, romantic engagement parties, giddy prom photo sessions, glittering galas, music performances, annual lantern walks, and even a Civil War fashion show. It has also nurtured more informal moments of serene contemplation and relaxation for hundreds of Easton residents who sit on the stone benches of the garden, soaking in the summer sun, reading a book, watching over toddlers or just meditating. The space, ensconced as it is, in the heart of historic North Easton and attached to a library that draws an average of 500 people a day, is that rare thing – an accessible public space of soul-soothing privacy.
Another great source for information about the Queset Garden is http://tclf.org/landslides/italian-garden-queset