This park became a very important place in my life. I participated in attempting to have the Daniel Ricketson House preserved. During the 1960’s schoolchildren took part in an essay contest regarding the restoration of the house and collected coins in cans to help with the effort. I was one of those schoolchildren standing in front of Star Store (currently U Mass Dartmouth extension on Union Street New Bedford). I could never understand why the city wanted to demolish such a historical house in New Bedford. Finally by September of 1970 the house was finally demolished. The 85 acre estate is now a great park with play grounds, baseball fields a few trails and a senior center.
Here is a brief history of the Ricketson House, I hope that you will find it interesting:
Ricketson built an estate on a swamp he drained in the mid-1800s. He called it Brook Lawn. The residence was a large farmhouse with wide verandas, a large reception hall, sitting room, library and dining room on the first floor. In those days, great vistas of forest and sea could be seen from the cupola. Here in 1858, he wrote his "History of New Bedford."
An apple orchard and garden surrounded the home and a herd of cows grazed on the estate, but the formidable feature of Brook Lawn was a 12 by 14-foot shanty where Ricketson came to read, write and entertain his guests, the literary elite of the time: Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, A. Bronson Alcott, George William Curtis, William Ellery Channing, Wendell Phillips, William Lloyd Garrison, and others, affectionately known as the "Shanty Society." A marker in the center of the park commemorates Brooklawn and the Shanty Society.
Ricketson was noted not just for his learned society friends, but also for his charity. During the Civil War when many were unemployed. Ricketson would open up his estate daily to dispense free milk and bread to those in need. Ricketson's Brooklawn estate and the shanty remained intact at Brooklawn until the later fell into decade.
My intention was not to make this a P&G. When I went to place the container there were so many muggles that I had to change containers and plans for this hide. The container is a now a camo film canister placed in the tree. Please place the container back where it was found.
I hope that you enjoy the little history lesson and the location of the container