This is one of five geocaches designed to introduce you to Hebronville: a village located within the city limits of Attleboro, MA. In years’ past, Hebronville was a self-contained community that had its own post office with zip code, general store, barber shop and restaurant….just like Mayberry!
In its early years, town life centered around the Hebron Mill. The mill complex included manufacturing buildings, worker housing, and railroad bridges, including the long-gone but not forgotten ‘step-bridge’. The step-bridge was for pedestrians only and was the quickest and safest passage between the two sections of Knight Avenue. Cutting across the tracks was forbidden by our parents because of the potential danger of being hit by a train…but there were some of us who did that anyway. When you stepped off the step bridge on the southern side there was a 50-foot path you had to follow to get to the street. Along the path were bushes of honeysuckle…. and some great hide-n-seek places.
The main function of the mill was reprocessing of cotton waste material obtained from 20 other company mills located throughout Rhode Island and Massachusetts. A store was located on the ground floor of the mill in which consumers could buy cloth, sewing products, etc. Mary G. operated that store for many years (late 60’s through the 80’s) until its closing. I used to have a crush on Mary. I don’t think she ever knew that, and please don’t tell her.
During the 60’s, a group of us kids used to sneak into the Mill at night and jump on the bales of cotton and cloth…we had a much different idea of fun back then compared to kids today… We never damaged anything, we just had fun…and got grounded if we got caught. Outside of the Mill were plenty of hiding places whenever we’d play hide and seek. Back then you could hide anywhere within town limits. I guess we took hide and seek very seriously! The Mill is no longer operating as a manufacturer; it has been renovated and turned into an apartment building.
WE HAVE OUR WINNERS! The first five to complete the series of 5 caches are: Blackstone Val, Ritell, Lewelsvc, Eaglecap3 and Finding neMoe! You all will be hearing from me soon! Now on to the history: