Everywhere Susan Page Little goes, there is a reminder of a lifetime in Newbury: her husband’s family farm, her childhood home on the green, her aunt’s house across the way, her grandfather’s house on High Road, the church she attended and where she was married … even in downtown Newburyport, where the business her father founded (Arthurs S. Page Insurance) is still going strong.
“I have those different connections, and I’ve been connecting the dots for many years,” she says.
Recently one of her daughters found the diary of Little’s grandfather, so now she knows the exact house on Marlboro Street in Newburyport where he grew up. “I was born in the house at 2 Green Street,” she writes in a brief summary of her childhood. “This house my father had built for himself before his marriage, and he and my mother returned there after their honeymoon to continue their married life.”
Her recollections show a Newbury vastly different from today: a place where children darted across High Road (Route 1A) to buy ginger cookies and hard candy at Jakie’s, even though the pantry at home was stocked with fresh cookies. A place where dances, parties and other social events happened in the Newbury Grange Hall, where Town Hall is today. Where the circus animals, when they came to town, were driven from the depot in Newburyport down to where Mass Audubon’s Joppa Flats Education Center now stands.
And where on Memorial Day – or Decoration Day, as it used to be called – an elderly gentleman named Mr. Chase would recite patriotic poetry: “Barbara Frietchie for one, and something that ended with ‘Sail on, sail on, ship of state.’ “My brother thinks he wore a uniform – I was more intrigued by the gray ‘spats’ on his shoes.”
And then there was Cabbage Stump Night (Halloween eve), when local pranksters would make devilish plans to deposit something – an old outhouse, old carriages – into Green Pond. “Often when our one policeman was busily watching the pond, an article instead would be mounted and found on Jakie’s store roof in the morning,” she laughs. “We had one policeman who patrolled on a motorcycle; I don’t recall that he had much serious crime to investigate.”
In her youth there was, and is still, only the one church in Newbury – The First Parish Church, on High Road. “From our dining room window,” she continues, “I remember watching the Ilsley family going by in their horse-drawn carriage to church. “I also remember the Moodys going to church in their old Model-T Ford. Another time I saw Mrs. Bushee driving a splendid pair of horses with a gorgeous carriage up High Road – perhaps to participate in a celebration or parade in Newburyport.”
The wonder of living in one community all one’s life becomes real when, as Little says, she and a childhood friend meet for lunch and start a conversation. “Not another person in this restaurant would have a clue what we are talking about,” she thinks to herself.
And another reminder – when the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now known as Historic New England) presented the results of a survey it had done on Newbury architecture, many of her family’s past homes were featured in the report. “That astonished me, that day,” she says.
Remembrances – Susan Little
Everywhere Susan Page Little goes, there is a reminder of a lifetime in Newbury: her husband’s family farm, her childhood home on the green, her aunt’s house across the way, her grandfather’s house on High Road, the church she attended and where she was married … even in downtown Newburyport, where the business her father founded (Arthurs S. Page Insurance) is still going strong.
“I have those different connections, and I’ve been connecting the dots for many years,” she says.
Recently one of her daughters found the diary of Little’s grandfather, so now she knows the exact house on Marlboro Street in Newburyport where he grew up. “I was born in the house at 2 Green Street,” she writes in a brief summary of her childhood. “This house my father had built for himself before his marriage, and he and my mother returned there after their honeymoon to continue their married life.”
Her recollections show a Newbury vastly different from today: a place where children darted across High Road (Route 1A) to buy ginger cookies and hard candy at Jakie’s, even though the pantry at home was stocked with fresh cookies. A place where dances, parties and other social events happened in the Newbury Grange Hall, where Town Hall is today. Where the circus animals, when they came to town, were driven from the depot in Newburyport down to where Mass Audubon’s Joppa Flats Education Center now stands.
And where on Memorial Day – or Decoration Day, as it used to be called – an elderly gentleman named Mr. Chase would recite patriotic poetry: “Barbara Frietchie for one, and something that ended with ‘Sail on, sail on, ship of state.’ “My brother thinks he wore a uniform – I was more intrigued by the gray ‘spats’ on his shoes.”
And then there was Cabbage Stump Night (Halloween eve), when local pranksters would make devilish plans to deposit something – an old outhouse, old carriages – into Green Pond. “Often when our one policeman was busily watching the pond, an article instead would be mounted and found on Jakie’s store roof in the morning,” she laughs. “We had one policeman who patrolled on a motorcycle; I don’t recall that he had much serious crime to investigate.”
In her youth there was, and is still, only the one church in Newbury – The First Parish Church, on High Road. “From our dining room window,” she continues, “I remember watching the Ilsley family going by in their horse-drawn carriage to church. “I also remember the Moodys going to church in their old Model-T Ford. Another time I saw Mrs. Bushee driving a splendid pair of horses with a gorgeous carriage up High Road – perhaps to participate in a celebration or parade in Newburyport.”
The wonder of living in one community all one’s life becomes real when, as Little says, she and a childhood friend meet for lunch and start a conversation. “Not another person in this restaurant would have a clue what we are talking about,” she thinks to herself.
And another reminder – when the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now known as Historic New England) presented the results of a survey it had done on Newbury architecture, many of her family’s past homes were featured in the report. “That astonished me, that day,” she says.