Shutesbury's 250th Anniversary Celebration

Friday, February 25, 2011

Who first walked Shutesbury’s hills?

Shutesbury -- On Friday, March 4 at 7:00 p.m. at Town Hall, Margaret (Marge) Bruchac, a professor of anthropology, historical consultant and person of Abenaki descent, will speak on “From Kwineticook to Quabbin: Native People in West-Central Massachusetts.”

Her program, sponsored jointly by the 250th Anniversary Steering Committee and Friends of the Library, will combine oral traditions and historical anecdotes to illuminate the survival strategies of Native people in the region after King Philip’s War. She will also offer context on the Native presence today.

Shutesbury's 250th Anniversary Song

Tune: Battle Hymn of the Republic
Words: Sabra MacLeod and Gale McClung

We started out as Roadtown back in seventeen thirty-five.
The Lancaster-to-River route was what we could provide.
The road was so successful that the town soon grew and thrived
And time kept marching on!

Chorus:
What a wonderful occasion
For a joyful celebration!
We are bursting with elation
As time goes marching on!

Twas seventeen-hundred sixty-one that Shutesbury was named
In the honor of a governor of undistinguished fame.
And then we were incorporated; now we all acclaim
That we have carried on!

Repeat chorus after each verse until final one.

Shutesbury is a rural town whose climate is supreme,
Whose air is always cooler and whose water's super-clean.
Renowned for forests, hills, and streams and atmosphere serene,
We'll all keep singing on!

Among the early industries were sawmills, boots, and shoes,
And Haskins' famous gold-tipped pens for everyone to use.
There of course was agriculture many felt the urge to choose,
And they've kept farming on.

Among the town's remembered names are Dihlmann, Wilde, and Spear,
And Norell, Locke, and Hunting who was clerk for fifty years.
With Haskell, Carey, Thayer, Pratt and Plaza it is clear,
For them we carry on.

Daniel Shays is known from far and wide. Rebellion was his game.
He felt the government unfair. Correction was his aim.
A local highway honored and immortalized his name.
For him we're marching on.

We residents appreciate our rural atmosphere.
With Quabbin and Wyola we have lots of water here,
For fishing, swimming, boating, all such gifts, so very near,
We'll just keep singing on!

For all our wild animals the town has been renowned.
Raccoons and foxes, deer, and owls have always been around.
Now bears and moose, coyotes, even bobcats can be found,
And we keep hiking on.

Our town library first began two hundred years ago.
With just one bookcase it was clear that it would have to grow.
And now it's so successful that its future makes us glow
As we go reading on.

The fire department came to be in nineteen fifty-one.
Because of faithful volunteers its service had begun.
And now the whole department's full of pride for all it's done,
And it will carry on.

We're grateful for our church that now is named "Community,"
And also for our local school. We're proud as we can be!
Our town hall's solar panels are a joy for us to see,
As we go greening on.

Final chorus:
Gathered here in celebration
For this wonderful occasion!
Let us shout in exultation
That we will carry on!

Shutesbury's 250th Anniversary Celebration - 2011

Friday, February 25, 2011

Who first walked Shutesbury’s hills?

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