mill pond

Mill Pond was a very special place back there in my hometown of Wareham, MA. Especially the small piece carved out from the rest by Route 28, which sounds more formidable than it was, two lanes. The small part of the pond abutted Elm Street, coming down from Main, and the Tremont Nail Factory on both sides of Elm. Life’s interesting, here’s a smidge of information I’m borrowing from Wikipedia:

Tremont Nail Factory District is a historic district in Wareham, Massachusetts. It makes up the area occupied by the former Tremont Nail Company. In the early 19th century, Parker Mills was constructed by shipwrights as a cotton mill. During the War of 1812, it was partially burned by the British. In 1819, another building was constructed on the site of the former mill by Isaac and Jared Pratt to manufacture nails. At this time, the Parker Mills Nail Company was born. The mill was partially destroyed by fire again in 1836. Reconstruction was completed in 1848, and the buildings haven’t changed much since. The bell in the cupola in the original facility bears a date of 1851. The main mill is one of five buildings at the site over 100 years old. There are also 60 nail machines in the building, many over 125 years old. Until the 1920s, the mill was also powered by a water wheel which powered overhead shafting.^[2]

The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.^[1]

It’s cool, I didn’t know a lot of that until I turned a little over 74 years and three months old a couple of minutes ago. Which is funny, too, because at the tail end of my walk – this Blog space wide open for wonder and delight and goofiness – the image of fishing, with a spinning reel and a red-and-white bobber – bait from Donnie’s backyard nightcrawler collection or even, on days leaning into luxury, chubs and shiners pulled out of the Wareham River via Donnie’s hand-made irresistible trap. Sitting on the grass, one hot summer day after another, life ever so generous, maybe catching a stray sunfish here and there, mostly just being entirely at one with that day. That gift.

Yeah, the above paragraph was to be the entire Blog as I walked back into my room. And yet, the day has its offers, and visualizing the nail factory, its brownish-red shingles, was all crazy waving its “Pick me” hands. Just like – me out of Monday control (Yay!!) – this song which also showed up, the “mill stream” image flowing directly into Mill Pond. So I look it up, the song, and the words are lovely, and here’s me, all borrowing and rejoicing again:

“Up a lazy river by the old mill stream
That lazy, hazy river where we both can dream
Linger in the shade of an old oak tree
Throw away your troubles, dream a dream with me
Up a lazy river where the robin’s song
Wakes up in the mornin’, as we roll along
Blue skies up above ….everyone’s in love
Up a lazy river, how happy we will be, now
Up a lazy river with me”

Peace out.