For Week #7 of the Newton Photo Scavenger Hunt, here are five more photos of objects in Newton that are odd or charming — and rather unique, rather permanent, and visible from public property. Can you identify them?
The first person to write in the comments below the correct (and sufficiently precise) location of the object will win one point per object identified.
NOTE: Following a reader’s suggestion, comments will be closed until 8PM Tuesday (8/18) to give everyone some time to explore and ponder before answers start arriving.
At the end of the summer, whoever has the most points will win a $50 gift certificate for the Newton restaurant of the winner’s choice…and a V14 commemorative mug. After six weeks of the scavenger hunt, the current totals are: Michael 7; Dave Brigham 4; 3 each for LisaP and Fignewtonville; 2 each for David Wallace, Adam, and Dalek; and 1 each for Nanci Ginty Butler, Bob Burke, Sean Roche, Maureen Reilly Meagher, Michael’s son, Chuck Tanowitz, and Newton Highlands Mom. Still unidentified for two weeks — and available for finding — are 22. Phone Booth and 23 Ceramic Sculpture.
31. Squirrel
32. Dog or Lion?
33. Powder House
34. Bronze Horse
35. W Post
Comments are open for the Newton Photo Scavenger Hunt Week 7.
#34 is Flashy Bull on corner Laudholm & Cabot
@John Q Public: Correct! It’s in the same location as 5. Pitcher — the home of Robert Gaynor, sculptor of both statues.
#35 is one of two whistle post signs in Newton, both without trains. I think this is the one from the Upper Falls Greenway, heading towards the Charles from Oak Street. I won’t reveal the location of the other one. Bruce might want to use it for next week.
@Adam: Correct! This whistle post told the engineer — of any train that ran on that track that is now the Upper Falls Greenway — to sound the whistle. I thought this one was unique. Now I have to try to find the other whistle post!
The powderhouse tablet #33 is near Centre/Cotton streets adjacent to the burial ground. Are there still points for submitting photos? Thanks
@David Wallace: That’s not the location of the Powder House tablet.
After receiving zero photos in the first few weeks of the scavenger hunt, I omitted the option of submitting photos. In any case, I think the original award of 3 points per photo would overwhelm the scoring. Maybe for a future contest?
#33 the Powder House tablet is located along Lyman Street in Newton Centre.
And now I’ve learned about whistle posts!
That #35 whistle post on the Upper Falls Greenway sported a pair of googly eyes for a few weeks earlier in the summer
@Dave Brigham: Correct! The plaque for the Powder House is by Lyman Street. The Powder House stood at the east end of the training field from 1799 to 1849. The Newton Centre Tree Club was formed in 1852 to reclaim and beautify the training field and other public greens. (Its first president was Marshall Rice, who lived on Centre Street between Marshall and Rice Streets.)
@Bruce – I wonder if the powder house looked a bit like the one in Dedham that still stands: https://backsideofamerica.blogspot.com/2013/06/powda-house.html
@Dave Brigham: Great to see that photo. I guess the Newton powder house looked a lot like the Dedham one, unless powder house architecture evolved between 1766 and 1799. ;-)
I’ve seen the “dog bas relief” somewhere in Newton, but thought it was a lion instead of a dog. Maybe this came from a common mold and I simply saw another copy.
@Bob Burke: I’m sure you’ve seen it. I’m not sure whether it’s a dog or a lion. Maybe a lion. It looks like it has a mane, but the face doesn’t look very lion-like to me.
#31 is on the entrance sign to Cold Spring Park on Beacon Street. There is a squirrel on each side of the sign.
@Patrick M: Correct!
#35 – It could have happened ….
“The early 1900’s was a time of very different social norms than today. Towards the turn of the century it was not deemed appropriate for single woman to travel un-escorted with male companions. This social standard had the side effect of severely limiting women’s freedom of movement, in a time when the world was opening up with new transportation technologies.
Jason Werb, an enterprising young Upper Falls entrepreneur, sensed an opportunity and seized it. For a few short years from 1909-1911 Werb’s “Saturday Social Trains” ran from Upper Falls to Boston. Werb sub-contracted trackage rights with the owners of the Needham Circuit Line, which ran from Upper Falls, through Needham, and then around through Dedham into Boston – which he dubbed the “Women’s Line”, while also sub- contracting with the Boston and Albany Railroad for the route from Upper Falls to the Highlands and into Boston (now the Riverside line) he dubbed the “Gentleman’s Line”.
Werb’s insight was that if the young single folks were segregated by gender on the different train lines, their parents would be comfortable letting their daughters out in the larger world without escorts. For two short years, every Saturday morning, trains full of happy young men boarded the “Gentleman’s Line” train at the Upper Falls station headed in one direction, and happy young women boarded the Women’s Line in the opposite direction. As the bell rang and both trains left the same station, on the same track, but in different direction, the Upper Falls parents rested easy, knowing that their children were behaving properly and safely. What most of those parents didn’t realize was that the two trains arrived within 10 minutes of each other at the same Boston station. Young couples reunited in the Boston station and spent a glorious day of un-escorted escapades together in down town Boston before catching the return trains home at 5 PM..
One physical trace of this fascinating technological, business, and social history can still be seen today on the Upper Falls Greenway – the former route of both the Gentleman’s and Women’s Lines. Just short of where the Greenway meets the Charles River there is a marble column etched with the letter “W”. The matching column with the letter “G” in the Highlands has long since disappeared.
This is the 1st in my ‘Imagined Local Histories’ series inspired by Bruce’s Scavenger Hunt. Here’s the 2nd.
Note: Anything that is actually true in the above account is purely by accident.
nice story!
This is part of my soon-to-be-new-series – “imagined histories”
Could have been true, Jerry.
Two years ago in Tokyo, I saw subway cars reserved for women only, during rush hours. Not a bad idea!