Author: Anne Mason

Memories of the Pilgrim Breakfast

Part 3 in a special series on the Pilgrim Breakfast

Lifelong Plymouthean and historian James W. Baker shared the following memories of the Pilgrim Breakfasts he attended in the 1950s-60s. His mother, Jane Cooper Baker (1908-1998), was a descendant of Sgt. William Harlow and an active Antiquarian. 

Recollections inevitably fade and commingle after 60 years, but I do have some surviving impressions. The breakfasts I attended from the early-1950s to about 1967 were not unlike those we have now, but details differ. The shaky card tables and venerable wooden folding chairs out under the great shady elm tree (now long gone) were arranged around the well box (ditto) and garden beds. Some guests were served in the house (not just when wet out) where fishcakes were on occasion fried in the fireplace. The rest of the operation was out of the old woodshed – I recall the excitement when the 1939 “kitchen” was modernized in 1967 – from which servers brought the baked beans, cornbread, “gems”, standard doughnuts and homemade relishes or ketchup in those very sturdy custard cups. Cranberry juice or water was served in rather small waxed paper “Dixie Cups” and of course, coffee. I do not remember any eggs, although they may have been served then. All of this for $1.25 – a tenth of today’s post-inflationary cost.

My mother was involved at various levels, from chairman of the Breakfast committee to organizer of the “tussie-mussies” which involved scrounging in other people’s gardens such as Mrs. Cyrus (Edith) Jones’ down Howes Lane, for example, pinning the tiny bouquets and ribbons together and delivering them to their young distributors in pans of water. Still, it all blends together into a hazy idyllic summer scene from those far-off days to the tune of locusts and the smell of crushed lemon balm leaves.


Report of Jane Baker, chairman of the Harlow House committee, November 5, 1959

“We have made two innovations to our breakfasts [July & Sept]. One is to post the menu at the gate so that unsuspecting tourists may be forewarned as I have met those for whom baked beans and fish cakes were just too great a challenge to their digestions. We have also added cranberry juice to the menu and it has been poured by our president at a table just outside the Harlow House door and at the entrance of the garden…I would like to mention here that the July Breakfast was directly preceded by the holiday which made it impossible for Mrs. Dunham to make her usual arrangements for ordering the food. Mr. Dunham, who is supervisory cook at the County Farm offered to prepare the beans and fish cakes from their kitchens, a great courtesy and convenience.”


Curious about the “gems” Jim mentions above? We’re pleased to share this description and recipe from The Plimoth Colony Cook Book (originally published in 1957). This book is available to purchase in our online gift shop.

Gems for Breakfast
Gem pans were heavy cast-iron pans with rather shallow oblong divisions with rounded bottoms. A gem was rather like a small oblong popover. Sometimes they were made with rye flour instead of white flour. Gem pans were introduced to Plymouth kitchens about 100 years ago [ca. 1850s]. They may still be found in antique shops. Home tinkerers like to keep nails in them.

Plymouth Gems
2 cups flour
1 cup milk
1 cup water
pinch salt

Mix all ingredients, beat well; pour into well-heated greased gem pans, and bake in a hot oven (400 F.) about 20 minutes. Eat immediately. Popover pans may be used, if desired. Fill pans only about 2/3 full.

Pilgrim Breakfast Receipts

Part 2 in a special series on the Pilgrim Breakfast

In 1957 the Plymouth Antiquarian Society published The Plimoth Colony Cook Book. It featured “receipts” used in Plymouth from the colonial period to the end of the 19th century. Antiquarians Elizabeth St. John Bruce and Edith Stinson Jones collected the recipes, preserving culinary methods and traditions passed down in local families for generations. Their meticulous documentation and faithful recreation using period tools provided the foundation for cooking demonstrations at the Harlow House.

The first pages of the cookbook feature recipes served to guests at the Pilgrim Breakfast. Recognizing that not everyone had access to a brick oven, the Antiquarians modernized the recipes for this publication.

Interested in recreating the Pilgrim Breakfast at home? Download our recipe sheet here.

Harlow House Mulled Cider

3 quarts cider
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
ginger, if liked
¾ teaspoon cloves
1/3 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon salt

Add the spices and salt to the heated cider and simmer 10 to 15 minutes. Makes 24 punch cup servings.

Harlow House Doughnuts

often called “Wonders”
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter, melted
flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt

Beat sugar, eggs, and milk together, add butter. Sift 3 cups flour with rest of ingredients, add to first mixture and stir until smooth. Add more flour, if necessary, to make a soft dough. Chill dough overnight. Roll out on floured board and cut with doughnut cutter. Fry in fat hot enough to brown a 1-inch cube of bread in 40 seconds (375 F.). As doughnuts rise to top, turn and brown on other side. Remove, drain on absorbent paper.

Harlow House Baked Beans

2 pounds pea beans
1 onion
2 teaspoons mustard
½ cup molasses
½ teaspoon salt
3/8 pound salt pork

Pick over, wash, and soak the beans overnight. In the morning, drain, rinse, and cover with cold water, bring to a boil and cook until the beans can be pierced with a pin. Drain, put in bean pot with an onion in the bottom. Add mustard, molasses, and salt. Scrape and score the pork and bury it in the beans so that only the top shows. Cover with water and bake in a slow oven (300 F.) about 6 hours, adding water as needed. Uncover the pot for the last hour to brown the pork. 6-8 servings.

Harlow House Fish Cakes

4 cups potatoes, cut in 1-inch cubes
1 cup salt fish, picked and shredded
2 eggs, slightly beaten

Boil together potatoes and fish until potatoes are tender. Drain, mash, and beat in eggs. Drop by spoonfuls in hot fat, (390 F.) and fry for 1 minute. Drain on absorbent paper. 6-8 servings.

The Origins of a Plymouth Tradition

Part 1 in a special series on the Pilgrim Breakfast

The founders of the Plymouth Antiquarian Society sought to preserve not just the buildings and objects of the past, but also the traditions and skills of everyday domestic life. The Harlow Old Fort House, purchased in 1920, became their primary venue for practicing and teaching the household industries of colonial New England. A focus on open-hearth cooking led the Antiquarians to host food-related events for the public.

The earliest recorded Pilgrim Breakfast at the Harlow Old Fort House was in 1933. That year’s annual report on the Society’s activities included a very brief mention of this special event: “A delightful old fashioned Sunday morning breakfast was served at the Harlow House Oct 1st, after which the house was closed for the season.”

The Breakfast became a fixture in the Antiquarian Society’s annual calendar. By 1949 the Antiquarians established a schedule of holding two Breakfasts each year, on the Sundays closest to July 4th and Labor Day. PAS members prepared the meal, which costumed volunteers served to the public both inside and outside the historic house. The menu from the beginning featured fishcakes (or “fishballs”), baked beans, and cornbread.

Rose T. Briggs, who served as the Assistant to the Society’s Directors, used the Breakfast as an opportunity to showcase the traditional crafts that the Antiquarians demonstrated throughout the year at the Harlow House. Their innovative course for adults, “Household Arts of the 17th Century”, drew national attention. Held every July between 1935 and 1941, it featured hands-on lessons on preparing flax and wool, spinning, dyeing, weaving, candle making, and open-hearth cooking, supplemented by lectures on architecture, furniture, clothing, and by trips to other historic houses and museums.

The Pilgrim Breakfast was a family affair; the children of Antiquarian Society members were recruited at an early age to dress in costume, sell “tussie mussies” (small bouquets), and serve the guests. In the 1930s and 40s PAS member Souther Barnes and his siblings (Brooks, Mercy, Parker, and Philip Jr.) would help their mother, Mercie Hatch Barnes (1899-1992), cook inside the Harlow House. “I kept the fire going and she cooked the fishballs, which are like the fishcakes they serve today. She fried them by the spoonful in hot fat. That fire was so hot her face would be beet red,” Souther recalled in an interview with the Old Colony Memorial in 2019.

Visit Parting Ways

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Historical Significance

Parting Ways Cemetery is the final resting place of four African-American Revolutionary War veterans: Prince Goodwin, Cato Howe, Quamony Quash, and Plato Turner. At least three and perhaps all four had been slaves before the war. Quamony Quash fought for American independence while still enslaved; he was not emancipated by Theophilus Cotton until 1781. Their graves are visible reminders of the New Guinea Settlement at Parting Ways (named for the fork in the road leading from Plymouth to either Plympton or Carver). In 1792 the Town of Plymouth granted approximately 94 acres to  the men for clearing the land. They created one of the earliest independent African-American communities in New England.

Directions

From Route 3, take exit 6 onto Samoset Street. Travel west for 1.5 miles. Turn right onto Route 80 East (Plympton Street). Travel 1.5 miles. Parting Ways is located on the right, just before the Kingston townline. There is a small parking area and a half-mile trail through the woods behind the gravesites.

Learn More

Long Road to Freedom: Online exploration of African-American history in Plymouth based on 2006 exhibit at Pilgrim Hall Museum, featuring digital copies of original documents with transcriptions

Parting Ways: Chapter from In Small Things Forgotten: An Archaeology of Early American Life  by Dr. James Deetz, who led an archaeological dig at Parting Ways in 1975 and 1976

Early African-American Settlement at “Parting Ways“, Plymouth: Blog post by historian Patrick Browne (PhD Candidate at Boston University)

Antiquarian Society Supported by CARES Act Grant

The Plymouth Antiquarian Society is honored to announce that it is the recipient of a CARES Act grant for $2,500.00 from Mass Humanities, the state-based affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Funding from Mass Humanities has been provided through the NEH as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act of 2020.

Mass Humanities awarded $572,500 to 123 humanities organizations across Massachusetts through the grant program, which provides operating support for museums, libraries, archives, and other nonprofit organizations during this unprecedented year. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many institutions face an uncertain future due to lost admission and cancelled events.

The Antiquarian Society’s Board of Trustees, staff, and members extend their thanks to Mass Humanities and the National Endowment for the Humanities for this invaluable support. The grant will ensure that the Society can continue our mission of preserving and sharing local history through this challenging summer and beyond.

Learn more about the grant program.

NEH-Preferred-Seal820

Hedge House Frontage Project Underway

After years of preparation and fundraising, we are pleased to announce that the landscape improvements to the 1809 Hedge House are moving forward. A general contractor was selected for the project before the coronavirus pandemic disrupted life in Massachusetts. Since construction is regarded as an essential business, work can move ahead even as all of the Society’s in-person activities are suspended. We hope that the successful completion of this project will lift our spirits during this uncertain time as we anticipate future gatherings in years to come.

This project is generously supported by our members and community partners – thank you!

Historical Background 

Today the 1809 Hedge House Museum sits above a rolling lawn overlooking the Plymouth waterfront. However, during its long history as a residence, the house was located at 83 Court Street and faced west towards the town’s main thoroughfare. The Federal mansion was rescued from demolition by the Antiquarian Society in 1919, and moved a short distance from its original site to a nearby lot that had once been part of Plymouth’s old waterfront district.

The Society acquired an adjoining lot in 1927 from the American Woolen Company, the last of several industrial companies that used the large building (ca. 1880) on the lot as a storehouse. The Society razed this building and leveled the land to create a clear view to the harbor. To provide a better setting for the historic house, the Society undertook a series of landscape improvements at the new 126 Water Street location in the 1920s. Society members created a boxwood-bordered garden area in front and planted trees bordering both sides of the lawn. Eventually they turned their attention to enclosing the property. In its heyday as a home at 83 Court Street, the Hedge House enjoyed only a modest frontage, bordered by a simple white picket fence. The new yard on Water Street needed a more impressive style of enclosure. The Society opted to duplicate the white painted wooden fence and gate from the King Caesar House in neighboring Duxbury. Deliberations about the fence began in September of 1929; it was completed by 1932.

The painted wooden fence, within a stone’s throw of the harbor, required a level of maintenance that the Society was often unable to provide in ensuing years. By the 1960s, sections had rotted and been haphazardly replaced, the original design had become a patchwork, and the need for reconstruction was critical. The Society struggled during years of economic recession, but in 1975 finally managed to install a white painted tubular steel fence, with rebuilt wooden columns. The new design had no historical basis. This 45-year-old metal fencing remains in place today. The metal is in a state of advanced fatigue, the reconstructed wooden columns are in disrepair, and the entire array must be replaced. Furthermore, the removal of the boxwood-bordered garden area, the loss of some of the perimeter trees, and the installation of gas and water lines over the years have disrupted the front lawn, leading to dangerous sections of uneven ground and an austere appearance that distracts from the Federal elegance of the historic house.

Following restorations of the historic building’s interior and exterior between 2002 and 2007, the Society began planning for a major re-landscaping plan for the front lawn of the Hedge House. In determining what type of fencing or enclosure would be appropriate for the frontage of the 126 Water Street property, the Society turned to the work of Plymouth architect Joseph Everett Chandler, born in town in 1863. Chandler, a descendant of William Harlow, had assisted the Antiquarians with the restoration of his ancestor’s 17th-century home, which the Society acquired in 1920. He also consulted on the landscaping for the relocated Hedge House. In the 1920s Chandler prepared several designs for a Colonial Revival garden for the Hedge site that were partially, though never fully, executed. Preserved in the Society’s archives, the long dormant plans formed the basis for the recreation of the Rose T. Briggs Memorial Garden in 2013. Chandler had also sketched some ideas for the front yard of the museum site, but apparently never developed a frontage design before his death in 1945. Fortunately, several historical examples of Chandler’s landscape designs still exist in Plymouth. Among the most striking are the brick gates and walls of the Fay family’s 1889 estate, “Bayswater,” on Sandwich Street, and the Flemish bond brick walls and iron fencing that border the Willoughby House on Winslow Street, today known as the Mayflower Society House. These surviving features are the historical inspiration for a new Colonial Revival style frontage plan for the Hedge House Museum. They have been scaled down to better suit the size and style of the Hedge House.

Project Scope & Design

  • Water Street and Memorial Drive Perimeters: The new fence will duplicate the scale and location of the existing fence. It will include brick piers and black galvanized steel pickets. The brick will be laid in the Flemish bond pattern used in existing examples of Colonial Revival fences in Plymouth, dating from the turn of the twentieth century. This design will complement existing brick pathways. The brick piers will house electric outlets, which will permit the Society to add temporary lighting during events, improving the safety of the property when used by the public.
  • Southern Boundary: The existing cedar fence will be continued parallel to the property line to hide the rear parking lot of the neighboring restaurant. A new bed of native trees and bushes will be planted in front of the fence, restoring the garden border that framed the lawn in the 1930s.
  • Existing Features: In the late 1920s the Society installed walkways to lead to the Water Street entrance and the boxwood-bordered garden on what is now the front lawn. The granite steps have settled; to improve the site’s safety they will be reset and handrails will be added to match existing handrails elsewhere on the property. The bricks in the walkways have been replaced and re-laid over the years; as needed, small areas with bricks that are cracked or heaved will be reset or replaced to eliminate tripping hazards. The paths themselves will maintain their original orientation and dimensions. The four majestic linden trees planted approximately 75 years ago on the Memorial Drive side of the property will be protected throughout the project.
  • Grading and Irrigation: The prominent location of the Hedge House requires regular lawn maintenance to provide the best setting for this historic home. The grass dies every summer, creating an embarrassing blemish on Plymouth’s waterfront. The grading of uneven areas and installation of an irrigation system will help ensure the future maintenance of the property, increase the site’s functionality during high-traffic events, and eliminate the hazard of unexpected hollows and holes to visitors.

Our goal is to beautify the property in such a way that it will remain welcoming to the public, while also providing a secure perimeter on Plymouth’s busy waterfront. The addition of irrigation and electricity enhances the lawn’s functionality for community events, including the Society’s annual Summer Fair. We hope the improved frontage will strengthen the Hedge House’s position as one of the jewels in Plymouth’s historic landscape.

Anticipated Completion: June 2020

Design: Ray Dunetz Landscape Architects (using preliminary plans created by Bill Fornaciari Architects, Inc.)

General Contractor: Sheridan Landscaping (Plymouth, MA)

 

Preservation Grant Awarded for Spooner House Project

The Plymouth Antiquarian Society is delighted to announce that we are the recipients of a grant from the 1772 Foundation to support the preservation of the Spooner House. This grant will fund a project to repaint the North Street façade of this historic home, built ca. 1749. Since the house’s exterior restoration in 2011, the paint has become decayed and dirty, with chalking, discoloring, and significant mildew growth. Our goal is to clean and repaint the façade of the house in order to extend the life of its historic wood shakes and trim. By doing so we will also be restoring this home to its historic appearance.

About the Grant Program

Preservation Massachusetts, in partnership with The 1772 Foundation, has announced the final recipients of a new historic preservation grant program for Massachusetts. Preservation Massachusetts is the statewide non-profit historic preservation organization dedicated to preserving the Commonwealth’s historic and cultural heritage and The 1772 Foundation, based in Providence, RI, plays a leading role in promoting historic preservation nationwide. 

In their most recent grant round, the 1772 Foundation worked with the six New England statewide historic preservation organizations, including Preservation Massachusetts, to administer 1:1 matching grants of up to $10,000. Grants will be given to historic preservation projects for building exteriors. At their quarterly meeting, the trustees of The 1772 Foundation awarded $100,000 in grants to 14 Massachusetts projects, based on recommendations from Preservation Massachusetts. A total of $600,000 was awarded to seventy-nine grants from all six New England statewide organizations. 

Grant recipients in Massachusetts were Historic Deerfield, Inc. (The Creelman House $10,000), Alden Kindred of America, Inc. (Alden House Historic Site $2,600), Great Barrington Historical Society (The Truman Wheeler House $7,500), Historic New England (The Walter Gropius House $10,000), The Royall House Association (The Royall House and Slave Quarters $5,000), The Maria Mitchell Association (The Maria Mitchell House $8,250), Waterfront Historic Area League (First Bap st Church $10,000), Historic Newton (Durant-Kenrick House $10,000), Sons and Daughters of Hawley (East Hawley Meeting House $10,000), Plymouth Antiquarian Society (The Spooner House Museum $3,358), Essex National Heritage Commission (Assistant Light Keeper’s House on Baker’s Island $5,000), Old Colony History Museum (Bristol Academy $10,000), Chase Library Association, Inc. (The Chase Library $4,812) and Canton Historical Society (David & Abigail Tilden House $3,480). 

President and CEO of Preservation Massachusetts Jim Igoe states, “This new funding opportunity brought to Massachusetts by the 1772 Foundation was a great opportunity for stewards of historic buildings all across the Commonwealth. The reception to this grant was overwhelming with over $700,000 in funding being requested through our first round of inquiry letters. It clearly demonstrates the great need for funds to ensure these historic structures remain intact and in use for years to come. The organizations we have awarded grants to are remarkable stewards of these shared community assets and we are pleased to see their projects come to fruition. We are also extremely grateful to The 1772 Foundation for this collaborative opportunity which has enriched our organization and staff with deeper knowledge and connections with organizations and communities from the Cape to Berkshires. We look forward to continuing to work with The 1772 Foundation and also find other opportunities to expand funding for historic preservation projects like these across Massachusetts.” 

1772 Foundation Board President B. Danforth Ely remarked, “Small matching grants for brick-and-mortar preservation projects have long played an important role in the 1772 Foundation’s grant making, as it was the passion of its founder, Stewart B. Kean. However, this is the first year that we have opened the program up to all six New England states, and the expansion has been enthusiastically received. We have been fortunate to work with six fantastic statewide organizations, whose local community knowledge has proven invaluable. The vast response to this grant has also shown to the Foundation how necessary these brick-and-mortar grants are to keeping our historic structures standing.” 

About Preservation Massachusetts: Preservation Massachusetts was established in 1985 as Historic Massachusetts, Inc. We are the statewide non-profit organization that actively promotes the preservation of historic buildings and landscapes as a positive force for economic development and the retention of community character. The organization is supported entirely by grants, fundraising events and the support of our membership. In keeping with our mission, we work in partnership with national, state and local organizations and individuals across the Commonwealth to advance and understanding, appreciation and utilization of our historic built and natural landscapes. More information about Preservation Massachusetts may be found online at www.preservationmass.org 

About the 1772 Foundation: The 1772 Foundation was named in honor of its first restoration project, Liberty Hall in Union, NJ, which was built in 1772 and is the ancestral home of the Livingston and Kean families. The late Stewart B. Kean was the sole benefactor to The 1772 Foundation. The 1772 Foundation works to ensure the safe passage of our historic buildings and farmland to future generations. More information about The 1772 Foundation may be found at www.1772foundation.org

Coronavirus Updates

Due to the public health threat from COVID-19, the Antiquarian Society’s office and historic houses are currently closed to the public.

The following events have been cancelled:

  • March 28: Back Roads of the South Shore Symposium
  • April 4: Burial Hill Tour (click here for our virtual alternative)
  • April 23: Jr. PAS Paper-making Workshop
  • April 24: Plymouth 400’s Opening Ceremony
  • May 2: Burial Hill Tour (click here for our virtual alternative)
  • June 4: Burial Hill Tour(click here for our virtual alternative)

Any future cancellations or updates will be posted to this page.

We are still working remotely to share local history with you! Executive Director Anne Mason can be reached via email at director@plymouthantiquarian.org.

If you have young kids at home, please make use of our coloring pages, available to download here.

Thinking of everyone at this difficult time and hoping you stay well and take care as we hope for brighter days ahead.

 

Remembering Plymouth’s First Victim of the 1918 Flu Pandemic

This article originally appeared in the Antiquarian Society’s newsletter, Archives & Anecdotes, in June 2018.

One hundred years ago, as World War I came to an end in Europe, a deadly flu virus swept across the globe, killing millions. Although the influenza pandemic of 1918 came to be known as the Spanish flu, the first recorded cases were in the United States. The international movement of armies and refugees allowed the flu to spread rapidly across borders. It killed swiftly and, unlike other flu strains, attacked healthy young adults as well as children and the elderly.

On September 23, 1918, the flu claimed its first victim in Plymouth: 20-year-old Geoffrey D. Perrier, Jr. Born on June 18, 1898, Geoffrey was the eldest child and only son of Geoffrey Daniel Perrier, a French-speaking immigrant from Nova Scotia, and Mary Agnes O’Brien, whose family had immigrated to the United States from Ireland.

Two years before his death, Geoffrey Perrier, Jr. traveled across the country to serve in the often-forgotten Border War. This military engagement took place during the Mexican Revolution, which began in 1910. It reached its height in 1916 when the paramilitary forces of Mexican revolutionary Francisco “Pancho” Villa led an attack on Columbus, New Mexico. President Woodrow Wilson sent an expedition under General John Pershing to capture Villa and prevent any further raids on American soil. At a time when many within the United States were calling for the government to prepare for entering World War I in Europe, the conflict along the border provided an opportunity to strengthen the United States military. The National Defense Act of 1916 expanded both the Army and the National Guard.

In Plymouth the Old Colony Memorial repeatedly printed calls to serve, emphasizing duty and patriotism and encouraging local men to follow the example of previous generations who served in the Civil War and the Spanish-American War. 18-year-old Geoffrey Perrier, Jr. answered the call. In 1916 he enlisted in Company D of the 5th Massachusetts Regiment. The Standish Guards, organized in 1818, included men from Plymouth, Kingston, Middleboro, Carver, Whitman, Brockton, and other South Shore towns. Under the direction of Captain Charles H. Robbins, 65 men left Plymouth on June 21, 1916 for a camp in South Framingham, before departing for Texas.

On July 1, 1916 Company D arrived on the border. They were stationed at Camp Cotton in El Paso, Texas, within sight of the Mexican camp. The region was suffering from a drought; a report published in the Old Colony Memorial noted that the ground “was white with alkali dust, and the wind whirled the fine stuff into the air and sifted it into the tents so that the camp was soon designated as a dirty one, in spite of the effort made to keep things presentable.” The open ground was “covered in spots with bunches of buffalo grass, and cactus, the latter having spines of exquisite sharpness and well calculated to pierce clothing and even work into shoes in a discomforting manner.” Plymoutheans were asked to help raise $2,000 to provide the Massachusetts troops with a mess house and a recreation shack, wooden floors in their tents, and insect screening. To highlight the exotic hazards the men faced in the desert, a tarantula was sent home and  displayed in the window of the Century Jewelry Store in downtown Plymouth.

The Standish Guards left Texas on October 13, 1916, with a full company. When they arrived in Plymouth on October 21st, they were greeted at the railroad station by a crowd of 3,000, waving flags and cheering. Among those greeting the servicemen was Geoffrey’s father, Drum Major Geoffrey D. Perrier, Sr., who led the band in “its swingiest march” as the men paraded through town. They were escorted by veterans of the Civil War who were members of the Collingwood Post of the Grand Army of the Republic. The Old Colony Memorial reported that the men were “brown from open air life, thinner from active work, but all looking in the pink of condition”. Some of them carried new pets from Texas, including a number of dogs, and a blue-and-white pigeon. The celebration continued with a reception and ball in the Armory.

After his company returned from the border, Geoffrey went back to high school and graduated in 1917. When the United States declared war on Germany, Geoffrey must have imagined that he would shortly be serving overseas. In August he went with the Standish Guards to the training camp in South Framingham. However, he was rejected from service following his physical tests, given an honorable discharge, and returned home.

Over the next year he worked on government contracts as an electrician at cantonments in Carolina, Virginia, Texas, and Florida. Geoffrey returned to Plymouth in August 1918, living with his parents at their home at 12 Washington Street; his plan was to enter the Pratt Institute of New York in September. Instead, he contracted the flu and died after a week. Geoffrey’s funeral was held in St. Peter’s Church on Court Street; he was buried in St. Joseph Cemetery. Four days after his death, his grandfather, Daniel Perrier, also died, leaving his family doubly bereft. Geoffrey’s obituary in the Old Colony Memorial noted that “the community lost a young man who was well known and liked.”

Geoffrey Perrier was the uncle of PAS President Ginny Davis, who assisted with the research for this article and permitted us to reproduce these images from her personal collection.