Muscato's Musings

When Chuck Allen Met Mr. Gomes

A time when cultures collided in Easton.

  One of the nice benefits of writing this column is that I can just kick back sometimes, and not have to do any heavy cerebral lifting, and not have to piece together a tight-fitting and cogent and unassailable argument, but rather just relate fun stories, missives, anecdotes, and remembrances from Easton of yesteryear.  And in doing this, I submit that this column serves a valuable purpose.  We will never slake our desire for nostalgia, for the aching of times past. During the holiday season, I suspect we feel that ache most acutely.  So, here is one story I had in my head tonight, from Easton's years past.  It is around 1970 or '71 or so, and the Allen family – with parents, Chick and Carol Allen, and the kids, Angela, Chuck, and …

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Muscato's Musings

Tales From The Shovel Town

None of this is Good

  There is that column in the Boston Herald; it is called, “Inside Track.”  It is written by Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa.  It is sort of a gossip column.  Occasionally, the column includes a segment titled, “Tales From The Naked City.” It is fun reading – all tawdry and tightly packed and sexy and scintillating and relating all sorts of conduct in Boston, and by Boston area people, that is variously bad, amusing, and shocking.  Most of the players in the dramas are fairly well known and powerful. Ms. Fee and Ms. Raposa don’t name names though.   They keep the not so innocent anonymous.  The columnists do, however, provide just enough of a description to get many thinking that they might have it figured out who is being described.  Just …

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Town Plans For Sewer To Extend Beyond Shovel Shop Project

Town hopes to tie in rest of North Easton Village within five years

With the groundbreaking of Shovel Shop project, the town will get its first hookups to sewer – a service many residents and businesses have eagerly awaited.    But though the plan calls for just a tiny part of the population to be serviced, Easton officials hope that it can be start of a more far reaching plan – one that could eventually hook up about one-third of the town. Who exactly will be serviced and when?  Town Planner Brad Washburn said the town is focusing on five different “Tier 1” areas in town:  North Easton Village (expanded to include the entire district), South Easton, Five Corners, Turnpike Street, and Easton Center.  Three other “Tier 2” areas --  Old Foundry, North Washington Street, and Hockomock -- were also considered …

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Muscato's Musings

The 'North Easton Village Renaissance' Continues

$1 Million Grant for Revitalization of Dowtown North Easton Maintains the Momentum

If you travel through North Easton Village, and pass Ames Free Library on your left, and a segment of the Shovel Shop buildings on your right, and go up maybe a 100 more yards, you arrive at the corner of Oliver Street and Main Street, where you will find an unkempt parcel of land. The parcel is bordered with granite pillars and chain links; within, a path of stone, made obscure by time and nature, leads to a granite monument, which has a bench, and at the middle of which is a metal plaque, and above that the metal bust of a man.    The man depicted in the bust is Oliver Ames, the founder of the Ames Shovel Company, and the patriarch of a family dynasty and industry that gave incalculable amounts and benefits to our community. The monument…

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Easton Receives $1 Million Grant For Downtown Revitalization

Officials say improvements to Main Street will tie into other area projects like Shovelshop development and a new sewer system.

The town of Easton will benefit from legislation passed last week that included $37.95 million in infrastructure funds for shovel-ready projects - $1 million of which would be dedicated to Easton's downtown. “This kind of investment in our towns and our infrastructure is how we can responsibly move Massachusetts forward economically,” State Senator Brian A. Joyce (D-Milton) said in a statement. “Today is a good day for the residents of Easton.” Town Administrator David Colton said the money would be used for improvements to main street, such as the burrial of wires, improvements to sidewalks and crosswalks, planting trees, and parking improvements. Colton said $75,000 of the town's capital budget, which was approved at Town Meeting last …

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Povoas Park

A Family Transfers Its Legacy and a Gift to Easton

In this past weekend’s Wall Street Journal, columnist, Peggy Noonan, bemoaned the demise of our culture, of its morals; she lamented how trashy things have become.  She said that anyone older than 50 in this nation knew a stronger and more decent time and place of morality and norms than today – and they are nostalgic for it – and where they live now is a bit alien to them. I’m not quite 50 yet, but I know what she means.  On Saturday morning and afternoon, I had myself a full helping and then some of those wonderful and happy and less complicated days – and of gratitude and a concern for others – for I attended the dedication of Povoas Park at the corner of Center Street and Bridge Street.  And later, I was fortunate to mingle with some “…

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Question of the Day

Question of the Day: North Easton Revitalization

What are your thoughts on all of the plans to revitalize North Easton Village?

At Easton Patch, we want to hear from you! We're always striving to generate conversation and foster dialogue in an effort to give all of our users a voice in the community. Beginning in June, we'll be asking Easton Patch readers a different question every weekday at noon. Questions could range from local decisions made by officials, to state issues, to national politics and entertainment. Whatever it is, we want to know what EASTON thinks! To answer, use our comments section below. With a new apartment complex at the sight of Ames Shovel Shops, a new sewer system, possible improvements to Main Street and a open-to-the-public Governor Ames Estate, there are some major efforts to improve the area around North Easton Village. This week, Town…

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Officials Eye Major Improvements to Main Street

Improvements to Main Street could be next on the list of North Easton Village revitalization projects.

Town Officials say improvements to the aesthetics, parking and pedestrian access on Main Street could be next in a number of improvements to North Easton Village in the near future. "It’s really nice to see that it might happen now," Selectman Ellen Barlow said Monday night after a presentation by Town Administrator David Colton. Main Street improvements are part of what Colton called the "revitalization of North Easton Village", which includes the Ames Shovelworks Project, a public/private partnership with Beacon Development which will house a wastewater treatment plant for a new sewer system in the village serving approximately 70 parcels. Colton said the town will use $75,000 of the capital budget approved at Town Meeting to create …

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