By Katie MacDonald and William F. Hanna In compiling material for our upcoming book, Tetiquet to the Sea: A History of the Taunton River, we have found a boatload of fascinating characters. Rivers seem to attract entertaining people with interesting stories, and one of our favorites is Thomas Coram. Born in Lyme-Regis, on the south coast of…

By Eric B. Schultz The Old Colony stretches from Rehoboth to Provincetown and from Scituate to Dartmouth. It is the historic home of New Bedford’s whaling fleet and Fall River’s textile factories, the Ames brothers’ shovels and Reed & Barton’s silver. Its soldiers and political leaders range from Myles Standish and Robert Treat Paine to Major General Darius Nash Couch and the brave WWII American GIs buried at the Normandy American Cemetery.

By Eric B. Schultz Act One: An Old Colony First December 1906. A 420-foot tubular steel antenna rises from Brandt Rock, a snowy, desolate spot along the Atlantic coast in Marshfield some 40 miles northeast of Taunton and 20 miles from where the Mayflower landed. Under the direction of radio pioneer Reginald Fessenden, this monstrous tower is sending and receiving…

By William F. Hanna The Cold War has been over for more than 30 years, so a generation of young people has come of age without ever having lived under the immediate threat of nuclear annihilation. Older Americans, however, have no trouble recalling those days of tension and political brinksmanship…

By William F. Hanna George G. Polley had a breathtaking view over Taunton in the twilight hours of September 19, 1921, but to fully enjoy it he had to overcome several nagging distractions, each demanding his immediate attention. Not least of these was that he was doing a hand-stand on…

By William F. Hanna Dreadful news reached Robert Treat Paine as he rode into Taunton on the morning of June 4, 1763. Elizabeth McKinstry, his friend and the sister of one of Taunton’s most prominent physicians, had been viciously attacked in the kitchen of her brother’s home. …

By William F. Hanna Just listen. In the predawn stillness the sound carries across a darkened landscape lighted only by the nearly full moon. Far in the distance a throbbing, high-pitched whine penetrates the silence. Hardly noticeable at first, it becomes louder as it unspools across the countryside, and although…

By William F. Hanna One critic called it the worst show ever written, and in January 1874 it was on its way to Taunton for a one-night stand. It was Scouts of the Plains, a Wild West show starring Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill Hickok and Texas Jack Omohundro. A few months earlier, after…

By William F. Hanna Throughout its almost 400 year history many of Taunton’s most celebrated houses have fallen victim to the wrecking ball, most claimed by avarice or indifference. …