Rain and Roads
Often when July is very wet it barely begins to feel like summer when we know it will be over soon. When there is a lot of rain and roads wash out I remember how much worse it must have been when Rowe residents were driving on dirt roads. It’s amazing to look back on what the roads were like and what was moving on them.
Coming up the hill from the town line could have presented some problems with torrential rain storms whether you came by horse, carriage, or horseless carriage.
It was a quieter time, a slower time and a much more social time. You could visit with your neighbors as your steed walked by on its appointed mission. If you weren’t in a buggy you were more than likely walking – another opportunity to talk with your neighbor.
After the 1938 hurricane at he intersection of Hazelton and Zoar Roads in front of the Town Hall.
The corner on Middletown Hill Rd. heading into town.
There was considerable overlap when motor vehicles arrived in Rowe for both reasons of affordability and practicality. I would think the automobile was seen as a novelty for quite some time.
The Brown diaries record a trip from Cambridge to Rowe the first time they drove their new car. They had to change 4 flat tires between Cambridge and Gardner. The tires were tubed and narrow in those days and changing them was like changing a bicycle tire. From Greenfield to Zoar they took the train due to the conditions of the road. There they met someone from Rowe who would ferry them up to their summer camp.
It’s good to remember that driving in bad weather has always been hazardous, especially when the roads are covered with water and potentially washing out. It was just as hazardous if you had somewhere to go after the roads had washed out and had yet to be repaired.
Text by Joanne Semanie. Photos from the Museum archive.
