Canton Revealed: The History Patch

If Canton Walls Could Talk

A profile of a local historian who discovered history in his own home.

If walls could only talk, oh, the stories they would tell. Hidden well inside the walls in the Canton home of Jim Roache, there was quite a bit of history. It was that discovery which would also stir a quest for knowledge in Roache, leading him to uncover an even more interesting history about the town he called home. Roache, a curator at the Canton Historical Society, was born in 1952. "I was born in Canton," said Roache. "My father was born in Canton. His father was born in Canton. He had a big family in town." Roache said he never really traced his family roots but believed his ancestors originally emigrated from Ireland and settled in town. "I always liked history in school," said Roache. "But a lot of my interest has to do with the …

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Canton Revealed: The History Patch

Revere's Copper Helped Build USS New Hampshire

The history behind the ship constructed with Paul Revere's copper pieces.

Opening a drawer at the Canton Historical Society and you're likely to learn something new and fascinating. That was how the society's president Wallace Gibbs explained it one Sunday to a group of several school children who gathered before him, wide-eyed, as he carefully placed what looked to be a group of large rusty nails of various sizes on a display case. The rusty-looking nails turned out to be copper spikes and fastenings forged at Paul Revere's foundry in the 1800s. Further, they were recovered from the USS New Hampshire (later, known as the USS Granite State) shipwreck, off Graves Island in Manchester, Mass. "That's cool," a couple of the boys said, clearly fascinated. Gibbs shared a similar sentiment just a moment before in a …

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Canton Revealed: The History Patch

Saving The Tilden House

How local preservationists are trying to protect a historic Canton treasure.

There's a mission in progress right here in Canton to save one of the oldest homes still standing in the United States. The David Tilden House located at 93 Pleasant Street. The back of the home was built in the early 18th century, around 1709. In 1725, its owner and namesake David Tilden constructed the main portion of the home. Tilden bought the home and nearly 34 acres of land on which it was built directly from Native Americans of the Ponkapoag nation. Theophilus Lyon, a grandson of David Tilden and a Revolutionary War soldier who witnessed the birth of America, inherited the property. "It's amazing," Pat Johnson, a curator at the Canton Historical Society, said. "This house is so historic that when Tilden died, he was still a British …

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Canton Revealed: The History Patch

Researching Historic Homes of Canton

One woman's quest to document all of Canton's historic homes.

Patricia Johnson may have a high-powered career during the day writing code for financial managers and traders at Fidelity, but in her free time, she's documenting historical homes in Canton. "It's my passion," Johnson, who is also a curator at the Canton Historical Society, said. These days, Johnson spends most weekends poring over the pages of the Canton Journal. This past rainy Sunday, it's a date from the 1932 edition. Johnson explained that searching through old newspapers is the only way she'll find the stories behind dozens of homes she is reaching for a third volume in what she anticipates will be a 10-volume set of books called "Historic Homes of Canton," which could take years to complete. But she said it's hard not to get …

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Lisa Gentes-Hunt

3:51 pm on Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Thanks, John- We will pass along the request to her!   more ›

Canton Revealed: The History Patch

Next Stop: Freedom, Massachusetts

A look back at the origins of our town name.

Canton, Massachusetts and Guangzhou, China may be more than 12,000 miles apart but they have at least one thing in common. The origin of our historical town name is derived right from the ancient city, which is also known as Canton. "It was somewhat of a fluke," Wallace Gibbs, the president of the Canton Historical Society, said. "[Canton] should have been Ponkapoag, Gridley or Crane." The first name Gibbs described is the Native American name for the area which was given by members of the Massachusetts tribe to early settlers. According to Canton Comes of Age, an authoritative written history of the town, Ponkapoag means "sweet water" and refers to the 200-acre Ponkapoag Pond and bog near Route 128. Richard Gridley was a Major General in …

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A Look Back at This Week's News

A wrap-up of the week on Canton Patch.

This last week has been full of Thanksgiving preparations, lots of football and of course, Black Friday shopping. Here's a look back at some of Canton Patch's top stories. It was a disappointing Thanksgiving Day for Canton High. The Bulldogs suffered a loss to their arch-rivals, the Stoughton Black Knights. On the bright side, the Canton Girls Powder Puff team did manage to tie the lady Knights in a little pre-Thanksgiving match up. Shoppers hit the stores in Canton to grab their Black Friday bargains. Despite a small power outage early in the morning, bargain seekers were out early and spending some cash on all kinds of items that had deep discounts on the day-after-Thanksgiving annual shopping day. Patch was all about the Thanksgiving …

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