Bucking Around the Sears Land

From Dave Brigham:

I love to walk in the woods. Always have, always will. If there are cool bridges, stone walls, old foundations and other treasures to stumble upon, all the better.

Recently I explored the conservation area in Weston, Mass., known as the Sears Land. This wooded acreage abuts the rail trail I wrote about last year (see March 24, 2019, "Weston By Musket and Sextant"). When I learned that this peaceful spot had cellar holes and remnants of a factory, I knew I had to check it out. Here's what I found.

I haven't been able to determine when the Sears family donated the 89 acres that make up this conservation land. I'm assuming these folks are descendants of Horace B. Sears, who "has been called 'the Town’s greatest benefactor,' as he made substantial contributions to the new Town Hall, Town Green, beautification of the center, and other improvements made during the early 20th century," per the Town of Weston web site.

The property stretches from Church Street to the west to Weston Station Pond to the east, the Mass. Central Rail Trail to the north to Crescent Street to the south.

(View of the rail trail from the Sears Land.)

Accessible via the rail trail or Crescent Street, the property includes the Melone House, which was once owned by Italian immigrant John Melone, who worked for the Sears family. The house (date of construction unknown, but it's old) serves as the headquarters of Land's Sake, a non-profit farming, education and land preservation group, and includes related outbuildings.

My interest, however, lay in the vestiges of industry that dot the landscape. While researching the above-linked post about the rail trail, I found a video someone made of a tour of the Sears Land. In that footage, those walking through the woods talked about ruins of an old mill, among other things. That video seems to be have disappeared from the Internet.

So I rolled up the long driveway, parked my car and started poking around.

I opted to follow a path just to the right of the Melone House that was just too inviting to ignore.

At the beginning of the trail I spied some old farm machinery.

Ambling along I saw plenty of stone walls. What is about them that I find so comforting?

I guess it has something to do with the fact that they're often nestled comfortably in the woods, covered in nice blankets of moss and lichens, reminding me of their past as property markers and of how they'll be here long after I'm gone.

There are other reminders of human intervention along the paths.

The most impressive man-made structure is Lee's Bridge, which was erected in 2013 in remembrance of Lee Cohen, a long-time Trustee of the Association, according to the Weston Forest & Trail Association web site.

(Lee's Bridge; wish my photo were better.)

"OK, what about the old mill or factory remnants I read about?" I asked myself as I enjoyed a beautiful fall day.

Crescent Street, which curves gently for a short distance along Boston Post Road (Rte. 20) in the shape of its name, was settled by colonists hundreds of years ago. Farms, of course, were the first businesses to be set up, followed by taverns and mills, per this Town of Weston web page.

From the town's web site: "Three Mile Brook....which runs just north of Crescent Street and eventually joins Stony Brook, provided the power for mills which contributed to the development of the homes along this section of the Country Road," which I believe refers to Boston Post Road. The first mill began operation around 1743, according to the town.

Other mills followed, and "the remains of a dam, a millpond, and a canal for directing water from 3 Mile Brook" exist on the Sears Land. "Large water wheels to power machinery were constructed here, and evidence of the supporting structure can still be seen." I saw some evidence of something, but I'm not sure exactly what.

(This to me looks like a foundation of some sort, or perhaps a supporting structure for a water wheel.)

(This seems too low to be a typical stone wall. Again, perhaps part of a foundation or supporting structure.)

"In 1830, Samuel F. H. Bingham from Concord bought mill rights on the 3 Mile Brook and purchased land on what is now Crescent Street. About 1838-1839, Brigham (sic, I swear) built the home at 39 Crescent Street. He also established a factory in the area behind this residence. Bingham made machinery for the manufacture of heavy woolen goods and invented the Bingham cheese and butter drill, a highly successful item which apparently was in great demand," says the Weston site.

Subsequent factories on that site and nearby produced clocks, chairs and window and door screens, per this Wicked Local Weston article.

Although I didn't find any "big moment" backside sites, I did enjoy scrambling around the remnants there. I love learning about places like this that once housed industry, and which now have returned to nature. Weston is known these days as one of the most exclusive towns in Massachusetts, with the median home price of $1.47 million ranking it in the Top 5. While most of the mills and factories that were located on and around the Sears Land were likely fairly small, there was one factory in Weston that was quite large.

"The Hook and Hastings Co. organ factory was located on Viles Street near North Avenue from 1889 to 1935," per the above-referenced Wicked Local Weston article. 'It was the largest and most important industry in Weston’s history. During that time, church and concert hall organs were shipped by rail all over the country. Power was supplied by steam." In 2017, I wrote about the area where the factory once stood (see June 23, 2017, "A Walk Through Weston's History").