{"id":3092,"date":"2018-06-17T10:53:02","date_gmt":"2018-06-17T14:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eastwindsorchamber.com\/site\/?p=3092"},"modified":"2018-06-17T10:53:02","modified_gmt":"2018-06-17T14:53:02","slug":"melrose-maintains-village-tradition-in-east-windsor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eastwindsorchamber.com\/site\/melrose-maintains-village-tradition-in-east-windsor\/","title":{"rendered":"Melrose Maintains Village Tradition in East Windsor"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Melrose Maintains Village Tradition in East Windsor<\/h1>\n
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  • By Anthony Branciforte
    \nabranciforte@journalinquirer.com-June 15th\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  • \u00a0Journal Inquirer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n
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    \"Melrose<\/div>\n<\/div>
    The Melrose School house, Thursday, June 15, 2018, in East Windsor.<\/p>\n

    Jim Michaud \/ Journal Inquirer<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

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    EAST WINDSOR \u2014 Although it\u2019s a tiny village that mostly exists on a single road, Melrose brims with distinct character shaped by its history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    According to resident Barbara Smigel, Melrose is unique in that it has held onto tradition for so long.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    \u201cWe are very much a traditional village,\u201d she said. \u201cThe families along Melrose Road \u2014 some of them have been here for six generations.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

    Last month, Melrose held its annual Memorial Day ceremonies, which include a short parade that begins at the District 7 School and ends just across the street at the Melrose Cemetery.<\/span><\/div>\n
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    Although the parade as it\u2019s known today has been going on since the 1940s, Smigel, who has studied the history of the town broadly and Melrose in particular, said she has reviewed diaries from the 1870s to the 1890s showing that the ceremonies could date back about 150 years, when the holiday was still known as Decoration Day.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    In her journal, Laura Pease, an ancestor of some Melrose residents, \u201cmade reference to going down on Decoration Day, cleaning the graves, and putting flowers down.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Melrose residents still engage in that practice today, along with singing patriotic songs and reading the entire list of soldiers buried in Melrose Cemetery beginning with those who died in the American Revolution.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    A widow named Margaret Thompson founded Melrose in 1720 with her nine children after receiving a land grant from the king of England.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Fannie Thompson, one of Margaret Thompson\u2019s daughters, was a prominent figure in town for her involvement with the schoolhouse, which Smigel called \u201cthe center of this little village.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Fannie Thompson, whom Smigel characterized as an \u201cold maid,\u201d would go to the schoolhouse to hand out magazines and books. She helped set up the library and build the kitchen in the back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    While classes have not been held in the tiny, one-room building for many years, it is now used as a meeting room for local events and town boards.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Although the churches in other four villages of East Windsor have historically served as the centers, Melrose doesn\u2019t have a church, and Smigel said the schoolhouse has functioned \u201ca little secular church\u201d where residents gather.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Another one of Margaret Thompson\u2019s children, William H. Thompson, maintained the farmstead where Smigel now lives.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    A farrmer, tax collector, and town selectman, Thompson was the center of controversy during the Civil War when he became a conscriptor for the Lincoln administration.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Although a group of vigilantes from East Windsor and Ellington targeted Thompson for getting community members to join the bloody war, Smigel said that, despite engaging in an \u201cearly form of terrorism\u201d by burning down Thompson\u2019s barns, they left his home untouched.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Thompson rebuilt the barns and lived in town until he died in his 90s. In his last years, he was cared for by neighbors.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    \u201cThere was that sense of community that we all helped each other and we all did for each other,\u201d Smigel said. \u201cI really would like to see this property continue to give that as an example.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    To that end, Smigel worked to place the property on the National Register of Historic Places. According to its website, the National Reigster is \u201can official list of the nation\u2019s historic places worthy of preservation\u201d that\u2019s maintained by the federal government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Smigel also has kept both the interior and exterior of the Victorian home as historically accurate as possible, and recently used it to entertain the Board of Selectmen and their spouses through a traditional luncheon to commemorate the town\u2019s 250th anniversary.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Currently, Smigel, who grows cigar tobacco on the land, is giving private tours of the home by appointment, but she said she is taking steps to open it as a sort of public museum.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    \u201cI would like to use it as a way to educate people about history and old homes, and how important it is to take care of them,\u201d she said, calling the home \u201ca piece of Americana.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    Smigel said teaching residents about the history of the town, an opportunity which is particularly strong with the current nine-month stretch of events celebrating the town\u2019s 250th anniversary, is an important effort, particularly in such a small, tight-knit community.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    \u201cI think this is something that modern life has lost, and that\u2019s this sense of family and community, that we all belong to a particular place with particular people and we all support each other and know where we came from,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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    For a tour of the farmstead, call 860-623-0662.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Melrose Maintains Village Tradition in East Windsor By Anthony Branciforte […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-releases"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t