Berkley Historical Society
Back on Sunday, July 14, 2024, I visited the Berkley Historical Society, a stop in the Passport to History developed by Old Colony Museum. Located in the tiny town of Berkley with a population under 7,000, this museum told the history of the rural community with a focus on military uniforms and local businesses. The collection lives in the beautifully restored and updated Old Town Hall, which once housed the library. Because of this work, the building had the best lighting system I have seen in any museum.
Lifetime historical society member Melinda gave a great private tour of the single room of displays, and I took plenty of pictures featuring my favorite things. The center display featured children’s toys, clocks, cabinets, a lounge chair, and a working Victrola, a brand of record player. Down the right side was a collection of packages and bottles once holding eggs or milk. Nearby was a pair of Victorian era roller skates, which were tied to a person’s feet rather than coming with their own boat. Also in this section was restored barber chair, a grape press, and items related to Dighton Rock, which I would visit on my next stop.
At the back of the room were original and reproduction military uniforms, medals, ephemera, and other wartime memorabilia. A particularly sad story was of a local seventeen-year-old boy who wanted to fight in World War II, so his parents signed waivers that allowed him to join the army. He was killed in action, and his relatives later donated part of his uniform and letters to the historical society many years later.
Set near the uniforms was a fragment from a headstone found at a local cemetery. The engraving was broken in half with only the left side remaining, but historical society members have deciphered parts of the fragment. So far, using my internet sleuthing skills, I have found a match for the second verse of the poem, which appeared on the grave of Mary Osgood Church at Templeton Common Burial Ground in Templeton, MA and dated from 1817, along with the grave of Simeon Hosmer in Elba, NY dated from 1831:
My Saviour shall my life restore,
And raise me from my dark abode;
My flesh and soul shall part no more,
But dwell forever with/near my God.
From there, I deduced that the original engraving was a poem likely common on gravestones, perhaps only in the New England and New York area. If the first verse was from the same original work by an unattributed author, it should be in iambic tetrameter (da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM) with an ABAB rhyming scheme.
Further searching led me to “Psalm 49:3. L. M. The Rich Sinner’s Death, and the Saint’s Resurrection”, from the book The Psalms of David by Isaac Watts, a famous English Congregational minister among the most popular hymn composers of the early to mid-18th century. The popular gravestone engraving came from his sixth verse; Watts used “near” rather than “with” for his poem. The first verse on the gravestone does not align to the other five verses of this poem, or to any verse in the book. I even searched a six volumes set of his complete works, but nothing matched the fragments. The completion of the first verse will have to go to another researcher.
Along the left side were typewriters, adding machines, and other mechanical devices, along with bookshelves filled with local history research material. The seal for the Town of Berkley hung above a World War Honor Roll for men who served in the military during World Wars I and II. In the front of the room was a little school desk, a safe made by Herring Hall Marvin Safe Co. of Boston for A.T. Townley & Son, a local dairy farming family, and a postal map similar to the one I saw at Rehoboth Antiquarian Society, where every head of household had their name written beside the road instead of an address.
This was among the best historical society museums I have visited to date. While the space was small, the entire area was organized, neatly labeled, well-lit, and provided plenty of seating. The building is accessible for those with limited mobility or using a wheelchair. As for online communication, email response time is faster than most organizations, and the website is fairly easy to navigate, although alt text has not been correctly added to images. The museum is free to visit and open on Tuesdays from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., while I visited by appointment.
Abby Epplett’s Rating System
Experience: 9/10
Accessibility: 9/10