You have gotta see these. They are remarkable.
Mary Beth Griffo Rigby

The ongoing fight to save the eight homes that abut Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River is soon to cease—-lost to the powers that be that decided that a flat top parking lot was a better choice than building a parking deck on their established parking area.
One of the eight homes has some historical significance to the city of Fall River as it was the former home to Alice Russell, Lizzie Borden’s friend, and the woman to told the Grand Jury that she saw Lizzie burning a dress in the kitchen stove at 92 Second Street just days after the murders. If Alice had not come forward with her eyewitness testimony, it is doubtful whether Lizzie Borden would have been indicted—and history might never have heard of this woman who seems to captivate us now so much.
Regardless, this just in from Southcoast Hospital Group, the non-profit owners of Charlton:
Dear Charlton Neighbors:
I wanted to give you an update on the progress of the construction of the Charlton parking lot project.
Southcoast Hospitals Group has contracted with JRD Construction Inc. of Assonet for the project. JRD filed with the city for a demolition permit on Monday, April 27, and we hope to have the permit by the end of this week.
You will begin to see fencing erected around the houses over the next few days. The houses are no longer occupied and, once the permit is issued, demolition could begin as early next week.
We will do everything possible to minimize disruptions to you and your neighbors during this process.
When we met earlier this month, there were several questions regarding salvaging and recycling materials. All materials are separated on site for recycling and the contractor has advised us that about 95 percent of the materials will be recycled. In addition, items such as railings, newel posts, hardware, acceptable appliances and plumbing fixtures will be salvaged, unless they are in disrepair.
Once again, I wanted to thank you for your patience during this process. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or concerns.
Sincerely,
- Jim
“Don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you have till it’s gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” —Joni Mitchell
Big Yellow Taxi
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They took all the trees
Put ‘em in a tree museum
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see ‘em
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Hey farmer farmer
Put away that D.D.T. now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Things are happening quickly at 132 Green Street in Fairhaven, MA, the former home of the Brownell’s where Emma Borden was visiting on that fateful day in 1892.
Today the vinyl siding is nearly complete. In addition, note the plastic corner boards and window frames. The eaves are also made of plastic.
While the house looks lovely from a distance, looks can be deceiving. What we have here is a fine old home coated in modern ANTI-GREEN materials —-in a sense, coated and dipped in plastic.
This renovation is not the restoration promised by the buyer when first purchased. One wonders what the inside will become.
Purists would rather the house remain damaged and untouched than have the house “ruined” in this way. Others may love the color and ooh and ahh at the fresh clean appearance. “Oh, my,” they will say, “vinyl siding is so much easier to maintain!”
Yes, it may be “easier” but it also literally ruins the historical value of a home. What once had class and character and original wooden shingles and corner boards, now is Barbie’s play house.
I wonder if it smells like plastic on the inside of the house . . . .
Many thanks to Chris Richards for the heads up about the changes as they occur!





Last summer as I was driving by the Borden farmhouse in Swansea, I noticed that the front door was open and a work van was parked in the yard. This is the farm that Andrew Borden once owned with his partner Almy, and the families shared the house for some time. Andrew eventually bought out his partner and when Andrew died, the farm house went to daughters Lizzie and Emma Borden.
I stood on the street and took these two shots. I found them most interesting as the inside staircase looks original, as does the hardware on the storage door under the stairs. It is but a glimpse into the life of what once was.




The Literary Hatchet: Lizzie Borden’s Journal of Murder, Mystery & Victorian History is extending its submission deadline by two weeks.
We pay authors!
Please visit the Literary Hatchet website to download your free issues and read about what we want and do not want in the way of content.
New deadline for submissions is May 1, 2009.

The next meeting of the Fall River History Club is on Wednesday, April 15, 2009, but NOT at the Fall River Public Library.
Instead, the club will convene at Bristol Community College to hear a lecture presented by Philip T. Slivia, Phd.D., and Jay J. Lambert, J.D., as part of the series of Bristol County commemorating the 150th Anniversary of the Massachusetts Superior Court.
The talk is titled “Rights of Labor and Capital in the Gilded Age: The Granite Mills Fire.”
TIME: April 15, 2009, at 6:30PM.
PLACE: Bristol Community College, 777 Elsbree Street, Fall River, MA. Health Services Building C, Room C111.
The lecture will review the labor conditions and issues, together with the relationship of capital and labor in the period of Fall River’s post-Civil War industrial expansion, with a focus on the most tragic example of the consequences.
Songs were written about this disaster. Here are the lyrics to one such tune.

The Granite Mill Fire
Was in Fall River City
When the people was burned and killed,
In a cotton manufactory
Called as the Granite Mill.
At seven o’clock the firebells rang
But oh, it was too late,
The flames they were fast spreading
And at a rapid rate.They were men and women there
And children too, I’m told,
Who might have been saved from out of the flames
If the truth was only known.
But oh, the villains that locked thc doors
And told them to keep still,
It was the bosses and overseers
That burning Granite Mill.The first scene was a touching one
From a maid so young in years,
She was standing by a window and
Her eyes were filled with tears.
She cried, ” Oh, save me! Save me! ”
She called her mother’s name,
But her mother could not save her
And she fell back in the flame.The next scene was a horrible one
Just as it caught my eye.
They were leaping from a window
From up so very high,
And the only means of their escape
Was sliding down a rope,
And just as they were half way down
The burning strands they broke.Christ, Christ, what a horrible mess,
They were mangled, burned and killed,
Six stories high, and falling from
The burning Granite Mill.
But I hope their spirits has fled
To a better place far still,
Up high, up high, up in the sky
Above the Granite Mill.From Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia, Creighton Collected from Tom Henneberry, who learned this song in the 1890s, says it describes a fire in Fall River, New York, of about that time. The locking-in aspect is reminiscent of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in New York City. RG

The Spring 2009 issue of The Hatchet: Lizzie Borden’s Journal of Murder, Mystery & Victorian History is now online for your reading pleasure. Subscribers log in now here!
This issue is chocked full of great articles!
A stunning work by Shelley Dziedzic about the Victorian Celebration of Death.
An interview with Wunderkind director Cameron Munson on his new Lizzie Borden film.
A new tale to tell about the Emma Borden photograph I found and detailed in the last issue of The Hatchet, called Emma Borden: The Plot Thickens.
A truly inspired work of fiction by David Marshall James, entitled Mesdemoiselles of French Street in “The Adventures of the Green Cape”
An important essay by Melissa Allen titled “When My Fire Burns Low”
A great work by Denise Noe on the Bible Verses spoken at Lizzie Borden’s Funeral, and
The final installment of Douglas Walter’s works From the Compositor’s Bench (we will miss him dearly).
And that is not all! We have 2 new poems by Michael Brimbau, 1 by Brenda Kern, 1 by Melissa Allen, 1 by Aurora Lewis, and 2 old poems by A.L. Bixby.
In addition, we have super fabulous Sherry Chapman pieces for your amusement: Bridget’s Kitchen, and Dear Abby.
So if you want to subscribe at the low low price of just $15 per year, for all three issues ONLINE, please visit HERE!
It will be a few weeks before the print copy will be available. So Online is the only way to go for now!