The Sand Hill School

Deming Jarves was the founder of the the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company. The area around the factory became known as Jarvesville.  As the number of glass factory workers grew, the company built housing for them as well as a company store and a school.  

The first Jarvesville school was built in 1828 close to the factory complex on Jarves Street. To alleviate congestion around the factory, this school and an adjacent house on Jarves Street were relocated in the mid 19^th century, and the land was redeveloped as St. John’s Park. The Boston and Sandwich Glass Company also required additional lands for housing and a cemetery (workers were not allowed to use the old town cemeteries).

And so Factory Street (now called Dewey Avenue) was laid out to extend eastward to a new cemetery (originally called Sand Hill Cemetery, now Mt. Hope Cemetery) and glass workers’ houses were built along Factory Street, George’s Rock Road, and the County Road (Main Street).

Clark-Haddad Memorial Building in the 1970s

Note the decorative molding on the face of the blind dormer over the entrance.
(Click photo for larger view.)

As for the new school, in 1851 a new 2 bay by 3 bay, 2-story, wood-frame building with a gable roof was erected at the corner of Factory Street and George’s Rock Road. Known as the Jarvesville School, and later, the Sand Hill School, the building was replaced in 1885 with the current structure at 16 Dewey Avenue. It was constructed with a dividing wall down the middle and two entrance doors (gender-separated entrances were the custom at the time). After the school was closed, the building served as an American Legion Hall (starting in 1931) and as a gathering place for children and seniors. In 1950 the structure was re-named the Clark-Haddad Memorial Building for the first two Sandwich residents killed during World War I: Alden Clark and Michael Haddad. The American Legion Post 188 moved to new quarters in 1972. Later, 16 Dewey Avenue was used as office space by the Sandwich Public Schools until 2007. The building stands vacant today.

ARCHITECTURAL DESCRIPTION:

The building is a wood-frame, cross-gabled, 5 bay by 4 bay, 1-story former school house with a high gable on hip roof and a central blind gable dormer. The face of the blind dormer originally had decorative molding. The building has a granite block foundation, wood clapboards on the front elevation, and shingles on the side elevations. The front elevation is articulated with wide cornerboards and fascia, square columns, centered over the projecting front entrance under a piered portico which occupies the central bay of the facade. Other elements include tall 6/6 sash windows, a molded roof cornice and plain frieze.

 

Sand Hill School ca. 1900

 

Sand Hill Schoolhouse Students about 1900 or a little later; note the 2 entrances

 

Sand Hill School/Clark-Haddad Building 2008

(All photos, courtesy Sandwich Town Archives) 

 

REFERENCES:

Gordon, Silene. “Will school offices be on the move? Sandwich considers consolidation,” The Bourne Courier, Mar 14, 2007

Lovell, Russell. Sandwich. A Cape Cod Town. Town of Sandwich Archives and Historical Center. William S. Sullwold Publishing, Inc. Taunton, Mass. 1984.

Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (MACRIS): Sandwich, Area D. Main Street – Charles Street Area SDW.D

Town of Sandwich Archives and Historical Center

A Brickyard in Sandwich

In the area known as Town Neck, along the shore of Cape Cod Bay, a lens of fine clay suitable for brick-making was discovered, perhaps as early as 1790 when construction of houses and mills picked up in earnest. Russell Lovell, in Sandwich, A Cape Cod Town (p. 258), states there is a reference to a brick kiln at Town Neck in connection with the bombardment of this coast in 1812 by the British.

In 1815 a brick house was built at 100 Tupper Road and to this day is the only brick house in Sandwich.  It is said to have been built by Simeon Leonard, then the owner of the Town Neck brickyard.

Lovell writes: “In 1819 the town appointed an officer whose title was ‘Surveyor of Brick.’”  Although there was only one brick house, the yard provided foundation materials for many Federal period buildings throughout the town.

The first deed referring to the brick kiln so far known is dated 1828 when the owners were David Benson and Simeon Leonard. The property was two acres bounded by the shore to the east, private land at the marsh, and by the proprietors’ lands.

In the Sandwich Town Archives is a copy of a deed dated October 3, 1829:

“I, Cyrus Smith of Sandwich in the County of Barnstable, State Massachusetts in consideration of seventy dollars paid by Deming Jarves of Boston in the County of Suffolk the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge, do hereby give, grant, sell and convey unto the said Deming Jarves an undivided half of a certain piece of land own’d in common with said Jarves & is bounded as follows. North by the Sea shore, East by the lands of John Dillingham and the heirs of John Dillingham deceased, South & West by Town Neck so call’d and is known by the name of the Brick Yard & is so occupied, containing two acres more or less and is the lot which I purchased jointly with said Jarves, one half of David Benson Oct. 6, 1828 & is recorded in Barnstable records Oct. 7, 1828, 3o Book  folio 123, the other half of Wm Fessenden Dec 8, 1828 & is recorded July 15, 1829. 2o Book  folio 121 — the said lot to be held subject to the order of the Attorney appointed by said Smith agreeable to an indenture made and executed the 3 day, October 1829. …

In Witness Whereof,  I the said Cyrus Smith and Lucy, wife of said Cyrus in relinquishment of her right of Dower have hereunto set Hand & Seal on this ninth day of October in the year of our LORD, One thousand eight hundred and twenty nine.”

Deming Jarves

Deming Jarves was the founder of the the Boston and Sandwich Glass Company (located in “Jarvesville”) and used the Town Neck yard to produce brick for the numerous factory buildings located just across the marsh from the kiln. According to Lovell (p. 331), there was a narrow but solid bridge running from Town Neck across the marsh to Jarvesville near State Street. “This bridge was especially for use of a narrow one-horse wagon which brought bricks from the kiln over to Jarvesville.”

Deming Jarves was the main principal of the glass company until 1858, when he resigned over a dispute with its Board of Directors. On October 25, 1856  Jarves transferred the Sandwich brickyard to his son, John Jarves. Together, they began another glass company just down the street called the Cape Cod Glass Works. At least 500,000 bricks were needed to construct the buildings and chimneys of this new factory.

Other Brickyards on Cape Cod

The Story of the “Old Titus” Clock

In 1749, Reverend Abraham Williams became pastor of the First Parish Meeting House, bringing with him a 19-year old black slave named Titus Winchester. Reverend Williams died in 1784. There are two versions of the “Titus” legend. One is that Rev. Williams offered his slave freedom but Titus preferred to wait until his master’s death before becoming free. Another version has it that in his Last Will & Testament Rev. Williams freed Winchester in recognition of his many years of faithful service as church caretaker.
Winchester went to sea as a steward and, when he died in 1808, left his entire estate (approximately $3,300) for the purpose of purchasing a two-faced clock for the Meeting House “so that it would ring for many years to come in memory of his former master.” His executor, William Fessenden, had the new clock installed, requiring the raising of the tower and spire. The clock faces were south (toward Main Street) and west (toward River Street). The clock came to be known as “Old Titus” to the people of Sandwich.
Winchester was so respected by the Sandwich townspeople, that he was interred in The Old Town Burying Ground in a tomb very near Rev. Williams that has the longest inscription of any of the gravestones (it refers to him as a “servant” rather than a slave). (Incidentally, The Old Town Burying Ground, which dates from the 1660s is fascinating to visit; the tombstone art and inscriptions speak volumes about the people and the times in which they lived.)

This photo is NOT the Titus Clock.  In Sandwich, A Cape Cod Town, R.A. Lovell Jr.  writes: “One memorable Sunday night in 1873 some control snapped and the clock struck off 406 bongs of the big bell before running down. A new works was clearly needed, and the town’s benefactor Jonathan Bourne of New Bedford stepped in with an offer of a new four-faced clock. A larger spire was constructed and the clock installed in 1880.”  The Clock and Bell Tower have recently been restored by current owner Christopher Wilson. (The old church, which was used for a Doll Museum a few years ago,  is now a private residence.)

Saddle and Pillion Graves

Edmund Freeman, a founder of Sandwich, and his wife Elizabeth are buried here. Elizabeth died on 14 February 1676 and was buried on the hill of the Freeman farm. It is said that Edmund and his sons placed a large stone which in shape resembled a pillion, as a monument for her grave. Another, longer stone was placed nearby, which was similar in form to a saddle. These two large stones are known as “the saddle and pillion” and family tradition tells us that they reminded Edmund of the early years in Sandwich when he and Elizabeth traveled by horseback over the fields of their farm. Edmund Freeman died in 1682 and was buried beside Elizabeth and the longer stone, “the saddle,” was placed over his grave.

At one time these graves were encircled by a stone fence, remnants of which were still visible in the late 1800′s. The beautiful bronze tablets which are presently on these stone monuments were placed there on 22 August 1910 by members of the Freeman family, descendants of Edmund.

In these photos of the gravestones, note that Edmund is spelled “Edmond.” And it seems the photographer mixed up who was the “saddle” and who was the “pillion.”
PHOTOS: “pillion”; “saddle.”
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