The Lincoln Squirrel – News, features and photos from Lincoln, Mass.

Allen Vander Meulen Jr., 1932–2021

Allen Vander Meulen Jr.

Allen Vander Meulen, Jr., 89, died peacefully at The Commons in Lincoln on November 22. Born in Chicago on June 23, 1932, he was the eldest child of Allen (Sr.) and Alice (Connor) Vander Meulen of Chicago. 

The grandchild of Irish and Dutch immigrants, Allen grew up on the south side of Chicago. He graduated from Fenger High School in 1950. His youth was a happy time, despite the challenges his family faced while he and his siblings were born and grew up during the Great Depression and World War II. He graduated from Northwestern University with a B.S. in economics (1954) and from Yale Divinity School (1958). 

Allen was minister at Third Congregational Church in Waterbury, Conn., from 1958–1963, where he met the love of his life, Dorothy Overbaugh; they were married on August 29, 1959. Their children Allen III and David were born in Waterbury and daughter Ruth was born in Vermont.

Allen’s gifts as a teacher, mentor, and administrator were widely appreciated. He had a strong drive to advocate on behalf of those who had no voice, and to seek justice and opportunity for those who had none. Soon after moving to Vermont, he joined other area ministers to travel to Washington, D.C. and stand in solidarity with hundreds of thousands of others from all over the nation to hear Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

Allen became minister at Centre Congregational Church in Brattleboro, Vt., in 1963. He left in 1968, serving as an interim minister throughout Massachusetts and Vermont while attending school, eventually graduating from Brown University with a Ph.D. in economics in 1974. In 1973 he became an associate professor of economics at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. He also directed the school’s extension program in Casper.

In 1978 Allen joined North Central College in Naperville, Ill., as a professor of economics. He oversaw the school’s new Weekend College and helped establish what is now their computer science department. He also helped establish the school’s MBA program. In later years he taught business ethics as well.

Allen and Dorothy returned to Brattleboro on his retirement in 1997. There he served as chair of Centre Church’s Endowment Committee and a trustee for the town library, among other organizations. He enjoyed family, travel, biking, long walks, and conversing about philosophy, ethics, or politics. Allen and Dorothy moved to Lincoln in late 2019.

Allen was predeceased by his parents and his sister Eva. He is survived by his wife Dorothy; son Allen III and wife Stephanie of Lincoln; son David and wife Julie of Aurora, Ill.; daughter Ruth and husband Tim of Rockford, Ill.; brother Ross and wife Kay of Galesburg, Ill.; brother-in-law Robert Overbaugh and wife Nancy of Westford, Mass.; and numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews. Allen’s grandchildren are Elizabeth Anne Vander Meulen, Aaron Taylor, Joshua Taylor, and Allen Vander Meulen IV.

There was a private memorial service at the Dee Funeral Home in Concord. A celebration of his life will be held at Centre Congregational Church in the spring of 2022. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his memory to Centre Congregational Church, Brown University, Yale Divinity School, or the Alzheimer’s Association.  

Arrangements are under the care of Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service. To share a remembrance or to offer a condolence in his online guestbook, click here.

Historical misunderstanding once shrouded the “muster field”

By Rick Wiggin

Contrary to popular Lincoln myth, the town’s Minute Men did not muster in the field at the corner of Sandy Pond and Baker Bridge Roads. The mistaken identity of that field as the “Muster Field” came about from a misreading of Lincoln’s history and from the politics of the town’s acquisition of that field in 1983.

In the early hours of April 19, 1775, Lincoln’s Minute Men and militia company mustered on the Town Common near to the meetinghouse, where the town stored its gunpowder and military supplies. From there, the soldiers began their march to Concord along what is now Sandy Pond Road. When they reached the junction with modern Baker Bridge Road, they were joined by members of the Baker and Billing families, who lived along the western border of town. Amos Baker, age 19 at the time, wrote many years later that, “When I went to Concord in the morning, I joined the Lincoln company at the brook, by Flint’s pond, near the house then of Zachary Smith …”

The historically accurate marker at the “muster field” (click to enlarge).

In the early 1980s, Sumner Smith, who then owned much of the land around Flint’s Pond, offered to sell several large tracts to the town before offering them to a developer. A Special Town Meeting in November 1983 hotly debated the financial cost against the value of preserving the land as open space. In the debate, it was asserted the land was of incalculable historical importance because it was the place where the Minute Men mustered on April 19. But this was a misreading of Amos Baker, who only stated that he and his family joined up with the Minute Men at the site, not that all the town’s soldiers had mustered there. One of the town’s modern Minute Men even promised to erect a commemorative marker on the “Muster Field” if the town purchased it. The town responded enthusiastically and voted to buy the land, and a large stone was soon moved to the site.

The myth of the Muster Field began to unravel shortly after the purchase, and the large stone sat un‑engraved for 17 years. But the name stuck. In the year 2000 — the 225th anniversary of April 19, 1775 — engraved markers were finally placed on both the Town Common and the mis-named Muster Field, commemorating the march of Lincoln’s soldiers to Concord. Together, the two stone markers erected in 2000 tell the correct story. But old names — even incorrect ones — die hard.

For more about this history, see “Recognition of a Proud Legacy” by Rick Wiggin (The Lincoln Review, January/February 2000).

“Lincoln’s History” is an occasional column by members of the Lincoln Historical Society.

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$10 at Donelan’s helps provide a family meal

With Thanksgiving just around the corner, Donelan’s is running a promotion to give food to the Lincoln Food Pantry. At the checkout counter you can donate $10 that will provide the Lincoln Food Pantry with boxes of the following items to feed our many families: Peanut butter, grape jelly, instant mashed potatoes, green beans, turkey stuffing and gravy, and toasted oats cereal. The promotions runs through Saturday, Nov. 27. Thanks to Donelan’s and everyone who supports the food pantry!

Author talk with David Baldacci

David Baldacci

The Lincoln Public Library presents best-selling author David Baldacci via Zoom on Thursday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. He will be discussing his latest novel Mercy, the fourth installment in the Atlee Pine thriller series. Baldacci’s books are published in over 45 languages and in more than 80 countries, with 150 million copies sold worldwide and have been adapted for film and television. He is also the cofounder, along with his wife, of the Wish You Well Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting literacy efforts across America.

This program is sponsored by the Friends of the Lincoln Public Library in collaboration with the Tewksbury Public Library, public libraries across Massachusetts, and Wellesley Books. Free and open to all, but registration is required; click here to register.

Holiday open house at Bemis

On Friday, Dec. 10 from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., the Council on Aging & Human Services will host an open house for everyone at Bemis Hall featuring Ken Hurd playing the Bemis piano, cookies and refreshments, and surprise crafts. Also on hand will be Town Administrator Tim Higgins, Select Board Member Jennifer Glass, Town Nurse Trish McGean, and the COA&HS staff.

The lease you can do (Lincoln through the Lens)

“Three of the five ‘for sale/rent’ signs in front of the commercial properties across from Lincoln Station, indicative of the precarious state of Lincoln’s business district,” says photo submitter Allen Vander Meulen.

Readers may submit photos for consideration for Lincoln Through the Lens by emailing them to lincolnsquirrelnews@gmail.com. If your photo is published, you’ll receive credit in the Squirrel. Photos must be taken in Lincoln and include the date, location, and names of any people who are identifiable in the photo. Previously published photos can be viewed on the Lincoln Through the Lens page of the Lincoln Squirrel.

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Covid-19 vaccination clinic for kids

There are still spots available at the Covid-19 vaccination clinic for kids aged 5-11 on Saturday, Nov. 20 from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. in the Reed gym. Click here to register for an appointment  (select “Nov. 20” only). The clinic will be well staffed to ensure the process goes smoothly and our young children feel safe and well cared for from start to finish. Additional clinics are being planned for first and second doses — information coming soon.

Register for adult classes at Minuteman Voc-Tech

Minuteman Technical Institute (MTI), part of Minuteman Regional Vocation Technical High School in Lincoln and Lexington,  is now accepting student applications for adult workforce development programs that begin in January for the programs in Metal Fabrication and Joining, CNC Machine Operation, Carpentry Pre-Apprentice, and Plumbing Code. In addition, MTI will accept applications beginning in January for 10-month programs that start in August 2022 for the 2022-23 school year. MTI will hold 10-month programs in Automotive Technology, Cosmetology, and Electricity. For more information, visit minutemanti.org. Classes are held on weekday evenings.

MTI’s January programs are tuition-free for qualified applicants as part of Gov. Charlie Baker’s Career Technical Initiative. Students who complete the programs will receive industry-recognized credentials and hours toward licensure in their respective fields. The programs are held in collaboration with Commonwealth Corp., MassHire Career Centers, and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. Prospective students must meet eligibility requirements to access these tuition-free opportunities.

Join the Reading for Racial and Social Justice group

The Lincoln Public Library’s Reading for Racial Justice program is now Reading for Racial and Social Justice. While continuing to read books focused on racism and racial justice, they will also be incorporating fiction and nonfiction titles related to other social justice issues. All sessions will be conducted via Zoom. To receive a Zoom invitation or to obtain more information, email rrapoport@minlib.net. Copies of the books in various formats are available. The upcoming schedule:

Police log for November 6–15, 2021

November 6

Old Winter Street (8:03 a.m.) — A person lost their dog. Waltham police recovered the dog and made arrangements with the owner for reunification.

Moccasin Hill (4:01 p.m.) — A resident reported possible identity theft.

Woods End Road (8:10 p.m.) — Report of possible drone in the area. Officers checked but found nothing.

Weston Road (10:51 p.m.) — Report of screaming coming from behind a residence. Officers checked; the noise may have been coming from wildlife.

November 7

Bedford Road (12:23 a.m.) — A driver struck a deer. There was no damage to the vehicle and the deer ran off.

Concord Road (2:06 p.m.) — Caller was concerned about an individual walking behind their home. Turns out it was a neighbor.

Wells Road (6:05 p.m.) — Caller reported a suspicious vehicle near the railroad footbridge. Police confirmed the vehicle was associated with an event at the Codman House.

November 8

Tower Road (12:00 p.m.) — Caller reported a loose goat. The animal control officer was notified and returned the animal.

Todd Pond Road (4:01 p.m. and 7:10 p.m.) — Attempt and then successful delivery of court paperwork.

November 9

Bedford Road (11:52 a.m.) — Caller reported a possible vehicle crash. The crash turned out to be utility workers.

Cambridge Turnpike eastbound (1:16 p.m.) — Report of a minor motor vehicle crash at Tracey’s Gas Station. Patricia Keefe-Driscoll of Concord was transported to the hospital and summonsed for operating under the influence of alcohol.

Donelan’s lot (2:39 p.m.) — Caller reported that they had locked their keys in their vehicle. The fire department responded and was able to open the vehicle.

Cambridge Turnpike eastbound (3:42 p.m.) — Motorist stated that they were involved in a motor vehicle crash on Route 2 east. The call was transferred to the State Police.

November 10

Hanscom AFB Vandenberg Gate (8:39 a.m.) — Report of a minor motor vehicle crash. An officer responded and assisted with exchange of papers.

Hanscom AFB (9:13 a.m.) — Hanscom Security reported that an individual attempting to access the base had an active arrest warrant. Chhandy Khon of Lowell was arrested and transported to Concord District Court.

Bedford Road (2:34 p.m.) — Caller reported a deceased deer on their front lawn. The animal control officer was notified.

Old Cambridge Turnpike (10:55 p.m.) — Caller stated that they had observed an individual running behind their property. Officers checked the immediate and surrounding area and were unable to locate anyone.

November 11

Old Cambridge Turnpike (11:57 a.m.) — A resident asked to speak with an officer regarding a possible dispute with their landlord.

Lexington Road (3:15 p.m.) — Caller reported that an individual was flying a drone over their property and when confronted, refused to leave. When police arrived, the individual was gone from the area.

Mt. Misery lot (4:47 p.m.) — Caller reported that their vehicle was damaged while parked. A report was filed.

Trapelo Road (6:29 a.m.) — Waltham police reported that they were looking for a vehicle involved in a possible domestic violence incident that was heading toward Lincoln on Trapelo Road. The area was checked but the vehicle wasn’t found. Waltham police said that the vehicle may have traveled onto I-95.

November 12

Due to a brief but powerful storm, branches, trees, and/or wires reported down on South Great Road (2:58 p.m.), Sandy Pond Road (3:17 p.m.), Hillside Road (3:21 p.m.), Brooks Road (3:26 p.m.), Wheeler Road (3:29 p.m.), Old County Road (4:19 p.m.), Weston Road (5:13 p.m.), and Silver Hill Road (6:24 p.m.),

Conant Road (7:36 p.m.) — A resident reported that a family member was overdue. After police were called, the person returned home.

November 13

North Great Road (2:50 p.m.) — Officer checked on an unoccupied motor vehicle in the Paul Revere lot.

Ridge Road (2:45 p.m.) — A resident reported an incident at their neighbor’s home. Officers responded and an investigation was initiated.

November 14

Blackburnian Road (9:48 a.m.) — A resident reported they had located a cat and advised that they will hold onto it until the following day and bring it to the vet.

Lexington Road (11:01 a.m.) — A resident reported an unknown vehicle on their property. It turns out that another family member had granted permission for the vehicle to be there.

Minute Man NHP Visitor Center (12:52 p.m.) — A wallet was found on the Minuteman trail. The owner was contacted and recovered the item.

South Great Road (3:48 p.m.) — A resident reported that squirrels had made their way into the home. The animal control officer was notified.

Post office, Lincoln Road (6:27 p.m.) — A passerby reported what looked like a strobe light at the post office. The strobe turned out to be a flickering exterior light.

South Great Road (6:39 p.m.) — A caller reported an elderly male walking on Route 117 heading east in all-black clothing close to the side of the roadway. Officers checked the area but were unable to locate the individual.

November 15

Tower Road (12:55 a.m.) — A resident reported that an engine had been running in the area for the last 15 minutes. A disabled train was nearby, and officers remained on scene to assist with the transfer of passengers to awaiting buses. The disabled train was ultimately removed from the area.

South Great Road (10:09 a.m.) — Weston police reported a black Ford Mustang with heavy front end damage was last seen heading west on Route 117. Lincoln police officers located the vehicle near Codman Road. The operator of the mustang failed to stop for the police. After a brief pursuit, the vehicle stopped on the off-ramp to Route 30 in Weston. The operator of the vehicle, identified as Miguel Gonell of Manchester, N.H., was arrested and charged with receiving stolen property (motor vehicle), operating after license revocation, failure to stop for police, speeding, marked lanes violation, and malicious destruction of property. He was arraigned the following day at Concord District Court.

Lincoln School (2:26 p.m.) — An individual asked to speak with an officer regarding a vehicle parked at the school.

Juniper Ridge Road (6:10 p.m.) — A resident reported receiving multiple fraudulent calls.

Cambridge Turnpike eastbound (7:11 p.m.) — OnStar called to report a motor vehicle crash with airbag deployment on Route 2. One occupant was transported to the hospital via the Lincoln ambulance. Massachusetts State Police will handle the crash investigation.

Lincolnite plies her art in music, film, and now a book

By Maureen Belt

Ruth Mendelson in front of the Lincoln Public Library with her new book, “The Water Tree Way.”

Composer, humanitarian, and children’s author Ruth Mendelson has come to believe that when something unfortunate happens to you, it’s not a bad thing — it’s just the universe’s way of getting you on the right track. 

For example, as a bass guitar student at Berklee College of Music in the 1980s, she suffered what she thought was a dream-crushing wrist injury. “I didn’t think I was ever going to be able to play an instrument again,” recalled Mendelson, an Illinois native who now calls Lincoln home.

Unable to consider a life that did not include musical creation, Mendelson scrambled for options that didn’t require two fully functioning wrists. She didn’t have to look far — she discovered that Berklee had a degree program for film scoring, a profession she had never considered and knew nearly nothing about. She took a chance and changed majors. 

“The sky opened up and I came across this universe of spheres that I had never explored before,” Mendelson recalled during a recent interview with the Lincoln Squirrel.

Mendelson enrolled and excelled, and after graduating, she became the first woman in Berklee’s history to teach in the Film Scoring department. More than 20 years later, she’s still at it. This unplanned trajectory took her around the world scoring award-winning films for HBO, Discovery, Disney, Animal Planet, the Smithsonian, and PBS, among others. Her list of accomplishments is long and includes an Emmy nomination and being named a New York Times Critics’ Pick.

Meanwhile, Mendelson’s wrist healed just fine and she’s been playing five-string bass for the One Human Family gospel choir for decades… which led to another unexpected opportunity brought on by so-called “unfortunate” events. She traveled with the choir to Geneva to perform for the opening of the United Nations’ International Peace Summit in 2002 — but her excitement about the prospect of performing on the world stage was replaced with shock when she realized that her bass had been left behind in London, “and I was playing the next day.”

She stayed at the airport for hours filling out paperwork, then caught a later shuttle to her hotel. It was aboard this ride that she chatted with her seat mate, an assistant to world-renowned primatologist Dame Jane Goodall who was speaking at the summit. Mendelson later said she didn’t realize her delayed bass arrival was simply the universe working its magic.

Her bass arrived the next day, but the electricity went out during sound check. But the show went on — power was restored as Mendelson’s group performed. Having skipped the sound check, she played with her eyes shut. Somehow her amplifier got turned around and rolled in front of her. Mendelson tried to nonchalantly kick it back into position. Watching this sideshow, Goodall smiled and asked her assistant the name of the musician who was awkwardly dancing with her amplifier. 

Later that day, Mendelson saw Goodall descending a flight of stairs and introduced herself. Goodall asked Mendelson to carry her purse. The connection was immediate, and the two proceeded to walk arm-in-arm to a workshop Goodall was hosting. “In that moment she went from the iconic Dr. Jane Goodall to a dear old friend,” she said, adding it was like the two had known each other forever. 

Since that fateful event, the duo has been collaborating on a variety of humanitarian projects such as the nonprofit Eagle Vision Initiative they founded to empower people (especially children) through the arts. Mendelson also updated the audio on the audiobook version of Goodall’s groundbreaking work, My Life with the Chimpanzees.

Most recently Goodall volunteered to write the foreword to Mendelson’s debut novel, The Water Tree Way (ThoughtOVac Press, 2020). Though classified by Amazon.com as children’s literature, the book has received rave reviews from readers as old as 92, and it’s a hit with 30-year-olds in France — which she knows because readers are sharing their feedback.

The story follows 10-year-old Jai (pronounced Jay) on a fantastical and often humorous adventure in a land of anthropomorphic trees, insects, birds, and celestial bodies, with notes of John Bunyan, Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, and Joseph Campbell. Mendelson describes her work as “a gift from the universe that I was asked to steward.”

Like many of the works by the aforementioned authors, The Water Tree Way shares timeless life lessons. Jai, who is based largely on Mendelson herself, learns about risk taking, love, loss, helping others, forgiveness, acceptance, the perils of revenge, failure, and finding strength after a fall. She doesn’t shy away from heavy topics but brilliantly reshapes them with positive, child-friendly imagery. For example, Jai encounters rainbow-colored skies and flowers in the chapter on war and destruction. Much of this section is based on a previous project where Mendelson interviewed children before the second Iraq War. 

“I was shocked by how they were affected by even the talk of violence,” she said. 

Children will experience horrible events, but Mendelson’s work provides the tools to work through them. 

“We have to be equipped to deal with hardships,” she said. “If you’re going to succeed, you have to understand it requires failure. We have this glam version of success, but it’s completely false.”

The last few paragraphs of The Water Tree Way leave open the possibility of a sequel, but Mendelson isn’t sure yet if one is forthcoming. However, a Hollywood executive producer has already expressed interest in creating a film version.

While flattered, Mendelson will proceed carefully. “I have to be very discerning with this, because with this book, the most important part of it is its heart and soul and spirit and that has to be 100 percent retained,” she said.

Lincoln resident Ruth Mendelson’s debut novel The Water Tree Way is classified as a children’s work, but all ages can benefit from its life lessons. Here are a few inspiring lines drawn from the book (compiled by Maureen Belt):

  • Everyone has a song inside of them. A song that is magnificent and unique.
  • To react in anger only makes things worse.
  • To lose a good idea is one thing, but to lose sight of who you truly are is far worse.
  • You are beautiful and necessary and the world would never be the same without you.
  • Never return a mistake with a mistake.
  • We all fall sometimes. And sometimes, we simply need a jump start to get back up.
  • It never occurred to her that a present could be something you can’t see or touch.
  • The entire day went by with no victory in sight but she refused to give in to disappointment. 
  • All things move by a power greater than themselves — even humans who don’t think so. 
  • You must first accept that some of your thinking has been wrong before you can change it.
  • You always have what you need. Don’t worry.
  • Really, how horribly dull — to try a couple of puny times and just give up.
  • The drum is calling you.
  • You can’t expect to understand everything all at once. 
  • They would often say that courage is one of the greatest things to celebrate.
  • The main thing to remember is that it’s very important to ask for help when you need it. Don’t think that you have to figure it all out alone. 
  • All things that are free do things spontaneously, without explanation and without warning. And, being free, they bring beauty wherever they go. 

Town gets $400,000 for South Lincoln septic plant design work

The town has received a $400,000 state grant to design and engineer an upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant in South Lincoln, which owners of the mall have been advocating as a requirement for redeveloping that commercial area.

Lincoln Planning officials have been considering ways to rezone South Lincoln to encourage denser housing and mixed-use development in the larger area encompassing the mall, the MBTA station and adjacent businesses, Ridge Road, Doherty’s Garage, and Lewis Street. Among the ideas is redeveloping the mall (which is in tenuous condition financially) by adding a second story for housing. But the Rural Land Foundation, which owns the mall, has said that the wastewater treatment plant that serves both the mall and Lincoln Woods will need an upgrade for any redevelopment to be feasible. 

As a result, the town applied for a $400,000 grant even as it awaited the results of an engineering study by Wright-Pierce to evaluate the condition of the plant and see if it could handle additional septic capacity. Phase 1 of the study was completed in October and showed that the 35-year-old plant, though “a little long in the tooth” and needing some work, is operating at about 50% of its 26,000 gallon-per-day capacity and could handle some additional residents and businesses.

The town applied for the grant before knowing any of the study’s results because “you always have to plan the next step and the next step” in advance, said Paula Vaughn-MacKenzie, director of planning and land use.

“As that [study] was going on, we knew that if we could get a grant to cover [upgrading the treatment plant], that would benefit both the town and Community Builders,” which owns the 125-unit Lincoln Woods and the plant, Vaughn-MacKenzie said. “Everybody knew it was working but everyone also knew it was old… this entire evaluation is in response to the feedback we’ve been getting from the public asking about the infrastructure, and we know we can’t have redevelopment without the infrastructure” to support it.

The mall originally had a separate wastewater treatment facility that failed, and the RLF has been contracting with Community Builders to use the Lincoln Woods system for some years.

Wright-Pierce said earlier that Phase 2 of the study, which should be complete by the end of the year, will look at whether the existing plant can handle flow above 26,000 gallons per day for which it’s permitted, alternative treatment methods with a life-cycle cost analysis, and a recommendation on how to proceed, both with flows and treatment type. It’s unclear if that remaining work will be affected by news of the grant.

The grant money isn’t targeted at a specific project, “but it will provide a framework for going forward,” Vaughn-MacKenzie said. After Phase 2 is complete, “we’ll look at options and discuss with the community and Community Builders what the capacity and various costs will be” to upgrade the plant.

Vaughn-MacKenzie said she had asked Wright-Pierce and two other engineering firms for a ballpark estimate for upgrading or replacing the plant and was told it would be around $400,000, so that’s the figure she used in the grant request.

The town had been under a public announcement embargo while a formal announcement ceremony was being organized. Mike Kennealy, Secretary of Housing and Economic Development, will appear at the event at Town Hall on Wednesday, Nov. 17 at 3:30 p.m. 

New book probes the past and present at Mt. Misery

The front and back covers of Ron McAdow’s “Imagining the Past at Mount Misery.”

How did Mount Misery get its name? Who built the 350-year-old sawmill? What forces shaped this  strange, eventful, terrain? These are some of the questions answered in Imagining the Past at Mount Misery, a new booklet by Lincoln resident Ron McAdow.

The book offers a trail guide to the Mount Misery conservation land with color photos, maps, and diagrams explaining the history and geology along a two-mile walk on the property. McAdow lives near the trails and walks then frequently, “and I discovered this land had an unexpectedly fascinating history,” he said. That part of Lincoln was originally in Concord, and in the century before Lincoln was incorporated in 1754, the Billings family, and their sawmill and farms, were part of Concord’s history. After doing research at the Concord and Lincoln libraries and online, “I invited friends for a walk, and told them what I’d learned. They found it interesting and encouraged me to write it down.”

McAdow was executive director of Sudbury Valley Trustees from 2003 to 2013. Before that, wrote guides for paddling local rivers, with one book on the Concord, Sudbury, and Assabet Rivers and its follow-up, Charles River: Exploring Nature and History on Foot and by Canoe. For the Appalachian Mountain Club, he also co-authored a book called Into the Mountains; the Stories of New England’s Most Celebrated Peaks. More recently, he’s been writing fiction, and he’s also editor in chief at Personal History Press, where he formats and ghost-writes family memoirs for clients.

“I began [the latest book title]with the word ‘imagining’ because if you use your imagination on this walk, at some points you’re on an island overlooking a huge frigid lake, while at other times you’re walking along the bottom of a what was a lobe of ice, looking up at sand and gravel deposited by meltwater streams as the last ice sheet melted,” McAdow said. “If you go back only 350 years, you can help an English immigrant and his sons try to figure out how to scratch a living from the sand the glacier left behind. It grows pine trees well enough; how are they to be converted to lumber, and how are those boards to be transported to market? We don’t have precise information about these topics — but we can fill in, provisionally, by imagining the needs of the people who lived here. When we stand on the top of Mount Misery we know for sure what Henry Thoreau’s impressions were, when he had climbed that hill, because he recorded them in his journal.”

Ron McAdow

In writing this kind of guide, “recreation meets education. It can’t be a tome, but it needs enough of the right details to be interesting,” he said. “The challenges start with locating information, then sorting what’s plausible from what seems to be mistaken and verifying or correcting conclusions with people who know more about local history than I do. I appreciate the assistance of the Lincoln Historical Society! The next challenge is to figure out a format that will suit the purpose. I had just completed a square color book about a family farm for a client of my Personal History Press. I thought it was attractive and flexible format, so I used it for the guide. Balancing space given to different subjects and choosing visual materials is fun but not easy.”

McAdow will give an online slide talk about the project at the monthly Conservation Coffee hosted by Lincoln Land Conservation Trust and Rural Land Foundation on Thursday, Dec. 2; call 781-259-9251 or email llct@lincolnconservation.org for details. Imagining the Past at Mount Misery is available at Something Special in Lincoln and Verrill Farm in Concord; his other two books are available at the Mass Audubon Shop at Drumlin Farm and Sudbury Valley Trustees’ Wolbach Farm.

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See “The Addams Family!” at L-S

Tickets are now on sale for the LSB Players’ production of “The Addams Family!” — a hilarious and irreverent musical about a loving yet macabre family set in their ghoulish ways, as they face the prospect of their daughter/sister, Wednesday, marrying someone far too normal for their taste. Performances are in the Kirshner Auditorium at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School on Wednesday through Saturday, Nov. 17–20 (all shows at 7:30 p.m.). Masks are required.

Directed and choreographed by Carly Evans, music directed by Michael Bunting, and conducted by Tom Grandprey. Reserve tickets by sending an email to LSBTickets@gmail.com. Please indicate the date of the performance you wish to see and the number of student/senior ($8) and or adult ($15) tickets you would like to reserve. Reserved tickets will be held at the will-call table on the night of each performance, or you may pick them up the downstairs theater lobby entrance on Sunday, Nov. 14 from 12:30–2 p.m.

Holiday drives for families affected by abuse

Each year, the Sudbury-Wayland-Lincoln Domestic Violence Roundtable sponsors a family for the holidays and invites local communities to become involved in making the holidays brighter for families affected by domestic violence. Families in shelter for the holidays face a sad and difficult time as they are separated from family and friends and are hiding from their abusers.

Sponsoring a family or organizing a collection with colleagues, friends, or group is a great way to help. The following organizations all conduct holiday drives:

Holiday drives start early so that agencies have time to process donations. In some cases, gift cards are being collected so families can shop and wrap their presents.

LNS offers session on pre-K/K program

Join Lincoln Nursery School teachers and parents in a virtual discussion about the school’s preK/K program on Tuesday, Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m. The Studio Red program is a mix of older 4-year-olds to 6-year-olds. The children have either just missed the cutoff date to turn 5 for kindergarten, or in many cases, are  kindergarten-eligible based on their age and chose to have their kindergarten year at LNS. After a year in Studio Red, families can choose for their child to move to kindergarten or first grade. Click here to register for the discussion.

Update your information for the Lincoln Directory

Watch for a large yellow card in your mail this week from the Friends of the Lincoln Library (FOLL), since it’s time to update the Lincoln Directory, which hasn’t been published since 2019 due to the pandemic. The directory is a helpful guide to all things Lincoln — people (white pages), town offices and organizations (green pages), service providers, and trusted businesses (yellow pages) — and is mailed to every residence in Lincoln. For residents, it’s an easy way to contact neighbors and find service information, and for advertisers, it’s a guarantee that Lincolnites can learn about them and know that they support the Lincoln Public Library.

If your information hasn’t changed since the 2019 edition, you’re all set. If you want to make changes to your existing white pages listing or add cellphone information, we need to hear from you. Note that FOLL never sells any of the directory information. To make updates, send an email to lincolnphonebook@gmail.com, fill out the card when you receive it and mail it back to the FOLL, or drop the card with your new information at the library. The deadline to have your information included in the Spring 2022 directory is January 7, 2022. Many thanks to The Commons for their generous support in helping to fund the mailing.