e-Newsletter | June 4, 2021 |
|
It Began with a Pear Tree
By Bethany Groff Dorau
|
|
Eben Bradbury, Jr. (1897-1918) |
|
My daughter Meg is graduating from Newburyport High School on June 6. She is the last of my four children to graduate, and this alone is enough to render me a teensy bit maudlin. Life is galloping by, my ringlet-curled baby girl whooping from the saddle.
Since we moved back to the Poore Farm, my family’s home since 1817, we have planted a fruit tree for each graduate, a nod to the acres of apple and pear that once graced the meadow below the house. Thirty years ago, there were several old apple trees, one that was as tall as the maples and just as wide. One of its low branches was thicker than my body and was a perfect spot for a summer nap. This grand tree, already dying, was hit by lightning a decade ago, the coup de grace.
My cousin planted three new apple trees, modern dwarf varieties whose topmost branches are never too far out of reach.
|
|
The last orchard hold-out is an ancient Bartlett pear tree, about forty feet tall, also dying, or so we thought. The tree had not produced fruit in my memory, and was choked with weeds and vines, and its own root-sucker babies depleted its stores.
Last year we gave the old tree some space, leaving only one other well-established youngster and cutting down the surrounding vines and shrubs. This spring the pear tree flowered with such enthusiasm that the meadow looked dusted with snow in the morning, but I had no idea whether there was any chance of fruit.
When the time came to pick out Meg’s graduation tree, I called an arborist, and over the course of an afternoon, I had a crash course in tree sex. Apparently, many modern pear trees are self-fertilizing, and a lone tree can produce fruit. Not so my romantic relic, whose ancient passions must be stirred by an unrelated tree. And so, I went on a hunt for a suitable mate for our Bartlett and its genetically identical baby and found a handsome Bosc pear who sits in its pot on my patio, awaiting planting on graduation day.
As I stood in front of my old tree contemplating the wealth of fruit it may yet bear, I was reminded of another pear tree, this one next to the side of a narrow country road in France.
It was 2018, and I was on my way to see an old friend – a friend who was dead when we met.
|
|
Eben Bradbury, Jr., complete burial certificate. |
|
Eben Bradbury, killed in the Battle of Belleau Wood on June 12, 1918, was the subject of my new book, and I was excited to share it with him, and with the people who care for his grave.
The light was waning, and my friend, photographer Cynthia August, and I careened through high hedgerows on a sunken, narrow road, eager to see Eben on the day of our arrival.
The Peugeot popped up a small hill, and there before us spread the wheat fields of Picardy, the same fields where Eben and so many young men like him were mown down by German machine guns.
By the side of the road stood a pear tree, a gnarled old specimen, shorter than the Poore Farm tree, daylight showing through gaps in its hollow mid-section. We stopped. It was a warm afternoon, and we walked around the tree in silence, understanding in some primal way that this tree was sacred, a memorial.
Belleau Wood, where Eben died, was a forest of ancient trees wrapped in tangled vines and shrubs, an aristocratic hunting preserve surrounded by wheat fields. The Germans mounted their desperate defense here in June 1918 because the same tangle that hid the deer and the hare from the hunter also perfectly disguised machine gun nests, their deadly muzzles pointed out at the fields beyond. The marines were ordered to take the woods and so they ran, then crawled, then died, in the poppy-studded wheat fields. Eben repeated this charge for six days, before a German gun caught him “just short of the woods” on June 12.
I have spent years trying to understand the terrible months between Eben’s death and its report. Eben’s family spent a frantic summer looking for any information about him, only to find out that he had been dead since June, when his father’s letters were returned to Newburyport in September, marked “Killed in Action.” His military record says only, maddeningly, “Jack has his card,” the mislaid record of his death and series of burials.
Over the years, bits of the picture have been filled in, but it was not until last week when the long-lost burial card, filed under the wrong name, resurfaced, its typed, crooked lines a map of the path Eben’s body followed after his death.
Eben was first buried where he lay, days after he was killed. It was only after June 26, when the Americans had driven the Germans from the woods that many of the battlefield dead were finally buried in shallow graves in the field. His body was “exhumed from clearing Bois-Belleau” by 1919 and was reported as buried in Lucy le Bocage, a roadside cemetery marked by an old pear tree.
|
|
Bethany Groff Dorau at Lucy le Bocage tree. |
|
There were at least two, possibly three more burials after this one, as his body was also marked at Myers Belleau Wood, then the consolidated American Cemetery 1764, from which thousands of bodies began their own long journey home, and finally, on November 17, 1922, up the hill to his final resting place in Grave 84, Row 7, Block A in the Aisne Marne American Cemetery.
The Americans took Belleau Wood from the Germans by killing not only her men, but her trees. Shells and mortar rained down on the forest for weeks, turning it into a poisoned, burned hellscape dotted with corpses. If you visit today, the trees are surprisingly uniform, all less than 103 years old. The soil is still red with the rust of the metal used to blast the forest to oblivion.
Amid this carnage, a lone pear tree survived, and when it came time to give the shattered bodies on the battlefield their first proper burial, it seemed a natural place, a symbol of resilience, comfort and nourishment.
Is this not what every parent wishes for their child – resilience, comfort, nourishment? Is this not what was denied to Eben’s parents and others who lose their children, an upending of the natural order?
As I prepare the ground in which Meg’s pear tree will be planted, I ask its ancient betrothed to watch over her in life, as the Lucy le Bocage pear tree watched over Eben in death, to witness and remember. And I hope for both flowers and fruit.
A regular contributor to the Museum of Old Newbury's e-Newsletter, Bethany Groff Dorau is a historian, writer and Regional Site Administrator for Historic New England, based at the Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm in Newbury. Some of the material used in this story is taken from Dorau's book, A Newburyport Marine in World War I: The Life and Legacy of Eben Bradbury (The History Press).
Editor's note: Inconsistencies in spelling of names, etc., are from the historical record and not a typographical error.
|
|
The Bradbury family pharmacy, located at the corner of State & Pleasant Streets, Newburyport, Mass. (where Richdale's is presently located). |
|
Everything's Coming Up Garden Tour
Newburyport’s Museum of Old Newbury will host its 2021 annual in-person, “hybrid” garden tour June 12 & 13, 2021, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. The theme for this year’s tour is, Sowing the Seeds: A Season of Renewal and will feature eight gardens located in the Newburyport and Newbury. Artists, a photo contest and plant sale (cash or check only) will also be part of the weekend.
TICKETS MUST BE PURCHASED ONLINE; TICKETS MAY BE PURCHASED ONSITE DURING THE WEEKEND VIA YOUR PHONE OR TABLET. Click here.
An e-booklet link (accessible via cell phone or tablet) with addresses, garden owner information, lunch suggestions and more will be sent with your confirmation email on June 11, 2021. An option to print will also be available.
|
|
Iris propagated from the Cushing House's own gardens is just one of the items available at the popular plant sale. Visit the museum's nursery, located in the back garden on the Fruit Street side. Open Saturday and Sunday, June 12 & 13, 2021 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.; cash or check only. Photo credit: Kristen Fehlhaber
|
|
Puzzle Me This...
Take Me Home, Country Roads
This delightful landscape of a house and barn on Main Street, West Newbury, was painted in 1883 by Dorchester born artist William Staples Drown (1856-1915).
The painting is signed and dated, lower left. Drown studied under renowned artist John Appleton Brown (1844-1902), a native of West Newbury. Both artists are well known for their New England landscapes. Drown achieved acclaim as a member of the Providence art colony.
Click on image to begin.
|
|
Miss a Recent MOON Program? Watch here. |
|
Thanks to the wonder of the Zoom platform, all of our programs are recorded and available online shortly after presentation. Visit our website for upcoming events, previous recordings, including the four 2020 Virtual Garden Tours, our Annual Meeting, children's and holiday programs, as well as all episodes of "Yeat Yeat, Don't Tell Me!"
In lieu of a printed program book, we will be featuring monthly events here, as well as maintaining a complete list on our website: www.NewburyHistory.org.
All of our virtual programs are free, however donations are gratefully accepted to help defray speaker fees.
|
|
Only One Episode Left this Season! |
|
Just like Hollywood, "Yeat Yeat, Don't Tell Me!" is going on summer hiatus.
Hosts, Jack Santos, Custom House Maritime Museum and Colleen Turner Secino, Museum of Old Newbury, are heading deep into the research tunnels for the months of July and August, returning the Friday after Labor Day, September 10, 2021.
Secino quips, "As they say in Hollywood, we will have 28 shows 'in the can.' We could put up re-runs, but we will spare our beloved viewers. You can, however, binge watch here, if so inclined."
Mark your calendar for Friday, June 11, 2021 at noon; just Zoom in here. Yeat Yeat, we can't wait.
|
|
|
|
REGISTER:
Thursday, June 10, 2021 @ 7:00 p.m.
The East India Marine Society Museum was one of the most influential collecting institutions in 19th-century America.
"Collecting the Globe" presents the first in-depth exploration of the Museum, the precursor to the internationally acclaimed Peabody Essex Museum (PEM).
Join PEM Associate Curator George Schwartz as he explores the practices of collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting a diversity of international objects and art in the early United States.
This is a virtual event. Register here and a Zoom link will be sent closer to the date. Registration closes at 4:30 p.m. on day of the event.
|
|
REGISTER:
Thursday, July 1, 2021 @ 7:00 p.m.
The First Religious Society Unitarian Universalist and the Museum of Old Newbury kick off the July 4th holiday with a virtual community reading of Frederick Douglass's impassioned 1852 speech, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Lend your voice to this powerful participatory event.
The reading will be followed by a discussion led by humanities scholar Edward Carson. Carson, an independent historian, is also Dean of Multicultural Education and a member of the history department at The Governor's Academy, Byfield, Massachusetts.
This is a virtual event. Register here and a Zoom link will be sent closer to the date. Registration closes at 4:30 p.m. on day of the event.
|
|
Something is Always Cooking at the Museum
Whoopie Pies
1 cup shortening
2 cups sugar
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 eggs
2 cups milk
3 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
Mix shortening and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Add milk. Sift dry ingredients and blend into mixture. Add vanilla. Drop on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 7 minutes at 400ºF.
Filling
1 1/3 cups shortening
3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 (7 1/2-ounce) jar marshmallow fluff
2/3 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix filling ingredients together until creamy enough to spread between the flat side of two chocolate layers.
|
|
During this difficult period of COVID-19, we rely on your support more than ever. We continue to develop new, online programs for you to enjoy and keep us connected and look forward to in-person events as protocols for safety loosen. We hope, if you are able, that you will consider a donation to the museum. Thank you for your continued support.
|
|
Museum e-Newsletter made possible through the
generosity of our sponsors:
|
|
|
Museum of Old Newbury
98 High Street
Newburyport, MA 01950
978-462-2681
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
