Ten Mile River Watershed Ramblings
BY DON DOUCETTE
I recall the bygone days of family outings from Attleboro to Horseneck Beach in Westport, Massachusetts.
My mother packed our beach sandwiches (deviled ham and egg) wrapped in waxed paper while Dad made the customary morning errand to the Attleboro Ice Company on Pleasant Street in Attleboro.
The tradition was the purchase of a partial block of ice for the Coca-Cola cooler stored in our car boot and return directly home a.s.a.p., place our picnic on ice and travel that beautiful ride through rural Rehoboth and up the roller coaster hill in Fall River passing many “Fall River” brown three deckers of the day.
I always anticipated the right turn off U.S. 6 in Westport, up the hill and past the pickled egg stand, our constant and vigilant navigation mark pointing toward the seashore.
The Attleboro Ice and Oil Company with its “modern” Pleasant Street ice making facility morphed from the former pond ice cutting days managed by the Thacher family here in Attleboro.
My Dad told of his younger days helping guide ice blocks into ice house ramps leading to a cluster of Thacher ice houses aligned along the western shore of Dodgeville Pond (Prosperity Lake) as some of that ice was eventually loaded onto train cars for shipping.
Commercial ice cutting is now an almost forgotten industry once associated with Attleboro’s Ten Mile River.
Don Doucette
Ten Mile Friends