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A lot
to know about this lake besides its long name
Jean Laquidara Hill
T&G STAFF
WEBSTER- As
early settlers tried to find their way through the Northeast, they
followed the Great Trail and looked for two landmarks, Mount
Wachusett and the Great Pond. The Great Pond was the first known
name for Webster Lake, also known as Lake
Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg, author Paul J.
Macek told an audience of about 125 people yesterday afternoon.
The two
landmarks are clearly shown on a 1642 surveyor's map of the area,
said Mr. Macek.
At that time,
there was no Webster. It was formed later from parts of Dudley and
Oxford, and incorporated in 1832. Once in Oxford and Dudley,
Webster Lake now covers about one-quarter of Webster, according to
Mr. Macek.
The audience,
mostly Webster residents and many from Webster Lake Association,
had come to Point Breeze Restaurant to hear the history of Webster
Lake. The talk was given by Mr. Macek with help from James R.
Morrison. The men wrote and published the "Early History of
Webster, Dudley and Oxford" in 2000, and it is about to go into
its third printing. The talk was sponsored by Webster Lake
Association and Point Breeze Restaurant.
Association
President Richard D. Cazeault said he decided a history lesson
would be welcome after listening to people who have lived on the
lake for years talk about their thirst for information about the
well-known body of water.
"There's a lot
of history lost," he said, about the lake and about the town.
"History develops a sense if community."
From the start,
Mr. Macek told the audience, Indians were drawn to the lake as a
source and center of life.
"Native
Americans saw this lake. They came here and settled here," he
said. "They came here to bury their dead. They came here to fish
and make treaties."
Later, about
1813, Samuel Slater, a father of American industry, started
harnessing water power from the French River and Webster Lake, and
built neighborhoods with factories and housing for employees, said
Mr. Macek.
For Pamela R.
Landry, listening to the history of the lake and the town made her
feel more connected to the place she calls home. Like a lot of
people, Ms. Landry first knew Webster as a vacation spot, spending
weeks in the summer at her grandmother's house on the lake. In Ms.
Landry's case, home was Western Massachusetts, she said yesterday.
Now, at 41, she is a Webster resident living in the house that was
her grandmother's and wanting to learn more about the town's
history.
Linda Littleton
of Millbury still spends her summers on the lake, just as she did
as a child. Ms. Littleton said she attended the talk yesterday
because she wanted to know more about the space where she spends
much of her life and where she spent every summer of her
childhood.
"I think in
order to prepare for the future, you have to learn the past," Ms.
Littleton said. "I think people really want to know where they
come from." |
