In Memoriam: Ray Larson

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Ray and Muriel Larson, 2009

The Attleboro Land Trust mourns the passing of Ray Larson on February 9.  Larson Woodland was donated to the land trust by Ray in 1997 and formally dedicated at a ceremony held on October 31, 1999, with Congressman Jim McGovern in attendance.

The dedication read as follows:

“The gift of Larson Woodland comes from a man with deep roots in Attleboro and a faith in our city’s future.  Ray Larson has made this neighborhood home for his entire life.  By preserving this precious piece of landscape, Ray and his wife Muriel have ensured that all future visitors to this area will be able to experience the same sense of place, the same sense of continuity which they have known.

“This property is dedicated to all of the children who have trod its riverbanks on the way to school at Willett and St. John’s, to all the workers who have passed this way enroute to the Watson mill buildings, and to all the residents who have lived in the shadow of these tall trees.

“In this place where the power of the Ten Mile River was once harnessed to sustain industry, a member of the city’s industrial community has made a gift that will help us to sustain the river.  May all who come here appreciate this gift, enjoy this place, and help to take care of it.”

Congressman Jim McGovern with Muriel and Ray Larson at the dedication of Larson Woodland.

ALT members and friends at the Larson Woodland dedication in 1999.

Annual Meeting on November 13

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Please join us at our annual meeting on Thursday, November 13, beginning at 6:30 pm with the traditional brief social half-hour, followed at 7:00 pm by the business meeting and keynote address.  The meeting will be held in the Unity Room at Murray Unitarian Universalist Church, 505 North Main Street, Attleboro.
We are excited to have Benjamin Cote, President of the Friends of the Ten Mile River Watershed, deliver our keynote address.
The Friends of the Ten Mile River Watershed work to protect and preserve the river which we are fortunate enough to have flow through our city. Please join us in learning more about this important natural resource and what we can do to protect it.
This meeting is open to the public, so please bring a friend. Only members of the Attleboro Land Trust can vote during the brief business meeting.

Local business support makes a difference at the Charron Preserve

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The Attleboro Land Trust is grateful for services donated by WB Construction & Development and Ryan Asphalt in the construction of a gravel parking lot and stormwater management system at the Charron Farm Preserve.


WB Construction and Development constructed the gravel parking area and an infiltration basin to manage stormwater runoff.

 

Ryan Asphalt paved the twin driveways leading into and out of the parking area.

Photos by T.A. Charron

What would we do without our volunteers?

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Thanks to the members of the South Attleboro Lions Club for their help on September 6, installing sign posts along the trail that is being built at the Charron Farm Preserve.

Thanks also to the volunteers who helped on September 6 to prepare a stormwater infiltration basin for grass seeding.

Photos by C. Adler and T.A. Charron

Preview of what’s to come

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On August 9th, eighteen people got a preview of what’s in store when the Charron Farm Preserve is opened to the public.  There is still a lot to do.  Keep an eye on this website for announcements of work parties at the Preserve.  We rely on volunteer help for all that we do.  Thanks to Dick LaCivita for the photos below.

Walk the Charron Farm Preserve on August 9

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The Charron Farm Preserve, donated to the Attleboro Land Trust in 2023, will soon be ready to be opened to the public, although there is still a lot left to do. A walk will be held on the preserve on Saturday, August 9, at 9:00 am. The purpose of the walk is to provide a preview of the property, and to let you know about opportunities to help in the weeks to come.

Some of the tasks remaining are to plant grass in a water retention area, construct a split-rail fence, and install signposts along the trail.

Rain date for the walk is Sunday, August 10, at 1:00 pm.

Directions:
From downtown Attleboro, take County Street south for 3.8 miles.
Turn right onto Read Street and drive 1/2 mile.
Turn left onto Morse Avenue and drive 1/4 mile.
Turn into the gravel parking area on your right.

(Don’t rely on Google Maps, which mislabels part of Morse Ave. as Gillette Ave.)

Any cancellations due to weather will be posted on this website.

Summer Color

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Rhododendron thicket, Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve, 6/28/22

 


Deborah’s Garden, Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve, 7/14/18

 

Baltimore checkerspot (Euphydryas phaeton)

Lower Hayfield, Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve, 6/26/16

 

Great spangled fritillary (Speyeria cybele)

Lower Hayfield, Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve, 6/26/16

 

Common evening primrose (Oenothera biennis)

Lower Hayfield, Deborah and Roger Richardson Nature Preserve, 7/16/16

 

Bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare) alien

Anthony Lawrence Wildlife Preserve, 8/31/13

 

Spotted Joe-Pye weed (Eutrochium maculatum)

Anthony Lawrence Wildlife Preserve, 8/31/13

 

Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Shaw-Denham Memorial Forest, 8/20/13

 

The Photographic Legacy of Martha Nickerson

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Martha L. Nickerson was not only the donor of the 48 acres of land that is now the Nickerson Walking Woods Preserve.  Her life was filled with accomplishments.  She held a doctorate in education and served as a school librarian and teacher, not only in Attleboro, but at U.S. military installations around the globe.  On her travels she excelled at photography, capturing what she saw in color slides.  Those images are now in the care of artist Kalliope Amorphous, who first began posting them online in 2014 under the title “A Life in Kodachrome.”  She recently felt a renewed desire to share her appreciation for these amazing photographs.  The expanded online collection, now renamed “Midcentury Archive,” can be viewed at these locations:

https://midcenturyarchive.com/

https://www.instagram.com/midcentury_archive/

https://www.facebook.com/MidcenturyArchive

https://www.pinterest.com/midcenturyarchive/

 

An earlier version of the website can still be found here:

https://marthanickerson.wordpress.com/

 

This post first published 7/23/19

 

The Month of May

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Peony at Richardson Preserve, May 2021.

Trillium at Richardson Preserve, May 2021.

Pink lady’s slipper (Cypripedium acaule) at Vaughan Memorial Forest, May 2014.

Violets at Vaughan Memorial Forest, May 2014.

Dogwood at Colman Reservation, May 2014.

Bluet (Houstonia caerulea) at Leach Sanctuary, May 2014.

Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor) at Lawrence Preserve, May 2009.

Wild oats or sessile bellwort (Uvularia sessilifolia) with wood anemone (Anemone quinquefolia) in background at Lawrence Preserve, May 2007.

Don Doucette, Devoted Steward of Our Watershed

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Don Doucette at the 2011 Attleboro Land Trust Annual Meeting.

Don Doucette, long-time advocate of watershed conservation, passed away on May 9.  Don was devoted to the preservation of our local environment and its history.  He was a founding member of the Ten Mile River Watershed Alliance (TMRWA) in 1990, and he with his wife Nancy were early members and supporters of the Attleboro Land Trust, which was founded that same year.

A partnership between the two organizations resulted in the donation of Larson Woodland to the land trust by Ray Larson in 1997.  Don played a key role in that acquisition.  Earlier, in 1996, the TMRWA had dedicated a 3-mile urban trail beginning at Balfour Riverwalk Park and following the Ten Mile River upstream as far as West Street.  A guide to the Ten Mile River Heritage Trail, written by Don, described historic stopping points along the route.

2011 Attleboro Land Trust Annual Meeting.

One of the land trust’s most memorable annual meetings was in 2011, when Don was our keynote speaker.   His talk, “The Ten Mile River Watershed:  A Walk Through Time,” was accompanied by a stunning slide show consisting of mostly of postcards he had collected of scenes photographed up and down the Ten Mile during the early decades of the twentieth century.  Don’s authoritative grasp of his subject reflected not only painstaking research, but the fact that, with fellow TMRWA member Mark Benoit, he had trekked the entire 27-mile length of the river, from Plainville to East Providence, in 2 days in 1995.

Keynote speaker Don Doucette at the 2011 Attleboro Land Trust Annual Meeting.

Of his motive, Don wrote, “The primary intent was adventure–to cross, as does water, all human imposed, social and physical bounds that tend to fragment the Ten Mile River Watershed. Envisioned was a more intimate encounter with the river–we were not disappointed.”