Bellingham ready to turn 300
Town officials preparing celebrations for anniversary of town’s 1719 founding
BELLINGHAM – The Town of Bellingham is getting ready to party.
A five-member 300th Anniversary Executive Committee, which includes Jennifer Altomonte, Bernadette Rivard, Sarah Houle, Christine Cooper and Joseph Lyons, has been busy in recent weeks making sure townspeople and those throughout the Blackstone Valley are aware that Bellingham will be partying it up big next year when it commemorates the 300th anniversary of the town’s founding in 1719.
The committee has been working since its inception to raise public awareness and to drum up support financial and otherwise for the yearlong anniversary celebration, which will begin Dec. 31.
And there will be plenty of rich town history to celebrate in 2019.
The area of the town south of the Charles River once constituted the southwestern corner of the Dedham Grant, which sprouted much of what has become Norfolk County. The land was swampy, and the town of Dedham did not believe it worthy of settlement. The area north of the river would be purchased by Edward Rawson, and due to the settlement of borders with the surrounding communities, these two areas would eventually merge. By 1713, there were enough citizens to warrant village meetings in the area. By 1718, the village petitioned for separation, and the town officially incorporated on Nov. 27, 1719.
The village was originally named Westham (short for West Dedham), but at the time of incorporation, its name was changed to Bellingham after Richard Bellingham, an early governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
The town is known for having produced some notable people, including John Leland, a Baptist
minister and major supporter off James Madison and the First Amendment to the Constitution; and Deborah Sampson, who enlisted as Robert Shurtlieff in Bellingham, near the end of the Revolutionary War, and disguised herself as a man to become America’s first woman soldier.
Other well known Bellingham natives include Levi Cook, a former mayor of Detroit; Ricky Santos, an NFL player who signed with the Kansas City Chiefs but spent the majority of his career playing in the CFL; John Milton Thayer, a Union Army general and senator from Nebraska; Dale Arnold, a New England sports announcer; and Schuyler Towne, a competitive lock picker.
The Bellingham 300th Anniversary Executive Committee was formed in June and has hit the ground running, planning a number of anniversary events that will span all of next year. Jennifer Altomonte, who chairs the committee, is also on the School Committee and active volunteer in town.
“I saw this as a once in a lifetime opportunity and chance to do something great for the town” she said.
The committee enlisted the help of Bellingham Library Director Bernadette Rivard to create and promote a 300th anniversary Facebook page and several meetings have been held to come up with ideas for the celebration, which will include among other things, a New Year’s event to be held Dec. 31, 2018 to Jan. 1, 2019; a Bellingham Old Homes Day Festival July 19-21; a Story Tale Door Scavenger Hunt; and a fall town-wide pub crawl.
Here’s how the Story Tale Door Scavenger Hunt will work:
Businesses who choose to participate will build a door based on a story tale to be
displayed either inside or outside of their place of business. The doors will be decorated based on the story of their choosing.
Photos of the doors (minus the name of the business) will appear on a scavenger hunt map. Each participant in the hunt will be able to download the map from the 300th anniversary Facebook page and start the hunt. The hunt can be done within a day or throughout weeks. Once a participant finds all the doors, they will email their completed form and receive a Scavenger Hunt Completion Certificate. Groups and Clubs are also encouraged to participate by creating their own doors.
Anyone interested in creating a story tale door, can send an email to Bellinghamstorytaledoors@gmail. com with company name in the subject of the email by Sept. 30.
The anniversary committee is also hoping to recruit “300” blood donors for the Red Cross by the end of 2019 with the first blood drive to be held Sept. 7 at noon at the library.
Also, the Bellingham Public Library has received a grant to publish a special 300th anniversary book. A planning meeting of the 300th Anniversary Book Committee will be held Sept. 10 at 3 p.m. at the library.
“There are numerous additional ideas being worked out and we are open to any resident who is interested in coordinating or volunteering at an event, or any businesses that want to volunteer their services,” Altomonte said. “We also welcome any person or business that wants to help or make a donation in any way - big or small.”
Altomonte says the best way to share ideas, volunteer or donate is to visit “Town of Bellingham 300th Anniversary” on Facebook or at www.bellinghamma.org/ bellingham- 300th- anniversary; or by sending an email to bellingham300@gmail.com.
Residents and business owners are also encouraged to attend any of the committee’s upcoming meetings at the library.