Over the River and Through the Woods…

I don’t know why I started singing this song in my head the other day. Over the River and Through the Woods… Maybe it was because Thanksgiving was approaching. It’s funny how things from childhood get stuck, never to be dislodged. Wikipedia say that The poem was originally published in 1844 as “The New-England Boy’s Song about Thanksgiving Day” in Child’s Flowers for Children. Although many people sing “to grandmother’s house we go”, the author’s original words were “to grandfather’s house we go” It celebrates the author’s childhood memories of visiting her grandfather’s house (said to be the Paul Curtis House). Lydia Maria Child was a novelist, journalist, teacher, and poet who wrote extensively about the need to eliminate slavery.

     The poem was eventually set to a tune by an unknown composer. The song version is sometimes presented with lines about Christmas, rather than Thanksgiving. For instance, the line “Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!” becomes “Hurrah for Christmas Day!”. As a Christmas song, it has been recorded as “A Merry Christmas at Grandmother’s”. Although the modern Thanksgiving holiday is not always associated with snow (snow in late November occasionally occurs in the northern states and is rare at best elsewhere in the United States), New England in the early 19th century was enduring the Little Ice Age, a colder era with earlier winters.

Old Bridge over Mystic River in Medford

Over the river and through the woods
To Grandfather’s house we go.
The horse knows the way
To carry the sleigh
Through white and drifted snow.

Over the river and through the wood —
Oh, how the wind does blow!
It stings the toes
And bites the nose,
As over the ground we go.

Over the river and through the wood
To have a first-rate play.
Hear the bells ring,
Ting-a-ling-ling!
Hurrah for Thanksgiving Day!

Over the river and through the wood,
Trot fast, my dapple gray!
Spring over the ground
Like a hunting hound,
For this is Thanksgiving Day.

Over the river and through the wood,
And straight through the barnyard gate.
We seem to go
Extremely slow —
It is so hard to wait!

Over the river and through the wood —
Now Grandmother’s cap I spy!
Hurrah for the fun!
Is the pudding done?
Hurray for the pumpkin pie!

Grandfather’s House Medford MA

One of my readers, Pat Heenan, wrote to say that, “That song Over the River….was written in Medford, Mass. The river is the Mystic River. There is actually a bridge there, now a walking bridge.
The home is still there, has many long pillars on the front…
Also Jingle Bells was written in Medford or Arlington, have forgotten… One of the first songs we learned in first grade!!!.
Just to add to the history…”

100 Years Ago in Windham

WILL HARRIS – THE EXETER NEWSLETTER

WINDHAM, October 16,—Mrs. Elizabeth Ellen (Smith) Nesmith, widow of Jacob Alpheus Nesmith, died Tuesday, the 9th, of old age and after many months of gradual decline. She was born in Woburn, Mass., September 3, 1831, the daughter of Horatio A. Smith, and had consequently just completed her eighty-sixth year. She had lived in town since her marriage to Mr. Nesmith April 28, 1859, assuming the position of stepmother to his two small children. She became the mother of one son, Jacob Arthur Nesmith. Now residing on the homestead. Mrs. Nesmith was a genial, kind-hearted woman, well fulfilling all the duties of a good home-maker and good neighbor. She was interested in the welfare of the community and a constant attendant at church as long as circumstances permitted. She was a member of the Unitarian Church of Medford Mass. The funeral was largely attended at the home  on Friday afternoon, Rev. E.J. Palisoul of Manchester, conducting the service. There was singing by Mrs. Nichols of Derry, and Mrs. Davenport, of Londonderry. The bearers were J.W.M. Worledge, John E. Cochran, Eugene W. Armstrong, and George H. Clark. Thus with sadness we record the passing of one of the few to remain to the present time, of those who made up the active community fifty years ago. The Nesmith Homestead still stands on North Lowell Road.

Elm Farm

Elm Farm was a popular boarding house operated by Mary E. Call. Today it is a business center on the corner of Lowell and Cobbett’s Pond Road. Of course, the beautiful elms, for which it was named are long gone. The house was built by the Rev. Calvin Cutler in 1839. A previous house on the property once housed Williams Academy.

Windham Junction

This is a very familiar scene to those of us who enjoy the Windham rail trail with the exception of the water tower and the railroad tracks…And the train!