Autumn in the North Cemetery.

Sixty miles west of Boston, Massachusetts there is the small New England town of Sturbridge. Located at the junction of I-90 (The Mass Pike), and I-84 it has become known as the "Crossroads of New England". The town was first settled over 300 years ago, and like other small New England towns it has grown just enough over the years to be in a difficult place today. How do we embrace the future without forgetting how we got to our present? How do we attract the right kind of growth, and maintain who we are? And, what about our culture out here in Central Massachusetts?



These pages will cause one to think about how to protect what we have, our future direction, and how to move on in the very best way.


Those thoughts, and other ramblings, will hopefully inspire more thought, conversation, action, and occasionally a smile...

...seems to be working so far

Friday, April 1, 2016

It's Just The Waiting That Gets Me

Planting seeds, and cultivating good ideas already planted, that is what I do.

I plant seeds, and cultivate.  Thoughts, and ideas that come to me through the ether, or an overheard conversation in the check-out line at Shaw's, they're all seeds worth planting, and ideas worth nurturing.

Now, the harvest is something totally different.  Most of the time the seeds may be the very best, but they just didn't grow.  No one else took up the hoe.  No further cultivating of idea by just talking it up at the counter at Annie's at breakfast.  Without a little care even the best of seeds will simply wither, and die.


I don't enjoy it when an idea fizzles.  I offer them up, support one already out there, but when they fail to take root I don't take it personally, I just wait.


There are times when after years, and years of waiting a sprout pokes up.  I imagine I was not the only one that had the idea, but I really like to think that someone read something here, and told someone else, and so on, and so on.


That would be the best.

Lately, I have had a lot of delayed gratification.  I wrote on these pages back in November of 2008 of the need for a seasonal trolley in Sturbridge. Thinking Out Loud In Sturbridge: The Sturbridge Trolley Company


Not bad, only eight years later some folks see the need a well.  Well, at least the direction they are heading is right.  Now, let's see what the harvest will bring.




From golocalworcester.com 
click for complete article.


Town of Sturbridge to Receive $10K Grant for Trolley Service Study

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Senator Anne Gobi and Representative Todd Smola announced on Wednesday that the town of Sturbridge will receive $10,000 though the Massachusetts Downtown Initiative (MDI) to conduct a feasibility study for seasonal trolley service for the town of Sturbridge. 
“I appreciate that a seasonal trolley is being considered. Sturbridge is a major tourist destination and a trolley may help to encourage more tourism and help to reduce some of the traffic congestion currently experienced during the height of the season," said Gobi. 

--credit golocalWorcester.com 

Boo-yah!  Better late than never.

While I am on the subject of delayed gratification, I have also written  about having a place in town that could support some music, and dinner.  In addition to having Old Sturbridge Village attracting people to town, and the Host Hotel bringing in all sorts of folks attending conferences and trade shows, we also need a place that would attract people that not only enjoy great food, but live music as well.  
I think we finally have that place.
The Collection at Wight Farm is the latest place that the Table 3 Group has started in Sturbridge.  The Table 3 Group owns, and manages Avellinos, and the Duck restaurants on Main Street as well as the Cedar Street Grill on Cedar Street.  The Collection at Wight Farm is located at the corner of Main, and Cedar Street, and was once the home to Bass Shoes, Van Heusen Shirts, the Seraph antiques, and the Perennials Restaurant among others.  Purchased in 2014, the site has undergone an amazing renovation, especially in the the Old Van Heusen store which is now the  event venue, The Barn.  The original post and beam architecture was maintained, and added to, and now supports dining for 175, a bar, kitchen, and rooms in the lower levels for bridal parties, and others.
We have dealt with the the Table 3 group several times for family functions, and our nephew will be having his wedding reception at The Barn at Wights Farm on Main Street in September. We have found them to be, not only accommodating, professional, and detail oriented, and but just plain nice people.  In addition to weddings, showers and other functions offered at The Barn, they have also begun a music series.  Dinner, and live music for a very reasonable price, or just stop by for the music for even less.  This past Saturday we had a great meal at the Cedar Street Grill, because the dinners at The Barn were sold out.  After dinner we walked across the street, and listened to an Eagles cover band, Seven Bridges Road, play for two and half hours. 
It was great.  The music was dead on, and the venue was perfect for an evening of good food, and music.  The place was packed.   I wrote about needing a place like this as recently as last spring.  Thinking Out Loud In Sturbridge: Time For A Different Focus.  It was nice to see that a thought I have promoted for years actually come to fruition.  And, it is even better to know that there are others out there that not only have similar thoughts, but the perseverance to see them through.

The Collection at Wights Farm on Main Street would make a great stop on the trolley line.    :-)