By MYRON DITTMER
President
Mt. Hood Park Association
MELROSE — The Association’s “Senior’s Day at the Park” event was held at the clubhouse at Mount Hood Memorial Park & Golf Course on Tuesday, May 13 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. to a full capacity hall. It was a perfect sunny day for the event, which included a special award presentation, several lectures, a lunch, and later a trip up to Slayton Tower for sightseeing.
This free event was sponsored by the Mt. Hood Park Association and the Melrose Park Department.
At the start of the program, Association President, Myron Dittmer, presented family members of Joan Bell, long-time Superintendent of Mount Hood and Open Spaces, and who suddenly passed away unexpectedly last February, with an In Memoriam plaque for her leadership, commitment, and dedication to the city of Melrose over the past 17 years. The family members present to accept the plaque were her husband, Barry, and their three daughters, Brooke, Samantha, and Teagan.
Later, the first lecture was by local historian Dee Morris who introduced the audience to the “Wheelwoman,” Mary Sargent Hopkins, who helped pave the way for the future of woman’s lib movement by encouraging women to use bicycles for exercising and freedom. She was born in 1847 and later married her second husband, Charles Hopkins, after which they moved to Melrose.
She was the first person to publish a women’s magazine, “The Wheelwoman” in 1895 in Boston, which featured women’s fashion, customs, wheels, and cycling news. She also championed women’s health, and much of that focused on outdoor recreation. In her magazine, she instructed women how to dress properly for cycling and introduced the use of split shirts instead of bulky dresses of the day. She promoted the independence of women using bicycles as freedom of movement. She passed away in 1924 at the age of 78.
After lunch, Douglas Heath and Alison Simcox told the story of “Murder at Breakheart Hill Farm,” the name of their newest book published in 2021. The story revolves around a married farmer, George Bailey, whose wife was having an affair with one of his hired farm workers. One of the hired workers lived in the same farmhouse as Bailey and his wife and it was a querulous relationship among the threesome. The farmhouse was located at the top of Forest Street in Saugus, a short distance from the current rustic visitor’s center at Breakheart Reservation. One day in October 1900, Bailey’s body was found floating next to the floating bridge in Lynn. His body was so dismembered that it took a while to identify him as Charles Bailey. The hired farm workers were the major suspects, and the trial lasted for weeks. This horrific murder was one of the most publicized murder trials in Massachusetts, partly because the prosecutor, Hosea Knowlton, was the same one in the Lizzie Borden horrendous 1892 ax murder trial in Fall River, MA.
Following the talk, attendees travelled up to the 4-story Slayton Tower, the highest point in the park, to experience the panoramic view of the area including the mountains of New Hampshire, Revere Beach and the Boston skyline.
As noted earlier, this event was sponsored by the Mount Hood Park Association and the Melrose Park Department; and we would like to extend our thanks for support from Rob Carrillo, Superintendent of Melrose Public and Open Spaces, Erica Brown, Executive Director of Melrose Council on Aging, and from Sagamore Golf, Dean Scarito, General Manager, and Dori Basile, Function Manager.
Mt. Hood Park Association is dedicated to the preservation, protection, and promotion of Mount Hood – please visit our website at www.mthoodpa.com.