Templeton’s 250th Keepsake Box

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Templeton’s 250th anniversary is in the year of 2012 and Tuesday Girl is thrilled to bring you this post about a keepsake box with a wonderful Templeton story to go with it.

To support our 250th celebration, this Templeton keepsake box has been commissioned by and will be sold at the Country Mischief for only $22.00.  As you can see, this box is just beautiful, well made and what a great gift and treasure this will make.  This could be  for you and also to pass on to a younger generation.  The picture on the front of the box was drawn by our very own Isabel Perkins as a depiction of the famous story “The Greatest Load”.  Inside the box is a keepsake paper telling a brief snippet of this incredible story and also Templeton’s 250th Celebration Logo.  (TIP ~ if you click on the picture it will enlarge so you can see it better). Isabel’s original drawing will be raffled as the 250th celebration draws near.  Raffle tickets can be purchased at the Country Mischief for $1.00 per chance.  All proceeds from the sale of the treasure box and the raffle tickets will go to support our 250th Celebration!!

So now your curiosity is peaked and you want to hear the story behind this box don’t you?  Well, Tuesday Girl will share it with you from the book, The Story of Templeton by Elizabeth Wellington Lord.  Here is some background first:

In order for our town of “Templetown”, later known as Templeton to even become a town, it needed to organize a church.  The First Congregational Church of Templeton was chartered in 1755 and the Town of Templeton was incorporated in 1762.  The first ordained minister was Rev. Daniel Pond and he stayed on for four years.  The second ordained minister was Ebenezer Sparhawk and the remained for 44 years.  It was the custom back then to bring gifts to your minister to help with the meager stipend he was paid to preach to the townsfolk.  Well, one day a gift turned into a challenge and who would have known it would become a great story!

THE GREATEST LOAD

In 1805, Ebenezer Sparhawk, the second minister, died.  In 1807, Charles Wellington was ordained.  He was the minister who recieved the great load of wood as a present from one of his parishoners.  This is the story, as written by Dr. Wellington’s grandson, Charles Wellington Stone, “It was the custom to supplement the minister’s moderate salary with presents from the products of the farms, and especially with wood.  Now, Colonel Leonard Stone one day in January, 1822, was drawing to the parsonage some of his nice hard wood.  It was a good ox load; two cords or so. As he was going across the common with it, his brother, Colonel Ephraim, caught sight of him from the store and was surprised at such a great load.  ”Hello!” says he, “why don’t you take your minister a load of wood while your about it?”  ”Now look here”, said Colonel Leonard, “I’ve been sawing out lumber down’t the mill and there’s any quantity of slabs.  I’ll give the minister as big a load as you can take.”

Colonel Ephraim was a man for fun.  He instigated the townspeople to take hold with him and accept his brother’s challenge.  First, they made the sled. Long trees were cut for the runners.  These were made thirty-odd feet long and set eight feet apart.  The body of the sled projected two feet over the runner on each side.  Thus, the sled would hold twelve regular cords at one layer.  There were two tongues, one in front of each runner.  On the appointed day, the men and the oxen from all over town came to the meeting place.  The sled was taken to the saw mill and backed up against the great pile.  On went the slabs with a will.  Colonel Leonard Stone stood by laughing, cheering, urging them along.  When they had got on as much as they thought would do, they hitched up the team.  One hundred and sixty oxen, four abreast, found it easy to pull.

They had to go round through Baldwinville because there was not room at the Otter River bridge for the sled to turn in.  When they had got up on to the level ground above Baldwinville, they stopped and unhitched.  Then with their every-day sleds they went back to the mill to bring more slabs and pile them on the big load.  This they kept up till there were no more slabs.  Forty cords lay piled up on that sled.  And the evening and the morning were the first day.

The next morning came the rest of the journey ‘up in town’.  The school children were let out to see the great sight go by.  One of them, to whose home it was going, said it looked as big as a house.  It lay loaded for quite a while out by the parsonage and people came from near and far to see it.  It kept Mr. Wellington in slabs for years to come.  When the great sled was taken to pieces, some of the timbers were used in building Mr. Winch’s barn and at the time of the writing of Elizabeth’s book, the framework was still there.

What a sight that must have been!  History can be fun too!  Here are more photos of the treasure box for you to see.  If you are not living in Templeton, but would like to order a Greatest Load keepsake box and have it shipped to you, please call the Country Mischief at 978-939-5460 and they will put your order in!  Remember, tell them Tuesday Girl sent ya!

So, please join Tuesday Girl and purchase this special The Greatest Load keepsake box today and celebrate a wonderful story in our history.

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