Weston Historical Society - Weston, Massachusetts

09/13/2026

REMINDER:

WHS Declaration Sunday
Come to the Josiah Smith Tavern,
12:30 to 3:30
Colonial children’s games
Magic lantern shows
Raree shows
Declaration of Independence Reading:
3:00 p.m. with George Washington and his men, along with Abigail Adams!

09/13/2026

The rain can't stop the Declaration Day festivities this afternoon. The tavern stroll has sadly been cancelled but the rest of the fun remains at the JST. Visit www.westonhistory.org for the updated schedule. See you soon!

Weston Declaration Day Celebrations Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the Reading of the Declaration of Independence in the Town of Weston In the summer of 1776, the Massachusetts Bay Council ordered the Declaration of Independence read aloud in every parish across the state—ensuring that fro...

09/11/2026

Bring your family and friends to the town center on Sunday September 13th for Weston’s Declaration Day Festivities - The Tavern Stroll. Starting at noon, take a tour of the Golden Ball Tavern and then join George Washington and other revolutionary figures for a walk down Boston Post Road to the Josiah Smith Tavern. Along the way, enjoy pop-up local food vendors, arts and crafts, and horse-drawn carriage rides. At the Josiah Smith Tavern, enjoy Colonial games, a magic lantern show, a raree show, tours, and a reading of the Declaration of Independence on the steps of the Tavern.

In 1776, taverns were a community hub where news and announcements were often posted, read aloud, and discussed. The magic lantern will add a genuine piece of 18th-century public culture to the day’s events.

The magic lantern was an early image projector dating back to the mid-1600s. It utilized painted glass slides and a light source, (like a candle, oil lamp, limelight, or early electric bulb), a concave mirror to concentrate the light, and a lens to enlarge and project the images on a wall or screen. Lanternists used two and three-lenses to produce elaborate effects and transitions on screen.

The magic lantern helped introduce "Phantasmagoria” where ghosts were projected and grow in size to imitate movement towards the audience before suddenly vanishing. By the 19th century the magic lantern was used in broader applications. Poetry and stories were illustrated, as well as lectures on travel and science. Comical scenes elicited laughter from an audience and some churches projected stories from the bible.

A raree show was a portable show contained in a wooden box or cabinet. The interior was a painted paper theater, with movable parts that were arranged at different distances to create an effect of depth and perspective. It was brought from town to town by a traveling showman who pulled strings or opened flaps to move the pictures, change the lighting, and tell a story about the scene. Spectators paid a tiny fee, typically half a penny, to peer inside. It was a very popular form of entertainment in the 17th and 18th centuries.

09/09/2026

In December 1773, the Sons of Liberty dumped the present value of $1.7 million of tea into the Boston Harbor. In the Tory town of Weston the patriot wind shifted.

In March 1774, Isaac Jones, Elisha Jones’ cousin and owner of the Golden Ball Tavern, found himself the target of the Weston Tea Party. A newspaper article reported that Isaac was bragging about selling his large supply of tea. He defended himself by saying it was Dutch tea not subject to the hated British tax; however, some 100 men, disguised with paint and paper masks, begged to differ as they broke down his tavern door looking for him. Learning that Isaac had left town, the intruders broke windows and ransacked the house from cellar to attic, stealing liquor and expensive items like raisins and lemons.

In May of 1774, Elisha was elected to his 11th term as Weston’s representative to the General Court, yet by September, public sentiment in Weston had finally shifted to the patriot cause. A newspaper reported, “...about 300 men waited upon Col. Elisha Jones at Weston, and made his Mightiness walk through their Ranks with his Hat off and express his Sorrow for past Offenses and promise not to be Guilty of the like for the future.”

Later that month, 286 delegates, led by John Hancock, secretly met and formed the first Massachusetts Provincial Congress. Weston was represented by Braddyll Smith, his brother Josiah, and Samuel Phillips Savage. This illegal gathering was a landmark in the history of self-government.

The Weston Historical Society developed, in conjunction with Weston Media Center Inc. eight short videos depicting the years leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Videos 4 - 6 detail the above events.

Part 4 - The Weston Tea Party
Part 5 - The First Provincial Congress
Part 6 - Samuel Phillips Savage " Weston’s Most Prominent Patriot”

On September 13th, bring your family and friends to the Tavern Stroll beginning at the Golden Ball Tavern at noon and ending at the Josiah Smith Tavern where there will be entertainment, food and local crafts.

09/02/2026

In Weston, the most important events during the American Revolution took place in the two years before the Declaration of Independence was signed. In the early 1770s, our town was described as “a community of farmers who were perfectly satisfied to go along minding their own business.” However, Weston was also known to still be loyal to the Crown - we were a Tory town.

Despite escalating tensions during the mid 1760s, Weston did not hide its Tory allegiance and remained heavily influenced by its Tory leadership; most notably by one of the town’s most prominent and politically powerful citizens, Col. Elisha Jones.

By 1774, Elisha had served three terms as town treasurer and five as selectman. He was a justice of the peace, a deputy sheriff of Middlesex County, and one of the last magistrates to serve in British courts. Most notably, he served 11 terms as Weston’s representative to the General Court, elected even in the turbulent years 1773 and 1774 when only five percent of local towns were sending representatives with loyalist sympathies.

The Weston Historical Society developed, in conjunction with Weston Media Center eight short videos depicting the years leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The first three videos review life in the small farming town and the leadership of Elisha Jones.

Part 1: A snapshot of 1700s Weston
https://imd0mxanj2.execute-api.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ssr/watch/67e595669038330008840bbb

Part 2: A look at Weston in the 1770s
https://imd0mxanj2.execute-api.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ssr/watch/67fd2ad623afa70008b6eb5b

Part 3: Elisha Jones the “Tory Squire" of Weston
https://imd0mxanj2.execute-api.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/ssr/watch/6801103073bf9d00087ae334

Two events have been planned in Weston to commemorate the 250th anniversary: a Declaration Day Benefit Cocktail Party on Sept. 8th and a Family Stroll and Parade on Sept. 13th.

The cocktail party, benefitting the Weston Historical Society, will be held at Weston Town Hall from 5:30 - 7:30 pm. Make your reservation today!

For ticket and additional information, visit westonhistory.org

08/31/2026

On Sept. 8, 1776 Rev. Samuel Woodward read the Declaration of Independence to Weston residents from the pulpit of the First Parish Meeting House.

Copies of the missive were sent express from Philadelphia to Boston, arriving July 15th. The Provincial Congress immediately ordered the document to be reprinted with copies to be sent to the ministers of every parish in Massachusetts. Instructions required the ministers to read the text to their congregations “as soon as Divine service is ended, in the afternoon, on the first Lord’s Day after they shall have received it.”

Instructions also required the document to be handed over to the Town Clerk for inclusion in the town record book, “there to remain as a perpetual Memorial thereof.” Today, the text is in the handwritten Board of Selectmen Records, 1746-1803, located in the vault at Town Hall.

Two events have been planned in Weston to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the reading: a Declaration Day Benefit Cocktail Party on Sept. 8th and a Family Stroll and Parade on Sept. 13th.

The cocktail party, benefitting the Weston Historical Society, will be held at Weston Town Hall from 5:30 - 7:30 pm. Listen to the second reading of the Declaration of Independence with a “handsome entertainment” of Colonial-era hors d’oeuvres and drinks as historical music is played on a harpsichord. Make your reservation today!

For ticket and additional information, visit www.westonhistory.org

08/09/2026

Save the Date!

05/19/2026

Guest post from Bonnie Shao: Riverside Recreation Grounds (a follow-up from the canoe post)

“The Rec” was developed in 1896 by Charles W. Hubbard, a wealthy businessman and prominent conservationist. Hubbard had inherited a large estate on the southside of Weston and donated his own land to achieve his mission “to foster Outdoor Sport” by furnishing “Youth of the Metropolitan District with a Splendid Reservation on the Banks of the Charles for All Forms of Athletic Exercise.” With the endorsement of noteworthy Boston leaders, Hubbard’s plan came to fruition.

Riverside Recreation Grounds contained a boathouse, tennis courts, a track, ball fields, and one of New England’s largest swimming pools. A large shingle style building next to the pool housed a restaurant, two dressing rooms, a dance pavilion, and even fourteen bedrooms, and offered towels, bathing suits, canoes, and rowboats for rent. At the time of its opening, annual memberships cost $10 (the equivalent of around $390 today), or $5 for students (around $190 in 2025). Additionally, in order to obtain membership, one was required to submit a written application that contained recommendations “satisfactory to the Management.” Single-day tickets, which cost 25 cents (approximately $10 today), were also available to purchase.

Newton historian Robert Pollack deemed Riverside Recreation Grounds “one of the best-known recreational sites in the United States.” Indeed, “The Rec” organized a number of prominent events and became the first New England venue to host the Amateur Athletic Union national championships. Moreover, in the 1920s, the world record in the 100-meter dash was set at The Rec. The venue was also used for private events, hosting groups such as the Gillette Company, Boston City Hospital, and the Bank Officers’ Association of Boston.

Despite its location in Weston, historians have found it difficult to determine how much The Rec was used by Weston residents themselves. Interviews with young people of southeast Weston in the 1910s and ’20s indicate that few visited The Rec or even knew much about its existence. However, regardless of the extent to which The Rec influenced the lives of Weston residents, there is no denying the prominent role that it played in facilitating the athletic and social ventures of the greater Boston area.

05/11/2026

The Canoe Craze: a guest post from Bonnie Shao

The late 1800s and early 1900s predated the rise of automobiles. Yet, traffic still gathered daily in the Greater Boston area—created not by cars, but by canoes.

The techniques involved in mass producing canoes had just been honed, and two major canoe manufacturers had set up facilities in Weston and Newton’s Lakes District. Trains offered efficient transportation to the Charles River, and the construction of “boat liveries” and private clubs near railways enabled residents of the city to conveniently store their canoes. Thus, in 1903, a Boston guidebook exclaimed that “on a pleasant afternoon or evening the water is often so densely covered that one might almost cross the stream by stepping from one canoe to another.”

The Riverside Recreation Grounds was one of the largest boat liveries in the state; at such liveries, a casual visitor might spot up to 1,000 canoers on the river. Some canoers would even sleep in their canoes at nighttime, using mosquito nets and burning joss sticks to defend themselves from mosquitoes. Liveries also hosted musical entertainment—like the American Waltham Watch Company Band—as well as special canoeing events—like the 1906 Floral and Novelty Parade, which encouraged canoers to decorate their boats. One event, the Charles River carnival of 1904, attracted over 155,000 attendees.

However, this canoe craze did not last. As the automobile gained popularity during the 1920s, canoes began to fall out of fashion. Also prompting this decline were fires and floods. In 1936, the Charles River flooded to its greatest height yet recorded, damaging many boathouses.

05/05/2026

The Weston Aqueduct and Reservoir, constructed between 1901 and 1903, was a regional public works plan designed to supply water to the Boston metropolitan area. At 13.5 miles, the aqueduct extends from the Sudbury Reservoir to the Weston Terminal Chamber off Loring Rd. It is 13 feet wide by 12 feet high serving a daily capacity of 300 million gallons. The tunnel section terminates in a 1,500 foot open channel between Wellesley and Ash streets, which is lined with formal rows of conifers. This contrasts greatly with the naturalistic contours of the reservoir across the street.

The reservoir covers approximately 66 acres with a maximum depth of 28 feet. About 237 acres in Weston were taken for this project, of which 143 belonged to the Upham family.

Project construction involved the daily employment of several hundred men working around the clock. They were divided into three crews, each on eight hour shifts. Hundreds of tons of explosives were used, shaking nearby houses. Along Ash St, Italian workers were housed in shanties, which were known as the Italian Camp.

In 1901, the weekly Weston column in the Waltham Daily Free Press Tribune reported on a police raid at the Camp: “[Three Weston policemen]…raided the Italian Camps at both ends of the tunnel and secured nearly six half barrels of l***r, twenty or twenty-five empty half barrels, 77 bottles of l***r, over 100 empty bottles and two bottles empty wh***ey jugs…The goods seized are stored in the Town House and present quite a novel appearance for a town the character of Weston.” Police raids continued in 1902. On March 6, 1903, when workers from the east and west ends reached each other, they all broke into a “noisy” celebration.

The chief engineer of the project was Frederic Stearns, whose work has been praised as an engineering masterpiece. A hallmark of Stearns was his belief that technology and nature could thrive together. He brought in the eminent Brookline landscape firm the Olmsted Brothers to develop the 150 acres surrounding the reservoir. The area was planted with conifers and arborvitae to create a parklike character. The excavated material was formed into natural looking masses and was sited to give the appearance of a natural lake with islands and wild wooded shores, irregular, and marked by rough ledge.

Town leaders in this time considered the “metropolitan reservation” and reservoir to be a valuable addition to Weston providing significant open space. The reservoir was physically accessible until 1977. Foremen of the Metropolitan Water Works had to chase off would-be fishermen, “boys who like the sport and to whom the chance of getting caught adds [to] the element of the sport and older persons who find the excellent fish an addition to their tables.” Arrests were made and fines imposed.

The Weston Reservoir and Aqueduct, along with its associated structures, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.