New Notable Land Record-Samuel Woodward, Scituate Born Poet
This week, we made an addition to our Plymouth County Notable Land Records Collection. As described in greater detail in the Notable Land Records Collection section of this website, we alternate copies of notable land records with a brief story that goes along with them in the entry corridor at our main office in Plymouth.
Samuel Woodward, a famous American Poet, had a muti-faceted career after spending his boyhood on his family’s farm in Scituate. He is best remembered for a poem he wrote in 1817, long after he had moved from Scituate. In the poem he reminisced about his boyhood days on the family farm, especially the “old oaken bucket” he drank from on hot days in his front yard. To read his poem, which some have called the most beautiful poem in the English language, go to http://www.contemplator.com/america/bucket.html
The Old Oaken Bucket Homestead is still standing today at 47 Old Oaken Bucket Road near the intersection of Routes 123 and Route 3A, in the Greenbush section of Scituate. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The story of Samuel Woodward and the Old Oaken Bucket was brought forward to our volunteer Display Committee by John Zigouras, our Director of Operations, who lives with his family in Scituate.
