Special Events
* "Meet Mrs. Mary Rawlandson"
* Quaboag Town's Events
* Volunteers needed
* Stories of Quaboag by Ruth Lyon
* Press Releases
* Highlights of Events Past
* Search for Decendants of Quaboag 1600's
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Friday, September 17
Noon: A tent will be set on West Brookfield common. Quaboag 350th town committees will set up tables and be there to provide information and to sell Quaboag 350th memorabilia. Local residents and visitors welcome to come and mingle.
4 – 6 p.m. Social Hour at Salem Cross Inn: Press conference An opportunity to meet descendents of English andIndian residents of Quaboag Plantation in 1660
6:15 p.m. Dinner with descendants at Salem Cross Inn is sold out
Saturday, September 18
All Day: Activities on the West Brookfield common all day. Twenty-five Indians, dressed in full regalia, will meet and greet visitors. Descendants of the original families, many in period costume, from across the country will join with Quaboag Plantation’s current residents in the enjoyment of entertainment and fellowship. Children’s games and entertainment by the Rotary Club of the Brookfields.
Indians will be encamped on Foster Hill. Visitors to the encampment are welcome.
Benjamin Church’s re-enactors, portraying a Captain of Infantry leading and drilling his English ‘soldiers” will be on the common all day.
10:30 a.m. – noon. The meeting in the middle of the road on Foster Hill. “A coming together in a circle of friendship” Introduction, invocation, speakers. A proclamation will be presented to a descendent of King Philip by Steve Prichard, a descendent of William Prichard.*
3 – 4 p.m. The Quaboag Choral Society will perform on the bandshell.
4 – 5 p.m. Mary Rowlandson will appear at the bandshell to describe her terrifying ordeal. She and her children were captured by Indians and spent months in Indian encampments in New Braintree (Winimussett) and elsewhere before being ransomed. Her young daughter was killed, and is buried in New Braintree.
4 – 6 p. m .A chicken barbeque by the West Brookfield Lions’ club will be held. Tickets are $10. Additionally, the Knights of Columbus will sell hotdogs and burgers.
6 – 10 p.m. There will be a block dance at the common from, with music by New Braintree’s Gary LeFevre and his band. There will be both round and square dancing. The Hayloft Steppers will be there.
*Those who wish to attend will meet at the West Brookfield common at 9 a.m., a shuttle bus will transport everyone to the Foster Hill site. Leave your cars downtown.
Sunday, September 19
The Massachusetts 15th regiment will perform a salute at Pine Grove Cemetery, (time uncertain) and will have a tent on the common with information regarding their ancestors.
9 a.m. Ecumenical Service at Whitefield Rock on Foster Hill, led by the Reverend Lisa Durkee-Abbot . There will be no 10:30 a.m. services at the Congregational and Sacred Heart on the 19th.
11 – 11:15 a.m. Parade participants will gather in order to be lined up for the parade. Busing from the parking lots to the staging area will be provided until 11:30 a.m. Participants are advised to be on time or even early.*
11:15 Routes 9 and 67 along parade route closed. Also, Route 67 from Wine Road will be closed.
*Staging will take place on Wigwam Road, Sheldon Drive and at the elementary school. The parade will travel down North Main Street (Route 67) to East Main Street (Route 9) then Westerly along Main Street to end at routes 19/67 and 9. The distance is 1.3 miles. Parade participants will park at the town-0owned land on Lakeshore Drive, at the machine shop (former Chevrolet dealership) and at the state-owned rest stop on routes 9/67. Two buses will transport participants to the staging areas.
12 Noon: Step-off time. A viewing stand will be set up in ‘the circle” at Charmil Drive, West Main Street.
Food and beverages: will be available on the common prior to, during and following the parade. No permits will be issued for other vendors of any food, drink or merchandise.
Toilet facilities: Restrooms will be available at the elementary school during parade staging, and at the town hall and at churches during the parade. Portable facilities will be on the common (2), one near the Catholic Church, and one near the United Gas Station.
Parking and transportation: A bus will carry parade goers from downtown Warren to downtown West Brookfield for the parade. Time to be announced.
Parking is available at the Atlantic Express Company bus lot on Route 9, Brookfield and at the bus company garage. A bus will shuttle passengers to West Brookfield and back to the parking area.
Busing will also be provided from Brookfield – check Brookfield website for further information
Quaboag 350 Saturday Schedule
QUABOAG PLANTATION AREA – The Quaboag 350th homecoming Saturday Schedule will be a busy one. To keep residents and visitors to the area informed, the steering committee has provided this schedule of events for that day.
All day on the West Brookfield common
The picturesque West Brookfield common, the “great plain” of Quaboag Plantation, will be the gathering and information center. Inside the large tent, committees from Plantation towns will be present to provide information on their towns, and to offer souvenir items.
Col. Benjamin Church Company of Infantry (American Colonel commanding British and Indian troops) will be encamped on the common all day.
Indians in full regalia will be encamped on Foster Hill. Visitors welcome.
Food will be available throughout the day, and recreation for children will be provided by the Rotary Club.
3 – 4 p.m. A musical performance by the Quaboag Choral Society, directed by Eric Von Bleiken
4 – 5 p.m. Meet Mary Rowlandson: This 1600s wife of a Congregational minister and her children were captured in Lancaster, MA and held captive by the Indians in various place, including Winimussett (New Braintree), in 1676. Mary’s young daughter succumbed to wounds and was buried in New Braintree. Katie Green portrays Mary as she tells her story.
4 – 6 p.m. A chicken barbeque by the West Brookfield Lions Club. Tickets $10. Best to reserve in advance by calling Richard Gobi @ 508-867-5363, but some may be available at the dinner.
Hotdogs and burgers will also be available on the common.
6 – 10 p.m. Block dance. Music by New Braintree band “Nashville Blue”. Square dance calling by the Hayloft Steppers at intervals.
The Meeting in the Middle of the Road
(Over 75 settler descendants and Native Americans will be in period costume)
9am until noon: Those who wish to attend the Meeting in the Middle Of The Road on Foster Hill are directed to meet on the common. At 9:30, buses will carry passengers to the Foster Hill Site; please plan to leave cars downtown.
10:30 on Foster Hill: Massachusetts State Senator Stephen Brewer will welcome all.
10:33: Introductions and announcements Tom Ayers
10:38: Invocation Reverend Lisa Durkee-Abbott
10:40: WhyWe’re here Steve Prichard
10:45: The Planters’ Story (part 1) Tom Ayers
11:00: The Planters’ Story (part 2) Steve Prichard
11:15: The Pokanoket Story Cliff Soucy (descendant of King Philip)
11:35: Presentation of Proclamation Eric and David Warner
11:40: Pokanoket Response Billy Guy
11:45: Recognition of participating groups Eric and David Warner
11:50: Benediction A Pokanoket Prayer
11:55: Circle of Friendship Planters and Pokanoket
Luncheon Blessing: America the Beautiful
12:00 p.m. Luncheon: Turkey stew, venison stew, cranberries, cornbread, etc.
Luncheon tickets, @$15, available through today, (Friday, September 10) Call Bill Jankins at 508-867-3673
1:30 Bus return to common*
*Note: If you are not staying for the luncheon, transportation to the common will be provided. Food is available on the common.
Press conference, dinner at Salem Cross Inn
4 – 6 p.m. Settler descendants, Indians and Quaboag 350 committee members meet to share photo ops and memories.
6 p.m. Dinner at Salem Cross Inn is sold out.
Sanitary Facilities
Will be available on the common on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
---------------------------------------------------------------Click Links at top Left For More Information
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"About the Quaboag Plantation"
The Quaboag Plantation was settled in 1660 and encompassed lands located in the present towns of Brookfield, North Brookfield, East Brookfield, West Brookfield, New Braintree and Warren. Native American tribes had farmed the Quaboag Hills region since the 4th century, making the area attractive to the Puritan farmers from Ipswich. Fields and home lots were already cleared so the Puritans willingly paid the natives 300 fathoms of wampum. After living together for a time in peace, tensions with the natives mounted as the settler's appetite for land increased.
In 1675, King Philip (son of Massasoit) and his warriors surprised Captain Wheeler and his soldiers in what is now called Wheeler's Surprise, located in New Braintree*. Thus began the battle against the settlers in the Quaboag Plantation. After a three-day siege in which nearly one hundred Puritans took refuge from flaming arrows in Ayers Tavern, King Philip and his warriors were driven off by soldiers from eastern settlements. Some of the settlers were saved, but the smoldering Quaboag Plantation was abandoned until 1686 when it was successfully resettled. Fighting continued throughout Massachusetts, but the strength of the British forces was too strong for the natives. King Philip was eventually hunted down and shot by an Indian fighting on the British side.
The celebration of the founding of the Quaboag Plantation is planned for the year 2010. Many events are being planned: a ball, a parade, *the first reenactment of Wheeler's Surprise (June 13&14 2009) in New Braintree, and a reenactment of the Siege of Ayers Tavern on Foster Hill in West Brookfield, historic house tours, dinners, Descendants Homecoming, 350th event hats and clothing, a limited edition coin and pot, and much more.
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FOR LATEST NEWS OF UP COMING EVENTS, GO TO
THE NEWSLETTER
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Wheeler’s Surprise Event Photos
As part of the 350th celebration of the settlement of the Quaboag Plantation, the town of New Braintree’s 350th Anniversary Committee held a series of Wheeler’s Surprise events on June 13, 2009. This included a reenactment of the ambush, a reenactors camp site, a video tour of the three possible locations of the battle, and a talk by Robert W. Wilder on the ambush. That evening at town hall there was a dinner, cash bar, silent auction, and a talk on King Philip’s War by the author Michael Tougias.
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Member Towns of the Quaboag Plantation with Calendar of Events
Quaboag Plantation | Settled 1660 |
| Brookfield | Incorporated in 1673 |
| Warren (Originally the town of Western) | Incorporated in 1741 |
| New Braintree | Incorporated in 1751 |
| North Brookfield | Incorporated in 1812 |
| West Brookfield | Incorporated in 1848 |
| East Brookfield | Incorporated in 1920 |