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Thomas W.
Lawson Weekend Celebrates Luxury Water Tower |
Nearly a century after Thomas
W. Lawson's fortune transformed Scituate, the
town has reclaimed his legacy with major
improvements to the grand German-style tower
near his Dreamwold Estate.
Several years of improvements
culminated during the Thomas W. Lawson
Weekend July 13-15, when the Scituate
Historical Society re-opened the 153-foot
tower Lawson built to disguise an unsightly water
tank.
"Everyone was really excited
to go up in the tower again," said David
Ball, president of the Scituate Historical
Society.
Lawson, a financier and
author, built the tower in 1902 and the
Scituate Water Co. stopped using the tank
inside in 1988. The tower - listed as both
an American Water Landmark and to the
National Register of Historic Places - has become a
popular touring site, featuring sweeping
views of the South Shore, lighthouses and
the nearby First Parish church.
Most of the tank was
dismantled several years ago and the tower's
bell collection repaired, only to be removed
again during last summer's tower reshingling,
Ball said. The town funded the reshingling
with $700,000 in state mitigation money for
the restoration of the Greenbush commuter
train line, according to Ball.
The historical society chose
to celebrate Lawson's life in 2007 because
it marks 150 years since the businessman's
birth and the 100th anniversary of the
sinking of the
Thomas W. Lawson, the
world's only
seven-mast schooner.
The July 13th weekend was
chosen because Friday the 13th was Lawson's
least favorite day and he named a novel he
wrote about Wall Street, "Friday the
Thirteenth." Lawson's great-grandson Sandy
McCall was also
available to speak at the weekend's banquet
dinner.
"(The crowd) loved hearing
from him," Ball said. "He's a great public
speaker. He gave a lot of insights into the
Lawson family."
Lawson re-energized
Scituate's economy at the start of the 20th
century, putting 1,000-plus men to work on
his lavish Dreamwold Estate, including a
22-room farmhouse that is now private
condominiums, a cottage called, "The Nest,"
a Dutch windmill, horse barns and a kennel
for Lawson's 300 dogs.
Reminiscent of the large
crowds who once lined up to tour Dreamwold,
about 1,000 people viewed Lawson memorabilia
and made the long climb up to the tower's
bell deck during the celebration weekend,
Ball said.
Residents were later treated
to a well-deserved two-hour bell concert
played by Scituate residents Lenae Badger
and Ted Holland. "It's an achievement," Ball
said of the climb. "It's similar to going up Mount
Washington."
The Lawson Tower has three
more open houses this summer: Aug. 4, 5, and
19, from 1 p.m. - 4 p.m.
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| The Dreamwold
Estate farmhouse is now private condominiums. |
Lawson Tower
as seen from the Dreamwold farmhouse. |
Visitors must
climb up a steep, narrow staircase to reach the
top of the 153-foot Lawson Tower. |
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| The First
Parish Unitarian Universalist Church as seen
from atop the Lawson Tower. |
The
Meneely Company of Troy, New York installed the
10 bells atop the Lawson Tower in 1902. |
The bell
rigging was one of the Lawson Tower's major
repairs in recent years. |
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| Published Aug.
2007 by
New England Shores.com.
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