Ayer/Groton/Harvard/Shirley/Devens Action

Ayer/Groton/Harvard/Shirley/Devens Action Action Unlimited is a weekly advertising publication that is mailed directly to thousands of homes i

A weekly advertising publication with seven (7) different editions to choose from - Acton (Acton, Boxboro, Maynard), Ayer (Ayer, Groton, Harvard, Shirley, Devens), Chelmsford, Concord (Concord, Carlisle, Bedford), Hudson (Hudson, Stow), Marlborough (Marlborough, Sudbury) and Westford (Westford, Littleton), Each edition is filled with news, events, puzzles, local advertisers, classifieds and more!

04/03/2025
04/03/2025

56th Annual Ham & Turkey Raffle
At Stony Brook Fish & Game
(128 Lowell Road – Westford)
Sunday April 13th – 1PM
20 Easter Hams and 20 Turkeys raffled on a spin wheel
*Sirloin Strips, Prime Ribs and others are also being raffled off.
Raffle tickets on sale at the event!
$1500 Cash drawing as well!
(Drawing tickets on sale now – see any Stony Brook member)
Open to the public
Food and beverages will also be available.

03/13/2025

Stony Brook Fish & Game
Saint Patrick’s Day Meal
Saint Patrick’s Day: Saint Patrick’s Day falls on a Monday this year but Stony Brook Fish and Game will be cooking and serving corned beef meals and sandwiches on Sunday March 16th starting at noon. Make a note of this early bird special and stop on by! Stony Brook Fish and Game is located at: 128 Lowell Road, Westford MA

WESTFORD, MA: It's another fantastically diverse blend of options to choose from this weekend!  Kick things off with the...
03/10/2025

WESTFORD, MA: It's another fantastically diverse blend of options to choose from this weekend! Kick things off with the weekly Sing & Jam on Thursday, then enjoy Folk world faves ATWATER-DONNELLY in Friday's Coffeehouse, the uplifting NO PLANET B on Saturday, chased by Classical Pianist MATTHEW ODELL sounding spectacular on our Steinway this Sunday! There's always something happening at the PCA!!

https://parisharts.square.site/product/3-14-25-atwater-donnelly/212

https://parisharts.square.site/product/3-15-25-no-planet-b-band-friends/244

https://parisharts.square.site/product/3-16-25-matthew-odell-piano-heritage-series-/214

Parish Center for the Arts is located at 10 Lincoln Street, right on Westford Common. For more information, visit us online at pcawestford. org!

12/12/2024

Meet your Perfect Match at Save A Dog Adoption Event Saturday, December 14
Save A Dog is hosting a ‘Meet and Greet’ holiday adoption event at Wag N’ Wash, 1173 Main Street in West Concord on Saturday, December 14, from 10 am to 12 pm. Come meet the adorable dogs and puppies looking for their forever homes, and join the holiday festivities with free store samples and photo ops!
More information about our adoptable dogs (and cats!) can be found on the Save A Dog website: www.saveadog.org. Potential adopters are also encouraged to fill out an adoption application online beforehand.
Now celebrating 25 years of rescuing abandoned dogs and cats through its Sudbury shelter and network of foster homes, Save A Dog has found loving homes for more than 8,500 companion animals.
See you Saturday!

10/24/2024

12th Annual Craft Fair and Bake Sale
Saturday, November 23rd, 10:00am-3:00pm
FREE Admission
Stop by for local craft vendors and baked goods! Nashoba Valley Technical High School
100 Littleton Road, Westford, MA
Presented by The NVTHS Foundation

08/29/2024

Teen Voting to Open for Massachusetts Teen Choice Book Award, Sept. 1-20
Hey MA Teens! Voting will open for the MA Teen Choice Book Award (MTCBA) on September 1! Young people from across Massachusetts are invited to vote for their top teen book from a list of nominees until Sept. 20, 2024. This is the only award in the Bay State that invites students in grades 7-12 to vote for their top new books.
The list of nominees has been curated by a committee of public librarians, school library media specialists and educators. The top teen choices will be announced in October 2024.
“There are two ways for teens to cast their votes - they can vote directly using our digital ballot (available at https://www.mateenchoicebook.org/home) or they can cast a paper ballot at any participating library” said Suzanne Larson, committee chair and high school library media specialist at Seekonk High School in Seekonk, MA. “We encourage school and public libraries interested in participating to create displays and ballot boxes by using MTCBA resources, also available on the award website.” (https://www.mateenchoicebook.org/home)
The 2024 Massachusetts Teen Choice Book Award Nominees are:

Accountable: The True Story of a Racist Social Media Account and the Teenagers Whose Lives It Changed - Salter, Dashka *
As Long As The Lemon Trees Grow - Katouh, Zoulfa
Ay, Mija!: My Bilingual Summer in Mexico - Suggs, Christine *
Bianca Torre is Afraid of Everything - Winans, Justine Pucella *
Bittersweet in the Hollow - Pearsall, Kate
Blue Lock, Vol. 1 - Kaneshiro, Muneyuki *
Breathe and Count Back From Ten - Sylvester, Natalia
Give Me a Sign - Sortino, Anna *
Just Do This One Thing For Me - Zimmerman, Laura
Money Out Loud - Anat, Berna *
Promise Boys - Brooks, Nick *
Rez Ball - Graves, Byron *
The Search for Us - Boyer, Susan Azim *
This is Our Place - Martin, Vitor *
Threads That Bind - Hatzopoulou, Kika
Throwback - Goo, Maureen *
Warrior Girl Unearthed - Boulley, Angeline
Well, That Was Unexpected - Sutanto, Jesse *
Where You See Yourself - Forrest, Claire *
The Wicked Bargain - Novoa, Gabe Cole *
Your Lonely Nights are Over - Sass, Adam
*Indicates suitable for younger teen readers
The Massachusetts Teen Choice Book Award is a cooperative project between the Massachusetts School Library Association (MSLA) and the Massachusetts Library Association (MLA) with support from Salem State University. For more information on the selected titles and how to participate and vote, please visit www.mateenchoicebook.org.

08/29/2024

New England Chapter, North American Rock Garden Society Invites Avid Gardeners to free program
The New England Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society will host a guest speaker, Adam Wheeler, Production and Horticulture Manager of Broken Arrow Nursery in Hamden, Connecticut, on Saturday, September 14 at 10:30 am. Avid gardeners in the region are cordially invited to attend the free program at the Reuben Hoar Library, 35 Shattuck Street, Littleton. Conversation and refreshments are available at 10:30, with the talk following at 11 am in the Sturtz Room. Adam’s topic is “Half-Sized Plants for Half-Sized Places.” He will also bring along a selection of plants for sale that can happily be planted in the fall. Adam is an engaging speaker, having worked at destination nursery Broken Arrow for two decades. He loves to share his passion for plants through photography and educational outreach. Guests are invited to bring a bag lunch and remain for the annual Seedling Sale at 1 pm. Society members will bring seedlings they have grown this season. Donors get to make a choice first. They may buy one plant for every 10 that they bring before non-donors begin choosing. The first-round price is $2 per plant; when buying slows down, the price drops to a dollar and then to free. Very special, higher-value plants may be raffled off. Please join your fellow gardeners for this fun, educational event! For more information, contact Priscilla Williams, Publicity Chair, 978-660-3492

08/29/2024

Littleton Senior Follies
Share the laughter on Sunday, September 15th from 2:00-4:30 pm at the Littleton High School Auditorium (Sponsored by the friends of the LCOA)
Two shows will be shown on the big screen.
“They’re No Angels (2016) and “Futuristic Follies (2018)
This is a Fundraiser for the new Senior Center. Cost is $10 per person.

08/29/2024

Shirley Shaker Village Guided Tour
Sunday September 8th will be the first guided tour of the Shirley Shaker Village site for the fall. It begins inside a Shaker building on the grounds of the state prison at 12:30 pm. Reservations must be made and paid for in advance. Contact Meredith at [email protected] for more details.
In the meantime, here is an essay about the work of the Shakers.
Industries of the Shirley Shakers by Paul Przybyla
The name “Pleasant Garden” given to the Shaker community at Shirley, Massachusetts, perfectly described their 75 acres of cultivated land and 2,500 acres of orchards and woodland both in Shirley and neighboring towns. The intervale land of the nearby Nashua River provided fertile soil for field crops, broom corn and hay while the east-facing hillsides offered a temperate climate for apple orchards. The bounty from the land contributed to the self-sufficiency of the community. Their agricultural products were also sold to the outside world as a source of income to help support the community. For example, an 1855 Shirley Shaker receipt for the Whitin Machine Works company store at Whitinsville, MA showed a purchase of brooms and pickles from the Shirley Shakers. Its masthead listed additional products of herbs, condiments, apple sauce and garden seeds.
In the last decades of the Shirley community, apple sauce was a leading product for sale. The Ayer “Public Spirit” weekly newspaper in 1887 wrote about the apples and apple sauce: “Four leading varieties are grown – the Baldwin, Russet, Gravenstein, and Hubbardston. Their extensive orchards are well cared for and their fruit is uniformly fine as well as abundant. This crop is used almost wholly in the manufacture of their celebrated apple sauce, which goes almost exclusively to the Boston market, where it finds ready sale.” Change in products could be seen in the masthead of an 1894 letter of Elder John Whiteley which now included dish and floor mops for sale.
Several years ago, the Shirley Historical Society was fortunate enough to purchase the final accounting journal of Elder John Whiteley. This has provided a fascinating window into the economy of the Shirley community during its last two decades. What follows is a look at the accounting records for the years 1888 to 1902.
Brooms are shown to be one of the most significant products with sales over the fifteen years totaling 13,774 in quantity, for a 2024 value of $131,000. It was a surprise to see the variety of brooms available with seven numbered models plus locomotive, parlor and barn brooms. The Fitchburg Railroad and several area textile mills were frequent customers, as were Boston hardware stores and prominent schools such as The Groton School and Harvard University.
A new sideline of mops was established at this time. Among the varieties for sale were dish, floor, plain, netted dish, and milk can mops with various lengths of handles. Primary customers were Boston hardware stores and the R. H. White department store. A total of 18,919 mops were sold during this period, for a 2024 value of $122,000.
Agricultural products were in decline due to a growing reliance on hired laborers. In 1888 over 1,800 gallons of apple cider were pressed, and subsequent years showed smaller quantities being made of cider vinegar and boiled cider, a key ingredient in the making of the famous Shirley Shaker apple sauce. Also shown are sales of sweet and dried corn, asparagus, Shirley’s own Wachusett blackberries, butter, and limited quantities of veal, hogs, and beef.
The fertile meadows in Shirley grew large quantities of hay which supplied area companies and livery stables with food for their teams of horses. The journal accounted for several types of hay: meadow hay (native grown), swale hay (grown in marshy land), and English hay (cultivated varieties). The year 1893 listed over 16 tons of hay sold, with subsequent years averaging 10 tons.
The majority of Shirley Shaker’s 2,500 acres comprised of woodlots. Elder John Whiteley remarked to a newspaper reporter in 1896 that “We use no coal, for our wood is growing faster than we can cut it”. What was not used by the community was sold as cut boards and planks, posts, utility poles, and railroad and electric trolley ties. Cord wood used as fuel was in demand by the Damon Brick Company in neighboring Lancaster, MA. Over this period of 15 years the 2024 value in sales of wood products was $430,000.
There are a few miscellaneous journal entries that are worth noting. Elder John Whiteley was born and spent his early life in England and there is a recurring expense for his subscription to the Illustrated London News. In the winter of 1901, the farm’s horses were used by the hired hands to help the town of Shirley ‘break roads’ of snow drifts.
The Shirley Shaker lands were sold in 1907 to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the establishment of an Industrial School for Boys. It became a fitting continuation of the Shaker legacy of agriculture by providing the boys with vocational training in farming.

Address

100-1 Domino Drive
Concord, MA
01742

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 3pm

Telephone

+19783712442

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