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This short tour begins at the Old Colony Historical Society and includes local landmarks such as the Taunton Church Green, McKinstrey House, and Taunton Central Station. The tour concludes at Mount Pleasant Cemetery. We hope to add more stops on the tour as local historians add more entries to Clio. 

Located in the historic Bristol Academy building, the Old Colony Historical Society preserves the history of Southeastern Massachusetts, what was once known as the "Old Colony" (the area between Rehoboth and Provincetown, and Scituate and Dartmouth). The school was built in 1852 and closed in the early 1920s due to competition from public schools. The society, which was founded in 1853, opened it as a museum in 1926. The museum houses and displays many items including decorative arts, textiles, military and police items, silver and tools. The museum also has a library and archives, which specializes in the history before 1850. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places 1977.

Old Colony Historical Society

The Church Green in Taunton,
Massachusetts in one of the first stops on the City’s Liberty and Union Walking
Tour.&nbsp; The Old Colony Historic Museum is
located across from the Green, which is a site of significant historic interest
itself and is the starting point of the tour.&nbsp;
On the other side of the Green in the currently vacant City Hall, also
considered part of the historic district.&nbsp;
The City Hall was damaged by a significant fire several years ago.&nbsp; 

Across from City Hall, and
standing at the intersection of Routes 44 and 140, stands the venerable First
Parish Church.&nbsp; The Church was
constructed during the colonial period and is still open to worshippers for
services, as well as those interested in the building’s rich history.&nbsp; The Puritan church group first met in 1637 in
England.&nbsp; Led by Elizabeth Pole (who is
credited with founding the town of Taunton), they arrived here from Devonshire,
England in 1638.&nbsp; They erected their
church and a school on the land now known as Church Green in 1647.&nbsp; It was the first church established within
the present boundaries of Bristol County.&nbsp;
In fact, the building served as more than a church.&nbsp; In 1671, representatives from the Plymouth Colony
and the Wampanoag Tribe met here to sign an agreement that delayed hostilities
between the two parties.&nbsp; Today, a
welcoming Unitarian Universalist congregation enjoys services in the church. During
the weekend in the spring and summer, popular farmer’s markets are held on the
Church’s front lawn.&nbsp; 

A few years ago, a local group
was looking for a new place to install a Veteran’s Memorial, specifically
honoring those who had a part in the Global War on Terrorism.&nbsp; They identified several spots in Taunton, and
finally decided upon the open space in Church Green, near the site of the
existing Vietnam Memorial fountain.&nbsp; The
design consisted of a six-foot tall tablet of Black granite stone.&nbsp; It bears the silhouette of a male soldier
kneeling and a female soldier standing in front of a battlefield cross honoring
a fallen comrade. &nbsp;The image of the cross
is made from the fallen soldier’s rifle, helmet, and dog tags. The words “For
those who served in the Global War on Terrorism” are etched on the stone. There
are also two walkways and a series of flags representing all branches of the
military.&nbsp; The walkways consist of 900
personalized memorial bricks in honor of U.S. veterans as far back as the Civil
War. The memorial was completed and dedicated in 2012.

Taunton’s Global War on Terrorism
Memorial is located right beside the city’s Vietnam Memorial, which consists of
a fountain and a stone that lists the names of 13 men from the city who died
while serving in Vietnam.

Each year in October, the Church Green hosts the
annual “Liberty and Union” festival.&nbsp; The
festival educates people about Taunton’s revolutionary history. There are
shows, music, activities, and vendors selling local handmade crafts and
edibles, as well as reenactments.&nbsp; It is
open to the public and free to attend.&nbsp;&nbsp;

Church Green is a historic center of the City of Taunton.  It consists of a small green area with a veteran’s memorial fountain and etched stone in its center.  At the northern end of the green sits the First Parish Church, a beautiful old structure dating back to the colonial era.  The Church Green, once known as Meetinghouse Common, is located at the southern end of Taunton’s Historic District where Main Street breaks into Summer Street and Dean Street.  It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.  

First Parish Church, located at one end of Church Green

Taunton Church Green

<div>The Taunton Central Fire Station is a&nbsp;historic fire station,&nbsp;located downtown at the corner of School and Leonard Streets,&nbsp;in Taunton,&nbsp;Massachusetts, is&nbsp;considered&nbsp;to be one of&nbsp;the oldest fire stations that are still operating today in&nbsp;the United States and is the oldest operating fire station in Massachusetts. In 1984, the&nbsp;Taunton&nbsp;station was&nbsp;placed&nbsp;on the National Register of&nbsp;Historic Places.&nbsp;The&nbsp;firehouse itself was constructed on July 19,&nbsp;1869, during&nbsp;the Ulysses S. Grant Administration.&nbsp;The&nbsp;structure was designed by Hartwell and&nbsp;Swazey&nbsp;of Boston and was built by Abraham Briggs of Taunton.&nbsp;</div><div>In 1912 the Taunton Fire Department&nbsp;got their&nbsp;first&nbsp;motorized Engine Company ran out of Central Fire Station. A little over a decade later,&nbsp;on&nbsp;April 2, 1924, the last horses that&nbsp;were used by&nbsp;the station&nbsp;was&nbsp;retired.&nbsp;Though, by&nbsp;that time, the&nbsp;only horse-drawn&nbsp;apparatus was Ladder 2.&nbsp;</div><div>The Taunton fire house's structure was overhauled that cost $2.1 million, which included a reconstructed basement and floor system&nbsp;composed&nbsp;of&nbsp;concert&nbsp;slabs that&nbsp;were made to handle the extreme&nbsp;weight&nbsp;of the fire trucks parked in the station&nbsp;and promote the longevity of the structure.&nbsp;Also, the station was brought up to the&nbsp;standards that comply with the&nbsp;accessibility&nbsp;of disabled persons.&nbsp;</div><div>Today,&nbsp;the&nbsp;station's&nbsp;2&nbsp;and a half story brick structure&nbsp;houses&nbsp;Taunton Fire Department's&nbsp;Engine 1, Ladder 1 "Snorkel," Heavy rescue 1, and the Battalion Chiefs vehicle. The Taunton Fire Department now employs 127 career&nbsp;firefighters&nbsp;and responds to about 11,000 calls annually,&nbsp;serving&nbsp;over 56,000 people.&nbsp;&nbsp;</div>

Built in 1869, Taunton Central Fire Station is located in Taunton Massachusets and is one of the oldest fire stations that's still in operational use today. Central Station received a $2.1 million renovation and serves over 56,000 citizens today.

Taunton Central Station

One of the most infamous crimes of the colonial period&nbsp;occurred at this home. Elizabeth
McKinstrey, the sister of Dr. McKinstrey of Taunton, was murdered by one of the family's slaves&nbsp;on June 4, 1763. &nbsp;The slave known as Bristol was only sixteen years old and&nbsp;had been working in the&nbsp;McKinstrey
household since being forcibly brought to America eight years prior.&nbsp;On the morning of the murder, Bristol had been in
the back yard tending to the doctor’s horse. Bristol tied the horse near the back door and came into the house to find
Elizabeth and a little girl (still unidentified) working in the kitchen. Elizabeth was starting to do some
laundry and asked Bristol to put some
flat irons on the hearth and instructed the little girl to go upstairs to grab
the ironing cloth. After the girl left
the room, Elizabeth bent over the hearth to check on her flat irons. For some unknown reason (the motive was never
clear), Bristol seized one of the flat irons and struck Elizabeth on the back
of the head, pitching her into the hearth and burning the left side of her
face. He might have struck her one more
time before he dragged her unconscious body downstairs to the basement of the
house. Bristol&nbsp;delivered a fatal blow to the
back of Elizabeth’s head with an ash, giving her a gash two inches long and one inch wide
in her skull. The young woman suffered another
twenty-four hours before she finally succumbed to her wound.&nbsp; 

After he struck her with the ax, Bristol
ran from the house, stole the doctor’s horse and escaped out of town. Sometime while Elizabeth was still languishing
in her bed, the slave was captured in Newport and returned to Taunton. Robert Treat Paine, most famous for his role representing Massachusetts&nbsp;in the First Continental Congress and as a signer the Declaration of
Independence, was a friend of the McKinstrey family.&nbsp; He hurried to their home as soon as he heard
the news of Elizabeth’s ordeal. Paine served as a pall bearer at her funeral and then was asked
to represent the accused slave in his upcoming trial.&nbsp;For twelve hours
after his arrest, young Bristol asserted that he was innocent. After twelve hours he reportedly admitted the crime and would later make his admission public.Paine's defense of the enslaved Bristol hinged upon alleged threats that had been made by&nbsp;another slave belonging to John
McWhorter. According to Bristol, tat slave had concocted the plot and threatened him should he not go through with the murderous
plot.&nbsp;&nbsp;When Bristol sat before the judge
in Superior Court, he was asked if there was any reason why the court should
not grant the request of the King’s Attorney (Samuel White) that he should be
sentenced to death. Bristol made no
response and was scheduled to be hanged on November 4, 1763, five months
after the murder. Paine’s secured a three-week reprieve for Bristol,
delaying his execution date to December 1, 1763. Bristol was hung within sight of his
victim’s grave and buried in the town of Berkley. His death was only the third case in Taunton’s
history to end in hanging. &nbsp;&nbsp;

The McKinstreys were eventually turned
away from the home because they were devout supporters of the British Crown.&nbsp;&nbsp;After Taunton’s Liberty and Union flag was
raised in the city’s center on October 21, 1774, the locals reacted to the
McKinstrey family’s scorn.&nbsp; According to
Two Men of Taunton: In the Course of
Human Events, 1731-1829, Mrs. McKinstrey,

<blockquote>…took no pains to conceal her contempt for the
Patriots. Her neighbors endured her scorn for a while; then, one morning, these
women of the New England Taunton, jealous because Mistress McKinstry was still
enjoying her afternoon tea, proceeded to her house on High Street (as the women
marched in Old English Taunton during Monmouth's Rebellion), dragged her from
her fireside, marched her down to the Green, and around the Liberty Pole in
humiliating token of allegiance.</blockquote>

In 1779, the doctor's house and property
were confiscated by the Massachusetts Legislature because of the doctor's Tory
sympathies during the Revolutionary War. In 1828, his property was sold. The
St. Thomas Church was built on his property and remains there to this day. The house still stands as the rectory for the
Church. The McKinstrey House was added to the National
Register of Historic Places in 1984.

Now the rectory for St. Thomas Church, this home dates back to the colonial period.  The home was the site of an infamous murder of a woman by one of the family's slaves. Future signer of the Declaration of Independence Robert Treat Paine defended the suspect. Several years after the murder trial had concluded, the American Revolution began and the McKinstrey family sided with those Loyal to the British government. Similar to other prominent royalists, the McKinstrey family's property was confiscated after the war. St. Thomas Church was built next to the house in 1828; the house remained on site and currently serves as the church’s rectory.  

McKinstrey House (Courtesy of SouthCoast Ghost)

McKinstrey House, St. Thomas Church Rectory

<div>

The Mount Pleasant Cemetery was
officially opened on July 4, 1836.&nbsp; It is
a “garden-style” cemetery as opposed to a simple, dreary burying ground.&nbsp; The cemetery was the first of its kind in the
City of Taunton and the third in the state.&nbsp;
The Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and the English Gardens are the
inspiration for these landscaped burial grounds in America.&nbsp; The first public garden was established in
Boston, near the common, just a year after the Mount Pleasant Cemetery was
opened.&nbsp; 

Mr. Samuel Crocker was a wealthy
businessman and politician in Taunton.&nbsp; In
1835, he deeded a parcel of his own land to be used for the new cemetery.&nbsp; Previously, the King family had their own
small burial ground on the land.&nbsp; Their graves
continued to lie in the new cemetery, as well as the graves of important
politicians and veterans of several wars, including Queen Anne’s War; the
American Revolution; and the War of 1812.

The cemetery was transferred to the
City of Taunton in 1985.&nbsp; In 2002, it
earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places.&nbsp; 

Who is buried in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery?

There are several men and women
buried in the Mount Pleasant Cemetery who were important to Taunton’s strong
history.&nbsp; 

Samuel Leonard Crocker
(1804-1883).&nbsp; Mr. Crocker was the man who
provided the land for the cemetery in the beginning.&nbsp; He was born in Taunton in 1804 and became an established
businessman and politician representing the area.&nbsp; He served as a member of the Massachusetts
Governor's Council in 1840 and then as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from the Massachusetts 2nd District from 1853-1855.&nbsp; Mr. Crocker also operated the Taunton Locomotive
Manufacturing Company for over 20 years as President (1862-83). He died in
Boston in 1883 and was interred at the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.&nbsp; 

Mr. Crocker was the father of
Sally Crocker (who married Edmund Hatch Bennett) and Mary Caroline Crocker (who
married Darius Nash Couch). 

Edmund Hatch Bennett (1824-1898)
was born in Vermont in 1824.&nbsp; He became a
lawyer and served as a probate judge in Massachusetts from 1858-63.&nbsp; He also served as the mayor of Taunton from 1865-67,
before he resigned 1867. Eventually, he became a law professor and died in Boston
in 1898.&nbsp; The epitaph on his tombstone
reads: “"Greatly Beloved." / "He rests from his labors, and his
works do follow him." 

Darius Nash Couch (1822-1897) was
born in Putnam County, New York in 1822. He served in the U.S. Army during the
Mexican War and as a general in the Union Army during the Civil War.&nbsp; Couch was also a naturalist and a
merchant.&nbsp; In 1865, he vied as a candidate
for Governor of Massachusetts.&nbsp; He didn’t
win that campaign, but he did serve as the U.S. Collector of Customs from 1866-1867.
He died in Norwalk, Connecticut in 1897.&nbsp;




</div>

Mount Pleasant Cemetery is located at the intersection of Crocker and Cohannet Streets in Taunton, Massachusetts.  It is the third “garden-style” cemetery established in Massachusetts. However, this burial ground is more than a place for the dead to rest in eternal peace.  It has an enchanting landscape, so that those still living who come to visit their deceased ancestors and friends can enjoy a scenic walk around the park with its short hills, gravel walkways and beautifully planted trees and shrubbery.  

George E. Wilbur Memorial at the Mount Pleasant Cemetery (Courtesy of the Taunton Daily Gazette) 

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