March 29, 2024

Rebecca Smith Has Shared Her Love of History for More than 20 Years

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Rebecca Smith is always happy to talk to people about the history of Rehoboth. She is considered one of the most knowledgeable people in town when it comes to the town’s history. After 24 years on the Historical Commission, she is stepping down, but she will continue to be involved in her many volunteer activities.

The seven-member Historical Commission has a chairman, secretary and treasurer and Smith has served in all of those roles at various times over the years. Smith feels it is time for her to move on and give others the opportunity to serve. “I think it’s probably been long enough for my term,” she said with a smile. “I wrote to selectmen and said we have a couple of really good people interested in being on the historical commission. I think it’s time to let someone else take a chance,” Smith added.

Smith, who has lived in Rehoboth for more than 50 years, has been interested in history most of her life.
When her children were young she would frequently take them to the Carpenter Museum. During that time, she became involved with other people in town who were involved in Rehoboth’s history and when an opening came up on the historical commission, she was appointed.

Smith dedicates a great deal of time to several volunteer activities.  In addition to her work on the Historical Commission, Smith has been involved in Girl Scouts as a Troop Leader and has helped the Animal Shelter advertise animals available for adoption for many years. Smith is also heavily involved in the Antiquarian Society, serving as the president of its board and as a member of the Society for more than 20 years. The Antiquarian Society is a non-profit organization that operates the Carpenter Museum, Blanding Public Library, and the Arts in the Village music series.

The Historical Commission and Antiquarian Society often work together, but Smith felt it was time to give up wearing two hats. “It’s good to have new, enthusiastic people and I thought that I should concentrate on the Antiquarian Society and give some other people a chance to be on the Historical Commission.” Smith said.

What is it about history that fascinates Smith? “It’s about people and how they lived and what their life was like and I find it very interesting to try and imagine life in different times,” Smith said.
Smith’s colleagues say she has been a valuable member of the Commission. “Rebecca Smith has been a mentor not only to me, but other members of the Commission as well. She has extensive knowledge of Rehoboth history that we try to preserve,” said John Carr, Secretary of the Commission, who has served for seven years.

Sharon Beskid, who currently serves as President, praised Smith for “her diligent service” to the town and commission. “She has such a great knowledge of our town’s history. She’s always so kind and helpful and so giving of her time. It’s great,” said Beskid, who has also served on the Commission for seven years.
“She will be missed,” Beskid said. Cathy Potter, who has been on the Commission for more than 10 years, says Smith is a “wealth of information” on the town’s history and she has a knack for being able to read old documents. “Most of us have a difficult time reading them (the historical documents). She can read them right off, which is really remarkable,” Potter said.

Several years ago Smith helped Potter read and interpret a diary written by a girl in the 1870’s for the publication called “Mary Thrasher’s School Diary.”  “Rebecca couldn’t put it down. She read the whole thing in one day. It was a big help. The way she understood the diary, I thought that was very special,” Potter said.

Smith has enjoyed her time on the Historical Commission and says “it’s been very interesting.” “It’s a low-key commission with a pretty small budget, but we try to do what we can to publicize the history of the town, putting signs at various historic sites,” Smith said.

Over the years, the Commission has marked more than two dozen historical sites throughout Rehoboth with signs and also oversees Hornbine School, Anawan Rock and Liberty Tree Park.  (Liberty Tree Park is on the site of a documented “liberty park”, where the militia would gather if there was an alarm during the Revolutionary War.) The Commission has also put together several publications including a guide to historic locations in town, “Rehoboth, Massachusetts – Guide to Historic Sites,” published in 1995. It was the first time such a booklet was compiled. It includes a map, pencil drawings, photos and a brief history of each site. A revised edition was published in 2017 because additional sites were identified. “The impetus for producing the booklet was to make people more aware of the historic sites and to help them find them if they wanted to visit,” Smith said.

Another publication of the Historical Commission is “In Old Rehoboth Book II” published in 2008. Book I was published before Smith’s time, possibly in the 1980s, she says.  It contains a collection of short stories focusing on interesting things about Rehoboth. Otis Dyer Jr., another local historian who passed away in 2016, wrote a number of the stories.

Smith also volunteers regularly at the Carpenter Museum. She used to bring her three children there when they were young and now she teaches other children there.  Third graders from Palmer River Elementary take a trip to the museum every year and Smith demonstrates fireplace cooking for the youngsters. “It’s a lot of fun. The children seem to enjoy it. They get to try the food afterwards, like gingerbread and corn chowder,” Smith said. “She’s done that for years and years,” says Potter. “She always dresses in proper clothing and works with the children beautifully.”

Smith also has an interest in genealogy. “I’ve done quite a bit with genealogy over the last decade or so,” Smith said. One day she was at the museum and picked up the Carpenter family volume, remembering that there was a woman named Desire Carpenter who married into her family. She wondered if the woman was in the book and she was. “Then I discovered I had ancestors in early Rehoboth which was kind of cool,” Smith said. “There’s a joke that everyone in Rehoboth is descended from William Carpenter or the house that the family lived in. You can track down a connection if you try hard enough,” Smith said.
Smith says that history is about connections. “I look on studying family history and community history as ways of finding connections through people,” Smith said.

Rehoboth has a rich history and with the town celebrating its 375th Anniversary this year, there are many events going on that highlight the town’s past.  “A place needs people to care about it and Rehoboth needs people to care about it, to want it to be a good place for everybody. I think that understanding some of the history can help,” Smith said.

Smith doesn’t have any specific plans for the future other than continuing to pursue her many interests. She has told the Historical Commission that she is available if they need her. “To know that she’s always there for help and guidance is a very good thing for the Commission,” Potter said.

The Historical Commission meets September through June on the second Thursday of the month at 7:30 pm at the Carpenter Museum. Meetings are open to the public.

To Learn More About Rehoboth’s History and Family Genealogy

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