March 28, 2024

What Is the Spirit of Rehoboth?

Views of residents suggest an answer

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The town of Rehoboth, MA was established in 1643 and incorporated in 1645. It is one of the oldest towns in America, and the original Rehoboth contained parts of what are now 12 other towns in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It is a small town, a crossroads, and a right to farm community, but for residents, it is first and foremost, our home. The spirit of Rehoboth rests with its inhabitants. This innate sense of self and identity, of intrinsic being, is as hard to pin down as it is obscure a concept. What is the spirit of Rehoboth?

Community
“I think Rehoboth town spirit comes from the people and from the stories,” Reverend Sarah Weaver of the Rehoboth Congregational Church said. Reverend Weaver has been a resident of Rehoboth for five years now and her opinion that Rehoboth spirit comes “from the people” was echoed by several residents. Rehoboth has a population of about 12,000, and this comparatively small number (Taunton, for instance, has a population of almost 57,000) helps to insure an enduring sense of community.

It is often this sense of community that draws people to Rehoboth. Doug Kelley does not live in Rehoboth, but he has worked in the Dighton-Rehoboth school system for 25 years and owned a business in Rehoboth for eight. Currently the Dean of Student Activities and Athletics, he started his career in the school system as the Marching Band Director, a post which he held for 22 years. “I was so awestruck by the outpouring of people coming to help me,” he said, describing the first few years of his work with the marching band. Kelley’s time spent in Rehoboth has given him an appreciation for the closeness that small towns achieve. “Rehoboth is a place you can go where everybody knows your name” Kelley commented, “the knowing of each other, all of you… I can’t say that about my hometown of Mansfield, but I can say that about Rehoboth.” A lasting trademark of Rehoboth remains the inadvertent ties that develop between individuals in such a small town, and as an inherently human aspect, it is an integral part of the spirit of Rehoboth.

Location
The town of Rehoboth is located between Boston and Providence and is arguably the most rural town in the immediate area. Ask a Rehoboth resident to describe Rehoboth and they will almost always mention the rural atmosphere.
“If you love nature, this is the place to be,” resident Bill Dalpe commented. Victoria Doran, a resident since 1975 said that, “As soon as you enter Rehoboth, you’ve entered another lifestyle,” and her favorite thing about the town is “the beauty of Rehoboth.” Christine Ashman said, “it’s a small country town, it’s quiet, it’s peaceful.” Ashman bought her first house in Rehoboth in 2003, but when she moved in 2013 she remained in Rehoboth, where she plans to stay: “I’m not leaving, I love it out here.”

It is impossible to explore the spirit of Rehoboth without mentioning the trees, the winding roads, the slower pace. And yet Rehoboth is anything but isolated. “I have all the benefits of living in a small town but I can get to Target in 15 minutes,” Reverend Weaver said. Location is everything. And for Rehoboth, the location is a vital part to the atmosphere and spirit of the town and community. “We wanted to be in the country, but we didn’t want to be isolated either,” Doran commented, “We added onto our house twice because we loved our location so much.”

History
“Historically, it’s been agriculture,” Derek DeMello said of the spirit of Rehoboth, “it’s a town with an old spirit.” DeMello is a resident of Dighton, and is a social studies teacher at Dighton-Rehoboth High School, where he teaches a class on local history. He added that, “it attracts people who do want open space, who do want that agricultural vibe, that Rehoboth has had for centuries, really.”

The agriculture that DeMello described goes back to the town’s founding, and has continued to this day. You only have to take a drive through Rehoboth to see that, but the value placed on agriculture permeates the community. “I don’t think people realize really what a ‘right to farm community’ is until they go to Rehoboth,” Fiona McCann, who graduated from D-R last year said, “My roommate from college lives in Arlington; when she came down to visit she couldn’t believe how many cows she saw or how she actually saw somebody walking their llama on the side of the road or how there are farms everywhere.” She insists that “to describe Rehoboth, you have to mention the cows.”

Agriculture is not, however, the only important legacy that history has for Rehoboth. In 1643 Rehoboth citizens voted to pay a tax for education, and it is this historic event that leads to Rehoboth’s claim as the birthplace of public education in North America. The importance of education is not, however, a relic of the past for Rehoboth, rather the value of education continues to be of utmost importance to residents, and is the reason that many families chose to move here. “The schools,” Victoria Doran said, “they are paramount in the spirit of Rehoboth.”

The emphasis on education ties back to community and the family-oriented atmosphere of a rural town. “In Rehoboth, people care a lot about the younger generation, and making sure that you’re doing everything you can for your children, your neighbor’s children, and education,” Sara Enos, the valedictorian of the Dighton-Rehoboth High School class of 2016 commented, “there really is a lot of support.”

With over 350 years of history, Rehoboth is bound to have a complicated identity. Its resounding spirit, however, can be traced to a sense of community, the rural atmosphere, and the historical significance of agriculture and education. It is a cow town, a crossroads, a farming community, and a serene step back from the suburban and urban communities which surround it. “I don’t know if I’d come live again here,” Enos, who will be leaving for college at Boston University in the fall said, “but I’d always know that it’s home”

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