Oakham Living

We've been amazed to see all that goes on in a town this small.

Oakham has no business district. There's a packy down on Hwy. 148 near the new post office ('packy' is short for 'package store' which is what New Englanders call a liquor store / mini-mart). The 2 campgrounds each have a camp store which may or may not be open to non-campers. The only restaurant in town is at the Quail Hollow Country Club. That's it. No gas stations, no banks, no supermarket. Fortunately, we don't have to go far to find those things.

There's no shortage of services. Plumbers, electricians, landscapers, small engine repair, contractors, plasterers, tree cutters, snow blowers and pretty much anything that you can think of are here if you know where to find them. Fortunately, we know several life-long residents who seem to know everyone.

I've mentioned before that our house is in the town center. The Center is near the top of the hill in this hill town. The center is built around a commons that includes a beautiful bandstand. The library is across Maple Street from the commons. The old Congregational Church and Town Hall are across Coldbrook Road from the commons. At the side of the commons on Coldbrook Road is the old Post Office (now a residence, it's in pretty rough shape). On the Maple Street side of the commons is a vacant lot that was the home of a hotel/tavern/general store until it burned down.

Library

Bandstand and the Old (retired) Post Office

Congregational Church

Town Hall

Behind the Congregational Church is a cemetery that date back to the Revolutionary War and doesn't have any graves newer than about 1830. Moving toward our house from the church and cemetery is a level spot that is currently the site of the town ice rink when it gets cold enough. The cite used to be the home of  Methodist Church that was moved up from Coldbrook Springs. Later, the building housed the Methodist Cheese Factory.

Cemetery

Ice Rink (that's our house between Briar and Maya)

Behind the Methodist Church was a blacksmith shop that was owned and operated by one of the early residents of our house. Beside the Methodist Church (and across the street from our next door neighbor) is the ruin of a building that, according to the historical marker, used to be a carriage and sleigh factory.

Carriage and Sleigh Factory

Across Coldbrook Road from us is a small house called Rose Cottage. The woman who lived there died back in 2006 and no one has lived there since. The neighbors say very matter-of-factly that the house is haunted and that no one has been able to stay there. We've encountered a number of people back here that take their ghosts very seriously.

Rose Cottage

We live on what might be the only block in Oakham. The Commons is on our block and Maple Road and Coldbrook Road meet at the Commons. Maple goes up hill and takes a right turn at the top of the hill. We're at the corner of Coldbrook Road and Barre Road. Barre Road goes up the hill beside us to meet Maple Street. Maple Street continues as Barre Road at that corner and Oakham Center School and the Police Station / Fire Station / Town Maintenance Yard are just up Barre Road.

Blue pointer indicates our lot

Looking down Maple Street towards the Church and Town Hall

Oakham Center School

Police Station / Fire Station / Town Maintenance Yard

Oakham Center School goes through from Barre Road to Coldbrook Road. Near the school on Coldbrook Road is a gated stone paddock called a pound. In the old days, there were several of these around town. When your livestock got loose, they impounded them and you had to pay a fine to get it back.

Pound

The most of the structures around Town Center, down to and including the pound are about to be named a National Historic Site. Apparently, we'll be able to order a plaque or something for the house.

I kind of got away from what goes on in Oakham.

In the summer time, the town sponsors a number of Thursday night concerts at the bandstand in the commons. Most of the bands consist of guys in their 50's or 60's who have probably been playing together since high school. They're not great but it's free, good fun and it's just up the block.

In alternating years, the town hosts Oaktoberfest (in October if you can believe that) and the Town Block Party (mid-summer).

Oaktoberest includes food, music, carnival games, a bonfire and a ball roll to benefit the library (participants buy numbered balls, several thousand of which are then rolled down Maple Street into a shoot at the bottom with winners receiving donated prizes).

Niko and Maya enjoyed the magic show.

We all went for a very fast (35-40 mph) hay ride.

The Ball Role (left is looking uphill, right is looking down)

It was a cold day so we needed some hot chocolate.

The bonfire

The Town Block Party also has food and music but has a car show, softball game and a burn-out competition (this crazy competition has cars sitting between the library and town hall and burning most of the rubber off their tires).

The burnout

Several times per year, including Oaktoberfest and Town Block Party, there are 5k / 10k / 1 mile races that start and end at the commons. We've sat on our front porch and cheered them on (particularly the kids) a number of times.

Halloween is different here. All of the towns in the area seem to designate the date and time when trick-or-treating will take place. Our block is the only concentration of houses in town so we are trick-or-treat central. The town takes in donations of candy and distributes the candy to the houses in the area. Interestingly enough, last year they brought us candy and we had maybe 60 trick-or-treaters. This year, they didn't bring us candy and we probably had a couple of hundred.

At the end of trick-or-treating (5-7pm this year) the Fire and Police Departments sponsor a parade to to the Fire Station where they have a party. Last year there were 2 kids in the parade and they didn't pass our house. This year, the parade was well attended. They passed our house and went up Barre Road where costumed firefighters leaped out of our woods and attempted to scare the kids.

We decorated the town Christmas tree last year and are on tap to do it again. The tree is inside the bandstand. The decorating is followed by an official lighting with carols, refreshments and some sort of play that the church puts on.

The Christmas Tree

This is the 2016 tree. We had been trying to sell 8 strings of large LED lights (4 red strings and 4 blue strings) online and had had no success. The tree needed something to make it pop so we donated them to the town.

We even made it into the Barre Gazette this year. We enjoyed the last line about Yetta Willard not being pictured. Yetta is the dog and she is definitely pictured. Brian Huard took the picture and is the person not pictured. We've been teasing him about how easy it is to confuse him with Yetta.

Also in the Christmas theme, the Church holds a Christmas crafts sale each year.

Late each summer, the Historical Society promotes a Town wide Yard Sale. They promote it and charge $15 to list your sale in the flyer/map that they pass out at all of the entrances to town.

Government is run a bit differently here. Most local decisions are made via a show of hands at Town Meetings rather than at the polls. Town Meetings usually take place twice a year at the Oakham Center School auditorium (they used to be held in the upstairs auditorium at the Town Hall but it isn't wheelchair accessible). When we do need to go to the polls, we vote at the town hall and use ballots that look like they were made on a copying machine. We mark our ballots with a pencil and then feed them into a wooden box by turning a crank.

The the town offices seem to have very limited hours but we've come to realize that the Tax Collector and her husband own the packy. We can just about always get our questions answered there.

It's also been interesting to live in a town where the postmaster knows your address without being told.

Oakham Center School is the only school in town. Kindergartners and 1st Graders are all bussed to a school in New Braintree. New Braintree's 2nd through 6th graders are bussed to Oakham Center School. After the 6th grade, they all attend the regional schools in Barre.

One of the historical landmarks around town is a one room schoolhouse (there were several). I guess that I never quite understood why they had one room schoolhouses. There may have been as many children back then as there are now but, in the absence of automobiles, getting them all to a centrally located school with multiple grades and classrooms wasn't practical. The alternative was to scatter one room schools around town.

I've mentioned the Historical Society. They have a museum that is open one Sunday afternoon each month. I've mentioned that they support themselves through the town wide yard sale. This year, they also had a dinner at the country club (which we attended). They own an old hearse that has been on loan to Old Sturbridge Village. Sturbridge recently returned the hearse and the dinner was to raise money to add a barn at the museum to garage it.

Our local library is a bit different from what I've been used to. A while back, I was looking for a book to complete a series that I'd been reading. Boston Library didn't have it available as an ebook so I attempted to have a copy shipped to Oakham from another library in their network. When that failed, I mentioned it to the librarian. She ordered the book from the library and then, when it came in, delivered it to our front door.

-J-