Ohio River 

Pendleton County-Boston

These Bostonians Unconcerned - It's Anniversary of Tea Party

By Ron Schoolmaster - Enquirer Reporter (December 14, 1975)

Transcribed by Nancy Bray, thanks Nancy!

The people of Boston, what few remain, aren't planning anything special for the Bicentennial. Most of them aren't even aware that Tuesday is the 202nd anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. (December 16, 1773)

This is a different Boston. Not the one that calls itself the Cradle of Liberty, the Hub of the Universe. This one isn't even the hub of Pendleton County, where it sits inconspicuously alongside the Licking River.

"Not much left of the old town anymore. Just a wide spot in the road," nodded Minnie Jacobs, who has lived most of her 81 years in this little burg 25 miles south of Newport on US 27. "No sir, not much left anymore."

Corn shocks sit where once was the main business district. Remnants of a river dam are all that remains of a once prospering lumber mill. The old graveyard behind the community church is overgrown with brush.

What happened to Boston? Nothing complicated, really.

"The older ones just died out and there wasn't anything here to hold the younger ones," shrugged Minnie, widow of the village blacksmith.

Not all the "younger ones" have gone. Minnie's daughter, two grandsons and two great grandchildren are still there, for instance. Her daughter works in Covington. One grandson goes to Cincinnati for a paycheck. And the other drives long-distance truck.

Exactly how many people reside in Boston is something no one knows for sure. A young man down the street from Minnie's was asked the question and began counting on his fingers. Actually, most think the figure is 150, give or take a few and counting houses on both sides of US 27.

"Then there's the trailer park. That helps, too," added Minnie.

Minnie can see the new trailer park from her front window. They call it Boston Heights for no apparent reason. Beacon Hill it's not, but it's a decent place to live. Better surely than the "old Kirby place," a landmark that sits on the same property but is inhabited these days only by the wind passing through, tugging at the wallpaper.

Aside from the trailer park, there's also the Licking Valley Co., from whence comes the area's supply of Shell Oil, and a metal fabricating plant, a division of Griffin Industries, that employs about 15.

"Things could be worse," agreed Minnie. "We don't have none of that - oh, what do you call it? - urban blight here."

Urban blight there is not. But most of what was once here is gone, too. The post office. The general store. The hotel. The dance hall. The school. And, of course, the sawmill.

"The old mill was what really made this town," explained Minnie. "I remember when I was a real little girl seeing logs coming down the river on rafts. They'd cut the timber in the mountains, then run "em down here on the rafts. But that was a long time ago." People hereabouts guess it's been maybe 75 years.

Most of what was Boston lives only in the memories of old timers and they, to, are disappearing - "dying out," as Minnie said.

To be sure, this Boston, like the "other Boston," has had it's prominent families. There are the Lowells, Cabots, or Kennedys, of course. But there are the Bradfords, the Becketts and the Kirbys - a few of whom are still around.

Ask for directions to the nearest descendant of a historically significant family, and chances are the response will be Robert Simon or the sisters Beckett.

Robert Simon, 52, resides with his 81 year old mother, Mrs. Mildred Bradford Simon, and a houseful of antiques - mostly junk, " he calls it - on a piece of country property that's been in the family since the late 1700"s or early 1800"s.

"Everything in here has a story behind it," said Mrs. Simon. "This place is filled with history."

"Some of it we keep in cans so that the mice won't get to it," added Robert, and architect who assisted in the design of Kings Island amusement park before being forced into retirement by a heart ailment.

He and his family moved back to Boston from Hyde Park in Cincinnati about 40 years ago when they were broke during the Depression. Robert, in more recent years, has been trying to reacquire the 3000 or so acres owned originally by his great, great grandfather, John Bradford. So far, he has only about 10% with little hope of getting more.

The Simons nonetheless, are genial hosts - serving wine made from blackberries grown on the property.

"Yes, Minnie was correct in saying that the mill was what made Boston." said Robert. "It once was, I've been told, the largest west of the Alleghenies. But then the flood came along and forced it to be moved to Butler (a nearby village where the sawmill is not longer, either.)

"A lot of people may not know this, "he added, "but there also used to be a distillery here. Owned by the Cowles, but I don't think any of them are around anymore."

Robert has intentions of eventually restoring the old sulfur well on family property. Minnie recalls when, during her youth, people from as far away as Covington and elsewhere would take the train to Boston just to fill their jugs with water good for curing the dysentery, constipation or whatever else ailed them.

The well, she remembered, also was a favorite gathering spot on Sunday afternoons for your people courting.

"Maybe that's why we're both old maids." joked Jewell Beckett. "There was always work to do out here on the farm so we were never able to to to the well."

The sisters Beckett, Jewell and Mabel, are among the most respected members of the community. Mabel taught school in Pendleton County for half a century - in Boston until 1936, when the school was closed.

"Our great grandfather came here from Virginia in 1779. We were both born right here in this house. And so were our father and grandfather," said Jewell. "But now I suspect it will leave the Beckett name. We have a niece and a nephew, but I don't know if they'd want to hang onto it."

The Becketts and the Bradfords are among families mentioned in an extensive genealogical survey by the late E. E. Barton, son of Boston's most beloved schoolmaster.

The Barton papers, now among the archives in the Pendleton County Public Library at Falmouth, along with the 1884 area atlas indicate that Boston was established in 1855. It's name apparently derives from the fact that the owners of the mill were from the Boston in Massachusetts.

Even before its founding, however, things were happening around what was to become Boston. A historical marker on the current townsite tells how the British, trying to control the Northwest and working in concert with the Indians, raided the area in 1780 and captured 470 settlers. The captives were divided - some sent to Detroit and others scattered among the Indian villages.

"Don't know if it's important or not," said Minnie, "but you know, there's another Boston down in Kentucky somewhere. That's why they call this place Boston Station. Officially, though most everybody knows it as just Boston. Had to change the name some because the post office was having the awfulest time keeping mail straight."

Whatever it was called, there was a time when the old town had some hot nights. Robert Simon shows a yellowed newspaper photograph of the defunct Boston Band which, in the good ol' days, kept the place hopping.

"Back then," said Simon, "people had to make their own entertainment."

In that way, at least, Boston's really not change much.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer
December 14, 1975 

Click here to view a map of Boston, Pendleton County, Kentucky 1883
Use your back button to return to "Memory Lane"


Note:
The Boston Tea Party was a raid by American colonists on three ships in Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773. Colonists disguised as Indians emptied 342 chests of tea into the harbor to avoid payment of a British tax on tea. The British response helped unify the colonists and brought the colonists closer to movement for American independence.

"Return to Memory Lane"