Creating a pollinators’ paradise

Conservancy helms volunteer project at Lead Mills

BY WILLIAM J. DOWD

Under an overcast sky Saturday, April 29, over 100 volunteers contributed to the Marblehead Conservancy’s ongoing effort to transform the Lead Mills Conservation Area into a vibrant wildflower meadow.

To that end, families, trail volunteers, Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts partook in a variety of activities for three hours across the 4.5 acres of open space.

“We have piles of wood chips that were laid along the paths to make it easier to walk on,” said Maureen Ashley, who organized the day of service. “We’re doing some beach cleanup. We’ve got some strong Boy Scouts cutting up some tree limbs that we had to take down.”

She added, “We have some 250 flower plugs that we’re planting on the top of a hill.”

At the top of that hill, Nina Robertson oversaw the work of a dozen fastidious workers, who punctured evenly spaced holes for planting flower plugs. They packed soil and wood chips around each.

“We’ve chosen five flowers: world milkweed, New England aster, mountain mint, golden Alexander and goldenrod,” Robertson explained. “We’ve always selected flowers native to this area.”

The efforts will create not only a sea of vibrant colors for people to enjoy but also an oasis of pollen and nectar for pollinators: milkweed for monarch butterflies, goldenrod for ladybugs and moths, golden

“Dr. Story was born in 1743 and was 30 years old in 1773. He had already had quite the storied life in colonial Boston,” said O’Brien. “He was a doctor and a surgeon and had his own practice in Boston.”

Story was one of about 150 Sons of Liberty members who dressed as Mohawk Indians and dumped 342 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor in protest of the Tea Act of 1773, a key event leading up to the American Revolutionary War.

“There has always been an air of mystery and secrecy surrounding who was involved,” said O’Brien. “Many participants swore an oath of secrecy to never reveal the names of those involved.”

Story not only took part in the destruction of tea but also volunteered to guard The Dartmouth, the first of the East India Company ships after it arrived in Boston in November 1773. The ship was carrying about 114 chests of tea. Story’s involvement in the Revolution did not cease

Alexander for sweat bees. The variety’s bloom schedule will sustain pollinators — beetles, birds, honey bees, bumblebees — throughout the growing season. For instance, the goldenrod blooms in late summer and early fall. Milkweed’s peak blooming period overlaps with summer months. Wild lupine blooms from May to June.

“There are a lot of pollinators that only pollinate with a few different kinds of plants,”

Morgan said. “And most of them are being endangered because we’re planting foreign plants in our yards.”

So, the Marblehead Conservancy’s efforts are restorative, too, cultivating native habitats and mitigating biodiversity loss from humans.

Bob French was heartened to see an uptick in younger families and people getting involved in the work.

“It builds ownership and awareness,” said French. “We’re trying to build ownership of our natural open spaces.”

Although Marblehead is a mere 4.5 square miles, the town boasts five miles of woodlands, wetlands, wild meadows and tidal estuaries, French noted.

“We want people to know that the town has all these conservation lands, many within walking distance of their homes,” he said. “To know them is to build ownership.” before, during or after the Tea Party. Doliber noted one could find Story at several pivotal moments. “Not only was he involved in the Tea Party, he’s at Lexington. He’s at Concord. He’s at Bunker Hill,” Doliber told Sunday’s crowd. “He’s at the Jersey Campaign right through 1777.”

The Lead Mills property sits on the Salem-Marblehead line. The two communities acquired the open space in the 2010s for conservation and recreation.

Today, it abuts and links a rail trail, Forest River and Wyman Woods.

According to 2014 plans for the site, the property was once a hub of local industry, as a grist mill in 1734 and a lead manufacturing plant in 1831. The lead mills produced 6,000 tons of white lead per year, which was used for everything from paint pigments to Civil War bullets.

A 1968 fire razed the structures on the property to the ground, and the site lay dormant for decades.

He was even present during the Boston Massacre trial, witnessing several testimonies.

According to his pension records, he also assisted in stealing cannons from Boston Common.

Samuel Roads, author of “The Histories and Traditions of Marblehead,” writes that Story fought in early Revolutionary War battles but was “forced to abandon duty as a soldier for that of a surgeon in removing and attending to the wounded.” After the war, he settled in

Marblehead and continued his practice, contributing to the post-war development of the community, according to O’Brien.

Story and his first wife, Ruth, had seven children, and he and his second wife, Mehitable (Pedrick), had 11 children, making him the father of 20 children. Story and Mehitable’s eldest child, Joseph Story, would become — and remains — the youngest justice ever appointed to the United States Supreme Court at 32 years old. He served on the high court for 34 years until his death in 1845.

“Joseph Story had the opportunity to write about his father,” said Doliber. “He described him as a handsome man with auburn hair, and then later on bald, quick to observe, understanding father, dedicated to the citizens of Marblehead, supporting inoculation for smallpox — just an amazing man.”