Natick: The First Praying Indian Town
In 1651, missionary Rev. John Eliot established Natick as the first of the “Praying Indian” towns in Massachusetts. He named the town after the Natick American word Natick, translated as a place of hills or a place of searching. He worked closely with local Massachusett and Nipmic people, teaching them Christianity in their native tongue and translating the Bible into Algonquian, launching America’s first Bible printed in an Indigenous language
On this site, in South Natick, the first Indian meetinghouse was built. It served not only as a church but also as a public town meeting house for the Indigenous community living here
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The Peletiah Morse Tavern
Within less than a mile from my home lies the historic heart of South Natick. From the legacy of the Praying Indians to the colonial homes and 19th-century landmarks that still line the streets, this small village holds a deep well of history waiting to be shared Today, I share one of these colonial treasures, the Peletiah […]
Home of Calvin Ellis Stowe
This 1816 Federal-style home in South Natick was the childhood home of Calvin Ellis Stowe a biblical scholar and later the husband of Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Calvin Stowe became a scholar of Hebrew and biblical literature and met Harriet Beecher at the Lane Seminary in Cincinnati. They married in 1836, […]
The Harwood Baseball Factory
In 1858, Harrison Harwood, a Natick resident and local businessman, built what would become one of the most historically significant small factories in American sports: The Harwood Baseball Factory. This factory was more than a local industry, but the birthplace of professional baseball. Harwood’s factory was the first in the US devoted entirely to the manufacture of […]
