Cemetery Walking Tour Highlights Historic Causes of Death

"The Doctor Is In" will walk through the old section of the Vine Lake Cemetery on Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon. This is the first in a series that will continue in the spring.

  On Sept. 29, the Vine Lake Preservation Trust will sponsor a walking tour called, "The Doctor Is In…" which will highlight selected citizens, their gravesites, and explain their causes of death between 1745 and 1849.  This initial tour is scheduled for Saturday from 10 a.m. to noon in the Old Section of Medfield’s Vine Lake Cemetery. Early Medfield citizens died from a variety of conditions, many of which are not as terminal or well-known now as they once were.   Sam Forman, M.D., and Rob Gregg, president of the Vine Lake Preservation Trust, will partner in the first in a series of informative walking tours whose intent is to describe why and how death occurred and at what age.   Guests will visit the gravesites of selected persons to …

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Vine Lake Preservation Work Session on Friday

Anyone interested in learning how to clean and reset gravestones is invited to meet in the cemetery on Friday morning.

The Vine Lake Preservation Trust will hold a work session on Friday at which they will clean and reset gravestones.  Organizers say no experience is necessary and all supplies will be provided. “If you’ve never done this before, training will be provided that day,” says the Vine Lake website. “Come join us, you’ll have a good time, and enjoy the company of other volunteers.”  Vine Lake Cemetery was laid out in 1651 (the year the town was incorporated) and is on the National Register of Historic Places.  Aside from a small cemetery on the grounds of the former state hospital, it is the only cemetery in town. The Medfield Historical Commission has described Lake Cemetery as a "working museum of American cemeteries since the European …

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Rob Gregg Receives 2012 Historic Preservation Award

The Historical Commission has given the award to Gregg, president of the Vine Lake Preservation Trust, for his work with the Vine Lake Cemetery.

The Historical Commission awarded its 2012 Historic Preservation Award to Rob Gregg for his work at the Vine Lake Cemetery and the creation of the Vine Lake Preservation Trust.   “We want to honor someone who has done a terrific job revitalizing one of Medfield’s oldest and most important historic assets, Vine Lake Cemetery,” said David Temple, co-chair of the Historical Commission whose charge is to make sure that Medfield’s rich history is considered and protected as town development decisions are made. “I’ve known Rob Gregg for years, and he’s always been very interested in history and genealogy,” said Temple as he presented the award at the July 3 meeting of the Board of Selectmen.  “I have sometimes described Rob, in best possible …

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Selectmen Meeting Notes

Selectmen’s Meeting Notes: Meeting Culminates in Presentation of Historic Preservation Award To Rob Gregg

The Medfield Board of Selectmen met Tuesday at Town Hall to discuss the following town business.

The Board of Selectmen held a brief meeting on Tuesday that culminated with the presentation of the Historical Commission’s 2012 Historic Preservation Award being given to Rob Gregg. Historical Commission co-chair David Temple presented the award to Gregg for his work with the Vine Lake Preservation Trust, a nonprofit charitable corporation promoting appreciation and preservation of the cultural, historical, and natural resources in the town’s Vine Lake Cemetery (founded in 1651). A full board was present including Ann Thompson, Osler "Pete" Peterson, and Mark Fisher; as well as Town Administrator Michael Sullivan and Assistant Town Administrator Kristine Trierweiler.  Other business included: Action Items: Medfield State Hospital Update …

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Selectmen to Meet Tonight

Tonight's agenda will include appointment of board, committee and commission members as well as recognition of Rob Gregg and his work with the Vine Lake Preservation Trust.

The Medfield Board of Selectmen will meet tonight at 7 p.m. at the Town House. The agenda includes : At 7:30 p.m., the Medfield Historical Commission will give its annual Historic Preservation Award to Rob Gregg for his work with the Vine Lake Preservation Trust.

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PHOTOS: Patriots' Day Unveilings at Vine Lake Cemetery

Many gathered Monday at Vine Lake Cemetery to listen to author, Dr. Samuel A. Forman speak about Medfield's own "Daughter of Liberty," Mercy Scollay, and receive the new cemetery map.

On Patriots' Day in Medfield, under a hot sun and 85 degree temperatures, author Samuel A. Forman stood near the gravesite of Mercy Scollay in Vine Lake Cemetery.  Forman was dressed in period militia uniform and had just returned from the Battle Green in Lexington. He spent the morning in Lexington as a Minuteman reenactor, battling the British.  "I am sad to report that we lost to the British again; for the 237th time," he said. Forman is a physician, historian, educator, and author of "Dr. Joseph Warren: The Boston Tea Party, Bunker Hill, and the Birth of American Liberty." As part of the Vine Lake Preservation Trust Patriots' Day event, Forman travelled to Medfield to honor Miss Mercy Scollay, read some of her works, and gave a …

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Needham Bank Donates $3K to Vine Lake Preservation Trust

Contribution to fund historical tour map of Medfield’s Vine Lake Cemetery.

NEEDHAM – Needham Bank, with five branches throughout the greater Boston area, is proud to announce its support of Medfield's Vine Lake Preservation Trust. Needham Bank’s contribution will be used to underwrite the cost of design and production of “Walk Among the Shadows,” the first self-guided tour map of the Old Section in Medfield’s Vine Lake Cemetery, which is designated a National Historic Place by the National Park Service. “Needham Bank is greatly appreciated and recognized for its continuing support of the Trust’s initiatives to interpret the cultural and historical resources within the 361 year-old cemetery,” said Rob Gregg, President of Vine Lake Preservation Trust. “The Bank’s generosity makes possible the completion of a goal …

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A 'Ghostly' Experience in a Historic, if not Haunted Medfield Home

Medfield's Rob Gregg, president of Vine Lake Preservation Trust, recently shared a story with the Boston Globe of the encounters he has experienced in his historic home on South Street.

Despite the Town of Medfield "postponing" Halloween until Friday, Nov. 4, Monday is the eve of All Saints' Day and what better way to stay in the spirit of the day than to share a ghost story that takes place right here in Medfield? On Oct. 27, the Boston Globe published a story shared by Medfield's Rob Gregg and his wife, Ginny. Gregg, the president of Medfield's Vine Lake Preservation Trust, told the Globe's James O'Brien in a recent interview that he and his wife have had encounters with spirits in their historic home on 52 South St. Gregg told the Globe that he bought the house, built in 1845, in 1973 and has lived in it since. In 1997, he experienced his first encounter with a "ghostly spirit," upstairs in his workroom.  His wife …

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Remembering Medfield's Civil War Soldiers

Vine Lake Cemetery's Civil War Walking Tour was held on Oct. 15.

The sound of a lone drummer could be heard all across the old section of Vine Lake Cemetery Saturday morning (Oct. 15) as the crisp autumn wind blew the trees and the fallen leaves. Soldiers marched in formation from gravesite to gravesite and Vine Lake Cemetery came alive to honor the memory of 24 Civil War veterans interred there. As this year marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, Rob Gregg, president of the Vine Lake Preservation Trust, led a walking tour throughout Vine Lake Cemetery to commemorate and honor 24 of the 53 soldiers from Medfield who are buried there and fought in the Civil War.  An image of one of them, Allan Alonzo Kingsbury, a soldier and bugler, was on the cover of the walking tour handout. Kingsbury, killed …

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A Closer Look at the Medfield Men Who Gave Their Lives During the Civil War [Video]

The Medfield Historical Society presented "The Medfield Men Who Gave Lives During the Civil War" Monday night at the First Parish Unitarian Church on North Street.

The basement of the First Parish Church was full Monday night as the Medfield Historical Society presented “The Medfield Men Who Gave Lives During the Civil War (1861-1865).” Twelve Medfield soldiers died during that war with many of the names – Frank Chenery, James Chenery, John Chenery, Richard Derby, Joseph Hardy, Allan Kingsbury – recognizable today. The bodies of seven soldiers were never returned to Medfield. One hundred and fifty years earlier, Medfield residents gathered in the same spot for a town meeting after being asked by the Recruiting Committee to “bravely do your part in striking down the Rebbellion [sic], which for the sole purpose of perpetuating slavery, seeks to destroy this blessed Union and all our Free Institutions, …

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