JANUARY
Moon of the Popping Trees (Northern Cheyenne)
ABOUT THE QR PAGES – Welcome! Each month has the same QR code. Use it to access these monthly pages on the THS web page! We hope you enjoy your adventure down the ‘rabbit hole!’ Please feel free to ‘hop’ along your own paths and ‘Paws’ wherever your interests take you.
QR pages created by Chris Barnacoat and Laura Doell, with tech assistance from Bill Rideout.
Extra! Extra! Read all about it!!! To celebrate the Country’s 250th birthday, Townsend will hold a Parade and Old Home Day on June 20th 2026. Look out for further information on these pages.
Welcome to the January QR Pages! The theme for January is MOLASSES! Why? As a part of the Triangle Trade Route between the Americas, Europe, and Africa, molasses held a prominent place in America’s early economy. Unfortunately slavery was a major component, and each region became dependent on the other two in this cycle. Read more
January Trivia Question: This year, which month has two full moons?
The Great Molasses Disaster
More on Great Molasses Disaster 1919 Boston Great_Molasses_Flood Related Video
Joe Frogger Cookies (molasses cookies)
Recipe and background Information for the Joe Frogger cookie:
Recipe for Joe Frogger Cookies CBS news article on Joe Frogger Cookie
Special Feature: BROWN BREAD – a New England staple of days gone by!
Townsend’s ‘Traditional Brown Bread Revival’ Once a staple of “New England cuisine,” it’s time to revive the popularity of Boston Brown Bread, steamed in a can! Try the recipes and vote!*
Interesting Articles: The History of Canned Bread BritishFoodInAmerica
Fanny Farmer’s original recipe INCLUDES RECIPE TO TRY!
Revolutionary Pie – Colonial period; recipe predates canned goods INCLUDES RECIPE TO TRY!
Coffee Can Brown Bread w raisins INCLUDES RECIPE TO TRY!
Boston Brown Bread – a History INCLUDES RECIPE TO TRY!
Tasting History – INCLUDES RECIPE TO TRY!
Recipe for Brown Bread sold at last fall’s Bake Table Note: Sour milk and Butter milk are the same.
* WANTED! See the Comments page, after December’s page. We would like to know which recipes were tried; collect votes on favorites; and let you comment about the recipes and insert your own tried-and-true recipes. Maybe for a future cookbook fundraiser?
Moon Names
There are many cultures that have given a variety of names to the full moons that occur each year and vary from region to region according to the region’s natural cycles. The names featured for each moon come from a variety of tribes and are featured in the book, “Thirteen Moons on Turtle’s Back” by Joseph Bruchac and Jonathan London. There are always thirteen scutes (or “scales”) on ‘Old Turtle’s’ back and there are always thirteen moons. The Abenaki named the 13th full moon of the year ‘Big Moon.’ Perhaps this was the Blue moon, the second full moon in a month. It was also the 13th moon on Old Turtle’s back.
You’ll be over the moon with these sites:
https://www.almanac.com/full-moon-names A Moon by Many Names
Calendar Note: The first person born in Townsend, John Pat, was born to first settlers John and Mary Pat (or Patt, Patts, Pett, or Petts). Their house, most likely a cabin, was somewhere on the south bottom of Wallace Hill. Perhaps near the Harbor, where John Pat and Stevens built a sawmill and erected the original stone wall to create the original dam in 1733.
(Sources: https://www.sec.state.ma.us/divisions/mhc/preservation/survey/town-reports/tow.pdf and Sawtelle’s History of the Town of Townsend Middlesex County, Massachusetts from the grant of Hathorn’s farm, 1676-1878. “John Pat’s log-house was about half a mile easterly from the parsonage house on a road leading to the south end of Nissequassick Hill.”
Have you ever wondered why so many men went to fight? The certainly had plenty of grievances as listed in the Declaration of Independence to convince them it was all worth it. Find all the grievances listed in this calender.
Grievances
*The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
*He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.