Peaceful Meadows

Dad (Don Sr.) worked for many years at Peaceful Meadows Farm in Whitman. It was a short walk from the house he grew up in and was owned by his good friend Billy Hoag. I can remember going there with him and walking through the cow barns and being nervous that one might swat me with a tail or worse - poop on me. There were some chicken roaming freely, a cool hay storage room, and strange piping and equipment. I think dad was more of a maintenance man and machine operator (not a herdsman) and he occasionally drove a milk truck. The milk trucks were so exciting - with bins filled with little ice chips, milk, butter, eggs, etc...
(actually, another guy was the driver who came to our house and us kids would "sneak" into the truck and grab a few ice chips to eat while he brought the milk in - yes, the milk man delivered to our house will dad was away!). During the summer, Dad drove a supply of milk to Camp Squanto in Myles Standish Forest. I was amazed at how BIG the main dining hall seemed and there was a HUGE moose head hanging on the wall. As a little kid I was greatly impressed. Sometimes for a treat we would drive to the farm and get an ice cream cone (which is what Peaceful Meadows has been famous for over the past many decades). You could take your cone and walk inside the barn and look at the cows (and flies and poop) and even some goats.

I stopped there on my way home from Brockton today - got an ice cream and picked up a gallon of milk. There are only two cows left - a mother and calf for display. With Mr. Hoag old and ill and no local herdsmen to be found, the herd has been fostered out to a farm in Springfield. A bunch of friendly but unknown teens worked the ice cream stand. The woman in the store didn't know who Mr. Hoag was. Barns are empty and fields are getting over grown and new houses are encroaching all around. The Toll House (which was a mile up the road and a night job for Dad as a cook) burned down many years ago and replaced by condos and a Wendy's. Dad's childhood home (about halfway between the two) burned down 10 years ago, replaced by an AutoMart. Get ready to say goodbye to an icon and a childhood memory and a link to my personal history.