Photo from The Mystery of Medfield's 'Lady of Route 27' by Richard DeSorgher: For 61 years she has stood guard over Spring Street and
Route 27. Except for a brief move to the property behind the Sewer
Treatment Plant off Bridge Street in 1990-1991, she has constantly
observed the travelers heading north on Route 27.
She has no
official name, she is uniquely Medfield and she remains a mystery in
the conversations people have while driving by; “Who is that a statue
of?” “Is she a famous Medfield person?" “Why is she located there on
the former Kingsbury Homestead property?” “Was she a Kingsbury?”
She
clearly remains the most visible Medfield mystery. The above
description is, of course, referring to the statue that sits on the
knoll above Preservation Way, on the side of Spring Street and Route
27 and across from Kingsbury Pond. What is the story behind the majestic
lady that looks out inquisitively from her stone perch, always
watching and waiting year after year?
The story begins in 1950
when Amos Clark Kingsbury, owner of the Kingsbury Homestead and antique
shop on 145 Spring St., notices the statue sitting high above a
granite quarry while visiting the town of Addison, Maine.
Addison,
Maine is located in Down East Maine’s Washington County. Addison was
known for shipbuilding and quarrying. There were 83 vessels built there
between 1800 and 1900 and four major granite quarries in operation. By
1958 both industries had disappeared and with the closing of the last
quarry, the population reached a low point of 744. Right away Amos took
a liking to the statue.
“It resembles my mother (Lillian Phelps Kingsbury),” he exclaimed.
Purchasing the statue, he had it moved from high above the Addison
Quarry to his property in Medfield. Who was the lady turned statue? Why
was she placed overlooking the quarry in Addison, Maine? This we will
never know. Once she arrived in Medfield, she was placed outside the
antique shop, which in earlier times, was the homestead’s slaughter
house.
Amos Clark Kingsbury was a Medfield native and graduate
of the Medfield High School Class of 1916. During WWI he served in the
U.S. Marines, American Expeditionary Force, and fought in literally all
the major battles in France. Returning home after the war, he became a
charter member of Beckwith Post 110, American Legion.
After
the death of his parents he inherited the family 75-acre Homestead on
145 Spring St. Here he founded the Medfield School of Art, which was
located in the main barn. The School later became the Medfield Art
Galleries, an early forerunner resembling today’s Zullo Gallery. It
attracted artists and crowds from throughout New England. Kingsbury
also served the Town of Medfield for 35 years as our tax collector. He
married Blanche Marcionette on June 25, 1955. Diagnosed with cancer, he
died on Dec. 15, 1955. Blanche continued to run the homestead and now
antique shop until her death on March 15, 1987.
With the
marriage to Blanche Marcionette, the property left the hands of the
Kingsbury family and having no children, her nephew Phil Ford inherited
the homestead. The property was subdivided, with the Town of Medfield
buying Kingsbury Pond and developer Ralph Costello the land and
homestead across from the pond.
In 1990 Ford then donated the
statue to the Town of Medfield and it was moved to the rear of the
Sewer Treatment Plant waiting the town’s decision as to its next
location. However, developer Costello told the town that he would
welcome the statue back on the land and would donate the land the
statue stands on to the town so that it would remain public property.
It is today the only statue owned by the citizens of Medfield and it
continues to look out over Rt. 27, watching and waiting, as it has for
the past 61 years. |
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