Chapter 4
BallardVale in the Early 20th Century
 

Boating on the Shawsheen

Even after the murder in August of 1900, local recreation still abounded in BallardVale. The German Club took  picnics down the river and Sunday school classes came to The Grove. One could take an excursion boat from Abbot Bridge (Central Street) down to the BallardVale Wharf.

Parker's on the Shawsheen was the place to go in the 1920s. In the early 1900s there was fun for everyone on the Shawsheen River - swimming and skating parties, hockey games and iceboating; and, especially, the wonderful water sports on the 4th of July: canoe races, canoe tilting contests and diving contests.

The Townsman reported that Parker's already had their canoes and boats and a canoe house when they built a new two-story building: the canoe house on the first floor and the dance hall above it. So instead of the train dropping passengers off at the Grove site, the trains were now stopping at the BallardVale Station to discharge passengers for a night of dancing at Jack 'O Lantern Ballroom to the music of well-known orchestras. As one local reported, "If it was too warm to dance you could always hire a canoe and cool off. The train would be back at midnight to take you home."

One of the families that rented canoes was the Serio family whose home was located "off Lowell Junction Road." During the 1930s, 40s and 50s, Frank Serio rented about 8 to 10 canoes from his boathouse during the summer. During the 1950s he had a boat called "Miami" that he also kept in the boathouse. The boathouse locally thus became known as the Miami Boathouse.

Canoeing on the river was much more popular then because Mr. Serio was allowed to raise the BallardVale Dam by two feet with heavy planks every spring. This kept the water level two feet higher than it is today and made a significant difference in all river activities. The planks to the Dam were removed each fall for the winter season and reinstalled each spring. The Serio family home and boathouse were later sold and became part of the old Reichhold property that is now known as the "Meadow Wood" conservation land owned by the Town.  

To be continued, next edition, Aug. 9, 2008