Sunset Lake ~ summer home of Bruce Barton - Foxborough, MA - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

FOXBOROUGH, 2 m. (town, alt. 296, pop. 5834, sett. 1704, incorp. 1778), was named for Charles James Fox, British champion of the American Colonies. In 1781 the Foxborough Foundry was established for casting cannon and cannon balls for the Continental Army. As a result of its rapid industrialization, the town in 1798 passed a pioneer eight-hour-day law for heavy industry providing '66 cents for eight hours' work and $1.33 for eight hours' work of a man and a team suffi- cient to carry a ton weight.'

It was the straw bonnet industry, however, which built up the town. Women and children braided and wove straw to help the finances. A certain Mrs. Cornelius Metcalf conceived the ingenious idea of adopting orphan children and putting them to work in the preparation of straw - a profitable combination of baby-farm, child labor and sweatshop. After the decline of the straw bonnet industry, the production of indicating, recording, and controlling instruments gained importance.

On near-by Sunset Lake is the summer home of Bruce Barton, author of 'The Man Nobody Knows.'

American-Guide-Series - Massachusetts: a Guide to its Places and People, p.612

---

Actually the home belonged to his father, William E. Barton, who was a writer as well. Both wrote with religion as a basis to writings. The estate sits on Sunset Lake and some of the land was sold off, 172 acres including the house to Massachusetts, now part of F Gilbert Hills State Forest.

Book: Massachusetts Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 612 Year Originally Published: 1937

Visit Instructions:
To log a Visit, please supply an original image of the Waymark.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.