If you happened along the road from Warwick to North Orange in the 1800s, you might have noticed a woman walking along wearing a dark green cloak and carrying a carpet bag left over from the Civil War. This woman was Zylpha Smith. Clare Green, trustee of the Warwick Historical Society, has portrayed Zylpha at Warwick Old Home Days and other events, to encourage interest in Warwick’s history and the Warwick Historical Society.
Zylpha Smith was born in 1815 and lived along the base of Mount Grace in a cabin with her sister, Esther, and her parents, Levi and Lydia. Zylpha’s name came from the Bible and was derived from a Hebrew word meaning babbling brook. Her parents may have named her after their surroundings, Green believes. Zylpha attended one of 10 schoolhouses in the Warwick at the time.
As an adult, Zylpha found herself engaged. She kept busy working on her hope chest and had her wedding dress all set. Her fiancé, who is unnamed in historical records, went to Boston on business and never returned. In Green’s portrayal, she refers to Zylpha’s fiancé as “He who has no name in my heart.” Clare explains, again as Zylpha, that, “When my hope chest closed, so did my dreams.”
“My conjecture is she felt ashamed and after this slowly became a recluse,” said Green. “She kept her wedding dress hanging in the cabin for a while after she had been jilted and it is said children walking by would try to sneak a peek into the cabin to see it.” The townspeople soon named her Aunt Zylpha, for although she was not an aunt, she was called this so that children would know that she wouldn’t hurt a flea, Green believes.
Zylpha was fiercely independent, said Green, citing an article remembering her in the Orange Enterprise and Journal, which stated that Zylpha had said, “I’ll be taking no charities.” Zylpha supported herself by making palm leaf hats, of which in the 1850s three million were made in the state. “She walked the seven miles to North Orange to sell the hats and walked back with more palm leaves to make more hats.”
There were only three women in town she would accept food and assorted items from: Experience Sibley, Maria Stevens and Mary Ball. The Balls also provided Smith with a pair of boots from Nathum Jones’ Boot Shoppe, which stood where the Warwick Town Hall now stands, Green said.
Eventually, Zylpha’s cabin caught fire and burned. She fixed it up as best she could. When Dr. Ball came to check on the cow he found Zylpha and the cow starving, living together. Zylpha was relocated to the Stevens home with the town paying the rent. Later, Zylpha was moved to the Warwick Almshouse, now a private home that is still standing on Route 78, three to four miles down from where Zylpha’s cabin stood, said Green.
Zylpha died of pneumonia in early February of 1885. Although there are cemetery stones for Levi, Lydia and Esther, no one knows where Zylpha is buried. The Rich Cemetery in the woods beyond the almshouse may be where residents of the Almshouse were buried, Green added, “She is one life of many of those who have gone before us,” Green said.
Green’s interest in Zylpha Smith began while taking a North Quabbin Guide Training Program through North Quabbin Woods. The program involved 1,600 hours of study regarding the nature and history of the Quabbin area. Each guide had to do a culminating project, highlighting a town’s history. “I chose to become Aunt Zylpha and show the history of Warwick through her eyes at that time.”
Green has also portrayed other historical characters including Clara Barton, Sacajawea on the 200th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and Emily Dickinson. Most recently, she played Orra White Hitchcock, wife of Edward Hitchcock, the famous geologist of Amherst. A booklet about Aunt Zylpha can be had by e-mailing Green at dclara_2000@yahoo.com.
Carla Charter is a freelance writer from Phillipston. Her writing focuses on history with a particular interest in the history of the North Quabbin area.