A surprise awaited the Royalston Historical Society during the restoration of the cove ceiling at the society building. During the work, several signatures were discovered written on the beams, one of which dated back to 1876.
The 1876 signature was that of Erving White. At that time, the Historical Society building served the town as School House #1. “Someone, possibly a student, got up there and wrote his name,” said Royalston Historical Society president, Peter Kraniak. The second signature was believed to be that of ceiling builder, P.W. Griffith, which also had the phone number, 571-M, next to his signature. “I tried looking up name Griffith, but there was no one in Athol by the name,” Kraniak stated. “Anyone who knows who these people were can let us know. It would be nice to know information about who these people were,” he said.
The original cove ceiling had been replaced by a more traditional ceiling at some point, although the exact date of the replacement is unknown, Kraniak said. When the cove ceiling was uncovered during the restoration, it was also discovered that all of the original arches had been left up. Only approximately one dozen of those arches had to be replaced. The corner arches were also taken out and replaced. The work is being completed by D.P. Autio of Littleton. “David Autio took down ceiling. He and Pierre Humblet, a local resident, built the archways that needed to be replaced. The next step is blueboard on the cove ceiling and then start plastering,” Kraniak said.
Work began in the early spring and hopefully will be completed in June or July. There will be a reopening when it is completed, Kraniak stated. The restoring of the cove ceiling was funded by an anonymous donation to the society.
When moving items so that work on the ceiling could proceed, several items remained upstairs as they were too difficult to move. These included a bell from the First Baptist Church in West Royalston. The First Baptist Church was open from the late 1790s to the early 1900s. An organ and a piano as well as glass cupboards were moved to another storage room upstairs.
The society is also researching grants to assist in the preservation of historical items, especially paper items. Among these paper items, Kraniak said, are Revolutionary War-era materials dating from 1770, when the country was under British rule, and until 1804. The papers originally belonged to Mr. Daniel Woodbury, who was the town clerk for Royalston at the time when the town clerk worked from his home. “There are personal letters, legal documents and wills. There are also documents listing what Revolutionary War soldiers were paid, and papers listing promotions in military ranks under King George. After the revolution, the name of King George was crossed out and they added the governor’s name and still used the same form,” Kraniak stated. “Papers like that have to be preserved because they are so old; this is an early part of the history of the towns. These are the types of purchases we make through donations,” he continued.
Copies of these documents will be on display when the society reopens. For more information about the Royalston Historical Society or to contact them visit their website at www.royalstonhistorical.org