The onlookers gathered at the spring fete on the banks of the Charles River stood in stunned silence as the constable and his assistants grabbed hold of Goody Sherwood and led her to the river. The gathering had been an occasion of jollity and mirth until the revelers realized what Goody Sherwood had been up to all afternoon- divining the future by reading the palms of the guests. Surely a sign of witchcraft! Once the constable was alerted, the unfortunate woman was dragged to the riverbank and placed in a wooden contraption known as a ducking stool. In order to prove her a witch, Goody Sherwood would be ducked in the water three times. If she survived the ducking and floated to the surface, she would be declared a witch and turned over to the proper authorities. If she sank to the bottom of the river her innocence would be proved…and her life lost.
Goody Sherwood (better known to the partygoers as Mrs. Elsie Sherwood of Maple Place) surprised the entire crowd by breaking free of her restraints and slogging through the muck back to shore where she was greeted with laughter and applause. The incident did not take place in 17th century Dedham, but rather in 1936 at the riverside home of Frederic Jesup Stimson, lawyer, writer and former ambassador to Argentina. The witch ducking was just one of many events held during the June “Puritan Fete” hosted by Stimson and his wife Mabel at their River Place estate known as “Two Rivers.”
The party at the Stimsons’ was part of a year-long series of events to commemorate Dedham’s tercentenary. The guest list at the fete was a Who’s Who of Dedham Society, including artist Lillian Westcott Hale and Dr. A. Lawrence Lowell, president emeritus of Harvard University. Many of the guests, dressed in Puritan garb, arrived by canoe to the Stimson home, which had originally been built on High Street by Fisher Ames and moved to River Place in the 19th century.
There is so much more to say about Frederic J. Stimson and the Fisher Ames house- be on the lookout here for future posts covering those topics. I will leave you with one more witch sighting from Dedham’s past- a mid-century Halloween card from Rust Craft. Happy Halloween!!
Jim Parr
