… There is a Lincoln neighborhood known as “Fertile Valley”?
You won’t find Fertile Valley marked on a map, but you can walk its borders on a pleasant afternoon and smile at a bit of Lincoln history. From the Five Corners watering trough, it extends north on Bedford Road to Bemis Hall, northeast along Old Lexington Road and Lexington Road to the Flint farm, east along Trapelo Road to the DeNormandie farm, and down Weston Road to the Pierce House.
Fertile Valley was the site of two dairy farms and productive backyard gardens, but it earned its reputation (with a wink and a smirk) in the late 1940’s and 1950’s for its crop of kids.
After World War II, many young families moved to the Valley to raise children, joining the older Lincoln families in long-established houses of the Historic District. The Paul Norton family topped the list with seven children, and the families of Jim DeNormandie, Fred Taylor, and Gordon Donaldson had five apiece. Every household had at least one youngster.
Typical of American neighborhoods in the post-war era, kids of all ages were raised together by parents in cahoots. Mothers were at home, volunteering their talents to town, school, and church, while their husbands commuted to jobs outside of Lincoln. School was an easy walk or bike ride, first to the Center School (now the Town Offices) and as the kids grew older, to the new Smith School. Every season in Fertile Valley was tailored to family activities—tobogganing and skating, horse riding, Sunday baseball in the back field, and July 4th parades.
The entire Valley was open to free range kids. They romped through fields and over fences, teaching one another how to ride bikes, ski and sled, blow bubble gum, and catch pollywogs. Parents were confident that the big kids would keep the little kids out of trouble and that, sooner or later, everyone would re-emerge for meals, as indeed they did!
Lifelong friendships, values, and lessons endured as Valley kids went forth into the wider world.
Times have changed, and the Valley is now home to only a few children. Yet some of the old gang still live in the Valley, a few in the houses where they grew up—two each of DeNormandies, Donaldsons, and Flints, plus a Bergen, a Browne, a Jevon, and a MacLean.
And of course, with each springtime, there will still be pollywogs to be caught.
Do you have stories and photos to share about your neighborhood? Contact us and join us in exploring the histories of Lincoln’s neighborhoods.
Craig Donaldson
The Lincoln Historical Society
December 2020