STAG ECO A CII, PA CKE 7 ', AND KA ILWAY. 44 1 



town was an event long cherished in memory. It was 

 made for Major John Pratt, of Beechwood, by Andros 

 Wood, the local wheelwright. The box was about sixteen 

 inches deep with a seat * resting upon two long strips of 

 ash or oak for springs. The body had no springs, but 

 rested upon the axles. 



Major Pratt drove down Beechwood Street through the 

 central village with his white horse between the shafts of 

 his monstrous vehicle, making a stunning impression as 

 well as a deafening noise, for it rattled furiously. " It 

 was an occasion equal to a Fourth of July," says one who 

 saw it when a boy. One of the neighbors who heard the 

 thing coming down the street said she "hoped never to 

 live to see such another, for the noise was awful." 



But the reign of two-wheeled chaises was doomed at 

 that time ; the four-wheeled vehicles had come to stay, and 

 so great has been the improvement within our borders 

 that Cohasset has few equals in the possession of elegant 

 turn-outs. 



Before passing to the account of our railway there is 

 one more method of public conveyance to be spoken of, 

 namely, the packet. It has been intimated already that 

 much of our travel to Boston was done upon the water in 

 our fishing boats. P'or many years there were no regular 

 trips made for the purpose of carrying freights, but people 

 got accommodated as boats might happen to be going. 

 The two sloops, Mary, of twenty-nine tons, built in 1797, 

 and Sally, of forty-two tons, built the next year, both for 

 Samuel Bates, might have been used for a time as packets, 

 but not until some time after 1800 was there a steady 

 service. 



The Hingham packets were running at this time and as 

 early as 1754. Cohasset people who chose to go by the 

 Hingham sloop used to walk the four or five miles neces- 



*The seat is still in existence, owned by Aaron Pratt, the son of Major John 

 Pratt. 



