
Rock Manor.”’ The Boston Athletic Association, for many 
years, has used the farmhouse for assembling and examin- 
ing the competitors of the April roth marathon, and at the 
“Lucky Rock,” near the house, the signal has been fired for 
the traditional 26-mile race from Hopkinton to Boston. 
Of the other three old farms, which had been prosperous 
in their days, little remains but the cellar holes of the large 
barns and houses, elaborately built stone walls, local 
granite slabs well-trod, old apple trees and groups of lilacs. 
We understand the Bixby family abandoned their farm 
sixteen years ago in the wake of an approaching woods fire 
which burned over a large part of that section of the town 
and leveled the buildings to the ground. Sections of the 
woods escaped the fire and many old trees are still flourish- 
ing there as landmarks. On the burned-over areas new 
vegetation has sprung up and 1s growing with much vigor. 
In olden days this area was proud of its great chestnut 
trees, many ghostly skeletons of which are still standing, 
stretched above the other vegetation. 
The wooded hillsides are abundant with flowering dog- 
woods, some laurel, wild flowers, and Christmas ferns. 
The soil 1s deep and rich, and moist even in the dry seasons. 
A few rippling brooks wind beautifully down from the 
hills, through the mossy rocks, over fallen logs, between 
masses of matdenhatr ferns and wild flowers. 
These wooded areas served a very practical purpose 
during the past winter months. We were able to supply 
many cords of wood for stoves and fireplaces, which, we 
are sure, must have helped the fuel situation a great deal 
during the shortage of coal and o1l. 
After the war 1s won and our Weston Nurseries’ boys 
are back from the fields of battle, we will develop the 
Hopkinton property into a modern nursery with fields of 
the finest plants we can grow. There our discriminate 
customers will be able to select the best 1n shrubs and trees 
for their own home grounds. There, too, where the land 
1s rocky and not suited for cultivation, we will set out 
specimen plants from all parts of the world to develop 
naturally in their own beauty. In this so-called arboretum 
our customers may see fully grown specimens of the shrubs 
and trees which they have selected from the nursery rows. 
[37] 
