Old Oaken Bucket Postcard
Ca. 1975 color postcard featuring the Old Oaken Bucket, located on Rt. 110 where the 99 Restaurant is today. The restaurant was opened by Valentine Friedrich in 1928, and it was originally called “Friedrich’s.” It was renamed “Old Oaken Bucket” by 1935, referencing the poem by Samuel T. Woodsworth (1784 – 1842). The establishment was later owned by the Cuhna family (Cunha Corp) starting in 1970. The manger, Rex Seley, unexpectedly closed the restaurant in 2002. The building’s owner, Cunha Corp, ultimately leased the building to the 99 later in the same year.
For more info on this and other past restaurants in town see Past Eateries of Westford.
W.2006.8
“Old Oaken Bucket,”
by Samuel T. Woodsworth
“How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood,
When fond recollection presents them to view!
The orchard, the meadow, the deep-tangled wild-wood,
And every loved spot which my infancy knew!
The wide-spreading pond, and the mill that stood by it,
The bridge, and the rock where the cataract fell,
The cot of my father, the dairy-house nigh it,
And e’en the rude bucket that hung in the well-
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket which hung in the well.
That moss-covered vessel I hailed as a treasure,
For often at noon, when returned from the field,
I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure,
The purest and sweetest that nature can yield.
How ardent I seized it, with hands that were glowing,
And quick to the white-pebbled bottom it fell;
Then soon, with the emblem of truth overflowing,
And dripping with coolness, it rose from the well
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket arose from the well.
How sweet from the green mossy brim to receive it,
As poised on the curb it inclined to my lips!
Not a full blushing goblet could tempt me to leave it,
The brightest that beauty or revelry sips.
And now, far removed from the loved habitation,
The tear of regret will intrusively swell,
As fancy reverts to my father’s plantation,
And sighs for the bucket that hangs in the well
The old oaken bucket, the iron-bound bucket,
The moss-covered bucket that hangs in the well!”