Five Senses: One Worcester

The door slammed of my sky blue Acura MDX as I quickly shuffle to the back seat to fetch my coat and notebook. My classmate Liam and I had arrived at Salisbury Mansion, a historic figure of the wealth that once resided in the rich banks of the Blackstone River.

A Front Few of the Salisbury Mansion

The house stands tall, but not nearly the expected height of a place that used to be both a residency and a market for imports. A white gate circumnavigates the property but stays open allowing customers to come and go as they please. The front of the house stretches very wide, with six windows on each floor grouped into three pairs. Above the middle windows sits a triangular roof that held a compass-shaped window placed right in the middle to keep the symmetry of the house intact. The door lives slightly off center to the right with pillars and a balcony that stretch to the second floor giving the house an added element of class. A neutral blue similar to that of the balloons typically found in nursing rooms after a boy is delivered color the walls. The path to the house is direct in its route and three stone steps lead up to the bright white welcoming door.

If you closed your eyes for a split second, you could hear the hooves of the horses approaching the mansion to pick up an order and smell the smoke ooze out of the five chimneys as Mr. Salisbury jumpstarted his business right from this home. You can smell the freshly cut timber being traded for gold or the metals and other raw materials being swapped in the simplest form of an open market economy.

What Salisbury Mansion Used To Look Like

http://www.cardcow.com/378748/old-salisbury-mansion-worcester-massachusetts/

From far away, this house seems to be well kept but as we got closer, we noticed the Salisbury Mansion had not completely passed the test of time. Centuries have passed since Stephen Salisbury Sr. first kept the house pristine for his customers in 1767. Under each window, the paint peeled and broke away from what otherwise seemed to be a timeless structure. The pillars, once perfectly crafted now felt more of tree bark with cracks and crevices from aging than the ancient symbol of wealth that they represented. The windows had been boarded up and unfortunately; the mansion itself was closed on this day.

So after a few minutes of deciding whether or not to pick a new spot of research, I decided the fact that this building was closed completely exemplified what Salisbury Mansion stood for in today’s society. The Salisbury Mansion, the one time epitome of wealth in Worcester was now only open as a museum on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from 1-4 PM.

How Time Has Changed The Mansion

This building lost its status as a symbol of wealth as the production along the Blackstone River seized to a stop. However, its beauty in simplicity gives it a comforting feel as one studies its classy physique. The house sits large yet functional, not trying to accomplish too much and staying true to the simple design of traditional New England housing. This estate once reeked of wealth and fortune, just as Worcester once did as well. But the prosperity that it once saw is now very much in the rear view mirror. The city, like this house, needs something to give it purpose again, an industry that can help change the town just as the Salisbury’s did during Worcester’s prime. Maybe one day, the Salisbury Mansion will be a hotbed for industry as it once was, but for now the beauty of the house itself and its rich history are all we can gain from its presence.

Outside Look of the Top Dollar Plus

It was Tuesday afternoon at around four o’clock when my classmate Liam and I decided to embark on a journey to Worcester to find the hidden glory that rests beneath the Holy Cross campus. We both had a few destinations we could choose from, but this idea did not intrigue either of us after we started into the second largest city in New England. We were on search for places in Worcester that represented the past glory of this industrial town, but we both decided we wanted to know what Worcester looked like now.

So we took a few turns that the navigation system did not agree with and ended up on a side street close to the Hanover Theatre. Here, we encountered a store blessed with the brightest neon lights I’ve ever seen. Rectangular display windows highlighted a curious collection of items that ranged from suitcases to toilet brushes.

TOP DOLLAR PLUS read the sign above the door and here we knew we could find a true Worcester experience.

Gizmos and Items of All Different Kinds

RING-A-LING! The Door produces a patented bell sound found when opening almost any small business in the United States today. The room smacks its guest with a multi-faceted smell shifting and evolving as the customer navigates through its different sections. The price tags are all scribbled on under the item, but they all average at around what you would expect from this store. A dollar. There’s a plethora of items that looked like they could live in a garage. Wrenches, locks, screws, hammers, gloves, pliers, any sort of handyman gear that didn’t make it to Ace or Home Depot found its way here. There was travel equipment that hadn’t moved for decades and housing supplies that never lived up to their first name. Polo shirts without the logo were being sold for five dollars and pants of all different kinds stood motionless on the walls as they never quite fit the right set of legs.

Circa 1986

The walls held calculators crafted before I was born and items that just never seemed necessary but would be useful in a very specific situation. Almost every item that the late, great Billy Mays advertised from 2 to 6 AM every day found a home in this store. (Billy would roll over in his grave if he knew they were all being sold for a price much lower than $19.99 plus shipping and handling as well.) No other customers strolled in beside a father and daughter who quickly found what they were looking for, kept their heads down while paying and exited before the ring had stopped from their entrance.

After the owner had given us a few too many curious looks as to why I was taking notes on his store, Liam and I decided to return to our car and head on our way. This store was a curious collection of items and gadgets that somehow grouped together to find a common theme a lot like the city of Worcester. The common goal of this city is not well established, but all the different pieces seem to weave together like this store does and find a formula that goes through its ups and downs but keeps helping people find their way in the world.