Tag Archives: John Melley

Episode_004: Quincy Historical Society is All About Quincy

Speaker 1: From the city of presidents, it’s the all about Quincy podcast. This is your host, John Melley. Join me as we explore the history, hidden gems and highlight the businesses with great stories that I’ll tell the tale why Quincy, Massachusetts is a great place to live. Hey, there it’s John. Thanks for spending some time with me today. I do appreciate it. And welcome to episode four of the all about Quincy podcast.

I have a true confession. I totally spaced on this episode. I had recorded this back at the end of June, with Alexandra Elliott and Ed Fitzgerald, both from the Quincy historical society. And, you ever have a project that you start and you, you get distracted and then you forget all about it. And then you suddenly have that jolting feeling. You sit upright and that adrenaline dump and you go, oh my gosh, I forgot all about that. And then you forget about it again. And then you realize you’ve blown it twice and then you get embarrassed. So you procrastinate on it. Yeah, that’s what I did with this episode, Alexandra Elliot. And I started corresponding, I think back in may to get this episode recorded and we recorded it back at the end of June. And so it’s been a couple months that this interview with the kind folks at the Quincy historical society has been sitting, waiting to be published. And so my public apology to Ed Fitzgerald and Alexandra Elliott at the Quincy historical society for kind of messing this up, I hope you’ll forgive me. I hope you’ll enjoy it. And if you’ve got any comments or feedback, please go to all about Quincy podcast.com. And let me know your thoughts now without any further delay, let’s listen to my conversation With Ed & Alexandra.

Speaker 2: Well, as I said, at the beginning of the program, I have some guests from the Quincy historical society, and I am very excited about today’s show. My guests today are Edward Fitzgerald and Alexandra Elliott. And Edward is the executive director and Alexandra is the curator for the Quincy historical society. And, you folks have been very busy reopening after the COVID pandemic. And, we worked hard to get this episode scheduled. So I want to thank you both for taking time out of your busy schedule to be with me today. Absolutely happy to be here. Thanks for having us. I was thinking that this, the Quincy historical society of all the historical societies in the country has got to be one of the Primo historical societies to be a part of.

Speaker 3: We certainly think so Quincy is very unique in that it, it just has such a tremendous width and breadth of topics that you can talk about in terms of the history of the, of the city, back all the way to, you know, the revolutionary period and before that, and then all the way up through world war II and to today as well.

Speaker 2: And how did you get started with the society I

Speaker 4: Kind of fell into it, I suppose, is the answer. I was, I had an academic background. I had done some teaching, and some freelance editorial work and writing and things like that and worked in nonprofits, and at family ties to Quincy and we were back here and the time he just turned to be turned out to be right. And, they were looking for somebody and I was looking for something along these lines and it happened, and I was happy because I was interested in the topic and it’s been a very interesting, it’s been a good thing to be doing Alexandra. How about yourself I kind

Speaker 3: Of fell into it a little bit too. I got started back in 2017. I was brought on to help out with a Howard Johnson special exhibit that was going up. And then ed decided that we worked well together. And so brought me on, on a more permanent basis. And I’ve been here ever since then. It’s been great. There’s never a dull moment, honestly.

Speaker 2: All right. Especially the last year and a half. Right. Tell me about the history of the historical society at you sent over some information before this conversation and it’s, I don’t know how it fits into the scheme of how old relative, historical societies are in the country, but it was founded in 1893 by some pretty prominent folks. If you tell us about that,

Speaker 4: It’s not by any stretch. One of the oldest societies, there are some real granddaddy old societies, like the Oracle society and Massachusetts historical society that both of which have more than a century on us. Wow. But there was a big movement in kind of historical recognition and an historical concern in the 1890s. And I think the society kind of comes out of that and you’re right. I mean, they had some, very, very prominent people, including our first president who was first president of the society was Charles Francis Adams, the second from those Francis Adams Jr. And then, his brother Brooks Adams was president of the society for 20 years in the early part of the 20th century. but then a lot of, a lot of just community people came together to do it as well. It was, it’s interesting because it was, it looks like it was a pretty democratic, small D democratic society all along. There was no, no, you had to be invited to join or you had to prove your pedigree or anything like that. Anybody who was interested, they were more than happy to have joined right from the start. the secretary and the, well, the treasurer and the president were all guys to start with, but there were women in prominent roles pretty, really from the star too. So there’s some very nice things about it. This and this there’s some good background there.

Speaker 2: You said something at the beginning of the history of this thing, you said that there was a sense that it was important to create a historical society. What was the backdrop to that thinking I think it’s several things.

Speaker 4: I think it’s a period of great change obviously for, for America. And in many ways, Quincy had turned into a city to adopt the city form of government five years earlier in 1888, our population wasn’t huge, but it was kind of clear. We were becoming a city and I would that all sorts of changes. We’re gonna, we’re going to take place, also to be quite Frank immigration and the changing demographics of the town, I think made them mid people, particularly people who were of the old Yankee stock, the people like Charles Francis Adams, interested in preserving the history, of their time. So a lot of the impulse I think, was to preserve the history of their time, but they didn’t get stuck in that. I mean, and there were also, by 1893, the major ethnic group, other than English Anglo-Saxon Protestant, people would have been the Irish. And there, there were Irish people in fairly important positions in the society from the star too, but it’s, it’s a kind of combined push poll in a way that, there’s a kind of fear of what’s the things are changing and, oh my God, we’re going to save things which is maybe not the best motive, but there’s also the motive of we’ve got to do, we’ve got to save what is best for the future, which is the good motive.

Speaker 2: I think a lot of what you described is understandable. I think we’re going through similar time now in our history. So I can see that what is the Quincy historical society’s mission

Speaker 3: It is to preserve as much of Quincy history as possible in that being, you know, what is happening, in recent years. And then also going back as far as, you know, Quincy would exist. We have, first of all, our museum, currently we’re in the Adams academy building our beautiful building here on Adam street. And we have a museum that spans from the earliest days before you had European settlement. So dealing with some of the native American history, but then going up through the 20th century as well. and so that’s a lot of crown to cover in a fairly small space. You

Speaker 2: Had sent over a picture of the historical societies building, and it looks a lot like the Thomas Crane public library was designed by the same architect.

Speaker 3: It’s not the same architect, but it is the same, or it’s a similar architectural style. so our building is in the Gothic revival style. It was done by correct me if I’m wrong, ed, this is going to be William Ware and, Henry van brunt, I think it has certainly been brunt it’s and yeah, so it’s wherein van brunt, who designed the building and it’s

Speaker 2: Purposes, we’ll call him Hank.

Speaker 3: but what’s weird or what’s kind of interesting about the building is that usually you’ll see the, the granite as the main building material, but instead our building uses it as the embellishment, as the trim, which is quite interesting, cause it’s a very pretty building, but it’s got the granite on the, as the accent piece instead of the brick,

Speaker 2: I wouldn’t have observed that, but that’s cool. John Adams

Speaker 4: Had specified in the deeds to create the, the school that this was, that would be a built a Quincy stone, Quincy granite. Okay. The crane office is Henry Hudson Richardson. The great American architect. This building is about 10 years earlier. This was opened in 1872. The crane opened in 1882.

Speaker 2: Oh, interesting. Yeah. So tell me about some of the programs that the historical society

Speaker 3: Typically during a year, you know, during a regular year, we would have usually monthly, either guest speakers or special programming talking about a myriad of different topics. Our summer ones tend to be a little bit lighter, fair. We have a fun pop culture series that we usually run during the summer having to do with like a lot of music or other pop culture topics that are related to Quincy during the pandemic, we started transitioning to doing more virtual programs over zoom and the like, and we had a couple really popular ones. we did a reprise of a 2019 program that we had that was featuring the experience of Quincy during the 1918 influenza pandemic feature, featuring some unique or excuse me, original research that we had done back then before we knew what was coming down the pike. Right. so of course people were very interested to kind of see, okay, so how did Quincy deal with this in the past And then we also did one about another disease, more death and disease, about yellow fever and how that wants to American culture. And then we did a much more lighthearted, one about the various ad campaigns done by Howard Johnson over the years. Oh, that’s very popular. Yeah.

Speaker 2: That’s very cool. It was always interesting to hear from my perspective, people talking about the COVID pandemic in terms of, in these unprecedented times and they weren’t unprecedented, they’re unprecedented in our lifetime, but, obviously we’ve been through something like this before, but I, I wondered many times how we would have fared without the technology that we have available to us today. restaurants, where they switched very quickly to take out orders, through various apps and delivery services and, and, you know, I have a lot of people were able to work remotely. Right. And so I just wonder how everything would, I mean, you can only speculate, but you just wonder how different would it have been if we did not have the technology today that we have today,

Speaker 3: It undoubtedly would have been a much harder. Yeah,

Speaker 2: I think so. Yeah. Those sounded like interesting. Thanks. My, I was telling Alexander and I had a call before this recording session and my dad grew up in Milton and my grandfather actually knew Howard Johnson. My grandfather was treasurer at the Milton cooperative savings bank, I think. And actually I’m looking at the date that the society was founded and he was born in 1893, my grandfather. So, it’s interesting to hear, some of these names in history and there are some ties. Yeah. I don’t know if I told you this, but if you’re familiar with Milton and the Forbes museum at all. Yeah, my great, great grand uncle is Thomas Murdoch or was Thomas Murdoch who built the Lincoln replica cabin Oh yeah. Yeah. My, my grandmother, the woman who married my grandfather was just discussing Quinn. What are you doing, buddy Get out of there.

Speaker 2: Hold on. He’s tearing a paperback. That’s Quinn the Jakabee, or is a boy he’s free to handle it. Yeah. Well he’s the mascot for the podcast. So we’ll have to post a picture at any rate. yeah. My grandmother was a Murdoch and Thomas Murdoch was her uncle. He, was hired by Forbes to, build a replica and he drove down there and a model T and went and, took measurements and took saplings tree samples and dirt samples so that he can match the color of the chinking between the logs in the cabin. So those, those are the things, but he was quite the character. My father said he got through many, a school report, writing stories about his uncle, Tom. He was, he was, he was, he was crazy when he had a cold, he would sip kerosene. He was going to burn it out. He lived into his night. He well into his nineties. I mean really Yeah. Yeah. He really did. Maybe there’s something to it. Maybe. I’m not sure I want to try it, but, so it’s, it’s, it’s kind of fun to hear all of this stuff and just know that my family has roots way back. And some of them actually knew some of these people that or discussing.

Speaker 3: That’s kind of one of my, one of my favorite parts of the job is whenever we do a program or, you know, post something on our blog or on our Facebook page and you just get people commenting or coming up to us and telling us stories about their family and what they remember in and what their family stories are. And that’s always really interesting to see what people say,

Speaker 2: No, you do stuff with the schools as well. The historical society. Yes. Yeah. Tell us about it. We have a

Speaker 4: Program in the third and fourth grade. And so we go into every class in the third and fourth grade and the Quincy public schools and the Quincy Catholic academy. We have a teacher, we have a certified, retired Quincy public school teacher, who, Susan, are you going, who is doing a terrific job so it’s really the several things that we do. You know, most of what we do, we’re, we’re more or less proud of, justly, but we are, the school program is really kind of our hallmark in a lot of ways. It’s, it’s been going now for well, over three decades goes, it’s been going in one form or another thing since the 1980s. And it is really important to, to the life of the community. And kids learn the basics about Quincy’s history at a time when they can kind of absorb it and use to hear adults say, remember taking the course. I remember or remember the, coming here as a kid. So it’s, I think a very valuable thing that we do.

Speaker 2: My wife is a fourth generation Quincy resident, and she went to elementary school at the Adams school. And, she recalls fondly. She says every year we would March on down the hill, down to the birthplaces get the tour. And all of that, the reason I moved to Quincy was because I got married to Ann. And, as I said earlier, in my conversation, my dad grew up in Milton. So we would come down to Milton to visit my grandparents. And I couldn’t tell you how many times we drove off and got off on the, it wasn’t the Bryant avenue exit, but the one prior to it and came out into east Milton square. And we drove by that brown sign on the highway that says next exit Adam’s historical and national historic site is something. And look at that, look at that, look at that.

Speaker 2: And then it wasn’t until I finally moved here. I said, wait a minute. This is so cool. There’s so much here. I have to go see this. And I hesitate to make this comment, but I wonder how many, you know, it’s like the tourist thing to do, but I wonder how many people, obviously, I think one of the good things about the school program is people who grow up here. It’s not like they never do the freedom trail. You know, you’re living in the Massachusetts area. You never do the freedom trail. This exposes kids at an early age to the history of where they’re living. And I think that’s great. It gets them, there gets to see all of this. It’s a good,

Speaker 4: Very good point. It does get them there. They get to go to the historic sites. They get to come here and it’s, it gives them a sense of who they are. It gives them an experience of a museum at an early age and everything else. So, yeah, it’s terrific.

Speaker 3: Yeah. Along those lines as well, you know, I’m not originally from Quincy, I’m from Dedham, which is, you know, not too far away, but I didn’t grow up in Quincy, but something that I’ve really been impressed by and have become very proud of it as kind of, you know, working here and have it been a sort of adopted community that I’m a part of. Yeah. It’s just how much history there is and how relevant Quincy is to so many different stories within American history. I’ve started saying every once in a while, you know, all roads lead to Quincy, just because of how many different parallels and tangents and it’s like, I’ll be listening to something completely unrelated and, oh my gosh, that’s related back to Quincy.

Speaker 2: yeah, I think I developed a sense of, appreciation for American art. When I was a kid, I grew up in Metro west, actually, when I was a kid before I moved, I lived in Lexington. Obviously we all know what happened there and we would go and see, my mom grew up in Arlington and, we would go and see on Patriot’s day, the reenactment of Paul Revere’s ride. And then if you got up really early, you could actually watch the battle on Lexington green. So from an early age, I had always had this keen interest in the American revolution. And I had to do a book report in school about Thomas Jefferson. And of course, you know, he wrote the declaration of independence and all that, but he, he had a team of people that he worked with Adams was one of them. And, and Benjamin Franklin, I think was another one.

Speaker 2: And to me it was always interesting and always sort of was partial to Jefferson. And then I w I know there was some artistic license taken with it, but I, and I have read the book by McCulloch as well, but I watched the Adams series on HBO and reading some of the other things. And you see some of the things that Thomas Jefferson was doing later on after John Adams was vice-president and then became president and the workings in the machinations of what he was doing, buying people to write stories in the newspapers and all that kind of stuff. And you, you look at it and you go, it actually gives you some hope. If you can look at history from the lungs longstanding, you go twice ever thus. Yup. Yup. There’s really nothing new.

Speaker 3: Yeah. No people do not change. People still behave the same way as that they always have. So

Speaker 4: There was McCulloch was experiencing himself. He was, he had started out to do a book on Jefferson and Adams with Adams as the sort of second banana being so caught up with Adams that he just jettison the entire Jefferson side of the project and did the full biography of Adams.

Speaker 2: I’m glad he did. I mean, yeah. I just, I learned so much from that book and I think, you know, I’ve got a bias because of where I live now, but I’m the writer of the Massachusetts state constitution and the us constitution. I mean, it’s just really, and, and, and that he was so well read in all of these different philosophies and student of history and governments throughout history, and that they took, and they analyzed what the failings were and they said, what can we do to make that not happen when they were trying to come up with what we have now And I just think it’s a remarkable accomplishment. And, I just think it’s, it’s really incredible that we’re here. And I was talking with Tim K hill, and one question I asked him, and I may, I’ll ask you the same. What do you think their reaction would be if they somehow materialized back today And they landed, you know, on the front steps of the birthplaces and they looked around and they saw my K’s and Sweeney’s and all that, but they saw that their homes were still there. What do you, how do you think they would react to Quincy today

Speaker 4: Yeah, you’re talking about Adams. The Adams.

Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And not just John Adams, but Abigail who was a huge influence on John and yeah. Yeah. Well, Adam’s

Speaker 4: Believe very much that he very much believed in that kind of 18th century sense that history moved, you know, that things were not static, that things were not eternal. So I don’t think it would be surprised. I mean, he might say, what the heck is that thing going by as a car I don’t think you’d be surprised that things were wildly different. So I think that would be okay. I mean, yeah. yeah, he would roll with the punches. I think he would, or roll with the times he was steadfast and a few things. And I think he would be surprised by a lot that happened. I think he still counted on a different kind of future for America than what actually took place. I think what actually took place is probably closer to what Hamilton thought, but I think he would accept that that’s what happened. And I think he would be looking for the sort of core principles that you kind of held to, which were the classics of honor and representation and honesty. And, you would probably judge today’s politicians by those same Steiner’s that he would have used 200 years.

Speaker 2: Yeah, probably right. Jim said that he thinks he probably would have been proud in that kind of what echoing, what you said in terms that history and things move forward and change. But he probably would have been proud that, they kept the homes. It was like, you know, oh my gosh, they’re still here. Tim Cahill said that John Adams sort of felt that history would forget him. Right. And that he would come back and see that, that those birthplaces in Pittsfield and all those are still there. It was like, oh my gosh, they actually took the trouble to keep this. he w he told me that his job was to work at the, for the, birthplaces and peas field. He was like a docent a 12 minute. Yeah. So he knew, well, he knows a lot

Speaker 4: About it. Yeah, he’s right. I mean, that, wouldn’t be the one thing that Adam’s, might’ve been surprised about is that they were still there because he, yeah, he did say monument, I’m never going to have any monuments or everybody else is going to get a monument, but not,

Speaker 2: Is there something about John and Abigail Adams and John Quincy Adams and for, I feel terrible. I never remember. Is it Louisa Yeah. Is there something about them that we would be surprised to learn that you could share with us

Speaker 3: My favorite thing to say about that kind of is just how human they are, who they are. You know, you have instances of them be happy, being prideful of them, having spats with each other as a couple, but, you know, navigating the world in a way that is extremely recognizable to anyone else living today. You know, they were no doubt, remarkable people that that’s not what I’m trying to say at all, that they weren’t, but they were also, you know, you read their diaries or their letters. And you’re just seeing things that are, you know, Abigail and John are having a spat over something. And she’s writing to a friend about it,

Speaker 2: The cap off the toothpaste.

Speaker 3: And it’s, they’re just, I personally really like it when a, someone who is as mythic as, you know, the founding fathers and B suddenly become, oh, no, they could be my neighbor. And they are very interesting for that reason.

Speaker 4: I just saw this is purely coincidence by sheer luck. I was trying to check out something else earlier today. And I opened a book on Abigail and Louise Lou, John Paul Nagle’s Adams women, and this anecdote about Louisa. He was saying, Louisa loved to read apparently. And she gets so totally absorbed in the book that you would forget everything else. And she’d sometimes forget that they had to go out to a party or a ball or something like that. But one time, apparently John Quincy was entertaining people at home. So you have all these guys sitting around, you know, this is probably some big political meeting or a dinner meeting that has political consequences. And Louisa has sort of set things up and gone upstairs to read. And it’s, they’re having their Brandy and cigars downstairs and talking over the great affairs of state and it’s getting darker and darker and darker.

Speaker 4: And we just get so wrapped up in the book that she forgets, what time it is or that they’re downstairs. And that she, that she doesn’t come down to light the candles. And the guy is of course, sitting there saying, well, that we’re not going to know if she realized that when she starts hearing something and she comes downstairs and all these guys, they’re still not letting the catalysts. They’re just trying to walk around in the dark and this tripping over everything. And apparently she said, I couldn’t get over to light the candles. Cause it was so busy life. It was just the most horrific thing I’ve ever read about her. Oh, that

Speaker 2: Is funny. It’s kind of like the modern day, the remotes under the seat cushion, if you just lift it up, you’d find it. That’s, that’s fun. Yeah. Down to earth. And human, I guess, is, is some of the interesting things that you see, talk about being human and human frailties. You learn that Thomas Jefferson was massively in debt and you have to say to yourself, you imagine what he would have been like if he had a credit card. That was something that was such a contradiction in the perception, I guess, that I had,

Speaker 3: Yeah, surely they would be on top of their finances. That, that can’t be

Speaker 2: Right. I guess he was constantly keeping a notebook of like, you know, what the temperature was and the day, you know, and the crops and when things came and all that kind of stuff. And I guess he kept a ledger of what he sped, but he just never managed to any of those things. I would be remiss if I didn’t ask you to share any upcoming events that you want to talk about, that the Historical society may be putting on, or if people want to learn more about this historical society and how they can get involved or perhaps donate and support it, tell us, first of all, what you have upcoming and then tell us, about how people can get involved if they want.

Speaker 3: So I think the main thing that we have upcoming is that we are working on actually getting reopened. so the museum at this point is not quite open to visitors, but we’re hoping by mid July, we will be able to get our doors open to visitors again. So that’s the main thing that we’re preparing for. We also have a few blog articles coming up a little bit about some of the Asian, history and Quincy edge. I can’t remember exactly what you’re working on.

Speaker 4: We’re working on, a couple of things. It’s the 100th anniversary of the Saquon Vendetti trial, which took place in, in Dedham and people who aren’t familiar with that. Cause it’s getting it’s faded a little bit. It was, a very controversial case involving holdup and murder and a very controversial trial and a very controversial execution of the, of the two men with all sorts of political overtones. And they were a kind of a cause for people at the time. And really, for most of the years, since then really foundational to, kind of a lot of people’s feelings in the 20th century and even into this century. But there are Quinsy connections to that all the way through because of where the crime took place in Braintree, where a lot of the people that were involved with it. So we’re trying to tease out how, Quincy played a role in that really kind of earth shaking experience that, really shook the Commonwealth at the time. There, there were massive demonstrations and, and at the time of the execution, everything else, so they were, they were, presented by two Quincy based lawyers, as well as a more, you know, I could go go kind of go down in the weeds in here.

Speaker 2: I didn’t know that they were represented by Queensland attorneys. Yeah,

Speaker 4: Well it, I mean, it’s all kind of weaves in and out, so I just thought it would be interesting to kind of follow the strands of that to see not only what it tells us about the case, but also kind of what it tells us about Quincy it’s a 100 years ago, we’re kind of interested in filling in that gap. You know, we know a lot about the Adams generation. We know a lot really up to when we turned into a city, but we’re, we’re kind of, at least I’m kind of interested in working on what happened after we became a city. And when we became more like the modern Quincy, what is it that we can find out about that, that we’ve not really aware of We can

Speaker 2: Do that maybe in another episode. Yeah. If people want to learn more about how to get involved with this historical if people want to learn more about how to get involved with the Quincy historical society, what’s the best course of action for them to take.

Speaker 3: so the best way to get in touch with us is purely to either call or email us. And if you’re interested in getting involved or donating, et cetera, our email address is [email protected]. And then if you’re interested in seeing what we have coming up or what we are posting or researching about, we have two channels that are probably the best for that. And that would be first of all, our blog, which is Quincy history.org, backslash blog. And then also you can find us on Facebook at Quincy history, awesome. Quinsy

Speaker 2: History.org. All right. Is there anything either of you want to share with us before we say goodbye Well,

Speaker 3: I’ve got one fun, little anecdote kind of leading into the 4th of July. This is one of my sort of fun facts about the academy. And then also about some, one of the other famous founders from Quincy, having to John Hancock, the man of course, whose very large signature is on that piece of paper that we will be celebrating on the 4th of July. Right John Hancock was actually born on the property where the Adams academy is located today. Oh, I didn’t know that the house burned down. I think it was in the 1760s. No, just about the in 1758, I think, but yeah, around there that that house burned down. but fun fact in our collection, we actually have the front door key from that original parsonage in our collection. So that was on display. and that also explains why we have a bust of John Hancock in front of our building. Just

Speaker 2: Learn something. And hopefully the folks who listened to this episode will learn something as well at anything that you want to share before we say goodbye,

Speaker 4: Going back to John, John was, if people want to go and look at the 4th of July and what John says about it, John actually thought maybe it would be July 2nd, not July 4th, but, you can find in any of the books about him, his description of, how we should celebrate July 4th is spot on. He wants fireworks. He wants the whole bit and talking about him, being able to see in the future. We did pretty good with that.

Speaker 2: Yeah. I think I’d heard that. Well, I want to thank you both very much for taking time out of your busy schedule with the reopening and everything

Speaker 1: Else that you have going on in research and sharing all that you have with us today. And I want to say the door is always open. If you have, have any upcoming events that you want to share and talk about on the podcast, please reach out. And, I hope to talk to you folks, we assume. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Thanks for listening. If you know someone who would be a great guest for the Alabama Quinsy podcast, we want to know about it. Business leaders, historians, unsung heroes, just go to the website at AllAboutQuincyPodcast.com. Fill out the contact form, tell us who you think would be a great guest and why. And we will try to make that happen. So until next week, thanks for listening.

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Episode 003: Quincy is all “A-Buzz” With Bees!

So complete this saying: Bibbity Bobbity…..? Not Boo!…

BEE!

Bibbity Bobbity BEE! Yeah! The reason I’m saying ! Bibbity Bobbity BEE is this week is pollinator week. And to celebrate pollinator week, I am interviewing a beekeeper. Sam is from Best Bees. I mentioned in my last episode that I have a couple of honeybee hives in my yard and I love them. And my neighbors love them because different houses around the neighborhood have all these types of fruit trees and they’re getting more fruit. Plus my blueberry bushes are booming.

Listen to how local businesses and developers are incorporating honeybees into their plans!

Honey Bee Swarm Links:

From the city of presidents, it’s the all about Quincy podcast. This is your host, John Melley. Join me as we explore the history, hidden gems and highlight the businesses with great stories that I’ll tell the tale why Quincy, Massachusetts is a great place to live. Hey, there it’s Jon. Thanks for joining me today. I do appreciate it. Welcome to episode three of the All About Quincy podcast. First thing I want to do is thank folks for their kind comments about my interview with Tim K hill from

Speaker 2: Last week. Alicia, Janet, thanks for reaching out on Facebook and giving me a thumbs up or a nice comment about that episode. I really do appreciate it.

Speaker 1: A lot of people don’t know a lot about the honeybee.

Speaker 2: So I thought that it would be a good thing to do, to have a beekeeper on and talk about it. So I mentioned a couple of things in my interview with Sam from best bees. And I want to direct you to the show notes for this episode. It’s episode three at all, about Quincy podcast.com. And when you go there for this episode, you can see a couple of videos. One video is of the beekeeper, literally putting her bare hand into a cluster of honeybees that have swarmed and landed in one of the bushes in my yard. The second video is that beekeeper capturing the queen and putting it in a temporary hive. And I’m literally standing in my yard in jeans and a t-shirt with my iPad, recording the swarm, flying around me and I was perfectly safe and it was so cool to see. So if you want to see those videos go to all about Quincy podcast.com, episode three and click on the show notes and you’ll be able to see it. We also have some other links there for anybody who’s interested in learning more about bees. This is a little longer

Speaker 1: Than the other episode. So let’s just head on over to millions. You were saying, as I mentioned at the beginning of the show, my guest today is Sam Jennings, who is the sales

Speaker 2: Manager and beekeeper at the best bees company in Boston, buh, buh, buh, buh. How are you, Sam?

Speaker 4: I’m good, John. Thanks for having me. And you deal with honeybees, not bumblebees,

Speaker 2: Cause that way we wouldn’t say the best bees company of the bumblebees in Boston. No,

Speaker 4: We, we primarily work with honeybees. but we all do. We do it for all bees too. So, you know, honeybees are an indicator species that we’re able to use for research purposes to measure the health of the native pollinator species around our beehives.

Speaker 2: Now, folks listening to the show may be wondering, why am I talking about bees Well, I have to tell everybody that I have a couple of honeybee hives that Sam’s company, the best bees company helps manage. And they tend to every month. And, we get honey from, and Sam is involved with some beekeeping in Quincy. We’re going to talk about all kinds of things, but we’re going to be talking about the importance of honey bees and pollinators because this is pollinator week in June. we celebrate pollinator week and I have had an interest in honeybees that goes back to my childhood. I think my parents or an aunt gave me a national geographic subscription for kids. And along with that subscription came like two or three hardcover books. And one of those books, Sam was on honeybees and from very good. Yeah.

Speaker 2: And from an early age have always been fascinated by honeybees. And then when I was a kid, my parents had their house painted by a guy by the name of Mr. Thomas. And Mr. Thomas also kept bees. And one day he came to finish up painting and he brought this gigantic jar of honey and it was a really nice gift and it was delicious. And I was just fascinated about honey bees and beekeeping. And I don’t keep these cause I got enough on my plate. And I think my wife would be like, you’re going to

Speaker 5: Do what now. But she, she

Speaker 2: Read an article in Boston magazine, I think a number of years ago. And she said, oh, you might be interested in this. And I said, oh, this is kind of cool. And it was one of those things where I said to myself, Sam, I said, if I’m still thinking about this a year from now, I’ll look into it some more. And so I did, and I’ve been a client of yours ever since. I know I’m talking a lot, but I love the honey bees. They’re very relaxing. And, and your son done

Speaker 4: Quite well, haven’t they in Quincy You’ve had it. You’ve had a hive go three years and you’ve got one hive now that’s on year two, right

Speaker 2: Yep. That’s correct. Yep. We had a it’s server. That’s a question that I get asked all the time and is when the winter comes, people say, where do the honeybees go And I say, they are right there in that box. So incredible. And people are amazed by the explain to people why honeybees stay in their hive over the winter and that whole process.

Speaker 4: I know it’s crazy to imagine them, you know, finding a way to stay warm on these cold, new England winter nights. But, you know, with best bees, we don’t move the hives down south. Some beekeeping operations may be, you know, moving the bees down to Florida. There’s Snopes snowbirds that go down there and, you know, collect the forage and, produce more bees down there to extend the season. But, you know, at best bees, we were about establishing the hives on site to survive the winters year round, making sure they have enough resources and essentially what they do in the hive over winter is they cluster together around their queen. There’s one queen and then a bunch of worker bees and every beehive. And they, they use their wings, they beat their wings, creating friction, creating warmth and heat for the hive, in this ball of bees, basically that’s just in the center of the beehive.

Speaker 4: You know, they’re not really fully hibernated. They do have a reduced metabolic rate at that point. But, you know, if it warms up on a warm day, about 50, 55 degrees, you’ll see them come out the door and, you know, use the bathroom, do a cleansing flight as we like to say. but you know, they go right back in at nighttime and, and, and cluster together. And they, they move through the hive is a ball actually to access their honey stores over winter. And, early March, sometimes late February, the queen begins to start laying her eggs again, you know, preparing a new batch of worker bees for the spring season. And from there, the colony will grow in time with the early nectar flows here in new England. It’s really

Speaker 2: Always fascinating when that starts to happen in late winter, early spring, as you were saying that there might be some snow still on the ground and you do you see these bees flying out and then you’ll say like these little orange droplets in the snow and a bee poop. Yeah. And I’ll have it on my car. And sometimes I’ll see it on my car as I’m going to go drive somewhere. And I may not have noticed that there they’ve been out, but I’ll see that and I’ll go, oh, they made it through the winter or they leased. They’ve made it this far. One of the questions that I, yeah, I get that question all the time. Where do they go in the winter time And their honeybees are different from a lot of other bees species in that they collect extra honey so that they do make it over the winter. Am I correct

Speaker 4: Yeah, that’s right. There’s over 20,000 different species of bees. Some of them are solitary bees, bumblebees Mason bees. And they don’t always, you know, live the same type of life as a honeybee would in the sense of, they don’t have a large colony and hive where their instinct is to collect, a surplus of resources. So they just operate a little bit differently. Overwintering in different types of social environments. Sometimes all of the Queens will, you know, return to the same location to cluster together for winter and then disperse back and start new small little nests. But there are so many different bees and, it’s always great to see different types of bees species because it does indicate, you know, that your area is, healthy enough to sustain different types of pollinator populations. Essentially. They’ve also, you know, all these different bees have evolved over time in step with plants. And so each of them has a different length tongue. So certain bees have really long length, length, tongues, or medium lengths, shorter length tongues. And this allows them to forage from different flowers. So not every bee species will like even forage from the same set of flowers. And they, you know, they use different methods to get that nectar, get that pollen from flower. Oh, that’s

Speaker 2: Interesting. I didn’t know that one comment. I get a lot when I’ll be out. I, I think we talked before we started recording this program. I have a couple of dogs. You have a dog and when I’ll be out walking the dog, somebody else will say, oh, how are the bees Or if they don’t know that I have bees, I’ll talk about the bees to somebody. And a comment I get a lot is, oh, you know how you can get rid of those. And yeah. And I’m saying, no, I don’t want to get rid of the honeybees because they, this is on purpose. They’re there in my yard on purpose.

Speaker 5: The honeybee

Speaker 2: Really isn’t interested in people. It’s, they’re interested in, they’re interested in flowers and water. that’s also cool. I have a little bird bath and sometimes they’ll cluster around the edge of a bird bath on a hot data and you can see them drinking and flying back to the high with it. It’s cool. but you know, the bees don’t sit there and are flying around and go, oh, look, there’s a person. Let’s go get it. unless you’re like diving into their hive and really disturbing them, or you’re SWAT nap them while they’re trying to do their thing, they don’t care about us. Right Yeah, that’s right.

Speaker 4: Yeah. They’re, they’re completely, non-aggressive, you know, honeybees, especially, but even all of the other native bee species, including like yellow jackets and wasps, for the most part, when you encounter them in the wild they’re foraging, they’re searching for food, whatever that may be, you know, honeybees are looking for flowers. they typically know exactly where they’re going in the hive. They communicate to each other where the nearest nectar and pollen sources are. So those worker bees are following these predetermined flight paths, right to the source. So they’re busy, you know, they’re making trips back and forth and they’re not concerned about you. If they bump into you, they keep it moving. A lot of gardeners will know this, you know, as they’re gardening, there’s going to be bees on the flowers, bees in your plants. And, you can move them, brush them aside, pick the flowers, shake them off the bees.

Speaker 4: Aren’t going to get disturbed by even that type of activity. It really comes down to defending the hive itself, defending their, their nest and their queen. So when those nests and those hives get disturbed, that’s when bees do exhibit their defensiveness and they don’t do so independently, collectively they start to release their defense pheromones, which really trigger that defensive response. And it’s limited to the hive itself. So, you know, the best thing to do when you see a nest is to take a minute to reconsider, you know, disturbing it, it’s not going to be something that, you know, would be done quickly and even consider whether or not the bees are any nuisance to you. or if they’ve just found a great home because, you know, the native bees especially are dying and anywhere they can find a home is just a great success story. We want to keep those bees, you know, where they are and help to repopulate their populations in areas all across the country. So

Speaker 2: You bring up a couple of interesting points that I wanted to talk about since they are dying. And let’s say, somebody says, oh, I’ve got bees in a crack in my wall. What should they do You know, should they call somebody to have it removed Should they buy some poison and, and squirt it into the wall I mean, what’s a good ecological thing for people to do when they find something like that, where, you know, B doesn’t care. If it’s a house or a tree, it just says, Hey, this looks like a good spot.

Speaker 4: Right Yeah. Well, I would definitely advise not to use any sort of like pesticides it’s, you know, it’s bad for the bees, of course, but it’s, it’s gonna, it’s, you’re, you’re not taking care of the situation, you know, bees and in walls. it’s pretty rare, but it can happen, especially with like old sheds and things like that. And depending on your situation, it can be pretty tricky to access them. So there’s always, you know, the local beekeeping association, there’s one for every county, you know, there’s a statewide directory. Anyone in the country can look them up and contact their local beekeepers if they have some honeybees to relocate. But when they’re in the walls, you know, it can involve needing, you know, to like open up the walls and things like that. And, you know, you want to remove everything. You don’t want a bunch of dead bees running in your walls, even if you do want them removed at all costs. And you’re, you’re willing to do pesticides, it’s still probably not a good solution. So we would always advise to relocate them and, do so in a way that involves a professional beekeeper or local beekeeper so that you or your contractors and, you know, getting to knee deep in a beehive inside of your house,

Speaker 5: cause

Speaker 4: There’s ways to safely do so. And then it’s kind of a fascinating experience. Maybe, you know, your local beekeeper can help you get it set up in your backyard and in an actual beehive, giving them a proper home. but you know, there’s also other types of bees out there that tend to gravitate towards wooden structures. If you’re familiar with like the, the Mason bees or the, carpenter bees. Yeah. Any, yeah. Especially coastal homes, untreated wood, they really love stuff. And, one thing you can do is obviously plug up the old holes, but you know, also spray them with some just natural peppermint oil and soapy water to keep the bees out. You can do that during the day and they’ll go find a new home or, you know, plug up the holes. But you know, untreated wood is what they like. So if you keep that painted or you keep it sealed, they’re not going to be as likely to take up shop in your house or in your shingles, peppermint oil and soapy water. Yeah. There really

Speaker 2: Is. You know, you don’t have to go and get the stuff that I want to talk about weed killers and all that kind of stuff in a moment. But the other thing I wanted to talk about, which kind of has to do with the safety of honeybees and all of that one point, I take my lawnmower and go right up in front of the two beehives. I have two of them. And you know, if I stood there and held the lawnmower in front of the hives, they’d probably get aggravated, but they don’t care. I’ll just walk right through them as they’re flying in and out of the hive, Hey, don’t bother me. I’m not bothering them. And it’s people think I’m nuts, but like you said, here, they’re on a mission.

Speaker 4: Exactly. That’s how bees work. You know, you, you going by with the lawn mower, you know, some guard bees might take notice, but they’re not going to have that response. Cause like I said, they have to release their pheromones. So you really have to like disturb the hive itself, open it up. And then they start to release their firearm owns and exhibit that defensiveness. But, it typically takes some time and you know, you coming by with the lawnmowers, they’re probably familiar. They probably know you and are familiar with that sound. And they know it’s not a threat at this point. Right.

Speaker 2: That is, that’s very true. The other thing is, is now we’re in prime swarm season, correct

Speaker 4: Yes we are. Yeah. And

Speaker 2: I remember I’ve had the swarm a number of times the first time it ever happened.

Speaker 5: I didn’t know what was going

Speaker 2: On. I was like, oh my God, what have I done Because it was like this clone of bees in the yard and it was, they were just, they filled the yard at any rate. We had another swarm where we have two colonies and that’s why we have two. We had, the beekeeper come cause I called and I said, Hey, look, they’ve swarmed. And they’ve clustered on this Bush. That’s really low. We can capture them. And she came and with her bare hand, stuck her hand in the cluster of bees and just pulled out a handful of the bees and nothing happened. And I thought, oh my gosh, look at this. And then she, captured the queen and shook a bunch of them into this, portable hive and trimmed these little branches off and shook them all in. And as the queen was moving from the Bush into the portable hive, the whole yard just filled up again with the swarm. And I was standing there in a t-shirt and jeans and my iPad recording this, we’re making a video of it and I’m standing there in just in this swarm and you know, nothing happened

Speaker 3: And it, people look at it and

Speaker 2: They go, weren’t you scared And I said, no, because, and you explain why swarms aren’t anything to be afraid of.

Speaker 4: Yeah. So for the listeners, a swarm is actually a normal thing that these do. It’s a, it’s how we refer to a specific behavior. When, you know, the bees produce such a large population that the queen no longer has an ability to lay eggs. You know, it’s kind of their natural instinct to swarm. So at some point in the season, typically, you know, may and June, the queen decides it’s time for her to leave the hive and go find a new home. So she’ll release a specific pheromone that communicates to the bees that this is happening. Half of the population will eat as much honey as they can to prepare for the journey. And half of that population of worker bees will leave with the old queen. And, when they leave the hive, it’s a lot of activity. You know, it’s like a big amount of bees kind of flying through the sky altogether.

Speaker 4: they don’t go very far, typically stay within the property and, perch up on a tree branch like you described and like a cluster of bees. so they kind of stopped flying as much and they become this big clump of bees that is just dangling from your tree. And they’re there at this time. They’re completely docile. So once they’ve decided to swarm, they’ve left the hive, they no longer have a home to defend and they don’t exhibit any defensiveness. They don’t release defense pheromones. And like you saw with the beekeeper, we just walk right up to the hive or the swarm cluster. And we just grab those bees and put them into a container that we, you know, established into a new beehive. And essentially if you can grab the queen and the first clump and get her into the box, if you can’t access the remain, the remainder of the swarm, they’ll actually follow the center of their queen right into the box. And so you’ll see them actually walking in like a line going right inside of where we’ve, we’ve moved to the new queen. It’s

Speaker 2: Fascinating to watch because she got the queen into the box. There was this big cloud of bees. And then she said, okay, I’m just gonna leave this box here and go look at the hive that the group that was left behind and within 10, 15 minutes, all of them just coalesced into that travel hive, if you will. And it was fascinating. It was like, they all suck themselves into this box.

Speaker 5: Yeah. They were so happy

Speaker 4: To find a new home. Yeah, it was great. It was a good spot for them because typically they don’t find a great home. They’ll typically die or get eaten by some birds or, you know, they’ll maybe find a tree, but it’s not great for overwintering. So it’s always good to find a new home. And, you know, back in the hive that the queen left behind, she’s got half of the worker bees are, and they’re developing new Queens, which will then hatch in the next few dates. And those Queens that hatch actually will, will battle for control of the hive. And the surviving queen, you know, will then take over by, you know, going on a mating flight and then returning to the hive to, you know, start a new, you know, lineage, so to speak. So as beekeepers, we try to mitigate this behavior by taking what we call like artificial swarms or splits from the hive and removing some of the brood frames and kept queen cells to prevent the queen from thinking that she needs to leave, you know, making sure that she feels like she can stick, stick around. And so, you know, inevitably over the years, you know, it’s, it’s possible that your hive will swarm, but it’s actually a really good sign. And, you know, it’s a good thing in healthy behavior for the bees, but of course, you know, urban beekeeping being our specialty, we want to, you know, prevent swarms from, you know, happening as much as possible just to cut down on the new sense of just, you know, bees ending up in places where bees were not expected. Yeah. You see

Speaker 2: Him like people just cars in a parking lot, somewhere they’re land on the door handle or something. And it’s like, oh my gosh. But yeah, it’s really, they’re really, really, I can attest they’re harmless at that. Definitely.

Speaker 4: And they’re fascinating too. So if anyone ever sees them check out those beekeeping associations, I mentioned local beekeepers are always looking to catch swarms in their area. bees are limited resource. We don’t always have, you know, bees for everyone every season. So anytime we can access new colonies, like swarm beekeepers are, are looking for that. So, so contact the local beekeeping association, if you do come across a swarm, send them a picture and let them know where it is and they’ll be right out to collect it.

Speaker 5: And best bees does that too. And you know, I’m going

Speaker 2: To put the contact information for you folks in the show notes. And also I’ll go find some links to those beekeeping association, actually the local one here, because this is the Alabama Quincy podcast. So that actually leads to an, a nice segue about Quincy. And you’ve been involved with a number of installations in Quincy. Talk to us about that. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 4: As you know, Quincy is really going through quite a revitalization. You could say these years as it’s been a cool to see, it seems like more and more people are really excited about the future of Quincy and, and, I’ve seen a lot and of course, environmental impact, and we have to think about habitat. and so with bees and pollinators in general, habitat loss is the number one reason for their decline in health. And we’ve partnered with a local real estate company called Foxrock properties. And they have, office buildings in north Quincy, Quincy center, south Quincy. And they’ve been a big part of the, you know, development there in downtown Quincy. And, what we’re doing is installing beehives on the rooftop, maintaining them and engaging their tenants and really fun educational programs. People get honey from the properties. and we’re also doing research.

Speaker 4: So we collect data from all of the beehives we maintain, including yours strong. Yep. So that visit data helps us to manage the hives, but it also helps us to look at and quantify pollinator health in certain areas. Basically, like I said, they’re indicator species, the native pollinators are difficult to study. They don’t have hives. We can look at their solitary and it’s hard to really keep up with them. So the honeybee health is a really good indicator of the native species health. And we’re looking at a colonies health over the years, as well as diving deep into the data of their nutrition through honey DNA, actually take a small sample of honey from the hives, send it to our lab for genomic analysis. And then we get back a full list of the different plants that the bees forge from to produce that honey.

Speaker 4: Oh, that’s interesting. Yeah. It’s like the 23 and me of, of honey, you know, we learned, learned a lot about their tie it and, of course, you know, it’s similar to people. A diverse diet does correlate with better bee health and there’s gaps in forage. You know, some places don’t have enough plants maybe in early spring or late fall to sustain healthy colonies of honeybees, which is a good indication that there is also not enough habitat for the native species. So, you know, we’re doing this in Quincy where we’re monitoring, you know, bee health and Quincy and, you know, through our partnerships with companies like Fox rock properties, we can advise on plantings and habitat restoration that will impact all pollinator species. And, you know, being able to measure that over time is really important. So we can actually see the difference in habitat and diet changing in the bees over the, over the years. And, you know, it’s a fun thing. It’s fun thing when you have bees at work, you know, so it’s a cool thing to do and get to have fun, fun bee related events, you know, beehive tours and honey tastings. you know, the honey can be used to create honey ice cream or honey beer. And there’s a lot of fun, fun things that these, properties will do with, with the different companies that have offices

Speaker 2: There. That sounds like fun. I just have to let people know that I have this dog in the background who is snoring. So if you hear little snores, that’s Zoe the wonder dog sleeping in the back of the studio here. It’s a good job. Yeah, exactly. Anyway, you’re talking about, gaps in forage it’s pollinator week. What are some of the things that people listening if they’re interested can do to create a more pollinator friendly environment in general,

Speaker 4: Number one, obviously plantings, anything we can plant to create forage for the bees is great. A really great resource is these are CS for invertebrate conservation. it’s a long name, but the website is xerxes.org. Yeah. There’s just, they’ve really great local guides, for pollinator habitat establishment. you know, you can plant things, that bloom in early spring and late fall, those are really good for bees because that’s typically where we notice the gaps in forage. and then there’s also great guides for things like establishing pollinator Meadows, you know, Meadows of native wildflowers to new England that are blooming year round and providing that food for them year round. So, you know, number one is plantings. Number two, you know, cut back on all of the pesticides. It’s just, it’s tough to see people spraying so much that they may be not needing to check in with your landscapers, if you don’t do it yourself and really check in to see what they’re using and if it’s necessary, or if there are natural alternatives, it really affects the native bees even more than the honeybees where they just don’t have, you know, a whole population to rely on or a queen who can just lay even more eggs and create more bees.

Speaker 4: It’s just, you know, pesticides can wipe out populations.

Speaker 3: Yeah. And I also have to think

Speaker 2: On some level it’s, it’s hurting us. I mean, eventually it gets into the food supply and it makes its way into us and it kind of have to wonder. So do you know, I mentioned, I think it may have been before we were recording, but I’ve actually taken a mixture of vinegar and water or mostly vinegar and just squirted it on, some weeds popping up in the middle of, you know, like crab grass coming up in between some bricks in my walkway or something like that. Or are there some natural things that people can do that are totally benign to pollinators and people and really inexpensive, but very effective. Yeah.

Speaker 4: I mean, what you did is a great option. I think that that, that works really well. You can also put down like a tarp and cover up the area from any sunlight to kill all the plants or weed them yourselves. And, you know, the biggest thing is like when things are in bloom, maybe consider leaving them it’s pollinator week. If you’ve got, you know, weeds that are blooming, you know, they may not look as great to you or you might not want them, but they’re, they’re essential food for bees. So I always say, if you can leave them, that’s great. But if not, you know, try something natural, like you said, or, you know, weed them yourselves and just never, ever spray any sort of pesticide or chemical treatment on flowers in bloom because that’s, you know, that’s a stop for a bee somewhere to, you know, grab a bite to eat. And, you know, you just don’t want to have that, you know, be exposed to the whole colony or, you know, kill the native bee. It’s just, best to leave the weeds or do something like a little more natural. Okay. A lot of people might be thinking, well,

Speaker 2: What’s the big deal on a site Well, we get a lot of our food from these, these pollinators. So it does impact us.

Speaker 4: That’s an entire ecosystem, you know, not only are a hundred over a hundred fruits and vegetables that we eat pollinated by honeybees and other bee species, but know that the thousands of different plants, you know, that, that require pollination, to survive. And, and, you know, these native bees are a part of a big ecosystem and they’re dying. They’re disappearing due to habitat loss from development from people, you know, having just green lawns and removing all the weeds. And it’s just so important that we don’t lose these species and the biodiversity that we have already here in Quincy or in new England, it’s, it’s under threat and we have to really be considerate to why we are landscaping and the ways that we are. And, you know, what are some simple ways that we can have beautiful flowers, but also contribute to the health of our local ecology.

Speaker 2: Sounds great. So I would be remiss if I didn’t let you talk a little bit about what the best bees company does. Why don’t you tell everybody what the best bees company does So the services you provide and if people want to learn more, how they can get in touch with you. Yeah,

Speaker 4: Of course. It’s, you know, the best bees company is a national group of beekeepers. We have beekeepers in 14 cities across the country now, and we provide beekeeping services. It’s really the hands-off approach to having your own beehives, supporting pollinator research and even producing your own honey. So, you know, we’ve designed things to be just all inclusive of everything needed for happy, healthy honeybee colonies, including the beekeepers. So you wouldn’t have to do the work yourself, but you, you know, have your own bees and learn a lot about the process. and like we were saying, we take a real data-driven approach to it. And, you know, view all of the bees as indicator species. We’ve got a sister non-profit research organization called the urban bee lab that actually takes the data that we collect, and analyzes it alongside other data sets with our research partners, helping to advance our mission, to improve the health through research and expand populations.

Speaker 4: But, you know, it’s a cool thing to, and your beehives not only are producing delicious backyard, honey, they’re also, you know, NASA data points helping with, you know, studying the native pollinator species around your area. And, you know, spring is here. We are still installing beehives and areas around the country. So if you are interested, you know, especially in Quincy, we have beehives and, and are doing that all this month. You can get in touch with us at dot com, book an assessment, or give us a call at (617) 445-2322. We are local we’re Boston area based. And, now we would love to have, you know, some more beehives this season, you know, in your, in your backyard or on your rooftop.

Speaker 2: And I have to say, I mean, I’ve had, I don’t even know how long I’ve been a client of yours now, but it’s been at least seven years, I think. And it’s, it’s one of those things that it’s been a lot of fun. And what Sam says is true. If you’re, if you’re looking to do something, to help the environment and also have some fun, but not have to really do a lot yourself, you just kind of give them a spot in your yard and they do it all. And another question I get all the time is how much honey do you get And I said, well, it depends, depends on the weather, depends on a whole bunch of factors. One year I didn’t get any, but you folks provide some anyway, because sometimes that happens, colony can be just a little slow and not really kind of get, established and, and you need to make sure that they have enough food to make it through the winter. Cause that’s the goal. I think you have a program where you’re guaranteed at least a minimum amount of honey. Yeah.

Speaker 4: Yeah. We, you know, we’ve got, we’ve got other hives too, that we maintain in our reserve AP areas. So we provide, you know, every client with five pounds or more of local honey at the end of the year, if they’re calling these don’t produce, you know, it does happen when establishing a new colony because we want to make sure that they have enough resources to get through winter, especially here in new England. but, it’s those subsequent seasons when they make it through winter and then go into spring healthy and a strong population, they really can capitalize on that early nectar flow and produce, you know, quite a bit of honey as you know, I mean,

Speaker 2: Somebody said, how much honey did you get Well, I said, one year I got like 49 pounds on him. And

Speaker 5: He’s like, really I said, yup. Yup.

Speaker 2: So, you know, if you’re looking to do something and it really helps. Oh, and my neighbors love it by the way, Sam, because, well, they love it because not just for the honey, but they have apple trees and pear trees and peach trees and berries and nuts and all around the neighborhood. There’s people with pear trees and apple trees and the guy, I was just talking to my neighbor. He said, my apple tree is absolutely loaded this year. And, and, and so he’s all excited. And so, I mean, it, it, it has effects just beyond your yard. It does good things for the neighborhood. And, if you’re looking for a hands-off thing to do, give Sam a call. What’s the phone number again saying,

Speaker 4: Yeah, it’s the phone number for best bees is 6 1 7 4 4 5 2 3 2 2. And you can also check us [email protected] Sam. I want to thank you for

Speaker 2: Your time today. You’ve been very generous with your time and, thank you so much for sharing some information. Is there anything else that you want to share with our listeners that you make sure gets out before we end the show Yeah,

Speaker 4: I, I would say, you know, make sure that you’re doing something this pollinator week for the bees, you know, sprinkle some wildflower seeds at least, and, you know, get in touch with best bees, even if it’s just to, you know, keep up with the pollinator research that we’re doing. John, thanks so much for having me and giving me the opportunity to talk about bees on your podcast. I talk about bees all day long as you can imagine, but it’s always great to, to share with a larger audience. And I’d love to give a shout out to, you know, all of the, best bees Quincy clients, who I hope are listening. Thank you guys so much for the support and, John, thank you. Welcome

Speaker 2: Sam. Thank you. And, and good luck with what are all the stuff you have going on for pollinator week

Speaker 4: Yeah. Thank you. It’s a, it’s a busy time of the year Springs. A great time to be beekeeping, but we are busy. So thank you, John. Yeah. And good luck with everything else this spring you’ve got. Yeah. Thank you. Maybe they bothered AB that was really

Speaker 1: Cool. That’s it for this episode next week I think we’re going to have some folks on it from the Quincy historical society, leading up to July 4th independence day, make sure you tune in for that. And if you have an idea for someone who should be a guest on the all about Quincy podcast, go to all about Quincy podcast.com, click on the contact button in the upper right-hand corner and tell us who they are and why you think they should be a guest on the all about Quincy podcast. We want to interview business leaders is storylines, unsung heroes. If you think they should be on this show, we want to hear about it. So go to all about Quincy podcast.com, click on the contact button in the upper right hand corner and send us the email until next week. Thanks for listening.

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Episode 002: Tim Cahill Campaigns On Behalf of City of Quincy Massachusetts

Speaker 1: From the city of presidents, it’s the all about Quincy podcast. This is your host, John Melley. Join me as we explore the history, hidden gems and highlight the businesses with great stories that I’ll tell the tale why Quincy, Massachusetts is a great place to live. Hey, there is John, how are you I know you have a lot of things competing for your attention. So thanks for spending some time with me today. I really do appreciate it. Welcome to episode two, where we have a very interesting guest Tim Cahill, who is the well, he’s got an Amazing resume.

He’s currently the president of the Quincy chamber of commerce. And Tim has had an amazing career and a lifetime of public service and one observation that I made, and unfortunately it was after we stopped recording. And I said to him, you know, you’re still campaigning. It’s just that rather than you being the candidate, you’ve replaced yourself with this city of Quincy and you’re campaigning for the city of Queensland. He, he liked that analogy. So let’s just dive into my conversation with Tim and I’ll talk to him a little bit at the end.

Speaker 1: As I said, at the top of the show, my guest today is Tim Cahill. Now most of you folks Listening to the program probably know who Tim is, but in case you don’t, we’re going to go through a little bit of a chronology before we have our conversation. so let’s just start at the beginning. First, Tim was Born.

Speaker 3: You will lose them in the first minute. If you go there,

Speaker 2: let’s just start with his professional chronology here. He was the founder and owner of a place called handshakes cafe from 1982 to 94. You own that for 12 years. And during that time, he also served as a counselor at large on the city of Quincy city council for 15 years. He also served as the Norfolk county treasurer from January of 1997, January of 2003, then he became the Massachusetts state treasurer. Tim served as the treasurer and receiver general of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2011 and the middle of all that he decided he was going to run for governor, which he did in 2009. He has also been a guest host of WBZ radio’s nightside with Dan Ray. He now serves as the president of the Quincy chamber of commerce and the executive director of the Quincy economic development corporation. So I think we can make a couple of assumptions. You probably know a couple of things about the city of Quincy. I know. Yes, yes. And that’s why we’re excited to have you on as a guest of the, all about Quincy podcast. So thank you very much for taking the time to

Speaker 3: Be here and you missed my first job, which I don’t blame you because it wasn’t listed. But my first job out of college was, well at first, very first job was in the Quincy park department or our mayor’s father ran the park department back then. I was under age 14, but I’m tall. So I made the cut. And, my first real job out of college was as a tour director at the Adams national historic site. So very fun history, a little bit. That’s that’s, that’s my, that was the beginning of my, sort of my historical education about Quincy. So, I can go deep if you want, or we can stay on the, on, on the surface. But, that was my first and one of my favorite jobs of all time,

Speaker 2: I can imagine it would be, I, my dad grew up in Milton and so we would come and visit my grandparents and we would come down the expressway and I would see the signs for the Adams national historic site for years. And it wasn’t until I married my wife and moved to Quincy and, started to poke around the neighborhoods and all of that, that I was like, wait a minute, we have the writer of the Massachusetts state constitution and a writer of the United States, constitution, presidents. And first ladies right

Speaker 3: Here inside of the declaration of independence. I mean, you, I mean, we could go on and that would take up the whole show, but, and I’m happy to do it by that. It is, it’s an amazing city. It’s amazing modern city, but it’s also amazing historical city.

Speaker 2: Yeah, it, it is. My first guest was Annie Dow and she is a lifelong resident of Quincy. my wife is a fourth generation Quincy resident. And one of the things that I said to Annie was that, one thing that I know about people who are from Quincy, they’re passionate about the city of Quincy and very proud of being from Quincy. And we were talking about all the things that Quincy has like with the new restaurants and the history and the different neighborhoods. I’ll walk around with my dogs and I’ll meet people and they’ll say, oh yeah, my parents have lived here and my grandparents have lived here. They’ve been around a hundred years, but then we have a large population of new folks to the city and a revitalization that’s going on in the city. So there’s a lot of stuff. We have an ocean on one side and the blue Hills on the other side and quarries and highway that runs through

Speaker 3: The middle of it really has everything. I was just selling our city to some out some folks who were looking to do some business in the year. And the conversation was exactly what you just said. We got the water a mile from where I am in Quincy center. We got the blue Hills about a mile from rain in west side, of Quincy center, beautiful historic district and a great urban, but not to, or even talent field, you know, I mean city, but you still feel like you’re in the suburbs. You got a patch of land. Most of us have driveways. They all work and stop. So I’ll start or something. I don’t think there’s a better place in America, in the United States of America. And I don’t think there’s a better country than the United States. So in my mind, Netflix, Quincy, top of the list in the entire world,

Speaker 2: Well, there you go. You’re an advocate for the city, aside from all the wonderful things that you just mentioned, what is it about Quincy that really, in your opinion, you have a lot more experience in the city than I do, but what do you think it is that drives that hometown pride spirit that people in Quincy have

Speaker 3: Geez, that one’s, it’s tough to put into a sentence, cause it’s a feel and it’s a hard one to articulate, but I think there’s a sense of genuineness and Quincy that you don’t find everywhere else, even for newcomers, for, for people who’ve been here forever. I mean, it does say take some time, like you said, a fourth generation, Quincy resident is still a newcomer to some folks here, but at the same time, you know, we’ve got first-generation immigrants, especially Asian, Chinese, Chinese, right. It means. And I feel honestly that they’re as welcome and they feel as welcome to this community as my grandparents, Irish immigrants, that my wife’s Italian immigrant grandparents felt maybe even more so, cause I think we’re a little bit more, I for legal, more open to new customers now than we were back then, but they all settled here and it might take a generation to become sort of part of Quincy, but I’ll tell you someone who’s seen tremendous highs and also some pretty deep lows in his life.

Speaker 3: People in Quincy will stick with it, no matter what they don’t care about your pedigree, they don’t care about your title. if you’re a good person, they’ll stay standby here, no matter what kind of issues you get into. And and that’s what makes it special. And it’s different than some of the other communities on the south and north shore and, and elsewhere, again, it’s hard to put in a sentence, but I think there’s a genuineness year in a, in a willingness to reach out that you don’t just find everywhere. Especially in the city of a hundred thousand people, it’s like a small town, you know, very D kind of small town, but yet it’s a city of over a hundred thousand people, each generational multiethnic, and yet people still want to come here and once they come here and they want to stay,

Speaker 2: Right, what do you think And I know you have to be because of your position, but what’s, what are some of the favorite things that you like about Quincy, aside from what you just talked about I mean, for example, Annie, our guest last time. So you said she loved the parks department because of the summer summer camp program that they had when she was growing up. And so those are some of the things that she likes. What do you have as memories from your childhood that you remember about Quincy that made it special for you

Speaker 3: Well, I agree with Annie, I lived at Kinkaid park in, Southwest Quincy, growing up, playing whatever sport was in season. And you had a great youth program back then played football for the Elks for Dean football. And then interesting. When, when I had one of my statewide campaigns as an, with four young daughters, we couldn’t go on vacation one summer because I was too busy campaigning. So my wife, we stayed home. You know, we stayed in the city and they took advantage of the recreational opportunities. So they learned to sail at Black’s Creek. Oh, cool. Thanks. Sports. And sailing is something that we never would’ve been exposed to. So there was so much to do I, my favorite past time in the city of Quincy, outside of coming to work and trying to help in ways that I can here at the chambers is walking.

Speaker 3: my dad was, a big Walker. He was known as a Walker. He would put in 10, 50 miles a day and I had a driver’s license. I was walked to work. And even when he retired, he just kept walking. So not to sound silly, but I’m following in his footsteps in some way. just sort of finding paths. And I think the pandemic really opened my eyes because there wasn’t much to do. You couldn’t go to the gym. Work was not, everything was closed. It was, to me, it was a really interesting time to be able to enjoy the city without the traffic, without the congestion, without things that were bothering us prior. I mean, I’d be, I walked literally in the middle of the street, there was not a car coming in, either direction for the whole walk and finding some parts and some trails outside of the blue Hills, just through the neighborhoods.

Speaker 3: Lindsey is my favorite pastime outside of spending time with my family or being at work in that. And it’s interesting what you find walking, what you discover walking, if you don’t discover a dragon. Oh, sure. Yeah. Little houses, little businesses, parks that, and then just open space. There’s plenty of it in Quincy. I mean, tons of it and the city’s done a great job in this modern era of really maintaining those products, adding to them, making, creating new parks and new walking paths and stuff. And we’re working on an, on a, really exciting, program with the city called the presidents trail, which comes from my interest in history, my interest in walking and the fact that we’ve got all this history, that’s just got a city here. I know chamber and the city have gotten together and we’re putting together what’s called the president’s trail that will connect.

Speaker 3: It’s a walking trail and urban walking trail that will connect all of these significant historic sites in Quincy with really beautiful historic signage, a map, an app that you can follow along with self-directed self, you know, self guided. And, you are literally walking in the footsteps of John Adams, John Quincy, Adams, Abigail, John Hancock, cause all the signs was signified. What was going on at this site at the time, usually in, mostly in their words in quotes that came from John Adams diary or Abigail’s diary, as you said at the outset, there is no other place in America that is the birthplace and the resting place of two presidents, two signers of the declaration of independence. I mean it’s unique and that history, and I think this is another thing that makes Queens unique is history is still important, but it doesn’t overshadow the progress in the future. You know, we’re kind of going in two different directions in this presence trail is a way to capture that history and allow people to walk through new Quincy while experiencing full Quincy. And we’re really excited about that. Hopefully we’ll be kicking it off sometime.

Speaker 2: That’s very cool. That’s very cool. I’ve often, I’ve often wondered this may sound kind of geeky, but I’ll say it anyway. I’ve often wondered if John Adams or John Quincy Adams and Abigail Adams, if they all came back now, what would they think

Speaker 3: You know, approximately might be horrified because their farm is much smaller than it was when they, when they left. I, I, you know, I, you know, it’s funny. It is G and I, but I can identify, cause I think about a lot, you know, what would it be What would it be like if you came back 200 years from now, what would you see What would you recognize and what wouldn’t, you obviously there’s so much that it’s changed, but that church where they used to worship that is still there. Yeah. The graveyard where his father was buried and his ancestors are buried is still there and the birthplaces and the birthplace.

Speaker 3: And so I think he’d be honored because to know John Adams know that he lived in a turbulent times and when he died, I don’t think he realized, I don’t think he ever thought he would be remembered, certainly not a month. The grapes like Jefferson and Washington soft spot in his, in his personality that he’d been overlooked. And we have David McCullough mostly for that resurrection of John’s reputation because he did a marvelous job of uncovering and then promoting how important John Adams was an Abigail. Both of them were to the founding of this country. Oh, definitely. Yeah. That inspires me. And it’s really brought a lot of, I think it brings a lot of pride to those of us who live here to know that again, we walk in their footsteps.

Speaker 2: Yeah. What excites you the most about the future of Quincy You have a kind of a bird’s-eye view of greater sense of the opportunities that are coming to Quincy, stuff that you can talk about. What, what excites you the most about the future of Queens Well,

Speaker 3: I liked the development that’s taking place, and I know that isn’t universally loved by everyone in Quincy, because change is hard, but change is important in a city, in anything, in a person in the city and the entity and a business. If you don’t change that, if you don’t keep growing, you shrink. And so I’m very excited with the way we’ve been able in the city. The mayor has been able to incorporate the new with the old, and I like the fact that there is also open space being added, even though the buildings are getting bigger than they were in the past is always based around those buildings. They don’t feel quite as big and it’s not a clunk, it’s not a concrete jungle. And as they look out the window of my office, it never will be there’s trees everywhere and green space.

Speaker 3: And I think that’s, that’s why I think Quincy has boys too, to accelerate and grow even more so in the 21st century, because we’re not stuck in the past, we honor our past, but we’re not stuck in it. And I think that’s, you know, I, I work in a beautiful art deco building. It was built in 1929 Quincy’s first skyscraper, granite Trussville. Yep. And I can imagine back when the opera was king was building it, how on what used to be a church ground How waterfight people probably were that this huge building with an elevator was going in and now it’s an historic building or building other buildings sometimes bigger. So, you know, that’s, again, that’s why Quincy is different and why it’s cool and why I think it will always be a great place because there’s always a turnover in, in sort of the, the population, as I told you, as you know, the quarries and stone covers brought the Irish, the Swedes, the Italians, all, all looking to make it in America.

Speaker 3: And then, yeah. Then what was the last two, you know, 20 or 30 years the Chinese, the Vietnamese, the Koreans have come Indian American Indians from the country have come and, kind of invigorated. They are the new shopkeepers. They are the new restaurant owners. They had a new dry cleaners. They had the new sort of American dreamers. I think that really, that’s the other thing about Quincy, it’s an economic city in addition to being a historic city, where the birthplace of Dunkin donuts, the birthplace of Howard, Johnson’s the birthplace of the Grossman companies, all businesses that were instrumental in the 20th century country to where it is today. And to me, that’s exciting. I mean, we’ve got a company in Quincy right down the street from me in Quincy center called IntelyCare – a health company. That’s created an app, that allows nurses and people in healthcare to sort of create their own jobs and go where the jobs are.

Speaker 3: And then now the fastest growing private company, one of the fastest growing private companies in the entire state and one of the top fastest growing companies in the country. And again started here probably in the last five or six years. And it’s sort of a, you under the radar Quincy company that could become the next Uber. Wow. Because that’s what they’ve created. An app based technology that allows people who are qualified to be nurses, get picked the jobs that they want to pick when they want to work and stuff. It really is. It’s a great healthcare tool, but it’s also a great freedom tool for people who have the skillset and want to, you know, work nights, work, weekends, work around their families and stuff. And that’s just one, I there’s another company called dive technologies that is building the next generation of underwater, autonomous underwater vehicles submarines. Wow. They building them on Willard street using a 3d printer.

Speaker 2: Sure. No kidding. That’s fascinating.

Speaker 3: And, and, and those, those are two companies we’re associated with that I know of. And I guarantee there’s a, there’s a dozen or more that I don’t even know yet, but they will. And they were born with a small group, you know, a couple of guys, a couple of friends who decided, Hey, this is what we’re going to do. And they’ve done it here in Quincy. So that’s, that’s the thing that gives me a lot of hope going forward. And as you said earlier, I was an entrepreneur at the beginning of my career. And I get to work with entrepreneurs now at the end of my career. So I’m blessed in that sense. And those are the people. Again, they, they motivate me, they motivate me and they inspire me because they’re doing what I did when I was in my twenties, hopefully doing it better and more successfully than I did. So, so it’s a great place for people to either live, work or play. And, you can do it all here in Queensland. and we, we love the creators and, this is a great place to, to do that.

Speaker 2: That’s great. Yeah. You mentioned Howard Johnson. I was just telling a friend of mine that my grandfather knew Howard Johnson. It’s, it’s fun to hear all those names and you don’t realize that these are started local, but became national chains. I mean, Dunkin

Speaker 3: Donuts, the flow of the world, and they started the Southern artery. And that first story is still there and rock the donuts and pouring the coffee.

Speaker 2: The funny story about that real quick household hazardous waste collection day, the city holds it twice a year. My wife and I pulled up and got in line with some paint or something like that. And we’re sitting there and it was the summer date and we had the windows open and we’re parked in front, across the street from the Dunkin donuts. And the pan mass challenge was going by and there every other group of bicyclists they’re going, Hey, that’s the original Dunkin donuts. No, Hey, that’s the original Dunkin donuts for 20 minutes. And just basically everybody riding by going, Hey, that’s the original Dunkin donuts. I said, I should call up the sales rep at the radio station and say, I’m going to set up a camera on a tripod and just record this and they can use it for a commercial.

Speaker 3: Well, interesting fact is that we, we started a hall of fame business hall of fame a couple of years ago here at the chamber, right before the pandemic in 2019 and Duncan, we inducted Duncan as the first member of that hall of fame. Sure. We want to honor the businesses that have come before us and, and really stepped up this year. We’re going to be honoring a company. Queensland company called granite city electric started was started by an Italian immigrant in 1923. And they, one of the biggest electrical distributors in the, in England right now. So like I said, we, we, we honor the, the founders and the people who got it started and we were excited to follow and maybe create the next generation or at least be part of the next generation. So somebody can drive down the street someday and say, that’s where in Telecare was started. That was the first one, or that was, you know, the first something else. But, you know, like I said, there’s, there very few dull moments in Quincy that’s for sure, because you can always drive down some street and someone will point something out that you had no idea it was there. And when you think about it, you said, Jesus, it’s pretty special place.

Speaker 2: Well, I want to thank you for taking time out of your schedule, to be on the show and share your insights and your knowledge. Is there anything that you’d like to share with the audience before we sign off

Speaker 3: Well, I mean, there’s, you know, as you said at the beginning, I’m the president of the Quincy chamber of commerce and, w I think we play a valuable role in promoting Quincy, as you can tell, I’m a promoter, I guess, at heart, and, and it’s easy to sell something when you really love it strongly about it. So, we, we just think that there, there is not a better place to do business if you’re lucky enough to find a place to live and raise your children as my wife and I did here in Quincy, like I said, it’s just, we feel blessed. We feel blessed to be here. and I think it was David McCullough that might’ve said it or someone else. I read it. You know, you, you, you need to appreciate not just where you were born, but where you are in life and in the world and stuff. I mean, we could have been born in a country, a third world country that where we struggled and we didn’t have, we, we, we often shouldn’t take for granted what we have complete Erica being born at this period of time. And we know there’s a lot of challenges out there and struggles, but overall there’s no better place in the world. And no other time, I think as much as I sometimes reminisce or romanticize, what would it be like growing up in the revolutionary war period I don’t think I could have hacked it back then.

Speaker 3: Tougher w when I read history, I said, geez, that’s, you know, I like having, you know, cooking in an oven as opposed to an open flame, you know, into a, into a plumbing and things that we take for granted that the rest of the world doesn’t have. Right. And so, you know, and I think we have a duty. I certainly feel that way too, to make sure that you send that message out there, whether it was in politics in business, or now in the chamber, I just want to, I’m not selling anything. I just want to really promote what the good things that, that take place in, in Quincy and in this world, because we should be appreciative more so than we are so greatest country in the world. I felt that way for a long time. I still feel that way. And we just happen to be in the best city of the greatest country in the world. So w w w lucky, and I want to spread that message as much as you do

Speaker 2: Well, that’s good. I completely agree with everything you just said. And, I want to help you spread that message. So thank you for being here and that with us and your insights and for sharing your time with us today.

Speaker 3: Thank you very much. And, and how do we catch this, podcast And we subscribe to it. What’s the best way to

Speaker 2: I listen to it. it’s on apple podcast, it’s on Amazon, it’s on Stitcher. And if that doesn’t work for you, you can go to all about Quincy podcast.com and you can stream it there. Thanks,

Speaker 3: Tim. Great. Thank you very much. Appreciate it, John, have a great show going forward and, I’ll be back anytime you want.

Speaker 1: Wasn’t that a cool interview I thought so, man, he’s just got so Much knowledge and passion for the city of Queensland. It was great to have him on as a guest. I want to let you know that next week is pollinator week and whether you know it or not, I have honeybee hives. So my guest for next week’s episode is a beekeeper from the company that takes care of my hives. It’s a fascinating interview, and I encourage you to listen to the next episode coincide with the events of pollinator week. And if you’ll indulge me for a moment, I have a little bit of a rant to go on. as a dog owner walking around, I know it’s not the most pleasant task, but if your canine companion does, Cukor pick it up. Plastic baggies, there are barrels in the parks, toss it out. It’s not healthy.

Speaker 1: And quite frankly, it’s disgusting. If you just leave your, your, your pooches poop is Laying in the park or on the sidewalk. I mean, if it’s your dog, it’s your responsibility to pick up after them. And most folks are great about that, but I walk around and I see enough of it to go, listen, we’re all trying to live here together. Just pick it up and toss it in the barrel, please, for all of our sakes. Anyway. End of rant. Thanks for listening tune in next week for my episode, with the beekeepers pollinator week and the all about Quincy podcast. If you know someone who would be a great guest for the alibi Quincy podcast, we want to know about it. Business leaders, historians, unsung heroes, just go to the [email protected]. Fill out the contact form, tell us who you think would be a great guest and why, and we will try to make that happen. So until next week, thanks for listening.

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All About Quincy Podcast

Exploring Quincy Businesses, History and Happenings

Tag Archives: John Melley

Episode_004: Quincy Historical Society is All About Quincy

Episode 003: Quincy is all “A-Buzz” With Bees!

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Episode 002: Tim Cahill Campaigns On Behalf of City of Quincy Massachusetts