By Meredith Marcinkewicz According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the definition of a nor’easter, like we had last weekend, is a storm that forms along the East Coast of North America. Nor’easters are named after the direction from which the strongest winds typically blow over the northeast states. The storms originate when cold air coming down from Canada hits the warm water of the jet stream coming up from the tropics. Where the cold air and warm water meet, a low pressure system forms. The low pressure system causes clouds to form and a storm to develop. They can bring wind, snow, rain and flooding to these regions. Shirley received .84” of rain on Saturday September 26th and 1.26” on Sunday September 27th for a total of 32.68” this year according to the Massachusetts Raindrop Report. It was the towns near the coast that received the worst of the storm. Power went out in the vicinity of Groton Rd. and the north side of Townsend Rd. on Sunday night just after 1 a.m. It was caused by a fallen tree and affected over 200 households.  Electricity was restored just before 10 a.m. Monday morning. The biggest local casualty of the storm was the Holdenwood Trail Run. Their official press release said, “It is with great disappointment that we share that this year’s Holdenwood Trail Run is canceled. The safety and well-being of our community is our first priority; the anticipated high winds, rain and expected conditions raise safety concerns for ourrunners, spectators, volunteers, and sponsors, and we feel the risk is too great to move forward with the race. A future non-timed event on the Holdenwood property is in the works for this fall. Details and date will be released as soon as we’re able to provide them – stay tuned! Thank you for your support, enthusiasm, and understanding. We are incredibly grateful to our sponsors, our runners, volunteers and spectators. Holdenwood Trail Run is a wonderful celebration of our community, our schools, and our health, and we hope to see you out on the trails soon.”

Photos and text by Meredith Marcinkewicz Eleven buildings constructed for the Shirley Shaker Community between 1793 and 1908 remain on the property of the Massachusetts Corrections Facility on Harvard Road in Shirley. Sunday October 11th will be the last 2026 guided tour of the site by the Shirley Historical Society.    Escorted by a DOC Corrections Officer, visitors meet inside a Shaker building at 12:30 where they hear an introductory talk about the life of the Shakers and the history of the Shirley community. Then they drive and walk around the property and go inside two other Shaker buildings. Reservations MUST be made in advance and $20 per person paid to the Shirley Historical Society either by check or by charge at www.shirleyhistory.org. Questions can be answered by contacting mail@shirleyhistory.org. The attached photo shows the Shaker Boys House. The roof is failing and the structure can no longer be entered. Those who want to see the remaining Shaker buildings need to do that before they worsen.

There was a community of Shakers living in Shirley from 1793 – 1908. Formally known as the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing, they believed in communal living, celibacy, pacifism, and full equality between men and women. They are known for the quality of their furniture, architecture, music, and crafts. The Shirley Shaker Village property, with ten Shaker buildings remaining, is part of the state prison system, and it can only be accessed by special arrangement with the state. Guided tours will be held on Sundays at 12:30 p.m. on September 27th and October 11th. The tours begin inside a Shaker building with a brief illustrated lecture on the history of the Shakers and the Shirley Shaker Village. Visitors go inside two other Shaker buildings and travel by prison van to various locations around the property. Reservations must be made in advance for a cost of $20 per person, or $15 for Shirley Historical Society members. Private tours may be arranged for groups of 8 on an agreed-upon Sunday afternoon. Mail payment and contact information to Shirley Historical Society, PO Box 217, Shirley, MA 01464. Email mail@shirleyhistory.org for further information. Of the six Shaker buildings in this 1890 photo, three remain in their original location.

By M.E. Jones The Holdenwood Trail Run, now in its 19th year, is set for Sunday, September 27. Averaging 300 participants annually, the run is not only a fun, family-friendly event, it’s for a good cause. Proceeds benefit the Ayer Shirley Education Foundation, which supports teaching initiatives in district schools. According to HTR Director Jay Duffner, the run netted $12,000 for ASEF last year. Part of the HTR’s enduring popularity may owe to its scenic, small-town setting, with notable pit stops around town that past run participants have praised in Facebook posts. But the biggest draw is the event itself. Open to participants of varied ages and abilities, with 10K, 5K and 2K options, the bucolic backdrop enhances the experience for runners, joggers and walkers alike, featuring a looping, five-mile trail through scenic woodlands owned by the Holden family. “It’s private land…the trails are only open for this run,” Duffner said. The Holdens, whose generational roots run deep here, provide use of their property and prepare the trail for the run each year, a dual donation Duffner gratefully underscored. “The only reason we have the run is because of the Holden family’s generosity, “ he said, adding that this year’s HTR is dedicated to the memory of a family member, Stanley Jurga, who passed away this year. The fall season is a competitive time for regional runs like the HTR, Duffner said, and although runners often come from other states, such as New York and Pennsylvania, most are local. “We recruit locally,” he said, from running clubs and area high schools. Duffner, a Shirley resident, got involved in HTR as a runner before taking over as director in 2018. “I participated in 2015 and 2016, but I won’t be running this year,” he said. But his son, Remy Duffner, an Ayer Shirley Regional High School Senior, will run again this year. And based on previous years, its likely the roster will include other ASRSD students as well. HTR offers free entry to the entire ASRHS cross country team, which this year includes members from the middle school. “Usually about 10 or 15 runners” participate, Duffner said.; Entry fees are $40 for the 10K run; $35 for the 5K run and $25 for 2K, with $5 added for same-day entrants. Start times begin at 9:30 am for the 2K run. The 10K and 5K runs follow, at 10:30 am and 10:45, respectively. The five and 10-mile runs are strategically spaced 15 minutes apart, Duffner explained. “We’re aiming for a more or less simultaneous finish” he said. Post-finish, runners and their families can head for the Bull Run on Great Road for an after-event brunch the restaurant hosts each year, with free ice cream or beer. Participants may register via the website, www.holdenwoodtrailrun.org. Pre-Labor Day entries get a free trail run T-shirt, and if the supply lasts, later entrants may get bonus tees, too. Prizes include gift cards from The Bull Run and Evans on the Common, for 10K and 5K winners, respectively. Looking forward to next year’s HTR, Duffner said the 20th will be even “bigger and better.” When: Sunday, Sept. 27, 9:30 a.m. Where: Holden Woods, 1 Parker Road, Shirley, MA 2026 HTR Sponsors: The Bull Run, Bemis, All-Star, Main Street Bank, Shirley Fuel & Gas, The Knox Family, Guthrie Bros. Landscaping, Phoenix Park, Shirley Charitable Foundation, Gage Cannabis, Evans on the Common, Whole Health Solutions and Sports Performance, Markham Group, Mitrano, Pedal Power Bike & Ski, CPF, TAG Heating and Cooling, Stony Bros. Landscaping, LAW Girls on the Run, Ayer Youth Summer Miles Club, ASRHS Student Council, ASRHS Honor Society and the Shirley Fire Dept. (List as of press time.) Event Organizers: Jay Duffner, Director; Jason Rakip, Will Holden, and Missy Goldberg

This fall once again Shirley families will be busily bustling about with their cleat-clad soccer players at the Parker and Wilde Rd. fields.  Shirley Recreation’s Shirley Youth Soccer (4 years old through 2nd grade) and Ayer-Shirley Youth Soccer (3rd through 8th grade) games begin on Saturday, September 12th. The weekday practices will be decided per team by their coaches. While initial registration is currently closed, there is still time to be placed on a waitlist in case a spot becomes available. Attached is a photo from one of last year’s winning teams. Who knows how far this year’s teams will go? Here is the link to register your player: https://secure.adminsports.net/shirleymarec.  If you have any questions, please email recreation@shirley-ma.gov. 

Text & photos by Juliet Silveri When I first saw the land, its farm-like beauty had a feeling that I wanted to keep. To me, a farm is a home that is comforting, peaceful, and is full of fields, meadows, stone walls, birds and beasts, and has plenty of land. Now that I have the land—my desire for visual, audible, touchable, smellable, feelable, peaceful beauty has started me on this journey through a landscape development project. When I moved into my new house in February 2022, I knew a fair amount about plants, having been a busy gardener for thirty years. After a season of working with a landscape designer, I realized I knew very little about landscaping. In vague terms, I knew what I wanted to create, but it was difficult to visualize exactly how it would look. So my journey started. My land is almost two acres, with most of the property in back of the house. Before I turned my attention to the back, I needed to improve the small front yard that borders on a busy road; it contained a dead cherry tree, an ungainly but healthy rhododendron, and a long equestrian-style fence in need of repair. There was also a five-foot tall weigela, with quite a bit of poison ivy, in the other front corner, next to the road. A large Norway maple is on town land, right outside the fence, bordering the street. The front of the property runs 140 feet wide, and there wasn’t much appeal there when I moved in. My landscape designer suggested the daring but exciting idea of transplanting three 15-foot-tall arborvitae to a corner where the cherry tree had been. I was skeptical whether they would live after the transplant, but decided to try it. In early September I had a tree company move them, and the results are imposing and stately. After the transplant, I insisted the tree company stake them with large stakes to hold them straight. Those arborvitae now define the feeling of that corner, which is up against the street. Too noisy to sit in, the 10 x 10-ish area will hold a small vegetable/cutting garden, at the suggestion of the designer. Pumpkins, nasturtiums, eggplants, and radishes will grow there, with enough southern and eastern sun. And I really needed a ‘Limelight’ hydrangea, so I planted one without my designer knowing, not far from the arborvitae. The corner now feels like a small formal and lovely room (See above for image). In a line along the front we planted eight aronia melanocarpa ‘Autumn Magic,” or black chokeberry shrubs, which are native to eastern North America. This line has softened and of course improved the front of the property. In full sun they bloom with white flowers covered in bees in spring. Walk along beside them and you will smell a thick cloud of honey, all the way down the line. Black berries replace those flowers, and bright orange/red foliage appears in the fall. I wanted two pure white lilacs to frame the sides of the driveway. “Are you sure? Asked my designer “Lilacs tend to defoliate and get powdery mildew.” I expect to regret my decision, because my designer is always right, but I have planted two old-fashioned white lilacs with country charm at each side of my driveway. We fixed and painted the fence a light luminous gray, which will work with any landscape design. As for my rhododendron, early on I revealed my plans to cut it down. (My main objection to this type of rhododendron is its large leathery leaves and the pink color of its blooms.) I whined to my designer: “It’s just a big, sprawling mess.” “I know,” she said sympathetically, “but it’s healthy, evergreen, does well here (under the shade of the Norway Maple), is a good privacy screen, and remember, it only blooms (a hideous shade of pink) for two weeks out of the year. Don’t murder it yet. You can always prune it back.” So I started by pruning it back, and found—quite an interesting, wavy shape to the trunk that I like looking at. Because of that, I have granted it a temporary stay of execution.  This is only a portion of the front yard. The rest is under development, as is the much larger back yard—a woodland front entrance garden, two stately Patriot Elms, an allee of trees, a large perennial garden…more to come, if you will accompany me on this journey. Juliet Silveri has been a gardener for 34 years, and is a member of both the Groton Garden Club in Groton and The Gardeners Exchange in Shirley. In addition to constantly designing and creating her landscape, she is currently pursuing her degree in Horticulture from the University of Massachusetts-Stockbridge School of Agriculture.

By Bill Oelfke & Meredith Marcinkewicz The Annual Town Election of May 5, 2015 was the first election in the Town of Shirley to utilize our current Imagecast Precinct Optical Scan Tabulator machine. This replaced the Hand Crank Ballot boxes that were used for over 250 years. Currently the voter totals from each election in the Town of Shirley are calculated by pushing a few buttons on the Imagecast Precinct Optical Scan Tabulator, which generates a paper tape report of the election results of each race that is on the ballot. This machine is just a tabulator that reads the marks made on the ballot. It is not hooked up to the internet. This process can take 10-15 minutes at the most. When the Town of Shirley utilized the Hand Crank Ballot boxes, the process to determine the vote totals from each race on the ballot was a lot more complex. At the close of election (8 p.m.), the election worker volunteers would gather in the voting area to hand count each ballot submitted during the Election Day. There would be up to 10-20 Election Workers sitting at tables in the room, in teams of two sitting across from each other.    The first step of the process was for a “runner” to give the Election Workers the ballots, one pile after another, for the Election Workers to count out into piles of 50 and give them back to the “runner.” The “runner” would then give out a tally sheet to one person of the team, with all the races and names of candidates or ballot questions on it and give a stack of 50 ballots to the other team member sitting across from his/her team member.    The Election Worker with the ballots would then read the results of the first ballot, race by race, to the other Election Worker with the tally sheet who would put a mark next to the candidate that got that person’s vote, and on and on for the remaining 50 ballots of that pile.  That team would then add up the vote totals for each candidate for each race for those 50 ballots on that tally sheet and hand them to the Lead Tally Person who would write down the results from each team’s 50 ballots onto a single tally sheet.  This process was occurring for each team of Election Workers. After each team was done with their first 50 ballots, they were given the next 50, and so on. This repeated until all ballots were counted and tallied by one of the teams and given to the Lead Tally Person, who would then generate the total vote counts for each race for the entire election. This process could take up to three-six hours depending on the number of voters that voted at that election. As of noon on August 27th, we received 332 mail-in votes and 81 early voting walk-in ballots. These are currently locked up in the town vault and will be run through the Imagecast machine on election day. Note that the state determines how many days and hours for early voting are required, depending on the number of voters in the town. Town Clerk Bill Oelfke expects 500 – 700 of them to vote in person on Tuesday, September 1st.

We have passed the 4th of July, but 2026 and the 250th celebration is far from over. The 250th Committee has been at each of the Concerts on the Common selling Shirley t-shirts and letting folks photograph themselves as Minutemen. This year’s Holdenwood Trail Run on Sunday September 27th will have a patriotic theme with prizes given out for the best patriotic costumes.    250th flags will line Front St. from Labor Day through Veteran’s Day. Unfortunately, the committee did not receive many submissions for a Shirley cookbook, so that project has been cancelled. Building a frame for the 250th quilt is the next project which will allow for the beautiful quilt to be displayed permanently at the Town Offices. The big celebration will be on Saturday November 7th at Ayer-Shirley High School when the US Army Field Band and Chorus will perform. Complimentary tickets to that event will soon be available. Follow event announcements and history trivia on the Shirley Ma Celebrating America’s 250th facebook page.