7 Things You Probably Didn’t Know About Natick
Did you know Natick used to be the home of a Hostess factory?
1. Harriet Beecher Stowe spent time there.
The Uncle Tom’s Cabin author spent a significant amount of time at her husband’s family home on 2 Pleasant St. in Natick. Though this was not her permanent home, her time there sparked the idea for her famous 1869 novel, Oldtown Folks. The Harriet Beecher Stowe home is in the John Eliot Historic District in South Natick and is a part of a local historic homes walking tour. Oldtown Folks sparked a rise in tourism to Natick in the late 1800s.
2. There are a couple of corporate headquarters in town.
Natick is home to two math and science-based companies. Cognex, which creates vision sensors and software like bar code readers, is located at 1 Vision Dr. MathWorks also has their corporate headquarters in the Boston suburb at 3 Apple Hill Dr. The company develops technological computing software for engineers and scientists, such as MATLAB and Simulink.
3. Peter Griffin went to Natick in search of Twinkies.
According to a Boston Globe article in 2012 about Hostess Brands going out of business and therefore causing the extinction of the beloved Twinkie, Peter Griffin in the television show Family Guy, went on a Twinkie search at a Twinkie factory in Natick in a post-apocalyptic world. There was once an actual Hostess factory in Natick that was torn down to make more room for the Natick Mall.
4. There are fancy apartments near the Natick Mall. Suggestion: In Natick, you can shop where you live
If you live in the vicinity, you’ve probably done some damage at the Natick Mall. But did you know there are luxury apartments with private access to the mall? It sounds like a teenager’s dream! The “Nouvelle’’ building has 215 luxury condo units, and boasts that it “provides five-star hotel services’’ right above the mall.
5. Casey’s Diner has been around since 1890.
Casey’s Diner began in 1890 in a four-stool horse-drawn wagon. In 1922, the Worcester Lunch Car Company replaced the wagon with a train car, giving the diner 10 stools. The diner has been passed down from generation to generation and according to Wicked Local, the third generation current owner passed away in early February.
6. The Henry Wilson Shoe Shop is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Henry Wilson was the 18th vice president of the United States, but also happened to have a cobbler shop before his rise into political life. According to Wicked Local, he walked from New Hampshire to Natick in 1833 to “seek his fortune in a booming shoe trade.’’ According to the Natick Historical Society, the shoe shop is at the corner of West Central and Mill Streets and is known as a “ten footer,’’ which is basically the New England term for a small building to do shoemaking.
7. The Natick Community Organic Farm is a place where kids can learn where their food comes from.
Founded in 1975, this farm is nonprofit and certified-organic, and prides itself on providing “a hands-on education to people of all ages, year-round.’’ It’s become a popular destination for school field trips, and a place for middle and high school kids to work. According to its website, in 2009 the farm was pronounced “conservation land,’’ meaning the Natick Conservation Commission now oversees the area.
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