What is it like to live in Carver?

Carver offers open space, lots of single-family housing, an attractive senior center, and an unusual amusement park.

Daylilies in front of the gazebo next to Town Hall. John Tlumacki/ globe staff

February 14, 2017

3 minutes to read

Many people know the name William Bradford, the Pilgrims’ famous “first’’ governor. Actually, the first governor of Plymouth Colony was John Carver, who died in 1621, too soon for glory. Like its namesake, the town of Carver doesn’t get headlines, but residents praise their quality of life and value their community’s rural character.

Carver, population 11,521, was incorporated in 1790. The local economy was driven first by the “bog iron’’ found in its swamps and forged into tools. Sheep, lumber mills, and cranberries followed. By 1900, Carver farmers were growing a fifth of the nation’s annual production of the tart fruit.

Today the town offers open space, lots of single-family housing, an attractive senior center, and an unusual amusement park. Rural life expresses itself in a thriving weekly farmers’ market on the town green. An agricultural commission created a few years ago encourages residents to understand and appreciate the lifestyle of neighbors who grow cranberries or keep animals.

The downside of all this cranberry growing is less land for development and little reason for industry to invest in town. To keep taxes down, Town Hall keeps a close watch on spending, and voters have declined in recent years to back a new elementary school to replace two old buildings that are falling apart.

If you’re not interested in the economics of cranberries, how about fun? Edaville USA — a theme park based on the narrow gauge railway installed by grower Ellis D. Atwood (the E.D.A. in “Edaville’’) 70 years ago to transport cranberries from his bogs — is an entertainment magnet for young children. Thousands come every year to ride a train through millions of lights at Edaville’s Christmas Festival of Lights. Summer fun in Carver includes swimming in ponds, fishing, and going for a slurp at Erickson’s Ice Cream.

A civic revival may also be taking place. Parents pressured town officials to restart efforts to build a new elementary school, and voters passed a rule prohibiting town employees from serving on the Board of Selectmen in an effort to remove control from “insiders’’ and avoid conflict of interest.

Carver may yet have its turn in the spotlight as a regional hot spot for solar development. Two projects are up and running, one is under construction, and three more have building permits.

BY THE NUMBERS

The amount of Carver’s 25,000 acres devoted to growing cranberries

15%

The portion of Massachusetts’ cranberry production grown last year in Carver (27 million pounds)

250,000

Annual attendance at the Edaville USA amusement park. The highest last year? 7,100on a Saturday during the Christmas Festival of Lights

Number of minutes the Thomas the Tank Engine ride is expected to take when a replica of the popular storybook train of cartoon fame comes to Edaville in August

PROS & CONS

Pro

Lots of open space

Amid the red sea of cranberry bogs, there’s a lot of green. A piece of the huge Myles Standish State Forest is located within Carver’s borders.

Pros

Speaking of green

Solar energy, naturally.

Con

You haul

There’s no trash pickup unless you hire a private company, but you can purchase a sticker for the town’s transfer stations that’s good toward beach access, too.

Pro

Senior life

With three mobile home communities, including the 522-spot South Meadow Village for ages 55 and older, Carver is a welcoming place for independent seniors.