Creating a Sanctuary…One Parcel at a Time
0.83 acres in Centerville
“I’m a ‘washashore’,” is how Dr. Charles (Chuck) Herberger jokingly describes himself. Although he may not have been born on the Cape, his roots here are deep. The 89-year-old retired English professor lives in the Centerville homestead that he shared with his late wife Melvina, neé Crosby. The stately home was built in 1858 by Gorham Crosby, Melvina’s great grandfather and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
In June 2009, Dr. Herberger donated a .83-acre parcel of salt marsh on Pheasant Way in Centerville to Barnstable Land Trust. It is one of two remaining parcels of what were once the extensive Crosby family land holdings. The property is also adjacent to a 2.77-acre piece of land donated to BLT in 2000 by Sylvia and Jack Furman. Together, they create a 3.60-acre wildlife sanctuary, buffering the Centerville River and nearby herring run from pollution.
“I decided to give the parcel to BLT because it is a wetland, and preserving it makes sense,” Dr. Herberger explained. “I was pleased to find out that there was an adjacent lot already owned by BLT. It feels good to be able to do this. My wife would be very much in favor of making this gift. Melvina was a bird lover. She loved animals and nature.”
 |
Dr. Charles Herberger and his daughter Bebe Brock |
Dr. Herberger, Professor Emeritus at Nasson College in Maine, has written numerous books. He is the author of Three Centuries of Centerville Scenes: Vignettes of a Cape Cod Village. Much of the content stems from the historical records of Evelyn Crosby, Melvina’s maiden aunt who resided in the Centerville homestead on Main Street until her death in 1976 at age 95. She was a real estate agent and town meeting representative until the year before she died.
“Evelyn knew so many people in Centerville. She kept eleven notebooks,” said Dr. Herberger, “and she planned to write a history of the village. Before she died, she gave me the notebooks and said, ‘Maybe you’ll write it, Chuck.’ And I did.”
The area is rich in history. The Crosby homestead was originally a farm on 35 acres; the house was also an inn. “We have the old register,” Dr. Herberger said, “and the room numbers are still on the doors. Gorham ran a stagecoach that would meet trains from Boston and New York. He had 32 horses that he kept in two barns.”
Also of historical significance is the nearby herring run, which starts in Long Pond to the north, goes under Pine Street, winds along the Herberger parcel, and then travels the Centerville River out to East Bay and Nantucket Sound. The herring run was once the site of a successful artificial pearl manufacturing business. The company, which began in 1917 and closed around 1950, was internationally famous; its pearls were described as “virtually indistinguishable” from natural pearls. “Two of the [three] successful [pearl] essence makers are in Europe – the other is at Hyannis, on Cape Cod,” wrote journalist Lemuel C. Hall in 1921.
BLT is grateful to Dr. Herberger for his donation of land. “Historically, wetlands were considered “wastelands,” and were destroyed by draining, filling and dumping. Because of their capacity to provide protection from flood waters and the importance to flora and fauna, wetlands are now given a higher level of protection and are recognized for their diversity. Thanks to Dr. Herberger, wildlife in the area now has an even bigger safe haven.”