Oliver Mill in Middleborough on Sunday. A correction to the bottom sign: Muttock was not “largely ignored” until the 1960s and ’70s. Crowds always went there during herring season, where you could see waves of fish migrating upstream. The restoration got mixed reviews at the time, as it involved the removal of a lot of trees.
It was legal to catch herring back then. One time I brought a few home and cleaned them. My grandmother baked them. The taste was pretty horrible, and they were filled with bones, so I didn’t try that again. And no one called it Oliver Mill. It was Muttock.
