However, from time to time, it is interesting to learn about the lesser known stories which, while not particularly earth-shaking, are at least reflections of the local color that makes each small New England town unique unto itself and provides us, yet again, with a glimpse of the residents of our town who have gone before us.

One such story was related to us in 1976, during the celebration of the American Bicentennial. Marjorie Smith, a member of the Bicentennial Committee and co-editor of the booklet Pembroke Revisited, told of the “Mystery of the Bryantville Fountain.” It was based on the lead story in the Nov. 6, 1907 issue of the Bryantville News.

The occasion was the dedication of a bronze drinking fountain, which had been erected in Bryantville Square. It was presented to the town of Pembroke by the members of the South Hanson Women’s Christian Temperance Union. It stood 14 feet high, and the Brockton Water Department had promised to provide free drinking water forever to fill it.

In her article, Ms. Smith noted that 68 years later, the fountain was missing. She decided to take up the search. She began by pouring over page after yellowed page of the Bryantville News looking for references to the fountain. From time to time, she found it mentioned, especially in relation to Fire Chief Horatio Daub, who was praised for keeping the fountain from freezing over the winter so that the horses could continue to drink from it.

Ms. Smith also talked to such older Pembroke residents as Melvin Shepherd Sr., who remembered breaking the white glass globe on top of the fountain’s tall shaft one day in about 1910 as he tried to water his thirsty horse. Mr. Shepherd remembered that it cost his father $22 to replace the globe.

Ms. Smith finally found the answer to her mystery from Pembroke resident Helen Erikson, former Pembroke Postmistress, who remembered the fountain when it was being used as a goldfish pool behind Ira Porter’s store in Pembroke Center. By that time, the tall shaft and globe were gone. She believed that because automobile transportation had almost completely replaced the old horse and wagon, the fountain had become obsolete.

Mr. Porter entrusted the fountain into Mrs. Erikson’s care when he left town. She eventually turned over the fountain base to the Pembroke Grange. Doris Anderson and her husband had moved the fountain to the Herring Run. Each spring, Grange members planted it with flowers. At one point, the entire base disappeared from the Herring Run. It was tracked down again by Doris Anderson and eventually was moved to the front lawn of the Pembroke Historical Society, where the tradition of spring flower planting continues to this day.

Karen Proctor is research director for the Pembroke Historical Society. For details about these images, call 781-293-9083.