moved into their new home in the Norman S. Henry development, off Dutcher Street. They are the first to occupy a house in the development, though other homes are nearing completion close by. This area is entered by a roadway referred to in Adin Ballou's book, History of Milford, as Driftway. In the early days the road crossed the present P. E. Casey farm on West Street, continued through to what is now Dutcher Street and entering what is now the development. The road then crossed a bridge on the Mill River below the present Rustic Bridge that was known as Cutler Bridge. The road continued on through the woods through the present Clark estate on Overdale Parkway and the Harvey Trask farm to Mendon. The new road has not been named, but due to its early history, might well be called Driftway. Milford Daily News, August 1950 ************** And as we know, it was named The Driftway. Until I saw the 1913 Parklands map, I didn't know that there had once been a bridge that crossed the upper end of Hopedale Pond below the Rustic Bridge. However, it looks to me as though the road on the map above crosses the pond just about where the Rustic Bridge is now. The date I have for the map is the 1890s. The red town line was added after it was printed. The road referred to in the newspaper article must have been the one that leaves West Street just to the left of the word, "Milford." After a short distance, it turned into a dirt road and eventually crossed Hopedale Pond. And there it ends. If it continued on through the Overdale Parkway area and on into Mendon, it's not shown here. Evidently it had been abandoned by the time the map was drawn. Possibly the creation of Hopedale Pond by the dam built by the Hopedale Community in the 1840s wiped out the old bridge and the road was rerouted to the Rustic Bridge area. The first bridge there was called Rawson's Bridge. Freedom Street can be seen winding through the lower part of the map. Bridges of Hopedale Pond Street and Place Names HOME |