Granston Family Bench
Edna and Arnold Granston came to Bayside as a way to give their three kids a summer lifestyle away from the heat and health risks of Massachusetts in the summer. Options for outdoor recreation weren’t great in Wakefield, Mass., but Bayside was quite appealing.
The cottage on North Avenue, ANDARU, is a play on the kids’ names: Andy, David, and Ruth (out of order, however as Ruth was the middle child).
My great grandparents loved Bayside. Their house ended up with their daughter Ruth (Granston) Higgins.
My grandfather David, purchased first a house on Griffin Street (second one up on the right). He and my grandmother later sold that house and bought the Shore Road House. Naming it Spindrift, they greatly enlarged and remodeled the house. My grandfather died in 1997, and his name was added to the bench in Merithew Square because of his deep love of Bayside.
From “Willie”, David Wilfred Granston III
Murcell/Strong Bench
In Loving Memory of Arthur G. Murcell (1880-1962) and Herbert A. Strong (1918-1994)
Arthur Goldie Murcell was the uncle of Herbert Augustus Strong who was the husband of Alice Anderson Strong (1921-2015). Arthur left his cottage on North Street to Herbert after he passed. Arthur was a ship’s carpenter (according to census records) using his skills not only on his Bayside cottage but also for his neighbors. Alice was Treasurer of the NVC for many years.
Thanks to Pam Flowers for her help with this remembrance.