Introduction:

The properties in Ashumet Valley were built by different developers over a span of years. During this time the association started out as AVPOA before finally being officially incorporated as Ashumet Valley Property Owners, Incorporated (AVPOI), in September 1985.

Since inception of both AVPOA, and then AVPOI, a great deal has transpired in Ashumet Valley. The town accepted our roads and now maintains them, water contamination due to the Joint Base was “unearthed” and addressed, and sadly, friends have come and gone, or passed on.

This set of fun facts has been contributed by many people, and offers insight into our diversity, volunteering soul, and the caring of our resources, and of course… our spirit of fun!

There’s nothing stagnant about our neighborhood, or folks who live here, and there are plenty more stories to write both about our history, and our future. If you have an appropriate fun fact to share with others please contact one of the officers on our Contact page here >>> and let us know.

For now, pull up a chair, get a cup of your favorite beverage and sip over some of our memorable moments captured here.

Fun Facts:

    • In the early 1970s the Development Office for Ashumet Properties was at One Fordham Road. A large billboard of their properties showing their development was erected behind the entrance wall on the Fordham/Ashumet Roads side.  Buyers would go to that Office for not only their property sales, but to choose house plans, colors, flooring, fixtures, etc.
    • In the early days, the Association was very social.  There were cookouts, gatherings, children’s parties, and a family scavenger hunt that went throughout the neighborhood and up Route 151 to Ranch Road.
    • The first Treasurer’s records were kept in a small, olive green, recipe box containing index cards.
    • The AVPOA Annual Meetings were held in March at the Coonamessett Inn.
    • In the 1970s and 1980s, before the age of computers and emails, notices and invoices were typed and photocopied, as were address labels.  The creation of the logo and letterhead was physically “cut and pasted“, then brought to the printers.  For year-round residents, notices were economically hand delivered by the team of the former Treasurer, current Treasurer, and their two, 2-year-olds in the back seat being entertained with animal crackers.
    • In the 1980s before the Association arranged for a streetlight at the Fordham Road entrance, our American flag was raised every day and lowered at dusk.
    • Ashumet Pond was stocked with trout.
    • In the 1980s, Paul Harney allowed us to hold Halloween Parties for the neighborhood children.
    • In 1984, the Treasurer filed the first tax returns for AVPOA, which are still filed annually.
    • Currier Road was a dirt road until the mid-1980s.  Most people liked the dirt road because it slowed traffic on the road and by our beach.  Private citizens got a temporary delay on paving and revisions on proper installation of the drainage system at the base of Austin Stokes Drive, before the finished paving occurred.
    • In the mid-1980s after years of pressure and participation from our Association, the Base and the Town of Falmouth reached an agreement to bring town water to the residents of the Ashumet Valley.  AVPOA Officers successfully addressed Falmouth Town Meeting for their support in placing a ballot Question to fund water mains up to the Ashumet Valley.  Our members had a Make-Voting-Signs-Party, and a month later at the Town elections, manned the polls at all Town precincts holding our signs for “VOTE YES TO BRING TOWN WATER TO ASHUMET VALLEY.”  The vote was in our favor.
    • The AVPOI Meetings were held in July at the Barnstable County Fairgrounds Office doing the Association’s business and having a guest speaker from the Town (Fire Department-possible future Hatchville Fire Station, Police Department-neighborhood Crime Watch, Selectmen-Town Water, to name a few).
    • AVPOI formed a formal “Crime Watch” team to thwart and identify vandals successfully.
    • It was the year of the cicadas, in the late 1980s when Sandwich Road was being pulverized and re-paved to accommodate the weight of the soon-to-coming, trash trucks going to the Regional Transfer Station.  Daily, the police officers on that traffic detail would be standing in the street, swatting the abundance of the flying creatures with their hats, while directing traffic.
    • Ashumet Pond is shared by two Cape towns, Falmouth and Mashpee.
    • Ashumet Pond (Falmouth) and John’s Pond (Mashpee) are connected by an underground aquifer and water exchanges between the two.
    • When the level of the Pond is down, we have a large beach, and a large island reveals itself, directly in front of our beach.
    • For over the 15 years, a husband and wife living on Redlands Road, swam in the Pond at least once each month of every year.
    • In 1989, our AVPOI Treasurer’s records were computerized; first with a data base from one Treasurer and followed by Quicken with the next Treasurer and now currently Quick Books.
    • Two former Association Presidents have been Voluntary Members.
    • Our cases that were brought to court for non-payment of dues in the 1990s were all successful, paving the way for the future.  Two of the first few cases, paid their back debt to us in pennies.
    • On June 2, 1991, the Al Gramm Park at the Fordham Road entrance was dedicated and celebrated by Al’s entire family, Association members, and Selectman, Virginia Valiela. To this day, Al’s family still visits the Park.
    • One of our former Presidents made the octagonal picnic table at our beach.
    • A former Treasurer made the cement footings for four of our benches that are still in use today.
    • In the 1990s the Annual Meeting was held at the Fairgrounds, followed by a cookout at our beach.
    • After years of meetings and negotiations with the Base, they agreed to remediate the phosphorus loading of Ashumet Pond, first by treating it with alum, and then with brand new technology known as a “Reactive Wall” (which nowadays has become a common remediation).
    • In the 2000s, the Annual Meetings moved to August.
    • From 2014-2018, the Vice President and his family hosted the Annual Meeting in their backyard followed by an abundant BBQ, while a former Director’s family hosted the activity for the children across the street in their yard.  The Meeting followed by a raffle were held for the adults, while supervised activities such as face painting, puppet shows, and other entertainment were provided for the children.
    • The 2019 Annual Meeting was held in August and moved to The Navigator on Ashumet Road complete with Caribbean theme, jerk chicken, steel drums, jump rope skippers, and face painting.
    • For many years in the 1990s and 2000s one former AVPOI President and long-time Roads Chairman – Ralph Herbst – along with other dedicated members as his helpers, were seen around the neighborhood on our non-Town roads, filling in the potholes with cold patch, and riding over the repair with his truck to pack it in, as opposed to tamping it down by hand.
    • In 2009, one of our long-term Vice Presidents – Ibee Smith – created the AVPOI Crew. Under his supervision, our neighborhood youth on the Crew would do odd jobs for neighbors in the Association.
    • In 1980, the Treasurer of AVPOA set up the P.O. Box at the Mashpee Post Office. At that time, the Mashpee Post Office was a stand-alone building and the multitude of stores were not yet built.  This location was chosen for its proximity and ease of parking — a far cry from what it is now.
    • In 1980, the then current Treasurer set up the AVPOA telephone line that transfers calls to another phone line of our choice. (This was before the days of cell phones and back when phone lines were billed with a basic fee for the local calling area, and a higher long-distance rate for outside the area.) You could not call out on a transfer line, and you were billed for each incoming call at the local rate or the long- distance rate. Our local calling area was Falmouth, Sandwich, Cotuit, Marstons Mills, and Osterville.  The 508-420-2030 was chosen because it was also the local area for all of the Barnstable and Yarmouth incoming calls, as well; therefore, extending our local call area for a cost savings.
    • In 1980, Cathi Valeriani, AVPOA Treasurer, designed and created our Association letterhead and logo. This was before the days of home computers, laptops, and tablets. The logo was a combination of a house and interlocked hands. The logo conveyed the intertwining and connection of homeowners working together towards a common goal for the good of our community, and showing we’re stronger together, than separate. Black ink was used for the letterhead and the logo. The letterhead and logo have been used from its creation through the current date.
    • In the summer of 2019, when work was beginning to create the AVPOI website, Cathi was contacted to help update the logo designed originally for print. For the website logo version we wanted to add color and condense the lettering.  Cathi suggested a dark green/Hunter Green color to represent our stewardship of our green common areas, maintenance of our entrances, nature, our clean-up of the neighborhood, and possible green energy measures in the future. The website logo chosen represents an appropriate  bridge from our history to our future.