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Bench 12 at Kuse Nature Preserve

Events that took place at or near this bench, as well as those that might have been seen from this vantage point, are considered here.

At one time, North American Indians came to the springs in this area and danced in the light of the moon.

Billings Avenue is named after the family that homesteaded the eighty acres from what is now Allman Avenue to Highway 64. Their first home was built near the location of Bench 12. It was destroyed by a tornado in 1878. They later built a new home further south on the hill.

From this high hill many important events may have been witnessed.

  • The smoke of the 1885 Medford fire must have been visible.

  • The building of the first canning factory and its demise and the sound of the whistle of the second canning factory calling people to work.

  • The building of four bridges across the river throughout history.

  • Children harvesting wild strawberries and butternuts on City land.

  • The removal of gravel from the City land the Kuse gravel pit and the use of a stone crusher to pulverize rocks in the City gravel pit.

  • The building of homes across the river and the coming of inhabitants, such as the Paul Sternberg family, Newman family, and Stevens Family.

  • The development of a scrap processing plant, the dumping of toxic wastes and cleanup thereof.

  • The building of a farmstead which was inhabited by one of MedfordÕs doctors, and successive farm families.

  • Memories of making hay on the hill in summer and skiing on it in winter.

  • Memories of taking gravel out of the pit on Kuse land and playing with rocks in it.

  • Planting heaps of apple cores throughout the pasture, watching trees grow from the seeds and seeing deer come to eat the apples.

  • Walter Kuse built a dam to save soil as spring runoff rushed through the land.

    • Use the links on the grid below to help you observe.

    Location Information

    Plants

    Animals

    Bridges Across River

    Picking Wild Strawberries in City Land

    Fox Hole

    Canning Factory -- First One

    Pine Forest

    Deer

    Canning Factory Whistle for Other Factory

    Sugar Maple

    Cyclone

    Red Maple

    DeSonber Family

    Red Pine

    Indian Ax and Grind Stone and Native Americans Dancing

    Red Oak

    Newman Family

    Sumac

    Paul Sternberg

    Tamarack

    Gravel Pit

    Jack Pine

    Smoke of 1885 Fire

    Indian Pipe

    Stevens Family

    Hepatica

    Stone Crusher

    False Solomon's Seal

    Billings Family

    Spring Runoff

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    © Dr. Hildegard Kuse and Dr. Loretta Kuse