'You gotta watch every tree, every wire': Historic booth travels to new home in Bourne

BOURNE — Through thick swaths of fog, Mark Barros carefully made the 1.5-mile journey from the Bourne Rotary to the Aptucxet Veterans of Foreign Wars, or VFW, Post 5988 with the 1920s-era historic information booth strapped to his flatbed.

Flanked by Bourne Police vehicles and Verizon, Xfinity, and Eversource trucks, Barros stopped intermittently along Trowbridge Road on Wednesday to allow utility workers to lift electric and fiber optics cables over the shed using cranes and hooked utility poles.

"You gotta watch every tree, every wire," said Barros, who has worked for Hayden Building Movers Inc. for 28 years. "If you don't, they'll take all the shingles off and you'll have a big mess on the road."

VFW Manager Mary Gilmetti-Gendron said it took months to prepare the booth's move, which cost about $10,000.

Controversy surrounded the booth when Cumberland Farms pulled demolition permits for the roughly 114-year-old structure on Nov. 14, 2022, to make way for the construction of a gas station and convenience store at the Bourne Rotary. To preserve the booth, the Historical Commission issued a demolition delay order in January 2023, which halted destruction of the booth. At the time, Gilmetti-Gendron said the VFW would move the structure to its Bourne property and voters at annual town meeting approved $45,000 to go toward the booth's transport and restoration.

The booth will be restored and serve as a thrift shop, said Gilmetti-Gendron.

"I’m going to try to get the inside done as fast as we can. We would like it up and running by Memorial Day," she said.

Jack MacDonald, a Bourne resident, rode his bicycle alongside the booth from the rotary to Shore Road. As he watched the booth placed in its final resting place, a wide smile spread across his face. A history buff, MacDonald has been advocating to preserve the booth since February 2022.

"We faced adversity at every turn of this project. But it still worked out," said MacDonald. "This is a great day for Bourne history."

What will the booth be used for?

Residents have already begun to come out of the woodwork to restore the booth, said Gilmetti-Gendron. From wood floors to sonotubes (concrete forms) to wooden shelves, people have donated materials to rejuvenate the booth.

"A lot of the people helping are veterans," she said.

A smaller shed was also added to the VFW property, which will serve as a collection box for gently used clothing and shoes.

Suitcases will also be collected, she said, to assemble emergency travel bags containing clothing and toiletry items. She plans to team up with organizations such as Independence House, she said, to help families in need.

"If they need to leave the house fast, we will be able to hand them a suitcase with everything they need," she said.

Veterans will also be able to shop at the thrift store for free, said Gilmetti Gendron.

What does it take to move a house?

For Barros, moving the booth was small potatoes. As a professional truck driver, he has moved about 100 homes over the last two decades, he said. The first structure he ever helped move was on Nantucket.

"I was the helper running in front of the trucks and watching the trees," he said. "I was telling them to move left and move right."

Last week, Barros was on Martha's Vineyard helping to jack up a house that contained the skeletal remains of dinosaurs.

"This guy had a triceratops skull right in his entryway," he said. "We carefully raised up the house —with all his skeletons in it — and put a foundation underneath."

When Barros and the crew move bigger houses — sometimes structures up to three stories — electrical and fiber optic wires are taken all the way down to the ground. Planks, he said, are inserted on either side, so the trucks can't destroy the cables.

"We don’t go over the roads as much as we used to," he said.

Robert Hayden Jr., president of Hayden Building Movers, said there's too much bureaucracy and paperwork to move houses in modern times. Years ago, he said, permitting to move a structure took several days. Now it takes months.

"This building wasn't very big or very high but it still took three months to get the utilities out here," he said. "Those are their lines — not mine — and they want to protect them."

Gilmetti Gendron said Bourne residents were frustrated by the amount of time it took to complete the job.

"I did get a lot of backlash and I'm extremely excited that the move is over," she said.

Hayden Building Movers has its own history on Cape Cod

Hayden's father, Robert Hayden Sr., established his business in 1945 and incorporated it in 1975.

"It started on a farm on Route 28 — now it's called the Marstons Mills Marketplace," said Hayden. "He had a salvage yard there and then it became the shopping center."

The business found early success after World War II, Hayden said. Soldiers returning to the Cape from war were looking for work.

"Things weren't great after the war and it was a matter of necessity," said Hayden.

The shop is now located at 84 Industry Road, which is adjacent to the Marketplace.

Rachael Devaney writes about community and culture. Reach her at rdevaney@capecodonline.com. Follow her on Twitter: @RachaelDevaney.

Thanks to our subscribers, who help make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism with a Cape Cod Times subscription. Here are our subscription plans.  

This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Historic booth makes its way through Bourne to VFW