Katherine Lee Bates LbNA #32762

Katharine Lee Bates was born in a house on Falmouth's Main Street on August 12th, 1859. Her father was the pastor of the Congregational Church right around the corner. This house is maintained by The Falmouth Historical Society. Miss Bates moved to Wellesley when she was still a child. She graduated from the high school there and then Wellesley College in 1874. She was also a professor there until 1925. America the Beautiful first appeared In print in The Congregationalist, a weekly journal, on July 4, 1895. Over the years, It has become the country's unofficial second national anthem. Miss Bates, long-time professor at Wellesley College, couldn't have known that those four stanzas, hastily scribbled into a notebook on a trip West in 1893, would attain such fame. Atop Pikes Peak in Colorado Springs, Colo., she was electrified by the beauty that was her country, and In writing what later became America the Beautiful, passed on that intense love for her country to all Americans.
To the Letterbox:
Enter Oak Grove Cemetery at the Jones Road entrance. Make a Left pass the Garage and a left again pass the Memorial house. Road curves around towards the right. You will see an iron gate that faces Route 28 (entrance is closed) Take your first grassy road on your right. Behind the “Dunham” stone is Katherine Lee Bates. She was born August 12, 1859. She died March 28, 1929. Facing the Bates grave walk straight towards the Route 28 entrance. You will see 2 large pine trees. You will cross over the paved road you drove on to find a bunch of large Rhododendrons. The box sits at the base of the "rhoady" that sits between the 2 large pine trees. The Katherine Lee Bates letterbox sits just beneath a pile of sticks and pine needles. Please rehide well and please email me with any updates on it's condition. I do not live in the area and can only give it some maintaince a couple of weeks over the summer.