Thursday, January 4, 2007 Older Editions

The Back Page: Five poultry farms once had their roosts in 'South' Andover

By Bill Dalton

During the 1930s and '40s there were five poultry farms in what some people now call "South Andover." Seb Cavallaro, who was brought up on one of those farms, says they were all between Ballardvale Road and the North Reading line. The original Cavallaro Poultry Farm was at 498 South Main St. Later the land and buildings at 468 South Main St. were purchased and added to the farm. The farm went to the Andover Bypass, and Gould Road ran through it. (As a side note, although there was a "North" Main Street in those days, there was no "South" Main Street; it was ""Main Street" from the center of town to North Reading. South Main Street and South Andover are more recent names.)

Seb's parents were born in Sicily and separately came to this country. "Jack" lived in Lawrence and "Connie" in Wakefield. In the mid 1920s, they were introduced by relatives and they married in 1927. They moved to 498 South Main St. in 1928. Jack worked in Wood Mill as a wool sorter. During the late '30s, work was slow, and he added some buildings to his land to grow chickens, while continuing work at the mill. He also had pigs and goats and grew vegetables. Seb's older brother Tony was born in 1928, Seb in 1931, and three younger brothers, Al, John and Paul, were born in 1935, 1940 and 1951. As the older boys grew, they did many of the chores, and the farm grew. Seb says, "We sold eggs and roasting chickens from the farm and on routes. Just before World War II started, my Dad decided to leave the mill and farm full-time. When the war started, meat was scarce and there was a strong market for chicken and the farm did well."

After the war, Seb's parents purchased an old dairy farm behind the northeast corner of Gould Road and South Main Street and added more poultry houses. The family now raised about 5,000 chickens at a time. Seb says, "This was not a great number for large farms that sold to wholesalers, but we sold most of our eggs and chickens to our own customers, which was much more time-consuming. We would start day-old chicks every spring for laying hens. It would take six months for them to lay eggs and we would keep them for a year and repeat the cycle. Since we needed a constant supply of broilers, they were started throughout the year. It took about 12 weeks for them to grow to the desired weight."

Chickens were fed twice a day and eggs collected in the afternoon. On Thursday evenings, the Cavallaros would grade and box eggs while listening to the radio programs of the time. On Fridays and Saturdays they'd "dress" and clean chickens and then deliver them to customers. Dressing consisted of draining the blood from each chicken, dunking them individually in hot water, and removing most feathers with a "picking machine." Seb describes the picking machine as a "rubber fingered drum that would rub feathers off without altering the skin appearance." Remaining feathers were hand-plucked.

In that era, most of the customers bought whole chickens with head, feet, and entrails intact. There was little wasted. Seb says, "Our routes began around 5 p.m. I had one on Saturdays that started in Andover and ended in Lawrence. I would leave with a car full of dozens of eggs and chickens and finish about 9 p.m. (I never thought about locking the car when I went into a building nor did I think about being robbed. Boy, have times changed!)"

Thanksgiving and Christmas were very busy for the Cavallaros. They raised 300 turkeys for the holidays, and turkeys needed more care than chickens as they could be flighty and damage each other. There were sheep, pigs and a big vegetable garden. Each spring, the sheep would be sheared and the wool sold. Although the Cavallaros consumed many of the vegetables, they also sold some to the public.

In spite of the farm work, the boys had time to be boys. Seb says Andover has changed "tremendously" since he graduated from Punchard High in 1949: "It was fun then. My 12 years of school were all on Bartlett Street with the townies." He said there was a big difference between the kids who lived downtown and him, because he had to go home to the farm and work. Yet, he found time to play three years of football at Punchard, starting in 1947. He was a starting 145-pound offensive tackle and defensive guard for two years under coach Walt Roberts. Don Dunn, an assistant coach, showed film one day and re-ran a segment where Seb executed a perfect block for the running back. After Saturday football games, Seb would go home to do his delivery route.

Seb mentioned my swimming hole columns and said, "Our favorite was the dam at Fosters Pond. Everyone in that end of town would go there. In fact, my brother Tony said he held the record for swimming earliest in the season. He said it was in February, although it was more likely April."

The farm closed in 1955. Starting in 1956, Jack Cavallaro built one home a year for five years on the Gould Road land, and then he retired. Jack raised rabbits for a hobby, and in 1981 passed away. Connie, his 102-year-old widow, is quite healthy. Seb's brother Al now owns the main property and runs a landscaping material business from it.

Seb says this about his brothers: "Tony graduated from Punchard in 1946 and went to Tufts, so he wasn't around after that summer. Al was 11 at that time and was able to help the rest of the time the farm was in operation. He then started a landscaping business with our tractor and some of the farm equipment. John was born in 1940 so the poultry business was nearing its end by the time he was a teenager, and Paul, who was born in 1951, was more involved with the aftermath of the business. (I always admired Paul as he was able to drive our Ford tractor when he was 9 years old. That's when his feet could reach the pedals. We had to wait until 11 or 12.)"

Seb Cavallaro went to the Stockbridge School at University of Massachusetts for two years after graduating from Punchard in 1949, then came home to work. He enlisted during the Korean War and was discharged in 1956. While in the service, he married Phyllis "Pat" Schoen from Lowell, and they have two boys. Seb returned to UMass and earned bachelor's and master's degrees. Seb and Pat lived in Andover until 1972, and he worked for Northeast Airlines. That year, Delta acquired Northeast and Seb was transferred to Delta's headquarters in Atlanta. He retired after working 21 years there. He, Pat, and son Rich built a home on the old farm property and Seb and Pat spend the summer in town and the rest of their time in Naples, Fla. Several members of the Cavallaro family, including Seb's mom, live in four houses on the old farm. Seb's older brother Tony passed away last year.

My e-mail address is billdalton@billdaltononline.com.