By: Russ VanDervoort, Waterford Town Historian
Information contained herein is largely culled from conversations with brothers Frank and Salvatore (Tony) Cerqua, and Lawrence (Old Larry) Casella Sr. With input and consultation with Ed Moulton, a 33 year member. These conversations occurred between 1970 and 2021. The information not only is undocumented, but likely unable to be documented.
To understand the Bocce League we should first establish the transformation of the land it occupies that created the situation that caused the league to evolve and exist. The property was a part of Waterford called the commons. It was, in the 1700s, largely unsettled and a common area for livestock to graze. We should understand that Waterford was whole at this time. There were no railroads and no canals to separate the land mass. By example the land where the court is currently sited was one piece with what is now across the Erie Barge Canal. By the 1800s it had become farmland and became known as Reverend Bush’s Farm. The area later became known as Crow Hill.
Late in the 1800s, the Knickerbocker Family obtained the deed to the land. Waterfordians were starting to build homes in the area. The Knickerbocker family were very successful industrialists, bankers, and insurers. In all likelihood they bought the property as an investment to capitalize on Waterford’s expansion of building homes on Crow Hill.
By 1905 the digging of the Erie Barge Canal was begun in Waterford. They started locally with the Waterford Flight of Locks, which was completed in 1915. Many houses in Waterford had to be relocated to make way for the building of the canal. Many of these relocated houses are now located on 8th and 9th Streets. The Knickerbocker’s plans for the property where the Bocce Courts stands today were greatly altered due to the canal construction. The State of New York was very fair to the landowners that were either displaced or forced to sell and they were compensated for their troubles. A good portion of the land was dealt to New York State which became part of the State Shop. But the Knickerbockers negotiated a deal where the State could use the State Shop portion and the Village of Waterford could use the remainder as public land. The Knickerbocker family retained the right to reclaim title to the land if it wasn’t utilized for public use. (The Waterford Fire Department is now located on that land)
In the 1920s the land became a playground and park area and by the 1950s had evolved to include a baseball diamond, basketball court, and tennis court. This was a slow evolution.
At some time, some say the Depression Era, others claim, the WWII Era, the land became popular for Victory or Community Gardens. It is believed that many of the people who tended these gardens were members of Waterford’s growing Italian Community. Many would work in the large number of mills in Waterford during the day and in the evening tend to their gardens. Both Frank and Tony Cerqua had vivid recollections of working with their father on these gardens and peddling the produce door to door. Gathering a number of Italian men together in the evening led to the sampling of wine that many also produced at home and the playing of the Italian game of lawn bocce. Lawn bocce could be played anywhere you had grass or dirt and didn’t require a confined court.
As the years progressed, by 1945, many from the Italian Community had become property owners, where in the Depression Era they couldn’t afford to own property. They now didn’t need to grow their gardens on public land, It created an opportunity for the playground/park to expand to meet the needs of the postwar war baby boom. And, the bocce players still had a desire to play their Italian game. Now it made sense to change from unrestricted lawn bocce to the more refined and challenging game of court bocce.
To the best of anyone’s knowledge no formal record of the leagues play was ever kept. If they were, no one is aware of them. The old timer’s say it was 1945 when the first court was built. WWII veterans agree it was built soon after the war. In the beginning, the membership was all Italian. Michael Harrigan, may have been the first non Italian member. Larry Casella always refuted that by calling himself O’Casella. Today, most of the members are non Italian. Tony & Frank Cerqua upheld the rule that if you were married to an Italian or ate spaghetti once a week; you were alright.
After the building of the first court the acceptance and popularity of the court game increased and by the late 1960s a second court was added. The use of the Bocce Court was greatly restricted on the occasion of rain. The courts, once soaked, could remain unplayable for days. Through the efforts of State Senator Joseph Bruno in 2001, a roof was built over the courts to alleviate this problem. In 2005, the members made a final addition to the existing building in which to conduct the business of the league.
With only two courts available for play the league membership is limited to a certain number of active participants. The league maintains a usually robust “Waiting List” for membership. A traditional wait is one to three years, or longer, depending on circumstances.
John Tremblay
John LaCombe
Jim Robitaille
Alex Peet
Andy Walters
Russ VanDervoort
Tim Burke
Waterford Bocce League
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