Your Chamber is pleased to sponsor this Business Directory for our members and other prospective community businesses and residents. This publication highlights the broad range of member businesses and services available in the southeastern region.

1998 proved to be an exciting and eventful year with many successes. For the first time since the Chamber’s inception, our membership has grown to exceed five hundred members. Fiscally we finished stronger than we have in almost a decade. Our member services continued to expand to offer a range of benefits that will provide better opportunities for businesses to take advantage of. Our goal is simple. To be committed to the support of our members’ growth and success and the development of a positive economic environment.

The Chamber is a place where your participation will help you and your company grow – as professionals, as individual and as friends. It fosters the opportunity to research, develop and advocate the interests of our membership through program, policy, service and community business leadership. I have met and worked with countless wonderful people and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Board of Directors, the staff and most importantly the membership.

Good luck to our entire membership and may you have an outstanding year!

Sincerely,

Christian T. Paluk

[back to top]

Dear Friends,

Change is a constant, in business as in life. Business leaders in Cranberry Country have looked at these changes as one must, as opportunities for growth and success.

We have continued to mold our Chamber into an organization that works to support the growth and success of our members and our communities. With a renewed focus on representation and advocacy, a spirit re-energized by new members and old, and an exuberant design for inclusion and participation, we believe that we are truly helping our members achieve.

Southeastern Massachusetts is one of the fastest growing areas in the state and this expansion is giving rise to unprecedented opportunity for existing and new businesses. While local business has reaped great benefits from the establishment of commuter rail service to Boston and from the creative use of tax incentive financing and other tools by the state and our local towns, our members have worked to bring a convention center to the area, to complete long-awaited redesign and reconstruction of Route 44, to remove the minimum tax burden from small business, and to keep a check on minimum wages, insurance contributions, and more.

Not a governmental institution, the Cranberry Country Chamber of Commerce is a private, member-based, not-for-profit business organization. By investing in the Chamber and joining over 500 other members, you expand your network of business contacts, increase your management expertise, and become more involved in the important economic and governmental affairs that affect our business community and your own business.

As we move into a new millennium, spend a few minutes looking through the companies and individuals listed in this directory (and keep it handy on your desk). Make your own commitment to help the Chamber achieve its business goals for your success and your fellow members.

Whether you are looking for customers or vendors, partners or service providers, advice or business synergies, the Chamber’s membership provides you with the most dynamic resources available to overcome the challenges facing businessmen and women today and succeed in a fast-paced, competitive environment.

Stuart Kirsch
Stuart Kirsch Enterprises
1999 Chairman of the Board

[back to top]

Stuart Kirsch Stuart Kirsch Enterprises (508) 947-3527
Chairman 99 Fuller Street
Term Expires 2000 Middleborough, MA 02346

Dr. Richard W. Cost Bridgewater State College (508) 697-1290
Vice-Chairman Institutional Advancement (508) 697-1722 fax
Term Expires 1999 Bridgewater, MA 02325

Jean Jones Plymouth Savings Bank (508) 997-2420
Vice Chairman 90 New State Highway (508) 997-2419 fax
Term Expires 2001 Raynham, MA 0276

Dr. Arne S. Winn Carver Chiropractic Center (508) 866-7600
Vice-Chairman 96 North Main Street (508) 866-2663 fax
Term Expires 1999 Carver, MA 02330

John S. Davison Rockland Trust Company (508) 946-8300
Treasurer 8A Station Street (508) 946-8306 fax
Term Expires 2001 Middleborough, MA 02346

Christian T. Paluk Cranberry Country Chamber of Commerce (508) 947-1499
President 40-48 North Main Street; PO Box 409 (508) 947-1446 fax
Middleborough, MA 02346

Your membership makes you a part of the largest, most responsive business organizations in the region. To volunteer for any of the committees below, please call the chamber staff.

Ambassadors -
The active liaison between the Chamber and its existing members. This dedicated group is at the forefront for creating new business relationships.

Recognition Luncheon -
Designs and implements the Recognition Luncheon. The Business of the Year, Small Business of the Year and Business Person of the Year are selected and recognized.

The Great Pumpkin
Auction Committee -
Plans and implements this annual fall event. The location, entertainment and caterer are identified and donations are solicited.

Breakfast on the Road -
Held monthly, it is the regularly scheduled meeting of the membership and is held at different chamber member facilities allowing wonderful business development opportunities.

Budget & Finance Committee -
Led by the treasurer of our Chamber, this committee is responsible for the fiscal activity for the Chamber organization as a whole.

Education Team -
Fostering more open relationships between educational institutions and the community while establishing more opportunities for business involvement in educational institutions.

Scholarship Golf Tournament -
An opportunity for Chamber members and guests to challenge one another to a day of golf and have some fun.

Legislative Affairs -
This key committee carefully monitors town, county, state and federal legislation and supports pending legislation that is in the best interest of the Chamber membership.

Travel &Tourism Committee -
Recognizing that tourism in Massachusetts is the second largest industry, attracting 28 million visitors each year, the Chamber feels it is important to capture a fair share of this market through various initiatives. This committee works to make our region a tourist destination.

Nominating Committee -
The most important committee of the Chamber, it meets in July and August and is responsible for the creation of a slate of directors and officers.

Human Resource Association -
Meets quarterly for the exchange of ideas and information relative to personnel administrators through speakers and colleagues.

Small Office/Home Office -
Over 80% of the chamber's members are small companies with zero to six employees which range from financial consultants to opticians to attorneys. The Small Office/Home Office offers support and develops methods and programs to maintain and increase partnerships between area businesses and to ensure that small businesses within the Chamber can exploit proven methods of gaining a competitive advantage.

Regional Economic Development Committee -
Promotes local business and attracts new business to our region. This committee also shares vital business information among community leaders.

Insurance Choices
• Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
• Tufts Health Plan
• United Chambers Insured Plans
• United Health Care
• Delta Dental
• Dental Care Net
• Lester L. Burdick Disability
• UNUM Long Term Care

The chamber provides a vital service to small business members - insurance coverage. Membership in the chamber entitles your company to a variety of health and disability insurance options at attractive group rates.

Telecommunications
• AT&T Profit By Association
• Bell Atlantic Mobile

Internet Access & Web Page Discounts
• UltraNet Communications
• Links to Member Websites
http://www. cranberrycountry.org

Resources
• Business Referrals
• Legislative Actions
• Unequaled Networking
• Professional Development
• Business Expertise Seminars & Workshops
• Free Business Counseling
• Certificates of Origin
• Mailing Labels
• Business Directory & Maps
• Employee Welcome Packets
• Membership Newsletter
• Notary Services

[back to top]

Gracious old homes, spacious rural communities, working farms and welcoming urban neighborhoods abound in Cranberry Country. Our towns are homes to families, young and old, each contributing to our areas rich multicultural legacy.

Cranberries are the number one agricultural crop in Massachusetts. Most of the bogs are located in our area, principally in the towns of Carver, Lakeville, Middleborough, Wareham and Plympton.

Corporate Headquarters for Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., one of the nation's largest grower cooperatives, is situated on about 355 acres on the Lakeville/Middleborough town line.

Oliver Mill Park on Route 44 in Middleborough is the site of Judge Peter Oliver's 18th century industrial complex which once included a grist mill, saw mill, bolting mill, cider mill, a large forage and a slitting mill. Later industries included a 19th century shovel shop and a blacksmiths shop. Restoration efforts have transformed this idyllic site into a popular visitor destination. Each spring the ancient, stonewalled waterways provide a rare vantage point from which to view the herring trek up the Nemasket River.

General and Mrs. Tom Thumb, famous midgets of the PT Barnum era, were among the most prominent 19th century residents of the community.

Mrs. Thumb was born in Middleborough and the couple spent many summers in the town. Their memorabilia is on display at the Middleborough Historical Museum along with many other local artifacts.

Other attractions include the Eddy Homestead (c. 1800), the Robbins Museum of Archaeology, the Pratt Farm, the Soule Homestead Education Center and the Church at the Green District.

The discovery of iron ore in the region prompted construction of a blast furnace in Carver in 1794. The Facility produced the first iron teakettle in the United States. Carver’s Savery Avenue, a half-mile road built in 1861, was the first divided highway in America. Now, each fall, Carver is home to the King Richard’s Faire which depicts a medieval marketplace.

Plympton’s Deborah Sampson was the only woman to serve in uniform during the Revolutionary War. A descendant of Myles Standish, Deborah disguised herself as "Private Robert Shurtleff" and served in the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment of Foot until her secret was discovered. A plaque on Plympton Town Green honors Sampson, who was designated the "official heroine" of Massachusetts in 1983.

Long Pond in Lakeville has a public launching area, three picturesque islands, a small boat marina, swimming, power boating, sailing in the summer and ice boating and ice skating in the winter. Heritage Hill Country Club, Lakeville Country Club and Poquoy Brook are three of the towns most famous golf courses.

Myles Standish State Forest, located in Carver and Plymouth, was the first state forest in Massachusetts. With over 12,000 acres, it offers a variety of camping and recreational facilities including hiking, swimming and fishing.

Cranberry Country is accessible by planes, trains and automobiles. Cranberry Country is an hour south of Boston, and just three hours from New York. It is close enough for business, yet far enough away for the pleasures we all enjoy. The region’s central location is a primary asset. Routes 495, 195, 140 and 24 provide easy access to major markets. Rail passenger service to Boston began in 1997 and the relocation of Route 44 between Carver and Plymouth will make a good location even better.

From America’s birthplace at Plymouth to the beginnings of American industry, Cranberry Country is the living history of early America.

[back to top]

Cranberry Country's Home Page