From Helen Emery: “…High on a bluff a hundred feet from the lake (Dudley Pond) in the midst of an evergreen hemlock grove Mr. Bent has erected a summer cottage of the Queen Anne style, surrounded with a broad (porch) and arranged with taste and elegance within... The grove (of trees) is fitted ... with swings, seats, etc. and is connected with the cottage by a flight of one hundred steps to the wharf where is moored the steamer ‘Hannah Dexter’.

The Hannah Dexter was a steam-powered launch about which the Cochituate

columnists in the Natick newspapers enjoyed writing. The Natick Citizen

of April 11, 1879 had noted that: "Mr J. M. Bent's new steamboat

arrived last Monday. She is a beauty." On April 25: "J. M. Bent's new

steamer was launched last Tuesday in the presence of about three hundred

persons. About 1:30 P.M. the fasts which bound her to the shore were

loosed and with a joyous, exulting bound she leaped into Old Lake

Cochituate's arms.

And lo! from the assembled crowd

There arose a shout prolonged and loud"

Apparently the steamer was found to be a perfect success. She was built

for river navigation and Mr. Bent contemplates making several excursions

on the Sudbury River as far as Billerica. She is a very pretty craft,

and if she is true to his maxim, Madison can rule the sea, while Martha

rules the land.”