Secret lives of Falls Village, in new DVD

FALLS VILLAGE — The latest installment of Eric Veden’s series of videos about the town, “Falls Village: Episode 11,” has been released.

There are four parts.

In part one, Veden visits with Mary Lu Sinclair and learns about raising monarch butterflies — from tiny eggs on leaves to the colorful butterfly.

“They grow fast,” observes Sinclair in the film while looking at caterpillars. “They eat and poop and eat and poop.

“The word for caterpillar poop is ‘frass,’” she continues. “How cool is that?”

Sinclair tags the butterflies. Veden observes in the voiceover that she has tagged thousands over 40 years, but only recovered three.

In part two of the movie, Karl Munson reveals the secrets of making maple sugar. 

“There’s not a lot to it,” he says.

Munson talks about how he tried to use repurposed materials to build his sugar shack — a theme he returns to later in the segment.

His goal is to create structures that are “time-tested” and “Colonial in feel.”

He explains the use of a hydrometer to determine when the liquid has progressed from sap to syrup; discusses the native American method, which involved birch bark vats and heated stones (“How did they fish the stones out?”); and demonstrates how the syrup is drawn off and then filtered before bottling.

Munson is also shown building a stone wall and repairing gravestones.

On the latter, he explains that he assumes the stone will be injured again. “Don’t make the repair stronger than the stone,” so if something happens — tree damage, vandalism — the stone will break at the repair.

Veden’s camera follows Betty Tyburski and Kent Allyn as they make their way through the town’s cemeteries, replacing American flags on Memorial Day.

Tyburski’s been doing this since 1970; Allyn has been assisting for several years.

“My helper,” says Tyburski. “Makes sure the old lady doesn’t fall down.”

She noted a marker for veteran George Mansfield, who survived being wounded at war several times, only to die in a railroad accident on the way home after being treated for his injuries and discharged.

Allyn tends to the marker for his father, Wesley, who was in the Signal Corps in World War II.

The elder Allyn had a talent for codes and languages, and found himself doing very dangerous work in the Pacific theater, going behind the Japanese lines to target their communications facilities.

Allyn was helping with negotiations with the Japanese army not far from Hiroshima when the U.S. dropped the first atomic bomb on that city.

He and his Japanese counterparts traveled a short distance, 10 miles or so, to the city to give first aid to the survivors.

According to Kent Allyn, all they could do for the victims was apply gauze and cold water to the radiation burns.

“They had no idea what it was.”

Tyburski says she used to have her three sons assist her with the changing of the memorial flags.

“I thought it was a great way to teach respect for the flag, respect for the veterans, respect for the country.”

The final segment of the film starts with the old Water Street bridge, including a tracking shot that required the camera operator to get in a cherry picker.

It shows workers removing the old deck and preparing for the main event, which was cutting the bridge in two and hoisting the two halves out.

The Falls Village video series is available for loan or for sale at the D.M. Hunt Library.