Today, Thursday, March 6, 2025, the Boston Post Cane was passed to Sarah Cammarata by Paul Russell of the Medway Historical Society, Town Clerk Stefany Ohannesian, and Assistant Town Clerk Morgan Harris at her home. Sarah turns 106 in June and was recognized today for being the oldest resident of Medway. As you can tell from this video, Sarah loves to sing and dance and shares that it’s one of the things that keeps her young.
It was an absolute pleasure to honor Sarah today.
The Boston Post was a Boston-based newspaper like today’s Boston Globe.
Boston Post publisher Edwin Grozier used canes as a gimmick to attract readers. Grozier had previously worked as an editor for Joseph Pulitzer at the New York World, which had been known for its elaborate gimmicks. The canes, made of ebony—imported from Africa and crowned with 14-karat gold—were then presented in varying measures of ceremonial pomp to the oldest living male of those municipalities.
These canes were distributed to 700 New England towns. As a result, the Boston Post became one of the most successful newspapers of 19th-century Boston. The Post eventually became the largest broadsheet newspaper in the country, with a circulation of more the 600,000.
For over a century, the canes have been handed down to the next oldest survivor in those towns, in what has become a venerable Yankee tradition. Women were added to the list of cane recipients in 1930.
Read Paul Russell's speech here