LEOMINSTER ― “No Shave November” has come and gone, but one beard in Leominster remains a permanent and bushy reminder of one man’s rebellious fight to keep his facial hair.
When Joseph Palmer returned home to Leominster following the War of 1812, he decided to let his beard grow. Beards had gone out of style a few decades before, with only religious groups sticking with the trend. But for Palmer his beard was more than just a fashion choice, it was a part of his identity, and he rebelliously continued to let it flourish, despite the pleas of the local community.
“I always say there must be something in the water. That defiance, that sense of rebellion, that’s still here today,” Leominster Mayor Dean Mazzarella said, adding he just shaved his own beard last week.
“It’s all about freedom of expression,” said Alistair Matthew, a barber at Grafton Hill Barbershop in Worcester. “We do beards every single day and it’s like a whole other haircutting service.”
“I have one client who I do muttonchops on,” he said with a laugh. “Really awesome guy and the beard does take way longer than the haircut, but it’s his own style.”
According to the New England Historical Society, Palmer was considered eccentric and “an honest, kindly man and good citizen, deeply religious but tolerant, a man of intellectual interests.” Despite these positive traits, Palmer’s crime of fashion was simply too much for most people. One can only imagine the beard equating to a fashion faux pas like wearing white after Labor Day.
Mazzarella began his career as a police officer in Leominster before going into politics and said he was one of the first officers to grow out his beard while on the force.
“It was about 35 years ago, and at the time growing a beard was a no-no,” Mazzarella said. “I was one of the first to do it, I still have the letter from the chief stating I was not welcome back until I shaved it off.
“If I remember correctly, another officer who had also grown facial hair and I went over to Palmer’s grave and took a photo with him and our beards before we shaved them off.”
While there was no law against Palmer’s beard, his whiskers continued to anger the community.
The local preacher was said to have claimed the beard was ungodly and even suggested that Palmer’s was “communing with the devil.” Palmer is said to have responded with “… if I remember correctly, Jesus wore a beard not unlike mine.”
“My beard — it’s almost my personality,” said Matthew McLear, founder of Beard Laws, a New York-based podcast that celebrates beard culture while raising funds for a number of charitable causes. “It’s an identity for sure. It’s even a conversation starter, you know, ‘Oh look at that beard!'”
McLear created Beard Laws in 2019, after joining his brother during chemotherapy treatments. He noticed the TVs in the cancer treatment center were very small and asked the facility to upgrade to larger screens. When the facility said no, he decided to raise the money himself.
“I started making these beard-themed videos on social media and for whatever reason they took off,” he said. “I managed to donate $10,000 and upgraded every single television in the cancer center.”
The last time McLear shaved was several years ago, after his grandmother asked him to.
“My daughter was so angry,” he said with a laugh. “It inspired me to write a children’s book called “Dad, Don’t Shave Your Beard.”
And just like the strong emotions felt by McLear’s daughter, in the spring of 1830, it was the strong emotions of a group of men that led to an attack on Palmer.
The group of four men ambushed Palmer outside a hotel in Fitchburg and attempted to shave his face using razors and scissors. He managed to get away but stabbed two of his attackers. He was charged with assault and spent 15 months behind bars.
During this time, Palmer was mistreated, beaten and starved by his jailers, all while some of the other inmates attempted to cut off his beard. The situation only fueled Palmer’s ink and quill as he wrote to local newspapers and officials detailing the mistreatment.
Once out of prison, Palmer became heavily involved in prison reform and struck up a friendship with a group of creatives, including Amos Bronson Alcott and his daughter, Louisa May Alcott. He joined them at the utopian community Fruitlands in Harvard. It is said the character Moses White from Alcott’s “Transcendental Wild Oats” is based on Palmer.
For beard enthusiasts like McLear, the story of Palmer is a very personal one.
“Channeling my inner Joe Palmer, I’d say we’re all softies in the beard community,” he said. “Everything we do, it’s all to give back to charities, to our communities, it’s all for them.”
Upon his death in 1873, Palmer was buried within the Evergreen Cemetery with “Persecuted for Wearing the Beard” inscribed on the tombstone underneath his portrait, complete with long bushy beard. By the way, beards were very “in” that year.
“You wouldn’t believe how many people come to Evergreen Cemetery. I mean, Palmer’s grave is a historic landmark,” Mazzarella said with a chuckle. “We even put a marker at the front of the cemetery with directions, so people know exactly where he’s buried.”
T&G engagement editor Sarah Barnacle is getting to know Central Mass. by exploring some of the best places to go and things to do in Worcester County. If you have an idea or suggestion, please email sbarnacle@gannett.com.
