Among the many communities in southeastern Massachusetts and Cape Cod (all the way to Provincetown!) that this company served was Abington. This street scene was taken in the late 1890s or about 1900 footsteps away from Abington Center...or a short ten-minute walk from my c.1780 house. Southern Massachusetts Telephone operated telephone exchanges until 1938. Through the years the latter were bought one-by-one by New England Telephone and Telegraph (NET&T) Company. It was the latter's construction policy NOT to use "pony" style insulators after the c.1920s. Upon absorbing So. Mass. Telephone territory NET&T "upgraded" almost all "pony" insulators with CD 115, 121 and 122 insulators. Without a doubt a great many So. Mass. Tel. Co. marked insulators (CD 102) were discarded.

**Added note** Nobody knows where all of these ponies were dumped. However in 1970 I spotted a CD 102 a half-mile away from the above photo on a ten-pin crossarm with a standard Bell subscriber drop. I had a "hunch" that this was a So. Mass. Tel. Co. piece. CD 102s through my collecting career have been rarely found anywhere here in southeastern MA. And many of those that have were So. Mass. Tel. Co's of which I estimate 40-50 in any color or condition now are documented in existance. Knowing that Abington was part of So. Mass. Tel. territory enhanced my "hunch". It was the only insulator on the crossarm. No other NET&T crossarms were lingering around in the area after very careful scouting around. To my delight that CD 102 indeed turned out to be a So. Mass. Tel. Co. In aqua, in great shape. It apparently was one NET&T missed. The insulator still is in my collection ;-)

Oh by the way...why was I carousing the side streets locally looking for insulators? My actual pursuit was looking for CD 134 T-HE Co. insulators in dark amber. The vast majority were located on old fire alarm lines in Abington and Rockland, MA. The forementioned were exchanged in service by a fellow lineman collector (with me helping out!) in the summer of 1970.

The So. Mass. Tel. Co. find on my behalf was truly by luck ;-)

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