For most people, retirement is a time when life slows down. We may take up a new hobby, start volunteering, or spend more quality time with the grandchildren.
However, Gloucester resident Don Tolefson is not most people. When he hung up his boots, Don took a creative leap into the unknown and founded a unique business.
While his peers were teeing off, traveling on cruises, or hitting the shuffleboard court, Don was hard at work doing the next best thing—creating historically accurate replicas of 19th-century American Civil War cannons.
Today, Don sells these replicas through a website. It is a family business he runs with his son, Jeff Tolefson, out of their family home in Ware Neck. Their front yard doubles as a showroom for their latest creations.
Currently, two cannons are on display: a #2 field carriage with a 12-pound gun barrel called “Napoleon,” and a 13-inch seacoast mortar named “The Dictator.” Both cannons are as formidable as they sound—weighing in at over a thousand pounds ...