Abby Epplett, Historian

Last September, I visited Boardman House in Saugus, MA, a study house museum owned and operated by Historic New England since 1911, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1966. Like other 17 th century buildings maintained as study homes, Boardman House had minimal furniture. The excellent guide allowed to stand in the fireplaces and explore the attic and basement.

“A History of Worcester in 10 Maps” was created in part of the Worcester Tercentennial, a celebration of the city’s 300 th anniversary . As noted in the Storymap , a popular interactive map viewer powered by ArcGIS , Worcester was founded in 1722 by English colonists and grew to become the second largest city in New England, after Boston. The visual history begins with an early woodcut map of New England from 1677, before the founding of the town, and ends with the current Geographic Information System (GIS) map created by the City of Worcester . Each segment contains a link back to the original source of the map. The sources are a fantastic collection of digital resources for Massachusetts artifacts and include: Massachusetts Historical Society Archives of the Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts CURIOSity Digital Collections at the Harvard Library Digital Commonwealth

On January 22 at 1:30 p.m. was the second presentation via Zoom in the 2023 Valley Talks series hosted by the Museum of Work & Culture in Woonsocket, RI . Leading the presentation was Alex Hold , the Executive Director of International House of Rhode Island , and Andrea Flores , the Vartan Gregorian Assistant Professor of Education at Brown University .

In September 2022, I visited Portsmouth, New Hampshire and discovered many Quick History Stops around the city. Part 4 in this four part mini-series features features Haven Park and a statue to Fitz John Porter, Portsmouth Fire Department and the Vigilance memorial, Portsmouth Athenaeum, and City of Portsmouth informational signage.

On January 18, I listened to “The Good Kings: Absolute Power in Ancient Egypt and the Modern World”, a talk given by Dr. Kara Cooney , a professor of Egyptian Art and Architecture at UCLA , which was hosted by the Northern Alabama chapter of the  Archeological Institute of America (AIA) . Cooney hosted Out of Egypt on the Discovery channel in 2009 and published the book The Good Kings in 2021, which covered the reign of five Egyptian kings. Cooney focused on three of these kings during her talk: Khufu Akhenaten, and Ramesses II. Cooney emphasized a key difference between the Greek and Roman empires versus the Egyptian dynasties. While Greeks and Romans divinized rulers after death, setting up emperors like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Marcus Aurelius to become gods, the Egyptians divinized rulers during their lifetimes. Cooney noted how Americans “divinize” their favorite presidents like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Before

On January 18 at 4:00 p.m., the American Antiquarian Society (AAS) in Worcester, Massachusetts presented “ Herald of Freedom : Perspectives from the Collection” via Zoom. The program centered around the rediscovery of two editions of Peter Humphries Clark’s paper Herald of Freedom , an abolitionist newspaper owned by an African American socialist, within the society’s collection back in June 2022 . Since then, the newspapers have been digitized and are on display through the AAS website . Embedded below is the issue from June 2, 1855 (Volume 1, Number 1). The talk began with a video from by Vincent Golden , the newspaper and periodicals curator at AAS, who described the discovery of the newspapers. Golden explained how libraries have backlogs of unprocessed material and are often not sure exists in the collection. He was searching through a backlog from before 2002 and found two issues of the rare newspaper. Research led Golden to the biography America’s First Bl

On the third Monday of January is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, often abbreviated as MLK Day. This day commemorates the life of service led by civil rights activist Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , whose birthday is on January 15. This is the only federally observed day of service in the United States , and the holiday is observed by many companies. I used this day to volunteer at Asa Waters Mansion and Grass Hill School, both historic buildings located in Millbury, MA.

On January 14, 2023, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., I took a guided walking-and-driving tour through the village of Primrose, Rhode Island, which was led by Rich Keene of the North Smithfield Heritage Association (NSHA) . Rich was the perfect guide, as he is a descendent of nearly all the people mentioned during the tour. After Rich gave a concise overview of early North Smithfield history, the tour stopped at the Othniel Matterson Homestead, the Follett Homestead, Grange Road, and Primrose Pond.

In September 2022, I visited Portsmouth, NH and discovered many Quick History Stops around the city. Part 3 in this four part mini-series features the Art ’Round Town even held on the first Friday of the month, public art to commemorate figures of the past, and historic buildings. This first stop is a sign across the street from the Liberty Pole & Shield from Part 2. Before the Prescott Sister created Prescott Park, as discussed in Part 1, this area of Portsmouth was the Red Light District, filled with “houses of ill-fame and low-class saloons”. More information about the Red Light District can be found on the digital version of the informational sign .

Way back in September 2022, I visited Portsmouth, NH and discovered many Quick History Stops around the city. Part 2 in this four part mini-series features Portsmouth Memorial Park, Point of Graves Cemetery, the liberty pole, and the liberty shield. All of these stops are located within a short walking distance of Prescott Park, which I covered in Part 1 . As an added bonus, I learned a bit about the gundalow, a small but majestic replica of barges that sailed along the Piscasqua River and through Portsmouth Harbor from the late 17 th century to the early 20 th century. Revitalized by The Gundalow Company as a tourist attraction, visitors can cruise in the afternoon or evening while learning about the region. Looks like an adventure for the next time I go to Portsmouth!

Today was the first presentation of the 2023 Valley Talks series hosted by Rhode Island Historical Society (RIHS). Called Worldly Rhode Island , the talk was presented via Zoom by RIHS Executive Director C. Morgan Grefe , who holds a Ph.D. in American Civilization from Brown University . Grefe described the changes in the Rhode Island population from the Gilded Age to the present day. She also highlighted important figures in Rhode Island political and manufacturing history, along with mill production in the mid 19 th through the early 20 th century, especially during World War I. Below are key points from the talk. Famous Figures Among the earliest discussed figures was George Corliss , a Providence, RI resident who invented and patented a type of steam engine. Corliss won first prize for his design at the 1867 World’s Fair in Paris, France. He later won the Rumford Prize , named for fellow New England inventor Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford of Bavaria .

During my trip to Portsmouth, New Hampshire back in September of last year, I made several Quick History Stops around the city, from a garden and cemetery near the waterfront to public art and historic buildings around town. The city is highly walkable with ample sidewalks and places to rest, which makes exploring accessible to anyone with time and energy. In fact, I explored so many places that this will be a four-part mini-series! Today’s Quick History Stops are Prescott Park, Sheafe Wharf, and Memorial Bridge.