Abby Epplett, Historian

This blog celebrates its first birthday today. Abby Epplett, Historian began on May 31, 2022 with the publication of “How Do You See the World?” Experience & Mapparium about the Christian Science Plaza in Boston, MA. This is the 125 th blog post. I have published about one article every three days over the course of a year. In addition to writing on Blogger , the platform hosting this blog, I have republished seven articles on the crowdsourced blog Mainly Museums , and another post is on the way. Other publications and activities related to this blog include Instagram  posts and stories, tweets on Twitter, and reviews on Google Maps. My blogs are occasionally featured in online newsletters sent out by local organizations.

On Thursday, May 25 at 7:00 p.m., I watched the Zoom webinar Revolutionary Design: Modern Architecture in New England hosted by Jane Oneail of Culturally Curious . This organization is based in Manchester, NH and focuses on history throughout New England. Each program is sponsored by a New England organization, with this webinar funded by Manchester City Library . Oneail focused her talk on five buildings, each constructed by a different architect.

A few months ago, I received a perfect gift, the revised and expanded second edition of Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East . Few other readers will be quite so pleased by the book as I was, but for those who are interested in mythology from Egypt, the Akkadians, and other ancient cultures, this is an easy-to-read primer. Authors Dr. Victor H. Matthews of Missouri State University and Dr. Don C. Benjamin of the Kino Institute of Theology wrote the book with the intention of creating “a readable, affordable, and portable anthology of ancient Near Eastern law and stories”, beginning with their first edition published by Paulist Press in 1991. I read the 1997 edition, which includes black-and-white illustrations and runs about 380 pages in length. Along with this book, the authors co-wrote The Social World of Ancient Israel 1250-587 B.C.E. in 1993, while Dr. Matthews published Manners and Customs in the Bible in 1988. I knew a considerabl

Earlier today—May 21, 2023—I attended the Fish Passage Celebration, an intertribal gathering and collaboration with local river advocates. Held at Old Slater Mill in Pawtucket, RI, which is part of Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park (BRVNHP) , the event lasted from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and culminated in a short parade through the historic area of Pawtucket. This event is a sequel or follow-up to an event last fall, Be the Voice of Kittacuck , which recognized one of the original names of the Blackstone River.

Anyone who enjoys the American version of the appraisal show Antiques Roadshow , which just finished its 27 th season on GBH Boston (PBS) and shows no signs of slowing down, will love the podcast companion Detours . Started in January 2020, the podcast is now in its third season. Adam Monahan , who has served as a longtime producer of Antiques Roadshow , hosts the podcast. Frequent guest appearances include executive producer Marsha Bemko , appraisers and antiques experts, and former guests from  Antiques Roadshow . I have so many favorite episodes from this podcast that I cannot describe all of them! Some of the best include  Season 3, Episode 6, “Good Grief” about a Charles Schulz comic strip collection related to a Hallmark greeting cards licensing deal; Season 2, Episode 8, “If It’s Brown, It’s Down” about the downturn of the early American furniture market; and Season 1, Episode 2 “A Soldier for Sale” about a prop from the Laurel & Hardy movie Babes in Toylan

Yesterday, on May 16, I watched a webinar about The Great American Transit Disaster based on a book written by speaker Nicholas “Nick” Dagen Bloom and published by the University of Chicago Press . The Skyscraper Museum in lower Manhattan’s Battery Park City , which is part of New York City , hosted this talk via Zoom with a livestream available on YouTube . Museum founder, director, and curator Carol A. Willis introduced the talk and facilitated the Q & A after the main presentation. Robert L. Fishman , a professor at University of Michigan’s Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning , joined Bloom and Willis in conversation near the end of the talk. Bloom began his talk with the question, “Was the destruction and subsequent poor quality of mass transit inevitable in twentieth century America?” Some historians believe the rise of automobile culture in the 1940s and 1950s brought the end of mass transit such as streetcars, trolleys, and local trains. This p

I am a longtime listener to Cautionary Tales , a podcast hosted by Tim Harford and published by Pushkin Industries with the tagline “telling true stories about mistakes and what we should learn from them”. Harford is a multi-talented communicator, blending history and statistics to publish books, host radio shows, and write newspaper articles along with hosting this podcast. His ability to balance the often dark cautionary tales with a sense of humor brings witty charm to each episode. The show is currently in its third season, having debuted back in November 2019. The show follows two standard formats. In the more common format, Harford introduces a main story taken from history and then relates the problems in the historical event to modern issues, often using statistics to compare the two stories. Actors such as Jeffrey Wright and Helena Bonham Carter read letters or newspaper articles from the time period. In the less common format, Harford interviews an expert on a t

Earlier today — May 13, 2023, from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.  — the National Park Service (NPS) collaborated with an expansive range of local organizations to host the second annual First Strike Fest at Old Slater Mill in Pawtucket, RI, part of Blackstone River Valley National Historic Park (BRNHP) . Free and open to the public, this festival allowed visitors to experience historic tours and lectures led by park rangers in collaboration with  Old Slater Mill Association , listen to live performances from local musicians, learn about archeology and anthropology from experts, watch an artist create a plein air watercolor painting, and many more fun and educational activities! The first strike in the United States began on May 26, 1824, just under hundred and ninety-nine years ago. Women working at factories in Pawtucket walked out of work after facing a drastic wage cut and increased work day. The strike lasted until June 3, when strikers reached a settlement with the

Finishing up the trip where I visited Franklin Park Zoo and Pierce House , I took a walk in Dorchester Park . Frederick Law Olmsted originally planned this park to become part of the Emerald Necklace , a chain of green spaces throughout Boston. His sons, John Charles Olmsted and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. , joined his apprentice Charles Eliot to design and built this landscape in 1891. All three had long worked under the oldest Olmsted. Eliot had designed multiple landscapes, including Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC . Later, the trio would become the architecture firm Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot . They influenced the founding of The Trustees , a Massachusetts non-profit organization dedicated to preserving over one hundred attractions covering 47,000 acres. While this early project is a feat in itself, Dorchester Park never attained the same status of later works. Despite a similar naturalistic style, paved walking trails, small sports venues, and jurisdiction falling unde

A few weeks ago in April 2023, I visited Pierce House in Dorchester, MA . Not to be confused with the John H. Pierce House in Lincoln, MA or the President Franklin Pierce Manse in Concord, NH (both of which I have added to my ever-growing list of places to visit), this Pierce House is a Historic New England (HNE) property where only about 100 adults visit in a year. Located across the street from an early 20 th century school, the 17 th century house serves as an educational venue for multiple schools in the Greater Boston area.

A few weeks ago in April 2023, I visited the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston, MA. While I have often visited Franklin Park in the past to run in cross country races, I had never gone inside the historic zoo, which first opened in 1912 and is among the oldest urban zoos in the United States. Now part of Zoo New England , a collaboration with Stone Zoo in Stoneham, MA that was formerly called Commonwealth Zoological Corporation , this seventy-nine acre property sits at the northeast point of the largest park in the Greater Boston area. The entire park is part of the Emerald Necklace designed by American landscape architect  Frederick Law Olmsted . Formerly called as West Roxbury Park for a local neighborhood now known as Jamaica Plain , the park is currently named after American politician and inventor Benjamin Franklin , who was born in Boston. The zoo itself was designed by former Olmsted employee Arthur A. Shurtleff , greatly changing Olmsted’s idea of a natural wilderness in

Back in January 2023, while seeing family in western Michigan, I visited the Garden of Honor Memorial , also called Veteran’s Park , in Allendale Community Park of  Allendale Charter Township , about twenty-five minutes southwest of Grand Haven . Designed and constructed twenty-five years ago in 1998 by a local artist, the impressive but controversial memorial contains statues of soldiers and civilians surrounding an eagle-topped obelisk. The eight represented  conflicts include the War of 1812, Civil War, Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, and Gulf War.

In December 2022, I visited Eustis Estate, a mid 19 th century Queen Anne Revival mansion and a Historic New England (HNE) property in Milton, MA. Open to the public since 2017, the house and surrounded area are listed on the National Register of Historic Places and offer a different experience than other HNE buildings. Visitors have the option to freely roam the house and grounds or join a guided tour. Additionally, Eustis Estate hosts chamber music concerts and acts as a venue for weddings and other private events.