Abby Epplett, Historian

While describing the history of the Ring to Frodo, Gandalf explained that Sméagol/Gollum and Bilbo had many similarities, as they were both of hobbit-kind. While this bothers Frodo, he would later realize Gandalf wisely spoke the truth, if in a long-winded way. Because of their shared background, hobbit-kind quickly understood each other, more so than “a dwarf, an orc, or even an elf”. Tolkien viewed this connection as being of the same cynn , an Old English word meaning “family”; it’s also the ancestor of the word “kin” . It’s important to note that Tolkien did not see genetics or “blood” as an indicator of personality, although plenty of people in his day did, and used the concept to suppress others. He believed instead that language was what brought people together. Accordingly, I will take a brief look at linguistic factors that make the speech of hobbit-kind unique, along with how Sméagol’s mental decline changed his speech. After that, I will give an overview of the music theo...

Back in June, I took a day trip to nearby Milford, MA to walk on the Upper Charles Trail and explore the downtown area on foot. I was born in Milford and have spent my entire life visiting the town but never did quick history stops there! This is the third of three parts about Milford. The first part covered the trail, a memorial, two churches, and a pair of repurposed buildings. The second part included an armory turned youth center, two town halls, and several churches. In the third part, I will discuss a funeral home, a library and its dog statue, an opera building, two war memorials, a church, and a post office turned police station.

Back in June, I took a day trip to nearby Milford, MA to walk on the Upper Charles Trail and explore the downtown area on foot. I was born in Milford and have spent my entire life visiting the town but never did quick history stops there! This is the second of three parts about Milford. The first part covered the trail, a memorial, two churches, and a pair of repurposed buildings. The second part includes an armory turned youth center, two town halls, and several churches.

Back in June, I took a day trip to nearby Milford, MA to walk on the Upper Charles Trail and explore the downtown area on foot. I was born in Milford and have spent my entire life visiting the town but never did quick history stops there! This is the first of three parts about Milford, which will cover the trail, a memorial, two churches, and a pair of repurposed buildings.

This week’s instrumental covers the mental decline of Sméagol from the time he discovered the Ring’s power of invisibility until he made his home in a cave underneath the mountains. While most of the musical motifs in this section have been covered in previous essays, one brand new motif representing the Sun makes a brief appearance. In this essay, I will talk about my inspiration behind how I portray the Sun along with describing how the many motifs blend together to create the piece.

America250 , the non-profit organization created by Congress in a vain attempt to celebrate the Semiquincentennial in a way everyone would like, just released the first volume of a soundtrack for the celebration , albeit twelve days after the event actually took place. The album was produced by multiple Grammy Award-winning musician and producer Emilio Estefan and includes songs from a wide scope of American music. I will look at the history of these songs and give my opinion on its success as an album.

This week is the Smithsonian National Education Summit 2026 , which takes place online and in Washington, DC. The theme of this year’s summit is “Together We Thrive: Towards a More Perfect Union” as part of the 250 th anniversary celebration for the United States. During this Summit, I’ll be watching sessions across multiple tracks from the comfort of my home office and sharing a quick summary of each. This conference is free! Anyone can sign up if they wish to hear these talks. In Part 1 , I discussed sessions on poetry, digital tools and games, and storybooks. In Part 2, I will cover oral histories, storytelling, and civic engagement for the next generation.

This week is the Smithsonian National Education Summit 2026 , which takes place online and in Washington, DC. The theme of this year’s summit is “Together We Thrive: Towards a More Perfect Union” as part of the 250 th anniversary celebration for the United States. During this Summit, I’ll be watching sessions across multiple tracks from the comfort of my home office and sharing a quick summary of each. This conference is free! Anyone can sign up if they wish to hear these talks.

This instrumental introduces the “fathers of the fathers of the Stoors”, the character of Sméagol/Gollum, and the death of Déagol at the hands of Sméagol after discovering the Ring. During this instrumental, I introduce a new percussion motif to represent Stoors and related hobbit-kind, along with referencing previously used themes to create a complex musical landscape.

In June 2026, after I gave a violin concert at the Blackstone Public Library, I took a walk to explore quick history stops in Blackstone, MA. This will be a three-part miniseries. The first part described the library, a memorial, churches, bridges, and the fire/police station. In the second part , I focused on Saranac Dam Overlook, the Blackstone River Greenway in Blackstone River & Canal Heritage State Park, Blackstone Block, the Civil War memorial, the post office, and Veteran’s Memorial Corner. In the third part, I will see churches, a former school, a former railroad-related commercial building station, and an anti-pollution plaque.

In June 2026, after I gave a violin concert at the Blackstone Public Library, I took a walk to explore quick history stops in Blackstone, MA. This will be a three-part miniseries. The first part  described the library, a memorial, churches, bridges, and the fire/police station. This second part will focus on Saranac Dam Overlook, the Blackstone River Greenway in Blackstone River & Canal Heritage State Park, Blackstone Block, the Civil War memorial, the post office, and Veteran’s Memorial Corner.

In June 2026, after I gave a violin concert at the Blackstone Public Library, I took a walk to explore quick history stops in Blackstone, MA. This will be a three-part miniseries. This first stop will describe the library, a memorial, churches, bridges, and the fire/police station.

Back in May 2026, I returned once again to Stephens-Coolidge House & Gardens , managed by the Trustees of Reservations in North Andover, MA for a fun, festive event: Spring BloomFest . Having gone to Winterlights in December 2024 and a regular day trip in September 2025 , I had already learned much about the house and gardens, which can be covered in those blog posts. After some deliberation on how to describe this beautiful adventure, I decided to write a brief explanation and then share a photo gallery at the end.

Frodo was originally incredulous that Gollum, also called Sméagol, could be “of hobbit-kind”, even as Gandalf explained how he was likely related to “the fathers of the fathers of the Stoors”, the ancestors of the Brandybucks and other hobbits in Buckland and the East Farthing. As mentioned many months ago when discussing the three breeds of hobbits , this group had distinctive features. They were broad and strong, enjoyed boating along the river, and may have had unusually blue eyes. However, their culture was distinct from that of their distant relatives in the Shire. They appeared to respect matriarchal authority rather than patriarchal, and they built boats of reeds rather than wood. In this essay, I’m going to explore those differences and how they inspired my design of Sméagol and his relatives.

My trip to the Book Barn of Niantic, CT back in 2024 is the gift that keeps on giving, as I finally completed another book purchased during that trip. I recently finished reading Mongols, Huns & Vikings written by Hugh Kennedy , a British medievalist and professor emeritus at SOAS University of London, edited by John Keegan, and published by Cassel & Co (which has since become self-publishing services Cassel Publishers ) as part of Cassel’s History of Warfare series in 2002. (As a further publishing history note, twelve of the potentially twenty-three books appear to have been picked up by Smithsonian for its seemingly out-of-print History of Warfare series, but this book was not one of them.) Best described as an intellectual coffee table book, this 8" by 10 3/4" volume combines historical research with high resolution, full color images of the artwork, artifacts, and landscapes affected by nomadic peoples from Eurasian history. The blend of beautiful pictures...

On the same day I saw the daffodils at Parsons Reserve, I went down the road to Frank Knowles Little River Reserve in Dartmouth, MA. The 194 acres of the preserve, now with 9 miles of trails, were purchased by Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust (DNRT) across four parcels between 1996 and 2010. The first of these parcels was donated by Audrey M. Gillum, who served as Trustee of the Ellen Knowles Jackmen Trust. Despite the name in the title, DNRT provides no information about the man on their website. I speculate that Ellen Knowles Jackman, who was buried at Maple Grove Cemetery of Westport, MA in 1994, was the daughter of Frank Knowles, as many other women have donated their inherited properties to New England preservation organizations. After the 1967 death of her husband, Charles William Jackman , she lived at 573 Potomska Road, a quarter mile from the current preserve entrance.

In April, I visited Parsons Reserve in Russells Mills Village Historic District, Dartmouth, MA to visit its locally famous daffodil fields. Part of Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust , a local ecological preservation organizations that has operated since 1971, the thirty-two acres of trails and blossoming fields bring a sense of wonder and whimsy to the otherwise quiet area.

On the third day of my long weekend trip to Western Massachusetts, which I took back in March 2026, I visited The Clark , an art museum in Williamstown, MA. Like my trip to MASS MoCA taken on the day before, my summary of the experience will be divided into three parts. In the first part , I described artwork found inside the museum building. In this second part , I covered the architecture of the building, a nearby historic building, and some outside sculptures. In the third part, I will describe the rest of the outside sculptures and give tips on how to visit the museum.

On the third day of my long weekend trip to Western Massachusetts, which I took back in March 2026, I visited The Clark , an art museum in Williamstown, MA. Like my trip to MASS MoCA taken on the day before, my summary of the experience will be divided into three parts. In the first part , I described artwork found inside the museum building. In this second part, I will cover the architecture of the building, a nearby historic building, and some outside sculptures. In the third part, I will describe the rest of the outside sculptures and give tips on how to visit the museum.

While creating the instrumental for “The Story of the Ring”, I brought back musical themes and motifs used in previous sections while introducing new themes. In this essay, I will describe the history and inspiration behind the new themes for Sauron, Ringwraiths, Gil-galad, and Men of Westernesse while demonstrating how these themes fit together to create a cohesive score.