Abby Epplett, Historian

Back in November, I took a trip to Cumberland, RI to walk the trails around the former Cumberland Monastery , formerly called  Our Lady of the Valley Monastery . Once the home to Cistercians or Trappist monks, this property now contains the Cumberland Public Library , Cumberland Senior Center , and the Office of Children, Youth, and Learning for the town of Cumberland .

During my adventure to Amesbury, MA and Portsmouth, NH in September 2023, I visited John Greenleaf Whittier Home & Hat Museum , longtime residence of an abolitionist Quaker poet and current residence to an array of fun hats . John Greenleaf Whittier is not as well remembered as his more outgoing friends,  William Lloyd Garrison  and  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow   (whose home I had visited a few weeks prior) , but  I was familiar with Whittier and his work from my research on another abolitionist, Blackstone River Valley resident Abby Kelley Foster . His house has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1966 . Located down the street from Friends Meeting House in Amesbury , which I had visited the previous day , Whittier moved to the house in 1836 at twenty-nine years old along with his mother Abigail Hussey Whittier , his younger sister Elizabeth Hussey Whittier , and his maternal aunt Mercy Evans Hussey . Previously, he had lived with his fam

In September 2023, I went on another long weekend adventure to northeastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. My first major stop was Rocky Hill Meeting House , a church turned museum owned by Historic New England (HNE) This is the only building out of the thirty-eight HNE properties that was never residential. Rocky Hill Meeting House was built with a vision in mind: creating a Congregationalist church in preparation for the population boom that was sure to come. A smaller meeting house had stood near the site since 1716, but the parishioners wanted bigger and better things. Reverend Samuel Webster had pastored the church since 1741 and dedicated his entire career to this one church community. He had already led the church for forty-four years when he proposed a new building for the coming revival. During construction in 1785, only two years after the end of the American Revolutionary War, this property was part of Salisbury, MA, as modern Am

Back in August 2023, I visited Cambridge, MA. This is my final post about that adventure. My main stops were Longfellow House Washington Headquarters , Cooper-Frost-Austin House , and Harvard Art Museums . I also visited several quick history stops during my adventure. Part 1 covered the houses of Brattle Street, Part 2 focused on houses of worship in Cambridge, and Part 3 highlights memorials and buildings at Cambridge Common . At sixteen acres in size, this city park provides a paved walking path, monuments to a multitude of historical events, and the Alexander W. Kemp Playground completed in 2009. An abandoned cannon from the American Revolutionary War sits on a red brick paver patio across from Prince Hall Memorial. This set of five granite plaques placed in a semicircle honors the founder of the first Masonic Lodge for Black Americans. Prince Hall led the free Black community in Boston through his support for education and abolition. Beginning in 1775,