Abby Epplett, Historian

This post marks the 300 th entry to my blog! I visited the Berkshires in the summer of 2023 and stopped by First Congregational Church of Lee, MA . During a December blog post , I hinted that I might review the virtual tour hosted on the church website , so here it is a year after the first visit.

For the third year in a row, I took my annual trip to Portsmouth, NH. This trip was shorter than the previous two, as I spent a day in the city revisiting Strawbery Banke , which I last visited in 2022 , and checking off a bucket list item: riding the gundalow operated by The Gundalow Company . While the day was overcast with occasional drizzle, I enjoyed seeing new surprises at the living history museum, along with viewing the city from the water.

While planning day trips to the Essex National Heritage Area, I stumbled upon The Beacons Are Lit: The Lighthouse Keepers of Bakers Island . I was intrigued by the bizarre juxtaposition of a late 18 th century lighthouse in Salem, MA and a line from Peter Jackson’s The Return of the King , so I had to further investigate this short online exhibit. The exhibit begins with a quick review on the history and importance of lighthouses with a special focus on the Pharos of Alexandria in Ancient Greece. Then the exhibit dives right into the importance of the lighthouse on Bakers Island. The current lighthouse is “Pa”, as it was the “husband” of “Ma”, a slightly older and shorter lighthouse next door that was torn down in 1926. Lighthouses have been on the island since 1798, and a keeper was needed to run them. This work was incredibly risky, as third keeper Nathaniel Ward and his assistant Marshall (with no clarity in the exhibit over whether this was a first name or last name

Last Saturday — June 15, 2024 — I went on a history adventure in New Bedford, MA. Between my three major stops of New Bedford Art Museum , the Rotch-Jones-Duff House & Garden Museum , and Fort Taber Park , I made several quick history stops around the city. Highlights included neoclassical architecture, memorials, repurposed factories, and flood prevention infrastructure.

Last Saturday — June 15, 2024 — I had an adventure in New Bedford, MA. My third major stop was Fort Taber Park , which included the remains of a historic fort, a paved walking trail, and Fort Taber - Fort Rodman Historical Association Military Museum . This museum was my second stop in the Passport to History developed by Old Colony History Museum , my first stop being Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA on June 2, 2024 .

Last Saturday — June 15, 2024 — I went on an adventure in New Bedford, MA. My second major stop on the trip was the Rotch-Jones-Duff House & Garden Museum (RJD). This property was designated a National Historic Landmark as William Rotch, Jr. House in 2005 . The self-guided tour allowed visitors to explore two floors of the house plus an extensive rose garden while learning the histories of the three families who lived there.

Last Saturday — June 15, 2024 — I went on an adventure to New Bedford, MA. My first stop was New Bedford Art Museum . This miniature museum with three excellent galleries is a great place to spend an hour looking at contemporary art by local artists and big names from around the country. During my visit, the two exhibitions on display were Pathfinders: Paving the Glass Revolution in the U.S. and Transformations .

Last night — June 13, 2024, from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. — I attended the webinar How NOT to Make Films: 15 Years of Failures, Mishaps, and Lessons Learned hosted by documentarian Adam Mazo and educator Dr. Mishy Lesser , co-founders of Upstander Project , and moderated by N. Bruce Duthu , a professor at Dartmouth. For a portion of the talk, they were joined by special guest speaker Ben Pender-Cudlip , a filmmaker and cinematographer. I appreciated how each speaker described their cultural and ancestral background before speaking so the audience could better understand their point of view. Mazo and Dr. Lesser are Ashkenazi Jewish, Duthu is from Houma Nation in Louisiana, and Pender-Cudlip has British ancestry. Dr. Lesser and Mazo created their first film, Coexist , in 2014 to bring awareness to communities in Rwanda twenty years after a genocide. Mazo had first visited Rwanda in 2006 and returned to attend workshops. Dr. Lesser wrote a teacher’s guide to accompany the fil

On Thursday, June 6, 2024 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m., I watched a webinar about an upcoming exhibit at Historic New England’s Eustis Estate Museum : “The Importance of Being Furnished: Four Bachelors at Home”. This exhibit was curated by R. Tripp Evans , an art history professor at my undergraduate alma mater Wheaton College, along with a material culture and historic preservation expert. The talk was introduced by public program administrator Moriah Illsley and site manager Karla Rosenstein. I first learned about this exhibition during  Day 1 of Historic New England Summit 2023  and wanted to find out more. Evans’ is based on his book by the same name, which was released on June 4 by Rowman & Littlefield . Both book and talk began with an anecdote about his grandmother’s house at 1821 Park Avenue in Richmond, VA. His grandmother moved into the house in December 1944, and his grandfather died suddenly only three days after moving in. Evans recalled being more interest

Have you ever wanted to explore a lighthouse nowhere near a major body of water, but very close to a major league sports stadium, and learn history along the way? If you live in New England, you are in luck. Gillette Stadium Lighthouse in Foxborough, MA is just that. This addition to the recently renovated Gillette Stadium, home to the National Football League (NFL) team New England Patriots and Major League Soccer (MLS) team New England Revolution, is the tallest “lighthouse” in America, the quotes being that while the building is a lighthouse in form, it does not serve the practical purpose of a lighthouse in guiding ships to safety. Instead, LED lights at the top of the Lighthouse are “programmed to show colors and movement”, with additional lights on its side. I visited during the day when no game was happening, so the Lighthouse was unlit.

Last Sunday, I took a day trip to see places of history and culture in southeastern Massachusetts. My third stop was D.W. Field Park , located across the street from Fuller Craft Museum. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 2000 , the park currently encompasses 800 acres with seven miles of paved roads, multiple ponds, a sixty-five foot tall Central Memorial Tower, and an eighteen hole municipal golf course. The park has been described as the “Jewel of Brockton”.

My second stop during my adventure last Sunday was Fuller Craft Museum in Brockton, MA. This small, two-story museum with an outdoor sculpture garden doubles as a venue for programs and events, weddings, and classes. Five exhibits were on display during my visit, including a portrait collection, illustrations by a local high schooler, a basketball-inspired installation, button-ladened fashion pieces, and sci-fi sculptures.

Yesterday, — on Sunday, June 2 — I went on an adventure to southeastern Massachusetts and visited a few historical places. The first stop was Borderland State Park in Easton and Sharon, MA, which included a stone mansion once owned by the Ames family and now listed on the National Register of Historic Places , walking trails, and Smith Farm.

Today marks the second birthday of Abby Epplett, Historian . Two years ago, I posted my first review, which featured the “How Do You See the World?” Experience & Mapparium . Last year, on the first birthday of the blog , I counted down my top ten best performing posts, along with giving a general overview about blog viewership, and I will do the same this year. This is the 281 st post for the blog, bringing me to 156 posts in my second year, compared to 125 posts in my first year.

Last Sunday, March 19, I visited Old Slater Mill from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and joined a host of community groups advocating for the building of a fish passage. This is the third event I have attended to raise awareness around this issue, the first two being the Fish Passage Celebration in May 2023 , and Be the Voice of Kittacuck in October 2022 . Since the construction of dams in the 18th century to control water power on the Blackstone River and its tributaries, herring and other migratory fish have been unable to properly make their seasonal journeys. This has disrupted the ecosystem and badly affected fishers.

As a current resident of Whitinsville and fan of all things Blackstone River Valley, I’m always looking for ways to learn more about the area. When I heard that local historian Ken Warchol was presenting his final Historic Trolley Tour of Whitinsville dressed as Paul Whitin , I booked right away. The ninety-minute tour took place last Saturday, May 18, 2024, beginning at 9:00 a.m., with three more tours happening throughout the day. While the weather was rainy, the atmosphere was upbeat.

For all my gallivanting across Massachusetts, I have never toured the Massachusetts State House! Fortunately, the government website provides a virtual tour of these space , allowing me to see panoramic images on the interior from the comfort of my home. This tour highlights nine areas in the statehouse with unique artwork and furniture. 1 st Floor The 1 st Floor of the State House has no artifacts and lists only a few points of interest: house clerk, house council, hearing rooms, house minority, and state bookstore. I wish some explanation had been offered on why this section was left blank, or that details were giving for what business happened in each of the points of interest. 2 nd Floor The 2 nd listed the state auditor, state treasurer, senate counsel, and another hearing room as points of interests in addition to listing several featured areas. Each featured area was represented by a colorful circle on the map of the floor and also in a list underneat

I had been meaning to watch the Ann & Hope Documentary by David Lawlor from  Run of the Mill , which debuted on YouTube in August 2023, and I finally got around to doing it! This fact-paced film gave the history of the three iterations of Ann & Hope — a boat, a mill, and a department store chain — through twelve chapters, with plenty of interviews, drone shots, music, and animation segments. Rhode Islanders who grew up near an Ann & Hope store will have the chance to reminisce, historians will enjoy the fact-packed content, and cinefiles will appreciate the clever editing. After an opening music video, “Chapter 1: The Creation of the Blackstone River Valley” and “Chapter 2: William Blackstone” focused on the history of the Blackstone valley before the Industrial Revolution. The film introduced park rangers Allison Horrocks (who frequent readers of the blog will remember from Parked at Home ) and Kevin Klyberg of Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park

While researching for the Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical installment “Prologue, 2 Concerning Pipeweed” , I came across an online exhibit hosted by Forbes House Museum , a historic house in nearby Milton, MA not far from Historic New England’s Eustis Estate , which I last visited in December 2022 and posted about exactly a year ago . This straightforward, to the point exhibit presents a candid look to one wealthy American family’s contribution to addiction and war in China during the Qing Dynasty , or late 18 th to mid-19 th century. The exhibit give a quick introduction and museum statement before diving into six topics concerning the China trade. Introduction & Museum Statement In 1784, American merchants began their trade with China in a range of products, including tea, porcelain, and opium. A long list of Boston Brahmin families — a term once used for wealthy Anglo-Americans who ran the government in colonial, federalist, and early constitutional Am

After my visit to the nearby American Heritage Museum , I walked around downtown Hudson, MA to see a series of quick history stops. I used the Hudson Walking Tour to guide me down Main Street, along with visiting the riverwalk and Assabet Rail Trail.