Abby Epplett, Historian

After visiting Forbes House Museum during my trip to Milton, MA in June, I made several quick history stops around the town. In my first post about these stops, I discussed local churches, short hikes, informational signage, a cemetery, a historic house, and memorial parks. In the second post, I will cover the buildings at the center of town, which is fittingly called Milton Centre and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1988 .

After I visited Forbes House Museum during my trip to Milton, MA in June, I made several quick history stops around the town. In the first of two posts about these stops, I discuss the usual rounds of local churches, short hikes, informational signage, and a cemetery. My surprise bonus stops for this portion of the trip was a pair of memorial parks. In the second post, I will cover the many buildings at the center of town.

I visited Rockefeller State Park Preserve in Pleasantville, NY on the way back from my adventure in Philadelphia, PA. This extensive preserve in the Sleepy Hollow area offers manicured carriage roads, historic bridges, scenic views, and the remains of a grand estate. I visited two units of this extensive park. In the first part released on Wednesday , I covered the history of the park and the larger Preserve Entrance unit. This second part covers the Rockwood Hall unit, a description of the former estate, and a note on local transportation infrastructure.

While my Philadelphia adventure was over, the trip itself had one last stop as I visited Rockefeller State Park Preserve in Pleasantville, NY on the way home. This extensive preserve in the Sleepy Hollow area offers manicured carriage roads, historic bridges, scenic views, and the remains of a grand estate. I visited two units of this extensive park. The first part will cover the history of the park and the larger Preserve Entrance unit, while the second part will cover the Rockwood Hall unit and description of the former estate.

During my trip to Philadelphia, PA, I spent time walking around the historic portion of the city. Because this is one of the most politically significant locations in the modern world, the streets are lined with informational signage, and nearly every building had a plaque. This miniseries of quick history stops will have four parts. This first part will cover a bank building, a Quaker meeting house, a fire station dedicated to Benjamin Franklin , a cemetery, and a very old alley.

During my trip to Philadelphia, I visited many smaller historic stops around the city. One stop was Washington Square , a park with multiple memorials, signs, and trees. With plenty of benches and green space, this was a nice spot to rest or have a snack while learning about history. The earliest iteration of the park opened in 1815 as Southeast Square but received its current name in 1825.

During a long weekend in late May and early June, I visited Philadelphia, PA to see historic sites and watch a professional track & field meet. This is my fourth and final post about Independence National Historical Park , a part of the United States National Park System (NPS) that focuses on the American Revolutionary War. During this post, I will describe buildings located within the boundaries of the park that I have not yet covered, including City Tavern, Dolley Todd House, Old St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic Church, Free Quaker Meeting House, First Bank, Second Bank, Merchants’ Exchange Building, President’s House Site, Declaration House, and American Pharmaceutical Association.

During a long weekend in late May and early June, I visited Philadelphia, PA to see historic sites and watch a professional track & field meet. This is my third post about Independence National Historical Park , a part of the United States National Park System (NPS) that focuses on the American Revolutionary War. During this post, I will describe Franklin Court where the house of Benjamin Franklin once stood, art found throughout the park, and a relaxing garden.

My final stop during my adventure on the North Shore was Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary , a site maintained by Mass Audubon and located in Topsfield, MA. The property once belonged to Thomas Emerson Proctor, Jr.  and his family, who apparently developed a habit of feeding the birds, which can be fed to this day. Additionally, if that name sounds familiar, Proctor School in Topsfield is named after him.

During my trip to the North Shore, I visited quick history stops and trails in Essex County, Massachusetts. On two occasions, I walked along the Topsfield Linear Common (TLC) , which includes a rail trail, pedestrian bridges, peaceful water, and a model solar system. With a stone dust path and plenty of parking areas, this trail is accessible to all.

During my trips to the North Shore several weeks ago, I visited many historic sites and took plenty of hikes. One of my stops was at Cedar Pond Wildlife Sanctuary in Wenham, MA. The scenic walking area is 158 acres (0.64 km sq) in size and is managed by Mass Audubon along with belonging to the Eastern Essex County Interior Forest Important Bird Area. Besides beautiful scenery and accessible pathways, the grounds contain the ruins of a mansion whose presence is more mysterious that it first seems.

Right after my walk at Hamlin Reservation, I went to another site maintained by The Trustees of Reservations, Greenwood Farm in Ipswich, MA. The 216-acre property contains a short, g-shaped walking trail and a pair of historic houses, which won the 1998 and 2001 Mary P. Conley Preservation Awards given by Ipswich Historical Commission . While the site does not include much information about the three “dynasties” who lived on the property, these people are by far the most interesting part of the story.

During one of my trips to the North Shore in Massachusetts, I visited Hamlin Reservation in Ipswich, which is currently managed by The Trustees of Reservations . This one-mile walking path through the Great Marsh allows some sharp-eyed visitors to see birds that only live in this part of the state , including cattle egrets, snowy egrets, and black-ground night-herons. While I only saw a few crows, the quiet walk was a relaxing rest after running around the center of town, and the land turned out to have a connection to national history.

This post comes a day earlier than usual, as Friday is American Independence Day, colloquially known as “the Fourth of July”. This is the fourth and final post in my miniseries of quick history stops in Ipswich. For a quick history review, I shared a pair of banks, a post office, murals on a factory building, and a story from the Industrial Revolution in Part 1 . I shared the Riverwalk, a war memorial, the town visitor center, a commercial block, and other historic buildings in Part 2 . I shared the history of three churches, a school building, the library, and informational signage in Part 3. Now I will finish up with several war memorials, an art installation, a very old bridge, public buildings, and a church with interesting tangents in its backstory.

Today, I continue with my miniseries on quick history stops in Ipswich, MA. As a quick history review, last week I shared a pair of banks, a post office, murals on a factory building, and a story from the Industrial Revolution in Part 1 . On Monday, I shared the Riverwalk, a war memorial, the town visitor center, a commercial block, and other historic buildings in Part 2 . I will discuss the history of three churches, a school building, the library, and informational signage in Part 3.

Earlier this year, I visited many historic places along the North Shore in Essex County, Massachusetts. I found so many quick history stops in Ipswich, MA that I have turned this adventure into a four-part miniseries. Part 1 covered a pair of banks, a post office, murals on a factory building, and a story from the Industrial Revolution. Part 2 will focus on the Riverwalk, a war memorial, the town visitor center, a commercial block, and other historic buildings.

During my trips to the North Shore earlier this year, I spent time walking around Ipswich, MA. I really outdid myself with picture-taking in this colonial-era town, and accordingly will present a four-part miniseries of quick history stops. Special thanks to my sister who lives locally and tolerated me finding local history in everything. For the first part, I will share a pair of banks, a post office, murals on a factory building, and a story from the Industrial Revolution.

During my trips to the North Shore earlier this year, I twice visited a group of cemeteries in Ipswich, MA . This cemetery opened in 1634, a year after the town was founded in 1633, and is operational to this day. The oldest parts of the cemetery, located near High Street where on-street parking is available, is called Old Burying Ground or Old North Cemetery, while other sections were Highland and New Highland Cemetery. This entire area is part of High Street Historic District, which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1980. Like the High Street of many post-medieval towns (as last described in my Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical essay “Places: Bywater” , which referenced the original Ipswich in England) this was the main road until Central Street was built in 1871, or 238 years after High Street.

When I visited Topsfield Town Common District, part of the National Register of Historic Places , I found so many quick history stops that I divided them into three posts: the first on Monday , the second on Wednesday , and the third today. This final post describes the history of the former Methodist church and parsonage, the war memorials, the library, and public art. Once again, I found the book Houses and Buildings of Topsfield, Massachusetts to be helpful in my research.

During my visits to the North Shore several weeks ago, I found a multitude of quick history stops in the Topsfield Town Common District, which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976 . My first post described several homes, the Catholic church, the former train station, and the post office. This post will focus on the school, town hall, and the Protestant churches. Just like in my last post, I found the book Houses and Buildings of Topsfield, Massachusetts to be helpful in my research.