Abby Epplett, Historian

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.

After visiting the Trustee’s Appleton Farms , South Hamilton , and Wenham , I finished up my day with a walk around Topsfield. I visited Topsfield two more times within a six-week period, and I took so many pictures of the buildings and monuments that I am turning these quick history stops into a three-part miniseries. Many buildings along Main Street are part of the Topsfield Town Common District, which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1976 .

After hiking at The Trustee’s Appleton Farms in Hamilton and the historic district in South Hamilton , I stopped in neighboring Wenham to visit its own historic district, which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1973 . While the Wenham Museum was not open, I took plenty of beautiful pictures of the town common, the church, a pair of war memorials, and the town hall.

During two of my trips to the North Shore, I visited South Hamilton, MA. The town historic district is on Bay Road , originally known as Country Road when it was established in 1640 and now also called Route 1A as the first state highway established in Massachusetts. During these quick history stops, I saw a church, a cemetery, historic houses, a mysterious road, and a special sign. This quiet town was a great place to take a relaxing walk, along with many pictures.

Every year, The Trustees of Reservations hosts winter holiday celebrations called Winterlights, where several properties are brightly lit for visitors to walk through a night. This past December, I visited the Winterlights at Stevens-Coolidge House & Gardens in North Andover, MA. This ninety-one acre (0.37 km sq) estate was once the summer home of Helen Granger Stevens Coolidge , which she shared with her well-connected diplomat husband, John Gardner Coolidge .

In early November 2024, I took a trip to Hudson, MA, which I had last visited in April . I made a few quick history stops mostly involving the Assabet River Nature Trail, which was created in 1995, along with Assabet River Rail Trail (ARRT) . Plenty of public art was installed along the trail, while other fun sights included a caboose and interesting architecture.

In early November 2024, I visited Bigelow Hollow State Park in Union, CT , a tiny town of 785 people located in The Last Green Valley , a national heritage corridor. Much like Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor and Essex National Heritage Area , both of which appear frequently on this blog, The Last Green Valley is a member of the Alliance of National Heritage Areas (ANHA) , which preserves ecological and historical sites across the United States. The Connecticut area is unique for having the only dark nighttime skies on the East Coast between Boston, MA and Washington, DC, since eighty-four percent of the land is farms and forests. Bigelow Hollow makes up 516 acres (2.09 sq km) of those rural lands.

After visiting the Major Taylor Museum on my birthday trip, I took a pair of walks in nearby Marlborough, MA. Lake Williams Boardwalk completed a recreational trail with a floating walkway, while The Grove Conservation Land was a forested area beside Fort Meadow Reservoir, which borders both Marlborough and Hudson. This was a relaxing way to spend a warm and sunny day.

On the same day I made quick history stops in Petersham, MA , I visited Quabbin Reservoir and the conservation site Bear’s Den , which is managed by the Trustees of Reservations. These quiet walks allow visitors to enjoy nature while offering glimpses of the industrial past.

In September 2024, I visited places and attended programs in Essex National Heritage Area as part of its annual event Trails & Sails . During my trip, I hiked on several trails in the area, most of which were maintained either by Greenbelt, which is Essex County’s land trust, or by The Trustees of Reservations, a non-profit organization in Massachusetts.

In September 2024, I visited places and attended programs in Essex National Heritage Area as part of its annual event Trails & Sails . On my second day, I took quick history stops in Danvers and Beverly, MA between visits to Hospital Point Lighthouse ; Historic Beverly’s Cabot House , Balch House , and Hale Farm ; and Central Cemetery in Beverly . I visited the typical historic homes, parks, churches, and public buildings along with a stop at the oldest fruit tree in the United States.

In September 2024, I visited places and attended programs in Essex National Heritage Area as part of its annual event Trails & Sails . On my second day, I visited Central Cemetery in Beverly, just down the street from Hale Farm. This cemetery has been in operation since the 18 th century and is still active. Perhaps the most famous burial is Nathan Dane , last mentioned in my post on Cabot House as the Senator who added the amendment to bar slavery in the Northwest Territory into the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 .

As the name suggests, Bywater was a hobbit town in the Shire located by water, more specifically by the Water, the hobbit-name for a river that emptied into the Brandywine. Unlike Hobbiton, which appeared to be a late medieval village overseen by a landlord, Bywater was a commercial center occupied by working and middle-class hobbits who owned a shop or knew a trade. My design of Bywater considers many factors, including a map created by Tolkien, pre-historic town design, medieval markets towns, revivals of medieval architecture occurring around the time of the book’s publication, and design features specific to pubs and shops still used in modern England.

In September 2024, I visited places and attended programs in Essex National Heritage Area as part of its annual event Trails & Sails . On my second day, I visited the John Hale Farm in Beverly, MA . This farm was completed by 1694 and owned by Reverend John Hale , a minister at First Parish Church in Beverly who is best known for first supporting and then decrying the Salem Witch Trials, which seemingly took place during the construction the farm in 1692. Hale’s book, titled in part A Modest Enquiry into the Nature of Witchcraft , was published in 1702, two years after his death, and served as an explanation of what happened in Salem. The house has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1974 .

In September 2024, I visited places and attended programs in Essex National Heritage Area as part of its annual event Trails & Sails . On my second day, I visited the John Balch House in Beverly, MA . This 1679 post-medieval style home was the former residence of the colonial Balch family and purchased by the Balch Family Association with the help of William Sumner Appleton, Jr. in 1916. Appleton would later found the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), now called Historic New England (HNE) . Meanwhile, the house was given to the Beverly Historical Society, now Historic Beverly, in 1932, and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 .

On Thursday, March 20 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., I watched the second Parked at Home webinar of the 2025 season. This is the fourth year of the  Parked at Home series of virtual talks hosted by Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park (BLRV) and other sites in the National Park Service, along with the third year of summaries appearing on my blog. The presentations this year are interpreted into American Sign Language (ASL) by Sherrolyn King. The hour-long webinars will be uploaded to the BlackstoneNPS YouTube channel and available to view at any time. The second installment to this year’s series was Saratoga National Historical Park (SARA) in New York and featured Eric Schnitzer, a park ranger who has worked at Saratoga for almost thirty years.

In September 2024, I visited places and attended programs in Essex National Heritage Area as part of its annual event Trails & Sails . On my second day, I visited Hospital Point Lighthouse in Beverly, MA. Built in 1872, this lighthouse is owned by the United States Coast Guard and acts as a private residence for the First Coast Guard District Commander and his family. The open house during Trails & Sails is one of the few times the general public is permitted on the property, and regular readers know I cannot deny myself a good lighthouse tour .

On Thursday, March 13 from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., I watched the first Parked at Home webinar of the 2025 season. This is the fourth year of Parked at Home hosted by Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park (BLRV) and other sites in the National Park Service, along with the third year of summaries appearing on my blog. The presentations this year are interpreted into American Sign Language (ASL) by Sherrolyn King. The hour-long webinars will be uploaded to the BlackstoneNPS YouTube channel and available to view at any time. The first installment to this year’s series was Rocky Mountain National Park (ROMO) in Colorado and featured Darcy Lilla, a winter naturalist at Rocky Mountain Conservancy , the nonprofit partner to the park, along with a seasonal park ranger at ROMO.

In September 2024, I visited places and attended programs in Essex National Heritage Area as part of its annual event Trails & Sails . As my first day drew to a close, I made many quick history stops around the town of Manchester-by-the-Sea, so many that this requires a two-part post. The first half of this adventure appeared on Wednesday and included the harbor and train station, library, historic houses, memorials, church, and post office. This post will describe the original and the newest fire stations, another church, an American Revolutionary War era powder house, and other historic buildings.