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.

The morning after Bilbo disappeared during his Long-Expected Party, his heir Frodo took the brunt of the backlash while handing out gifts labeled with insults written by Bilbo. These gifts were remarkable not only for their snide nature but also for being more modern than other gifts given throughout The Lord of the Rings . While variations of these objects had existed for centuries, if not millennia, their status as items once owned by a single person suggested once again that the Shire had entered an early industrial revolution, allowing goods to be mass manufactured at prices that were a fraction of previous costs. Even with these reductions, such gift-giving was an extravagant display of wealth, especially when considering how Bilbo left the remainder of possessions to Frodo. In this essay, I will review the items given to the ungrateful relatives, describe the history of similar objects in the Real World, and reveal how some of these insults were even worse than what appea...

“The Road Goes Ever On” and its variations appear throughout the dialogue portion of the text, from the first song sung by Bilbo during Book I, Chapter 1 “The Long-Expected Party” in The Fellowship of the Ring to the last song sung by Frodo during Book VI, Chapter 12 “The Grey Havens” in The Return of the King . This song expresses the spirit of adventure experienced by multiple characters along with the desire to return home in the end. The love of travel and love of home are nearly universal concepts but rarely expressed as creatively as in “The Road Theme”. Ancient and medieval people told the same stories in their oral histories and during pilgrimages, while modern musicians express their love of the road and homesickness through country and rock hits. I considered all these factors while composing this theme, which I will present at the end of this essay.

This is the fourth and final post in my miniseries on my quick history stops in Philadelphia, along with my last post about the city. The first part covered a bank building, a Quaker meeting house, a fire station dedicated to Benjamin Franklin, a cemetery, and a very old alley. The second part covered a historic house possibly belonging to a Founding Mother, commercial buildings from the Industrial Revolution, and a courtyard showcasing local history. The third part covered a bicentennial speech from an unlikely speaker, a publishing company, a preservation society, a religious statue, an historic athletic facilities, and a diner. This post will include fun facts from my favorite informational signs and how some facts relate to past articles on the blog.

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. The first part covered a bank building, a Quaker meeting house, a fire station dedicated to Benjamin Franklin, a cemetery, and a very old alley. The second part covered a historic house possibly belonging to a Founding Mother, commercial buildings from the Industrial Revolution, and a courtyard showcasing local history. The third part will cover a bicentennial speech from an unlikely speaker, a publishing company, a preservation society, a religious statue, an historic athletic facilities, and a diner.

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. The first part covered a bank building, a Quaker meeting house, a fire station dedicated to Benjamin Franklin, a cemetery, and a very old alley. This second part will cover a historic house possibly belonging to a Founding Mother, commercial buildings from the Industrial Revolution, and a courtyard showcasing local history.

When Bilbo left Bag End after his Long-Expected Party, he wore a traveling outfit that he had assembled during his adventure with Thorin and company many years earlier. The base of this outfit was heavily worn hobbit-clothes, which I have designed to look similar to a late 18 th century costume previously described in “Characters: Bilbo & Frodo Baggins” . The outer layer was a cloak and hood, common clothing for dwarf-men who liked to travel. The cloak and hood were “rather too large” for Bilbo, presumably because although he was nearly the same height as dwarves, he had less muscle mass and a narrower build.

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.

After the Long-Expected Party — and in the case of the hypothetical animated musical, not long after “The Want Song” — Gandalf joined Bilbo in his house and demanded that his hobbit friend give up the One Ring. Bilbo initially reacted badly, as the ring had gained some control over him, but he eventually left the ring to his ‘nephew’, Frodo, along with most of his worldly possessions. Rings have appeared in fiction throughout world literature, spawning dozens of folkloric motifs and inspiring adaptations of ancient stories for stage and film.

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 my trips to the North Shore several weeks ago, I visited historic sites around Essex County, Massachusetts. I took a tour of important stops in colonial era New England religious history, one of which was Old South Presbyterian Church. This building hosts an active congregation and is the final resting place of evangelist George Whitefield, who requested to be buried beneath the altar. Other nearby places of interest include the house where Whitefield died, the house where abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison was born, and a large rock where Whitefield gave a sermon.

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.

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.

I last compared Bilbo’s eleventy-first birthday to famous parties in the summary of Book I, Chapter 1 “A Long-Expected Party” , where I referenced biblical celebrations, parties gone wrong in France, PR stunts in Ancient China, and exclusive musical scores in Great Britain. This installment focuses on what the hobbits might have eaten at that party. While discussing “Prologue, 3 On the Ordering of the Shire” , I determined that hobbits appeared to live in two timelines with their political system and architecture reflecting the early 17 th century or post-medieval period while their technology, interior design, and fashion reflected the early 19 th century or Industrial Revolution. Their foods likewise are split into different time periods, with some staples being invented during ancient times in the Real World, others appearing in Europe due to the trade of the late medieval period, and still others dating from the Victorian era or mid- to late 19 th century. As the self-pr...