Abby Epplett, Historian

In July 2025, I visited Coggeshall Farm Museum . Located inside Colt State Park in Bristol, RI, the late 18 th century historic farm has been associated with Old Sturbridge Village (OSV) since 2020. The 48-acre farmstead has been interpreted to the 1790s, not long after the American Revolutionary War and also known as the Federalist Era. My visit took place on a sunny summer day with perfect weather, happy animals, and friendly museum staff.

I recently inherited a signed copy of the book Honor the Past Celebrate the Future: A Historical Overview of the Blackstone River Valley, Massachusetts written by David White and published by the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce in 2005. Since the book is celebrating its 20 th birthday, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to not only see what it teaches the reader but also how our understanding of history has changed in the past two decades. The book is divided into eight sections and not only explores how revolution and industry shaped the region but offers a snapshot of important local business from the time of its publication. The first section, “1 Through Many Dangers, Toils, and Snares” riffs on a line from the song “Amazing Grace”, reminding the reader how European colonization of the area was motivated in part by religion. Missionary John Eliot committed to converting Nipmuc people to Christianity, which allowed the colonists to more easily manipulate N...

I had such a great time visiting Major Taylor Museum in Worcester, MA and walking in nearby Marlborough that I took another birthday trip a few days later. I had heard about WaterFire Providence from friends and colleagues for many years, including watching a talk about WaterFire presented by its founder Barnaby Evans during Historic New England Summit 2022 .

In October 2024, I checked off another Blackstone Bucket List item by taking the forty-passenger Explorer boat cruise on a fifty-minute guided river tour. Departing from Central Falls Landing in Central Falls, RI, the tour reviewed the ecology and history of the Blackstone River Valley, providing a great refresher to those familiar with the story at a relaxing pace. As an added bonus, the day was unseasonably warm and sunny.

Back in September 2024, I visited Lincoln, RI during Great Road Day, an annual celebration of the historic highway that runs through the town. My final stop for the day was Blackstone Valley Historical Society . Located at North Tollgate House on Old Louisquisset Pike, this non-profit organization preserves the history of the Blackstone River Valley in Rhode Island.

After stops at Hearthside House and Saylesville Meeting House during Great Road Day in September 2024, I visited two more historic buildings: Mount Moriah Lodge and Valentine Whitman House. The lodge is the meeting place of Masons in Lime Rock, a quarry village in Lincoln, while the house is a stone ender currently serving as a private residence. On a sunnier day, these would make a decent pair of quick history stops.

Back in September 2024, I visited Lincoln, RI during Great Road Day, an annual event which celebrates the history of an old highway. My second stop during the trip was Saylesville Meeting House . The village received its name from the mill-owning Sayles family during the mid-19 th century, while the meeting house has been on the National Register for Historic Places since 1978 .

On a rainy day in September 2024, I went to Great Road Day hosted by several historical venues in Lincoln, RI. This town in the Blackstone River Valley is known for its history, as I had previously featured Eleazer Arnold House and its annual celebration Abraham Lincoln’s birthday . Great Road Day recognizes the early highway system, and this event meant I had the opportunity to visit several venues that I had always gone by but never gone in. My first stop was Hearthside House, part of Great Road Heritage Campus .

Finishing up my trip to Newport in late August 2024, I took the Fort Adams Bay Walk around Fort Adams State Park in Newport, RI after completing the excellent tour of the fort itself . A tall ship, unique signage, a cemetery, a bunker, and a historic mansion were all highlights of this relaxing two-mile loop. For those of you keeping track of how far I walked that day, when combined with my morning hike on the Cliff Walk , the fort tour, and other Newport exploration, this brought my total up to eleven-and-a-half miles.

In late August 2024, after a morning of hiking the Cliff Walk and viewing the Great Elephant Migration, I spent the afternoon at Fort Adams State Park . After a relaxing picnic lunch, I took  a tour of Fort Adams itself, originally named after second U.S. President John Adams, which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1970 . As an added bonus, the fort was celebrating its 200 Year Anniversary, with construction started in 1824 and completed in 1857.

My August adventures were not limited to my five-day trip on Cape Cod. Towards the end of the month, I visited Newport, RI to hike the famous Cliff Walk and view The Great Elephant Migration art exhibit, which roamed through Newport from July 4 to September 2, 2024. Both walk and elephants were within the Newport Historic District, which was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1968 . The day was bright and sunny but not to hot, a perfect time to get exercise and enjoy environmentally-focused sculpture.

This museum season, I am completing the Passport to History developed by Old Colony History Museum in Taunton. Last Saturday, I visited three more museums in the passport book, plus a bonus museum. The Veterans Memorial Museum of Rhode Island is a remarkable collection of military and war artifacts started by Glenn Dusablon, who also gave my private tour. The museum is on the second floor of the American French Genealogical Society in Woonsocket, RI , formerly a gymnasium / auditorium accessible by elevator or stairs, and does not have external signage, but rest assured that the parking lot at 78 Earl Street is the right place to be!

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.

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 P...

Last night — April 11, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. — was the sixth and final installment of the webinar series Parked at Home hosted by the Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park (BRVNHP) . Park ranger Allison Horrocks led the session with guest speaker Andrew Donovan, supervisory park ranger at Saugus Iron Works National Historic Site and Salem Maritime National Historic Site , which I most recently visited in October 2022 . Sherrolyn K. provided American Sign Language (ASL) interpretation. I had last visited Saugus Iron Works about eight years ago and appreciated the opportunity to refresh my knowledge about post-medieval mills leading up to the Industrial Revolution. Horrocks explained that Saugus, MA and Pawtucket, RI — one of six sites within BRVNHP — shared a business connection. The founder of Pawtucket in 1671, Joseph Jenks Jr. , originally settled in Saugus with his father, iron worker Joseph Jenks Sr. Years earlier while in England, the Jenks Sr. had worked for ...

Last night — March 29, 2024 — I watched the latest installment of the 2024 season of Parked at Home hosted by the Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park (BRVNHP) . During this webinar, chief of interpretation Todd Smith joined us from Fairbanks, AK to discuss Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve (GAAR) . Park Ranger Mark Mello began by remarking how people tend to look down at phones and tablets instead of up at nature even when visiting a national park. Mello grew up in a relatively rural part of southeastern Massachusetts where he saw many stars at night. He first experienced severe light pollution as a teenager when he visited Boston and realized he could not see the stars. In contrast, while working at Arches National Park , he saw significantly more stars than at home and understood why the area was dedicated an International Dark Sky Place . The first people to inhabit the Blackstone River Valley had a close connection to the sky. The name Wampano...

Yesterday — Thursday, March 21 at 7:00 p.m. — I watched the third installment of the 2024 season of Parked at Home featuring Amistad National Recreation Area in Texas with park archaeologist Jack Johnson. Park ranger Allison Horrocks of Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park started the webinar by explaining the migration of butterflies between New England and Texas, which takes four generations to complete. She compared this migration to “The Butterfly Effect”, a theory that small events can affect people around the world. In this way, the dam and mill in Pawtucket, RI built in 1793 started social changes and industrialization across the young United States.

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 .

Last night — Thursday, March 14 at 7:00 p.m. — was the second installment of the 2024 season of Parked at Home, a webinar series hosted by the National Park Service . In this talk, park ranger Mark Mello of Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park was joined by park ranger Rebecca Schroeder of the Ten Thousand Islands District of Everglades National Park to talk about the history of these sites as related to water.

The 2024 season of Parked at Home hosted by Blackstone River Valley National Historical Park (BRVNHP) returned last night — March 8, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. — with guest speaker and park ranger Samantha Baranski of First State National Historical Park (FSNHP) in Delaware.