Abby Epplett, Historian

Back in September, I visited Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House , a Historic New England (HNE) property located on the waterfront of Gloucester, MA. On the younger side of properties owned by HNE, American interior designer Henry Davis Sleeper constructed the eclectically decorated mansion in 1907. He continually renovated the building for twenty-seven years until his death in 1934, when the McCann family purchased the house and left it mostly unchanged. Ownership of the property passed to HNE in 1942 and has been a museum for over eighty years. The winding passages of Sleeper’s dream home boast an astonishing array of antiques, fine art, and remarkable design choices.

A first in my experience with Historic New England properties, I visited Cogswell’s Grant both in-person in Essex, MA on September 24, 2022 and virtually during a members-only tour held via Zoom webinar on February 15, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places , early American art and furniture collectors Bertram & Nina Little revitalized the 165-acre property with the 1728 farmhouse for use as a summer residence and a storage facility for their many antiques.

The fifth and final installment of the 2023 season of Valley Talks, sponsored by the Museum of Work in Culture of the Rhode Island Historical Society (RIHS) , was held via Zoom on Sunday, March 5 at 1:30 p.m. Writer Melody Desjardins, who runs the blog Moderne Franco: All about the Franco-American Experience , presented “Visualizing Franco-American Culture Through French-Canadian Folklore” , describing the music, dance, folktales, and costumes of French culture in North America from the 16 th century to the present day. Desjardins began her talk with a definition of folklore. She explained that “folk” referred to country people from an idealized, agrarian past where humans were more connected to nature, while “lore” are stories intended to be passed along to future generations. Desjardins also spoke about “visual culture”, the concept that part of what makes a heritage unique are the elements seen by those both within and outside of the group. Visual heritage includes clo...

On Thursday, March 2 at 7:00 p.m., Dr. Megan Kate Nelson kicked off the 2023 season of Parked at Home , a series of Zoom webinars hosted by Blackstone River Valley National Historic Park . Dr. Nelson gave a talk on her new book, Saving Yellowstone: Exploration and Preservation in Reconstruction America , published by Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster , in 2022. Park ranger Mark Mello acted as the moderator for the session, reviewing the history of BRVNHP and the motivation behind the parked at home series before sharing a clip from Ken Burns’ documentary National Parks: America’s Best Idea . Dr. Nelson’s new perspective about the creation of Yellowstone was inspired by her previous book, The Three-Cornered War: The Union, the Confederacy, and Native Peoples in the Fight for the West , which received numerous accolades for its explanations on the effects of the American Civil War and Reconstruction period. She shared a map demonstrating the size of Yellowstone ,...

During the month of February, which has been designated as Black History Month since 1976, the online learning platform Masterclass hosted the video series Black History, Black Freedom, and Black Love: Lessons from Influential Black Voices . Seven speakers led this remarkable, three-part series, focusing on the past, present, and future of Black Americans. The class spanned across 54 videos, totaling 10 hours and 47 minutes of screen time, and broached a staggering number of topics, including: Democracy, Elections, & Voting Rights The Constitution, especially the 13 th , 14 th , and 15 th Amendments The Plantation, Enslavement, & Emancipation The Civil War and Reconstruction Linguistics and Black English Segregation in Education & Historically Black Colleges / Universities (HBCUs) Redlining & Housing The Prison-Industrial Complex & Policing The 1619 Project, Critical Rac...

On February 28, 2023 at 7:00 p.m., I attended a Zoom talk hosted by Rhode Island Historical Society and focused on the recently published book Black Greys and Colored Giants: A Comprehensive Guide to Black Baseball in Rhode Island, 1870-1949 by Robert Cvornyek , who is professor emeritus and former chair of the History Department at Rhode Island College , along with a professor at Florida State University Panama City . The talk took the form of a conversation moderated by Richard J. Ring , Deputy Executive Director for Collections and Interpretation at Rhode Island Historical Society since 2017 . Cvornyek explained that he wrote the book after researching Black baseball in Rhode Island for over twenty years, starting in the early 2000s. He interviewed men who played baseball in the late 1940s, along with their families, and learned that “Baseball is a critical lens to understand African American history.” He originally planned to donate all his research materials to RIHS...

Besides many great museums and historic houses in Newbury and Newburyport, some of which I will explore during my next trip to the Essex National Heritage Area , I visited several quick history stops along the Newburyport Harborwalk & Clipper City Rail Trail . The Custom House Maritime Museum is located along the route, along with sculptures from New England artists, lighthouses, and signage describing historical events and buildings in the area.

The fourth stop on my trip to the Newbury and Newburyport area was Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm , a Historic New England (HNE) property on the National Register of Historic Places with a late 17 th century house and a 230-acre farm, including a flock of animals supported by Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA) , which has partnered with HNE since 2003. The property is adjacent to Bay Circuit Trail & Greenway , a “230+ mile, multi-use trail in Greater Boston” according to its website. The farmhouse itself has been a museum since 1992 after a six year, over $1 million restoration project. In the previous three hundred years, the property was owned by multiple distinct families, on a few of which lent their names to the house.

Rhode Island Historical Society hosted Valley Talk #4 from its 2023 series via Zoom on Sunday, February 19 at 1:30 p.m. The talk, titled “B’nai Israel: Woonsocket’s Gorgeous but Little-Known Synagogue” , featured historian George M. Goodwin as the main speaker. Goodwin was a former president of the Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association and has edited multiple publications. He spent most of the talk describing synagogues and other places of worship around Rhode Island, New England, and the world, accompanying his detailed descriptions with beautiful images. He finished with information about B’nai Israel in Woonsocket, RI. The entire talk with question and answer session took just under 90 minutes. Touro Synagogue of Newport, RI The oldest extant synagogue in North America is Touro Synagogue of Newport, RI , constructed in 1763 by British-American architect Peter Harrison . Harrison introduced the Palladian style of architecture to the Americas, with buildings ba...

My third stop on my trip to the Newbury and Newburyport area was Coffin House , a Historic New England (HNE) property just down the street from Swett-Ilsley House . For over three hundred years, this building was home to the Coffins, a Quaker family whose numerous descendants include abolitionist and women’s rights activist Lucretia Coffin Mott . The guide described the family as being so numerous that a descendent will be on a tour almost every day, travelling from as close by as Nantucket to as far away as Samoa.