Abby Epplett, Historian

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...

I had not attended a History Camp virtual event for a few years but am still subscribed to the weekly newsletter, so I was delighted to receive an email featuring this author talk . Graphic novelist John Hendrix recently published The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien with Abrams Books  and spoke on his research for the book. The talk was moderated by History Camp founder Lee Wright and major contributor Mary Adams.

This is the first post featuring visits from 2025. I went to Appleton Farms , a property managed by the Trustees of Reservations in South Hamilton and Ipswich, MA on two different weekends in May to explore different parts of the grounds. Once owned by the wealthy Appleton family, the 658-acre (2.66 sq km) working farm and trails are open year-round to the public. The paths are part of Bay Circuit Trail and Discover Hamilton Trail maintained by the Hamilton Conservation Commission .

May 31, 2025 was the third birthday of the blog. Since I have been on vacation learning more history, I delayed the birthday post until today, but I took notes on blog statistics during the actual day. I am happy to report that blog viewership is steady and many more posts are in the future. Just like the 1 st Birthday and 2 nd Birthday , I will do a top ten countdown of my most viewed posts in the past year.

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 .

Although I am a highly creative person, I have never been good at coming up with titles. Possibly my only other weakness is my ability to be succinct. “The Introduction Song” combines both of these weaknesses as a nearly eight-minute piece to introduce personalities of the Shire and the culture surrounding them. The animatic to come out in many weeks will further show the landscape and various styles of architecture in the area. When creating the basic concept of an introduction song, also known as an opening number, I drew from musicals of the Western canon, considered how this song might be characterized relative to others, constructed leitmotifs to be heard throughout the musical, and referred to other passages in The Lord of the Rings along with one reference outside of Tolkien’s work. I hope I have successfully adapted the opening scene of the epic by weaving together a complex piece made up of catchy showtunes containing lyrics that respected the original text.

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.

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 .

The third installment to my miniseries on the psychology of major characters in The Lord of the Rings will focus on Samwise Gamgee, later called Sam Gardner, who is considered the deuteragonist or secondary main character in the text. Unlike Bilbo and Frodo Baggins who enjoyed an enormous amount of privilege as part of the wealthy, educated elite, Sam and his family were among the lowest in the social hierarchy. Because of this disparity in status, Sam’s apparent psychological conditions were treated differently by the community than those of Bilbo and Frodo. While the Bagginses were explicitly called “mad” and “queer” for their behavior, attitudes towards Sam were less harsh. Mocking the Bagginses may have been the one way the ‘rustic’ hobbits could have an advantage over their ‘betters’, while Sam seemed to be considered another one of the villagers despite his differences.