Abby Epplett, Historian

Back in August 2023, I visited Cambridge, MA. This is my final post about that adventure. My main stops were Longfellow House Washington Headquarters , Cooper-Frost-Austin House , and Harvard Art Museums . I also visited several quick history stops during my adventure. Part 1 covered the houses of Brattle Street, Part 2 focused on houses of worship in Cambridge, and Part 3 highlights memorials and buildings at Cambridge Common . At sixteen acres in size, this city park provides a paved walking path, monuments to a multitude of historical events, and the Alexander W. Kemp Playground completed in 2009. An abandoned cannon from the American Revolutionary War sits on a red brick paver patio across from Prince Hall Memorial. This set of five granite plaques placed in a semicircle honors the founder of the first Masonic Lodge for Black Americans. Prince Hall led the free Black community in Boston through his support for education and abolition. Beginning in 1775,...

Back in August 2023, I spent a day exploring historic sites in Cambridge, MA. While my main stops were Longfellow House Washington Headquarters , Cooper-Frost-Austin House , and Harvard Art Museums , I also visited several quick history stops during my adventure. While Part 1 covered the houses of Brattle Street, Part 2 focuses on Cambridge Water Works, Watertown Cambridge Greenway, and Mount Auburn Cemetery, along with houses of worship in Cambridge. Cambridge Water Works & Watertown Cambridge Greenway According to WaterWorksHistory.us: Documentary History of Water Works , a delightfully niche barebones website with a wealth of information on aquatic infrastructure, Cambridge Water Works began in 1852 as a private company. By 1861, it bought its rival Cambridge Port Aqueduct Company , which had begun in 1837. Both companies laid pipe and built aqueducts to funnel fresh springwater into the city. In 1865, the City of Cambridge bought the water works and uses the syst...

Back in August 2023, I visited Cambridge, MA for a history adventure. My main three stops during the trip were Longfellow House Washington Headquarters , Cooper-Frost-Austin House , and Harvard Art Museums , but I had plenty of quick history stops along the way. In Part 1 of this three-part miniseries, I visited historic homes in the Brattle Street area, a part of Cambridge once called Tory Row , and used walking tours from History Cambridge (formerly Cambridge Historical Society) as my guide, including Loyalist Women of Cambridge and The Work of the Revolution in Cambridge . Elmwood The first house on my tour was Elmwood, also known as Oliver-Gerry-Lowell House , a three-story Georgian style mansion with a spacious green lawn and covered with scaffolding, as the building was undergoing renovation. Thomas Oliver , a British Loyalist and the final royally appointed lieutenant-governor of Massachusetts, and his wife Elizabeth Vassell Oliver , who had grown up in...