Abby Epplett, Historian

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.

In early November 2023, I took a stroll through Air Line Trail State Park in Connecticut and visited West Thompson Cemetery . This easy walk and historic burial ground were a great way to enjoy one of the last warm and sunny days of the year before the winter set in, along with learning about less commonly known local history.

Location plays an essential role in The Lord of the Rings . Already in the first section of the Prologue, “1 Concerning Hobbits”, several place names have been revealed, although not discussed in detail. These place names appear in clusters. Westmarch and the Shire are home to modern Hobbits. Greenwood the Great, which became Mirkwood, the Misty Mountains, and Eriador were the lands of their oldest ancestors. Different groups travelled by foot through Weathertop and the Wilderland, by boat on the Great River Anduin to Loudwater, Tharbad, and Dunland; or using a combination of means from Rivendell down the River Hoarwell. The lengthy paragraphs of invented places continue while describing the complexities of Hobbit colonization, which becomes increasingly difficult to decipher when places bear multiple names in distinct invented languages.

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.

After taking a brief hiatus from history webinars, I watched “Edith Stevens: Pioneering Woman Cartoonist” with speaker Robert S. Davidson on March 6, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. Hosted by Historic New England, this informative, fast-paced, and at times hilarious talk focused on the life of a local artist who shaped women’s fashion and culture from the 1920s through the 1960s with her daily comic strip Us Girls in the Boston Post and Boston Globe . Edith Stevens was the aunt of Davidson, who currently teaches at Massachusetts College of Art and Design thanks to her encouragement to pursue his interest in art. Stevens was born in Fitchburg, MA in 1899, but her family soon moved to Staten Island. Her father, Beaumont Stevens , died in the New York City harbor after a ferryboat accident, leaving his only daughter Edith, his son Roswell , and his wife Margaret . The Stevens family soon moved to Chicago to live with an aunt, and then to Boston when Margaret remarried. Stevens went to Gi...

On October 28, 2023, I checked off a bucket list item by riding the historic Blackstone Valley train from Woonsocket, RI to Worcester, MA to Putnam, CT and back again. This trip lasted from 9:00 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. with about six-and-a-quarter hours of travel on a vintage train and a two-and-a-half hour walk through Putnam. The day was sunny and bright, although the best fall color had passed the weekend before.

Along with touring Historic New England’s Winslow Crocker House , Edward Gorey House , and sites maintained by Historical Society of Old Yarmouth during my trip to Yarmouth, MA back in September 2023, I also made several quick history stops around the town. Like in other towns, I visited the cemetery, library, churches, and historic houses, along with a unique bookstore.

For my third major stop during my adventure to Yarmouth, MA on Cape Cod in late September 2023, I visited sites run by the Historical Society of Old Yarmouth (HSOY) . Stops included a tour of Captain Bangs Hallet House Museum, a collection of little historical buildings, a massive weeping beech tree, and nature trails.

For my second major stop during my adventure in Yarmouth, MA on Cape Cod in late September 2023, I visited the Edward Gorey House . Located down the street from Historic New England’s Winslow Crocker House , this museum memorializes the life of a illustrator, author, and Broadway costume designer. While the house appears ordinary from the exterior, Edward St. John Gorey used his love of whimsy and the macabre while decorating. Each year, a new exhibit showcases another facet of his life.

The Lord of the Rings: Part One, Fellowship of the Ring opens on page 1 not with lush scenery or snappy dialog, although plenty of this will come later, but with an approximately 7,500-word essay on the fictional world of Middle-earth. Fourth grade Abby found this authorial decision to be delightful, but readers unprepared for a short thesis might quietly place the book back on the shelf and step away. For the next few weeks, I will dive into the Prologue from the perspective of a historian, examining where events in the essay mirror those in the real world. Today’s post reflects on the authorial decisions of writing style for the overall Prologue, the origin of the text that Tolkien claims to translate, and the use of anthropology in the first section, “1 Concerning Hobbits”. The longest of the five sections, J.R.R. Tolkien details the physical traits and skills of the race; their evolution, migration, and colonization; and how their beliefs differ from other races in the wor...

At last, I reach the conclusion of my journey to visit all thirty-eight properties owned by Historic New England (HNE) . In late September 2023, I made a special day trip to Yarmouth, MA on Cape Cod to visit several historic sites. My first major history stop was Winslow Crocker House , built in nearby West Barnstable around 1780 by maritime trader Winslow Crocker . I received an especially warm welcome from the excellent guides and celebrated my completion of the HNE passport book. This lovingly renovated home filled with antique furniture was the perfect way to bring this phase of my adventure to a close.

The history of animation is a common enough topic that multiple excellent articles and books already exist. My introduction focuses specifically on themes that will arise during the creation of the hypothetical animated musical, including the art of the ancient world and medieval period, parallels between world religions, the influence of animation on other media, the erasure of non-white and working-class figures from history, censorship, and the evolution of animation from hand-drawn to computer animated. Using a moving image to tell a story came long before the advent of animation. Pottery in Ancient Greece and later Ancient Rome depicted gods, heroes, and everyday life, often with multiple scenes from the same story. Medieval churches told stories to a population with a low literacy rate through the use of icons, stained glass, and illumination on manuscripts. This visual storytelling was not limited to Christianity, as practitioners of Hinduism and Buddhism created art...

For my last history stop during my adventure to Amesbury, MA and Portsmouth, NH in September 2023, I strolled along the Amesbury Riverwalk . Built atop a former railway, the 1.3 mile out-and-back trail passes the historic Carriage House and underneath major roads along with providing a story walk for younger adventurers. The flat, paved path is perfect for people of all ages and abilities. Near the start of the path is the red brick Carriage House and a large open patio, owned by the Carriage House Museum , which also manages the Industrial History Center , and undergoing renovation. According to the Carriage House website , the carriage industry in Amesbury started in 1853 as local entrepreneur Jacob R. Huntington moved a shop from the nearby town of Merrimac. He used standardized parts and hired specialized workers to manage each section of the assembly line, a precursor to the moving assembly line invented by Henry Ford for his car company. When a massive fire in ...

During my adventure to Amesbury, MA and Portsmouth, NH in September 2023, I visited John Greenleaf Whittier Home & Hat Museum , longtime residence of an abolitionist Quaker poet and current residence to an array of fun hats . John Greenleaf Whittier is not as well remembered as his more outgoing friends,  William Lloyd Garrison  and  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow   (whose home I had visited a few weeks prior) , but  I was familiar with Whittier and his work from my research on another abolitionist, Blackstone River Valley resident Abby Kelley Foster . His house has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1966 . Located down the street from Friends Meeting House in Amesbury , which I had visited the previous day , Whittier moved to the house in 1836 at twenty-nine years old along with his mother Abigail Hussey Whittier , his younger sister Elizabeth Hussey Whittier , and his maternal aunt Mercy Evans Hussey . Previously, h...

Continuing my trip through Portsmouth, NH in September 2023, I visited the USS Albacore , a submarine used by the U.S. Navy from 1953 to 1972. Officially called USS Albacore (AGSS 569), the vessel was built in nearby Portsmouth Naval Yard and was used to conduct underwater experiments. Now open as a museum, the boat was named a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark in 1953 and a National Historic Landmark in 1989, along with belonging to the Historic Naval Ships Association . Tours are self-guided, and visitors press buttons on speakers to hear museum employees and former crew members tell the story of the boat.

On Day 2 of my adventure to Amesbury, MA and Portsmouth, NH in September 2023, I visited Jackson House , the oldest extant home in New Hampshire, now owned by Historic New England (HNE). This was my 37 th HNE house out of the 38 properties in the collection. Jackson House resembled other post-medieval houses north of Boston, including Boardman House in Saugus, MA ; Coffin House in Newbury, MA ; Gedney House in Salem, MA ; and Browne House in Watertown, MA . The property has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1965. Richard Jackson built his family home around 1664 and included architectural features now familiar to old house enthusiasts and readers of this blog: summer beams with chamfered edges and lamb’s tongue stops; casement windows with diamond shaped panes of glass; and a tall attic space that served as a sleeping area. Jackson died in 1718, but the property was not divided among his heirs until nine years later in 1727. Fro...