Six Historic Barns
Thousands of the historic barns of New England have survived severe weather, westward migration, suburban sprawl and competition from corporate agribusiness. Often connected to other farm buildings and...
View ArticleEmma Goldman Opens An Anarchist Ice Cream Shop in Worcester, Mass.
Emma Goldman could have made a fortune from her ice cream parlor in Worcester, Mass. It was 1892, and she was a Russian Jewish immigrant who’d discovered the anarchist movement. She believed all forms...
View ArticleWhen Mussolini Stiffed Gloucester, Mass., for $1 Million
In 1923, the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini refused to pay a Gloucester seafood company for a shipment of salt cod. Mussolini’s action nearly bankrupted the company, but it changed the way we eat....
View ArticleSix Abandoned Places
What is so appealing about abandoned places? Cyberspace abounds with photos, videos and bloggers waxing elegiac about abandoned old mills, mansions and malls. Sometimes they call it 'ruin porn.' Tim...
View ArticleThe West Indies Send Sugar, Slaves and Red Sox Stars to New England
For four centuries, the West Indies have made an outsized impact on New England. In 2018, West Indian stars and a West Indian manager brought the Boston Red Sox to a World Series championship. West...
View ArticleSix Historic One-Room Schoolhouses
Thousands of one-room schoolhouses once educated New England children, some well into the 20th century. Small, utilitarian buildings, they usually lacked plumbing and electricity. An outhouse stood out...
View ArticleAnnie Sullivan Escapes the Poorhouse (But Not Criticism for Being Poor and...
Annie Sullivan overcame her disability and crushing poverty to win worldwide fame as the teacher of the deaf-blind Helen Keller. But to some of the people who helped her along the way, she would remain...
View ArticleThe Murder of Jim Fisk, Vermont’s Robber Baron
Jubilee Jim Fisk liked to live large – too large for his own good. He rose from humble beginnings in Vermont to the pinnacle of success on Wall Street as one of the most colorful and notorious robber...
View ArticleThe Pittsfield Streetcar Driver Who Nearly Killed Teddy Roosevelt
The United States came close to losing two presidents within a year after a Pittsfield streetcar driver nearly killed President Theodore Roosevelt. He succeeded in killing Roosevelt’s Secret Service...
View ArticleWhen Massachusetts Was a Paradise for Tramps
So many tramps rode the rails into Massachusetts after the Civil War that in 1899 a group of charity administrators published a manual, The Best Methods of Dealing with Tramps and Wayfarers. Most...
View ArticleThe Connecticut Accent, Or Does Connecticut Even Have One?
Poor old Connecticut, invaded every day by thousands of Noo Yawkers and Bahstonians. Those people who don’t know what to do with their ‘r’s make it nearly impossible for the state to sustain a uniquely...
View ArticleSamuel Maverick Writes A Guide to the Wonders of New England – in 1660
Samuel Maverick, as his name suggests, didn’t like to go along with the crowd. The Puritan crowd, that is. He came to Boston sometime in the 1620s, before the Puritans arrived, and lived on Noddles...
View ArticleNew England’s Gun Valley, Child of the Springfield Armory
New England’s Gun Valley began with George Washington, who in 1777 scouted the site on an old Puritan muster ground in Springfield, Mass. Washington was looking for a place to store weapons out of...
View ArticleSix Abandoned Places
What is so appealing about abandoned places? Cyberspace abounds with photos, videos and bloggers waxing elegiac about abandoned old mills, mansions and malls. Tim Edensor, a geography professor at...
View ArticleThe West Indies Send Sugar, Slaves and Red Sox Stars to New England
For four centuries, the West Indies have made an outsized impact on New England. In 2018, West Indian stars and a West Indian manager brought the Boston Red Sox to a World Series championship. West...
View ArticleSix Historic One-Room Schoolhouses
Thousands of one-room schoolhouses once educated New England children, some well into the 20th century. Small, utilitarian buildings, they usually lacked plumbing and electricity. An outhouse stood out...
View ArticleAnnie Sullivan Escapes the Poorhouse (But Not the Stigma of Being Poor and...
Annie Sullivan overcame her disability and crushing poverty to win worldwide fame as the teacher of the deaf-blind Helen Keller. But to some of the people who helped her along the way, she would remain...
View ArticleThe Murder of Jim Fisk, Vermont’s Robber Baron
Jubilee Jim Fisk liked to live large – too large for his own good. He rose from humble beginnings in Vermont to the pinnacle of success on Wall Street as one of the most colorful and notorious robber...
View ArticleThe Pittsfield Streetcar Driver Who Nearly Killed Teddy Roosevelt
The United States came close to losing two presidents within a year after a Pittsfield streetcar driver nearly killed President Theodore Roosevelt. He succeeded in killing Roosevelt’s Secret Service...
View ArticleWhen Massachusetts Was a Paradise for Tramps
So many tramps rode the rails into Massachusetts after the Civil War that in 1899 a group of charity administrators published a manual, The Best Methods of Dealing with Tramps and Wayfarers. Most...
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