Blog Roundup #50 | Abby Epplett, Historian
Abigail Epplett
Marketing Operations Specialist @ Waters | Accessibility Advocate | Available for Freelance Projects
For this week's roundup of my blog, Abby Epplett, Historian, I celebrate a big milestone: it's my fiftieth roundup on LinkedIn! Over on the blog, I explore southeastern Massachusetts and add two new essay installments to the series Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical. The blog will be quieter than usual later this week as I go to Trails & Sails in Essex National Heritage Area but will return in full force the following week.
Southeastern Massachusetts
Few towns have been as thoroughly shaped by a single woman than Norton, MA by Eliza Baylies Chapin Wheaton. Born in Northbridge, MA in 1809 and educated at Uxbridge Academy, in Uxbridge, MA, and later at Young Ladies’ High School of Boston, Mrs. Wheaton married a judge, Laban Morey Wheaton, when she was nineteen, and he was thirty-one. Clearly not cowed by the age gap, Mrs. Wheaton kept Mr. Wheaton — as she insisted he be called — in line while running the house, creating a women’s seminary, and donating buildings to the town. Her thumbprint is still found throughout Norton.
This organization was founded in 1894 to keep track of the history for what is now four towns: Bridgewater, East Bridgewater, West Bridgewater, and Brockton, which was formerly called North Bridgewater.
While in Bridgewater, MA, I had quick history stops at McElwain School and Bridgewater Iron Works Park, two parts of industrial history that have been repurposed to serve the community.
领英推荐
Better known for its shops, football stadium, and enormous lighthouse, Patriot Place is also home to Nature Trail and Ocean Spray Cranberry Bog managed by the Ocean Spray Cooperative, a company run by about seven hundred farmers and started in 1930. The short loop through the woods and passing by the seven-acre bog was designated a Healthy Heart Trail by Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and covers about half a mile (0.8 km). Throughout the trail are signs describing the history and ecology to growing cranberries.
This property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978 and constructed by John Alden for his wife, fellow Mayflower passenger Priscilla Mullins Alden, in the mid to late 17th. The couple was famous not only for coming over on the Mayflower, but also from the poem The Courtship of Miles Standish written in 1858 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (whose house I visited in 2023). The house is still owned by the family, who opened it to the public as a museum.
Lord of the Rings: The Animated Musical
Using information found in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien and historical events in the real-world, I considered four elements when designing my orcs: undead beings from around the world such as vampires and zombies, the impact of World War II propaganda on the portrayal of fantasy villains, the varied uses of blackface in entertainment, and modern understanding of cleanliness as a virtue.
This essay debuted on Hobbit Day, September 22! The practices of creating family trees and genealogy are found throughout Middle-earth and the real world but are especially popular in Hobbit and Anglo societies. The invention of the printing press, rising literacy, changing social norms related to heirs and inheritance, and surname practices all contributed to modern recordkeeping. Plus, enjoy what I call Finding Your Roots: Hobbit Edition as I dive into implications of Hobbit family trees appearing The Return of the King.