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By Carla CharterThis year, the Royalston Historical Society Candlelight Living History Cemetery Tours will be held in a new location, Riverside Cemetery in South Royalston, rather than its usual location of Royalston Center Cemetery.“The change was...

By GREG VINE

PHILLIPSTON – The Community Preservation Committee has taken the first steps in determining how best to spend the nearly $1.5 million which the town has in Community Preservation Act funds.To that end, the committee held an informational meeting on...

By CARLA CHARTER

ATHOL — For Michael Adams, being involved with the Athol Historical Society is something of a family tradition.As a child, he would spend time in the society’s museum with his twin brother Richard and great-grand mother, Libby Cooke. Adams’ Great...

By Carla CharterA mystery of a sudden population spike in Wendell from 1847 to 1850 has led to the rediscovery of railroad laborer camps housing a majority of Irish immigrant workers during the construction of the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad in...

By MAX BOWEN

PHILLIPSTON — Have an idea for affordable housing, historic preservation, open space or recreation? If so, the town’s Community Preservation Committee wants to hear it.The CPC is hosting a public meeting on Thursday, Oct. 12, at 7 p.m. at Town Hall,...

By Carla CharterIn the 1800s, Baldwinville was a thriving village. There were factories producing furniture, especially chairs, as well as pails, tubs, boxes, paper, and asbestos, according to Brian Tanguay, president of the Narragansett Historical...

By DOMENIC POLI

GREENFIELD — A Virginia man has made it his mission to preserve in perpetuity a modest monument dedicated in his town to Lt. Col. Russell Hastings, a Greenfield native who was severely wounded in 1864 during the Third Battle of Winchester in the...

By Carla CharterSometimes when a column is done, it is done. Other times when a column is done, it instead evolves. Such as it is with my Sept. 11, 2023 column entitled “A Historical Rabbit Hole of Paint,” which told the story of the Revolutionary...

By GREG VINE

ROYALSTON – A new development has arisen regarding the future of Fire Station #1, located next to the Congregational Church on the Town Common, as it turns out the site doesn’t have one owner—it has three.At Tuesday’s Selectboard meeting, discussion...

By CARLA CHARTER

PETERSHAM—A 1700s Bible belonging to Rev. Daniel Grosvenor and signed by him in 1782 will be on display in Petersham this weekend as part of the bicentennial finale of the Orthodox Congregational Church.The Bible was donated to the Petersham...

By Carla CharterJames F. Gilman was an itinerant artist who traveled all over New England, including the Athol, Orange, New Salem, Gardner and Barre area as well as the lost towns of the Quabbin—Dana, Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott. Gilman’s...

By DOMENIC POLI

ORANGE – The Massachusetts Peace Statue in the center of Memorial Park is getting some work done, thanks to a matching state grant paying for its professional conservation.Also known by the words engraved on its bronze plaque, “It Shall Not Be Again”...

Twenty years ago, Barbara Hanno began photographing gravestones in Petersham for the Cemetery Commission files, a project that is ongoing today.Hanno said she began the project as ”I became charmed by the light reflections on old stones. One minute...

Where can a post about a block of paint lead to? Well, when you are a historian, any little piece of information can open a whole new window to the past. On Aug. 28, the Petersham Historical Society posted the following on its Facebook page. “We have...

By Carla CharterJohn Erving, in approximately 1752 -1753, bought 16,000 acres of land from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, then Massachusetts Bay Colony. This land included all of what is now Erving, half of Wendell, and parts of Orange and New...

By GREG VINE

ROYALSTON – As the town decides what is to be done with the building known as Fire Station #1, some potential complications have arisen.At the Aug. 15 meeting of the Selectboard, Building Committee Chair Jim Barclay presented several options, but...

By Carla CharterA roundhouse once used by the Rabbit Run Railroad is currently being renovated off of South Athol Road. The route of the Rabbit Run Railroad ran through Athol, Petersham and New Salem, as well as the lost Quabbin towns of Dana,...

By GREG VINE

ROYALSTON – The future of what is known to residents as Fire Station #1 has become a regular topic at recent Selectboard and Building Committee meetings.The relatively small structure is located next to the First Congregational Church at 15 The...

By Carla CharterIn the 1850s, Wendell Common was a bustling area, according to Pamela Richardson of the Wendell Historical Society Board of Directors.“Clearly the center was the hub of town. It was a busy place with lots going on. Today it’s quite...

By Carla CharterHundreds of years before European settlers came to the Athol area, the land had already been settled by Indigenous peoples from the Nipmuc Nation. The Nipmuc Memorial Committee of Athol will be honoring those Indigenous peoples who...