Massachusetts

The Berkshires are famous for their stunning beauty and the almost eerie way in which they dominate the western sector of Massachusetts. They tower over the towns in their valleys-Williamstown, Pittsfield, North Adams, Stockbridge, and Lenox among them-and affect life there in many ways. The landscape was of tremendous appeal to photographer Bill Tague, who lived on a flank of Mount Greylock. Tague possessed a unique talent: he was equally capable of creating haunting landscape images as he was of drawing out the diverse personalities of his human subjects. Between January, 1952, and his death in November, 1990, Tague produced "Eagle Eye," a weekly page of photographs, for The Berkshire Eagle. From images of Mount Greylock through the seasons to candid portrayals of faces at Tanglewood, at Lake Pontoosuc, and at the Clark Art Institute, to telling shots of Norman Rockwell and Anna Mary "Grandma" Moses, Tague's eye was so astute that his life's work constitutes a discerning mirror held up to his time and place on earth.

One of the largest development projects in nineteenth-century America, Boston's Back Bay was essentially a tidal basin until the construction of the Mill Dam (present-day Beacon Street) just after the War of 1812. By 1837, the area bounded by Charles, Boylston, Beacon, and Arlington Streets was filled in and laid out as the Public Garden, later the site of Boston's famous swanboats. In the late 1850s, the massive infill of the Back Bay commenced, and the earth collected from the hills of Needham was deposited in the city's "west end" for nearly four decades. As the new land began to reach Muddy River, the streets assumed a grid-like plan. The grand avenues eventually comprised Victorian Boston's premier neighborhood, and became home to the most impressive religious, educational, and residential architecture in New England.

This book about Westford describes the effect of the mills‚' demise in the 1950s, and chronicles the town‚s recent development into a very appealing bedroom community for workers in Boston.

From its incorporation in 1729 through the late nineteenth century, Westford, Massachusetts, was a farming community sparsely populated by families of English ancestry. But in the first years of the twentieth century, a significant change occurred in Westford when mills that had opened in the town‚'s Forge Village and Graniteville sections began to recruit workers from Russia, Poland, England, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and Canada. Westford depicts what the arrival of the mills and the mill workers meant to the town and its evolution in the twentieth century.

The Fireward Society of Dorchester and Milton was founded in 1793 to protect citizens on both sides of the Neponset River. In 1830, both towns recognized Fountain Engine No. 1 as their main source of fire protection in Milton Village and Lower Mills. Later the Hydrant Engine Company was formed in East Milton, reflecting the population growth in this area. When Milton officials recognized that their fire department could not keep up with the growing town, a chemical engine was purchased and installed in a new firehouse built in the center of Milton in 1881. Soon the town acquired a steam engine and installed it in an even larger station. Thus began the gradual development of a professional, full-time fire department in Milton.

As it ravaged the world, the influenza epidemic of 1918 devastated Boston's congested North End and left hundreds of orphans in its wake. Touched by this crisis, a Roman Catholic priest and a group of Italian Americans founded the first home for Italian children in Massachusetts. Franciscan Sisters devoted 24 hours a day to providing the children with a safe, loving, and spiritual environment. In addition, the home provided educational support for its residents. Over time, the changing needs of children mandated that the agency change the nature of its services from custodial care to treatment. In 1974, in response to the changing political and social climate, the agency became the Italian Home for Children. Today, it is a nonprofit, nonsectarian residential treatment facility with a capacity for 61 children of all races, nationalities, and religions. The images in The Italian Home for Children document milestones in the organization's history: the devastating influenza epidemic, the Missionary Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, Christmas plays, a visit from Joe DiMaggio, trips to Canobie Lake Park in the summer, the Tony Martin benefit performance at Boston Garden, and the home as it is today--a refuge for children in the most severe crises.

Industrial expansion in New England gave impetus to large-scale Swedish immigration by the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Swedish American communities were established in many areas, including Worcester County in Massachusetts and adjacent northern Windham County in Connecticut. Swedes of Greater Worcester Revisited, a companion to Swedes of Greater Worcester (2002), expands upon the story of the region's Swedish American population. Vintage images capture the immigration experience, family and organizational life, and religious aspects of the community.

Eastham, known as the land of the first light, is an ever-changing place. Although Europeans began visiting these shores early in the 1600s, the area's first inhabitants lived here over seven thousand years ago. In 1620, Mayflower passengers and crew had their first encounter with the Nawsett Indians over the theft of corn. From the mid-1800s to the 1960s, sails were replaced by engines. The discovery of oil ended the whaling industry for Eastham captains, and wide-scale farming and tourism became the backbone of Eastham's economy. Eastham chronicles the challenges, successes, and personal strengths of the town of Eastham as it evolved with time.

Paul St. Germain has been a Rockport resident for 20 years and has developed a revealing record of the men, the quarries, the tools, and the final uses of Cape Ann granite around the nation.

The granite industry began on Cape Ann with the first sale of a piece of Rockport granite, for use as a millstone, to a farmer in Newburyport in 1800. The industry would grow to include more than 60 quarries and operations around the cape, becoming the second-largest economic force in the area behind fishing. Hundreds were employed as quarrymen, stonecutters, paving cutters, and finishers. Cape Ann was particularly well fitted for the pursuit of granite as its rocky hills and shores afforded a comparatively inexhaustible source of supply, and its splendid shipping facilities gave the advantage of quick and economical transportation to market by sea and land. The industry eventually declined, and by 1930, most quarries had gone out of business because of labor strikes and low demand. Today, most of these quarries are filled with rainwater and springwater, and many are used as reservoirs for the surrounding communities.

Lincoln was founded in 1754, when colonists in Concord and parts of Lexington and Weston joined together to form a new town. Judge Chambers Russell, Concord's representative to the General Court, christened the town Lincoln after his beloved family home of Lincolnshire, England. Shown in this pictorial of more than two hundred never-before-published photographs culled from historic archives and family collections, Lincoln evolves from its early days as a thriving agricultural community, through gentrification into country estates owned by wealthy Bostonians, to its present status as a pioneer in open-space preservation and conservation. Lincoln is a treasure trove for longtime residents and visitors alike who want to experience a New England town restore, recycle, and reinvent itself.

Cape Cod was known as a ship's graveyard but the Cape Cod Canal, proposed in 1776 and built in 1914 became a vital shipping link and a marvel of engineering.

For centuries, the shoals and high winds around Cape Cod turned its waters into a ships' graveyard. In 1623, Miles Standish proposed a shorter, safer passage by building a canal linking Cape Cod Bay with Buzzards Bay, and in 1776, George Washington ordered the first of many surveys. All attempts failed until 1914, when the Cape Cod Canal opened as a private toll canal. The widest sea-level canal in the world, the Cape Cod Canal continues to be an engineering marvel, a vital shipping link, and a summer destination. These rare images from the Nina Heald Webber Collection at Historic New England survey the canal's development from unsuccessful building efforts in the 1800s, through its 1909-1914 construction, and subsequent improvements in the 1930s.

The Marion Art Center was founded in 1957 by a group of amateur actors and members of St. Gabriel's Episcopal Church in Marion. The minister, John Albert, was very interested in the theater, and he organized and directed several plays put on by young members of his church who called themselves the Hornblowers. The group performed multiple plays as fundraisers for the church before they began renting the Universalist church in Marion in 1957. Today the art center owns the church building and continues, among other things, to produce plays and sponsor art exhibits in its Cecil Clark Davis Gallery. Marion Art Center documents the rich history of the center that became an active and vital part of the community.

Carlisle's earliest settlers lived in the northernmost part of Concord c. 1650. This community, firmly rooted in agricultural soil, became a town in 1805. In 1900, the population was four hundred eighty, comprised mostly of farm families. By 1960, only five large farms remained, and the population had soared to fifteen hundred. Although Carlisle's agricultural days are over, three working farms, many historic barns scattered through town, and the area's only cranberry bog echo its rural past. With its town meeting government, town common, steepled churches, and vast conservation lands, Carlisle reflects the best of New England small-town life.

The history of the Springfield Fire Department dates back to 1792 when the first hand pumper, Lion, was purchased. On January 24, 1794, a fire club with 50 members, all prominent citizens of the city, was organized. Fire districts were established in 1830 by an act passed by the Massachusetts legislature. By 1833, Springfield officially organized a fire department, and like the fire club, the new volunteer department consisted of prominent members of the community. The fire department changed from volunteer to paid in 1872. The volunteers then formed the Springfield Veteran Fireman's Association. After 1872, the department made great strides, especially in the area of apparatus. In 1906, Springfield entered the motorized age with the introduction of a Knox squad truck, and by 1916, Springfield became the first fullymotorized fire department in the United States.

Originally part of Springfield's outward commons, Hampden was called Wilbraham and then South Wilbraham until it was incorporated as Hampden in 1878. Its main street parallels the peaceful Scantic River, surrounded by mountains that lend a sense of mystery to this lovely New England village. By harnessing the Scantic's energy, this farming community became a booming mill town in the 1800s. When plans to build a railroad for transporting products from mills and quarries failed, industry collapsed. The town reverted back to farming and later became a bedroom community.

Hampden brings readers back to the days when world-renowned Thornton W. Burgess wrote his Peter Rabbit books beside Laughing Brook and when Maude Tait, pioneer aviatrix whose speed record beat Amelia Earhart's, taught school in Hampden. The book tells the exciting stories of the people and places that formed the town, such as the early workers, businessmen, preachers, and teachers. Included in Hampden are early photographs of parades and plays, picnics and personalities, and the way of life before the advent of modern transportation, communication, and manner of business.

Referred to as ""one of the prettiest and pleasantest places of all New England towns,"" Georgetown grew rapidly, and by the mid-nineteenth century the population had risen dramatically.

This town, ""a pleasant and flourishing place,"" saw the Boston & Maine Railroad laid out in 1854, with depots at Pentucket Square and at Baldpate, and two street railways in 1896-the Haverhill, Georgetown & Danvers Line and the Georgetown, Rowley & Ipswich Line, both of which greatly facilitated the ease of transportation. Join the author in Georgetown as he takes you on a tour through the town's early years. Visit the schools and churches, the Old Home Week in 1909, the Georgetown Peabody Library, and the Baldpate Inn and Hospital. Experience the natural features, including Pentucket and Rock Ponds, and Bald Pate Hill, the highest elevation in Essex County. See the local tanneries during the pre-Civil War years, which produced enough leather for 32,300 pairs of boots and over 300,000 pairs of shoes.