Growing up, history, to me, meant names I recognized through municipal landmarks, faces I had met on currency, places I had seen on maps. All of this arrived through a weekday force-feeding called school – where I was surrounded by my 25 or so peers, all of whom were equally uninterested in the tattered pages of our hardcover textbooks. That changed in sixth grade. I created a family tree. Mrs. Oldaker assigned the homework. One boy in my class discovered a cousinship with Mrs. Oldaker through a Mayflower Pilgrim. Others found, or more likely became aware of, equally interesting connections. In my tree, I learned about ancestors named McNamara, Lannon, Hare, and even Machado, all of which the world, and even I, had seemed to have forgotten. In the following years, I studied their photographs and learned their stories. To better understand them, and their lives, I studied their eras, their neighborhoods, the personalities that fascinated them, the gripes that irritated them. Most lived in New England. Forgotten New England is history that recreates the world of our ancestors, as they lived it, with all the dirt, sweat, worries, fears, dreams, and fascinations that consumed them.
About the author
I’m Ryan W. Owen, creator of http://www.forgottennewengland.com. My main focus is New England history from the 1850′s forward, but I’ve also spent time researching Irish immigration to the Canadas (Upper and Lower), many eras of Irish history (with a particular focus on the Plantation of Ulster), and the fascinating story of the Portuguese people, including those in Madeira and the Azores. In addition to Forgotten New England, I write a local history column, Forgotten Billerica, that appears twice monthly in The Billerica Minuteman. I’m also a member, and sit on the board, of the Lowell Historical Society.
If you would like to contact me, please post a comment to the blog, or write to me at forgottennewengland at gmail dot com.
January 9th, 2012 at 5:29 am
Hey Ryan, thanks for following RJK. Although I only spent a few days in New England (so far, plan to come back asap), your blog will be interesting to read, I’m sure and looks like a well-reserached and written one -things I admire a lot, so keep up the good work. Take care! J
January 21st, 2012 at 7:47 am
Hello Ryan, Just discovered your blog today. I don’t live in Billerica but I’ve seen a totem pole (which I recall is near a field or ball park) in Billerica and have wondered about the “why” that pole is there! Maybe you have the answer? Enjoyed reading your blog entry and will watch for more.
January 21st, 2012 at 10:57 am
Hi Paula – I actually don’t know the story behind that totem pole, but I think that would be a great topic for one of my future posts/columns. Thanks for stopping by – and for the comment!
February 7th, 2012 at 8:47 am
Hello Ryan, Thanks for following Streets of Salem. Your blog looks like it’s right up my alley, and I will return often! Love your theme too.
Donna
March 19th, 2012 at 6:47 am
Ryan – do you mind that I may on occasion provide a link to your articles on a Facebook group called Growing Up in Chelmsford? People in that group are very nostalgic for most everything you write about. You may even have gained some new subscribers since I posted a link to your Bon Marche article a week ago, which people loved. I just wanted to make sure I’m complying with your copyright notice.
March 19th, 2012 at 7:17 am
Hi Karen – I always appreciate links. Thanks for the referral last week. I found out that there’s lots of nostalgia for the Bon Marche, and I’m guessing that there’s some out there for the Green Ridge Turkey Farm too. I look forward to checking out your Facebook group. Growing up in the 70′s and 80′s, one of my favorite memories of Chelmsford is, of course, Child World.
March 19th, 2012 at 9:01 am
OMG, Child World. I forgot about that store! You’ve got a great memory for this stuff. And yes, join the group. Your contribution would be invaluable.
June 21st, 2012 at 11:16 pm
Remember Fayva and Hit or Miss? Those were the days!!
March 22nd, 2012 at 7:49 pm
Hi Ryan,
Great piece on Green Ridge. Here’s one I can find nothing at all about. Not far from Green Rodge, where stands the Phesant Lane mall now, back in the early 1960′s someone had a miniature (similar in size to a “park” train) live steam railroad that you could ride. The place was called “Abdallah Amusement Park”. I rode it with my father a number of times as a kid. As I remember, the track went a considerable distance down to near the (was B&M) Pan Am Railways tracks.
Oh, Karen – My wife’s and my favourite part of traveling through Chelmsford; Lunch at Skip’s!
March 22nd, 2012 at 9:20 pm
Hi Will, Thanks. I’m going to look into that. I remember the Drive-In being close to where the mall now stands, and I remember the land being mostly clear, probably abandoned farmland. I’ll see what I can find on the amusement park. I’ve been tempted to look into some of the amusement parks of the past. Who can forget Skips? That was a great place!
March 23rd, 2012 at 8:00 am
Thanks Ryan, yes, it was behind the Drive-In, just barely in New Hampshire. I think they had grand plans to expand beyond just the train ride. I think it only lasted about three years or so. To a train-crazy kid though, it was close to heaven!
Ahhh, for a pizza-burger!
March 23rd, 2012 at 8:45 am
Someone just brought up Skip’s in our “Growing up in Chelmsford” Facebook Group. It was a great place, and popular with truckers because it had a large enough parking lot, and good cheap food too! It really wasn’t all that long ago that it was closed and then demolished. People in town really miss it still.
March 29th, 2012 at 9:41 pm
I was originally introduced to Skip’s back in the 1970′s by a friend in Sudbury who, at the time drove a truck for an explosives company (yeah, “yikes!”). I had forgotten about it for years until in the very late ’80′s when from time to time I’d have to pass through Chelmsford on my way to New Hampshire or Maine. Then I introduced my wife to Skip’s. One strong memory I have was when I got laid off fron Digital Equipment Corp. back in ’93. On my final day, I cleaned out my office, loaded my stuff in my car and decided that even though Chelmsford was in the opposite direction from home, one of Donna’s martinis and a Pizza Burger for lunch would sure make the situation a lot less painful. Okay, so it was two martinis and also a load of the free crackers and cheese they kept in the lounge…
March 30th, 2012 at 5:27 am
Getting laid off from Digital, I hear you Will. I was laid off from Wang in 1991. Hopefully you were able to find something not long afterward. Those were harrowing days, but merely a harbinger of what we’re facing today.
May 3rd, 2012 at 11:24 am
Hi Ryan,
Ive been searching from sometime now for specific photos of lowell and have no idea how I have been missing this website. I was wondering, one photo i am struggling to get my hands on is a pic of the King of the Speare house that used to be on the Pawtucket Blvd. Have you seen this kicking around at all?
May 3rd, 2012 at 9:43 pm
Hi Ian – thanks for the comment. I can see the Speare House in my mind’s eye, but haven’t come across a photograph. I’ve been working on a post about the Pawtucket Blvd when it was a race course. I’ll watch for photographs of the Speare House as I research it.
June 16th, 2012 at 1:22 am
Great site! Really brings back lots of memories. How ’bout pizza at the Wallbrook?
June 19th, 2012 at 5:09 am
Thanks Susan. I’ll look into the Wallbrook. Thanks!
July 9th, 2012 at 7:19 pm
Greatly enjoying your posts – especially those about Lowell.
Thank you!
August 15th, 2012 at 4:01 pm
Ryan, I enjoy your blog and great New England stories. My 10th g-grandfather William French was one of the original landowners of Billerica and the family was active in Lowell politics and commerce for many years. Abram (1803-79) of Lowell was on the city council, a merchant-tailor, an abolitionist and active in the locofocos movement!
April 27th, 2013 at 9:50 pm
I have nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award.
http://genealogylady.net/2013/04/27/the-versatile-blogger-award/