The Real Ghost Story Behind Lowell Cemetery’s Witch Bonney
There’s a witch in Lowell Cemetery, ‘they’ say. As the legend goes, when the bodice of her dress slips below her waist, her ghost roams the streets of Lowell.
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1918: Spanish Influenza invades Massachusetts
You could’ve easily missed the signs that Spanish Flu was coming back for a second wave at the end of summer in 1918. In mid-August, New York City had suffered a scare when a Norwegian steamship arrived in port with many suspected cases. Even before the city’s health department confirmed any cases of Spanish Flu […]
Read MoreHarvard Brewery – A Lowell Tale of Fires, Wartime Enemy Sympathizers, and Prohibition Raids
That Harvard Brewery building stares at you, like it has a secret. Because it does. When you pull in to park at Lowell’s Target, those twelve little windows peer forward, each covered with corrugated sheet metal that’s been painted the color of pistachio ice cream. (Why?) That Harvard Brewery building has ghosts like anything that […]
Read MoreAnother First in Lowell History: The Soda Fountain
Whether you call it pop, tonic, soda, or just plain Coke, the soda fountain owes its modern form to one Gustavus D. Dows who ran a drugstore with his brother at 213 Central Street in Lowell in the mid 1850s.
Read MoreAzores Genealogy – 6 Easy Steps to Extend Your Family Tree Back to the 1600s
Maybe you’ve always known that your ancestors came from the Azores. Maybe you’ve just found out. Here are 6 Steps to Get Your Family Tree Back to the 1600s.
Read MoreLowell Catholic & The History of 530 Stevens Street
Have you ever stepped inside 530 Stevens Street? Within those walls that now house Lowell Catholic, there’s history.
Read MoreCan DNA Genealogy break through Family Tree Mysteries?
Can DNA genealogy solve the family tree mysteries of your brick wall ancestors? Can a DNA test tell you where your 19th-century second-great-grandfather was born in Ireland, or the names of his parents? Maybe.
Read MoreOld Group Photos: Someone Else’s Ancestors
Maybe you love to stare into the faces of those captured in long-ago photographs and search for a lost image of a long-dead ancestor. Maybe you just like old photos. In our family, we’ve had an old group photograph from 1924 for … well, since it was taken in 1924. The story behind the photograph […]
Read MoreLowell’s Early History, Hidden in Plain Sight.
Where would you find the site of Lowell’s first kindergarten, first day nursery, first night school, and first foray into community education? Where would find one of the city’s few buildings remaining from the 1820s? Would you go to one of the city’s downtown parking garages? Probably not, but that’s just where you’d see all […]
Read MoreHenry David Thoreau, at 200: A Genius Old Sixpence whose Influence still Resonates Today
Whether you’re looking for inspiration for fighting an unjust government, evidence for climate change, or a role model for living a more deliberate life, all those roads can lead to Henry David Thoreau, born 200 years ago on July 12. Born in Concord, Thoreau had Merrimack Valley ties, living several years in Chelmsford as a […]
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Forgotten New England 