Architecture

The complete history of the home of Red Sox Nation.

Five days after the sinking of the Titanic, Boston's Fenway Park held its grand opening. Since that day, millions have witnessed the Red Sox play baseball. Their Royal Rooters evolved into the Fenway Faithful and are now commonly referred to as Red Sox Nation. Nine World Series have been staged upon Fenway's turf, along with three Major League All-Star Games. Aside from baseball, Fenway has been host to professional and amateur football games, ice hockey, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, hurling, boxing and wrestling matches, and even a circus. Music from concerts has reverberated across its lawn, religious services have been held, and political rallies staged - all adding patches to the quilt of Fenway's rich, illustrious history. The structure that noted author John Updike referred to many decades ago as a lyric little bandbox has become one of New England's most beloved historical landmarks.

In April 1938, Swift River Valley residents held a farewell ball to mark the demise of the quintessential New England town of Enfield and its three smaller neighbors, Greenwich, Dana, and Prescott.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts sacrificed these three towns to build the Quabbin, a massive reservoir of drinking water for residents of Boston. Three prominent residents attended the somber occasion. Marion Andrews Smith was the last surviving member of an important manufacturing family. Willard "Doc" Segur was the valley's beloved country doctor and town leader. And Edwin Henry Howe was Enfield's postmaster and general store proprietor. They helped build their beloved community for decades, only to watch grief-stricken as it was destroyed by 400 billion gallons of water.

Author and historian Elena Palladino recounts the story of these communities as seen through eyes of those who lived there until the end.

Danvers State Hospital revolutionized mental health care for more than a century, beginning in 1878. Today, it's buildings still have stories to tell.

Perched high on the top of Hathorne Hill in what was once the village of Salem, Danvers State Insane Asylum was, for more than a century, a monument to modern psychiatry and the myriad advances in mental health treatment. From the time it opened its doors in 1878 until they were shuttered for good in 1992, the asylum represented decades of reform, the physical embodiment of the heroic visions of Dorothea Dix and Thomas Story Kirkbride. It would stand abandoned until 2005, when demolition began. Along with a dedicated group of private citizens, the Danvers Historical Society fought to preserve the Kirkbride structure, an effort that would result in the reuse of the administration building and two additional wings. Danvers has earned a unique place in history; the shell of the original Kirkbride building still stands overlooking the town. Though it has been changed drastically, the asylum's story continues as do efforts to memorialize it.

Since Burlington was first settled over two centuries ago it has seen the establishment of a rich historic and architectural legacy, much of which has been lost.

The Strong and State Theaters, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Converse School, Cathedral High School, and a neighborhood lost to urban renewal are just of few of the landmarks that still live within the memories of many who grew up in the Burlington area.  The industrial waterfront, the clubhouses of the Lake Champlain Yacht Club, and the Overlake Estate are now a distant memory.

Local historian Robert Blanchard reveals the stories of how these and over sixty other lost treasures came to be built, their roles in the city’s life, and how they met their end.  

On April 30, 1962, voters in the port city of New London, Connecticut, approved by a large margin a bulldozer approach to urban renewal in an area along Main Street stretching from downtown State Street to Hodges Square by Interstate 95, roughly one mile to the north. The plan required the relocation of more than two thousand people and the demolition of nearly five hundred structures, some dating back to the 1750s. Among the losses were the Neptune Building, the Victory Theater along the Parade, sea captains’ homes on and off Main Street, settlement houses, family-run businesses, the colonial homes of slave traders and the newer homes of freed slaves. New London native and old house enthusiast Bill Morse shares the images and stories from these events that changed a community forever.

The history of Cape Cod including the creation of the iconic New England landmark, The Cape Cod Canal.

The cradle of New England's shipping doubled as its casket, earning the sailing route around Cape Cod the nickname of graveyard of the Atlantic. J. North Conway plunges into the character of Cape Cod, from its discovery to its chowder, and of the man who managed to cut a path through it.

From 1837 to 1900 the tiny borough of Stonington, Connecticut was a major transportation hub on the route between New York and Boston. Steamboats leaving Manhattan followed Long Island Sound to Stonington Harbor where passengers boarded trains for the rest of the journey to Providence or Boston.

Stonington's Steamboat Hotel, built in 1838 near the piers and railroad yard, was home to saloons, restaurants, a pool hall, a cigar shop, a tailor and a barber shop. Merchants, hotel keepers and saloon workers passed through the building, each with their own unique story. Many of them were immigrants or first-generation Americans, and they are a window onto a late 19th-century class of merchants and service workers.

Join local author Stuart Vyse as he reveals a lively portrait of remarkable harmony in a small village that was far more diverse than it is today.

During his career as an actor, William Gillette portrayed world-renowned character Sherlock Holmes in more than 1,300 performances.

His career as a playwright and actor afforded him the opportunity to purchase a 184-acre estate, where he also built a twenty-four-room medieval-style castle. Overlooking the Connecticut River, Gillette's castle was complete with spy mirrors, sliding furniture, hidden rooms and a three-mile quarter-scale railroad. Since becoming a state park in 1943, it has evolved into one of Connecticut's most popular tourist attractions. Writer and award-winning journalist Erik Ofgang examines the history of an iconic structure and Gillette's life and role in the evolution of Sherlock Holmes.

Although humble in their function, these carefully crafted barns have shaped the landscape of Maine for centuries.

Built long before the days of plastic and plywood, the barns have survived for generations, each with a story to tell. In Bridgton, one barn offered comfort to a 16 year-old boy when his father was injured; another New Gloucester barn was so important to one family that its likeness was engraved on their headstones. Some owners said they would rather see their homes burn than their barns, and others have dedicated their lives and countless funds to restoring and preserving these buildings. From modest English to grand Victorian, Don Perkins examines the structures, origins, and evolution of Maine’s barns, demonstrating the vital and precious role they play in people’s lives.

Woods Hole is known for its charming waterfront and the internationally famous Oceanographic Institution. However, the rich history of this seaside village goes back much further. Author Elizabeth Sheehy chronicles the history of the town through the lives of Walter Nickerson and Helena Nugent, an unlikely pair from different worlds, who built a house in this unique community more than a hundred years ago.

 At a transformative time in our nation’s history, family members spread out across New England, looking for opportunity, but Woods Hole always drew them back. The house on Eel Pond survived the 1938 New England Hurricane, and served as a boarding house for many years. Its history is tied to the Nobska Lighthouse, the Falmouth Road Race, and the economic resilience that exemplifies Woods Hole, past, present and future. 

New Hampshire’s seacoast may be just 18 miles long, but what it lacks in length, it makes up for with centuries of fascinating maritime history. Portsmouth developed along the banks of the Piscataqua River to become the state’s colonial capital and a center of trade and shipbuilding. Portsmouth Harbor’s 1771 lighthouse was the first lighthouse established in the American colonies north of Boston. A few miles offshore, Native Americans were fishing and hunting at the archipelago known as the Isles of Shoals for centuries before the islands were developed by European fishermen and settlers in the 1600s, and a lighthouse was established at the southernmost island in 1821. Inland, three wooden lighthouses were built on Lake Sunapee in the late 1800s to guide steamships full of vacationers to their destinations around the lake. All of these locations have stories to tell of dedicated keepers and their families, shipwrecks, rescues, and much more.

Discover the history of Rangeley through historic photographs and how the town continues to draw thousands of visitors annually.

Rangeley, Maine, was settled in 1817 when Luther Hoar brought his family from Madrid to a log cabin he had built on the shore of Rangeley Lake. Several others families soon arrived, cleared land, and began farming. It was a small farming community only until the 1850s though. Lumber barons had arrived in the late 1840s, built dams, and started logging the vast timberlands. Soon after, fishermen from Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Washington arrived to fish the multitude of lakes, ponds, and streams. By 1900, Rangeley was a bustling town with several hotels and two railroad lines. The big hotel era ended after World War II, and secondary residences began to dominate the scene.

Gary Priest has been recording the history of the Rangeley region for over 25 years. He has served on the board of directors of the Rangeley Lakes Region Historical Society (RLRHS) since 1999 and is currently its treasurer. This is his fifth book on Rangeley's history. His other works include History of Rangeley Hotels & Camps, Mingo Springs Hotel: The Early Days, The Gilded Age of Rangeley Maine, and Rangeley through Time.

Author James Claflin combines an extensively researched text with this exquisite collection of many previously unpublished images to tell the story of a state dependent upon its coastal commerce.

Lighthouses and Life Saving along the Massachusetts Coast is a unique tribute to the men and women who protected mariners from shipping disasters. With a variety of vintage images from private as well as museum collections,this rare glimpse into the lives of the dedicated workers who protected thousands of vessels plying the dangerous waters of Massachusetts Bay and Nantucket Sound is a visual journey to an earlier era in our nation's history. From Cape Ann to New Bedford, residents of Massachusetts have relied heavily on the sea for employment, trade, and nourishment. The task of lighting and protecting the coasts was taken on by the U. S. Lighthouse Establishment and the U. S. Life-Saving Service. Within these pages, see the Cape Ann lighthouse keeper proudly posed in his uniform, the Cape Cod life savers launching their surf-boat through the breakers toward the shipwreck, and the Boston Bay lighthouse keeper's family returning by skiff from their brief excursion to town.

Built in 1747 in the center of Concord, the Wright Tavern has witnessed the evolution of America for over 200 years. The Minutemen met here the morning of April 19, 1775, and a few hours later, the British Redcoats searched for munitions and supplies of the rebels before being defeated in the Battle of Concord.  The building has been used as a tavern, inn, bakery, bookseller, and office as it witnessed the transformation of the town from a frontier agricultural community to a bustling commercial center and commuter hub. Closed to the public for most of the last forty years, The Wright Tavern Legacy Trust was established in 2021 to oversee the restoration and renovation of the building. From modest beginnings under Amos Wright to the Battle of Concord, author Tom Wilson uncovers the fascinating history of this National Historic Landmark. All royalties from the sale of this book will go to the Wright Tavern Legacy Trust. 

Downtown Providence, Rhode Island, became an important business center in New England beginning in 1866 due to an increase in immigration, urbanization, municipal planning, public and private investments, and new technologies. The business buildings of the past, some of them gone, still coexist with the modern structures of today in the 21st century.

Louis Azar II chronicles the history of the commercial downtown with historic postcards and present-day photographs from his collection along with images from the Providence Public Library and research from the Rhode Island Historical Society.

Through captivating images and narrative, read why the historic St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church has endured for 150 years as a source of service and faith-based community in the small town of Marion, Massachusetts.

A window into the past of Historic Eastern Cemetery,  illuminating centuries of Portland's history through the stories of those laid to rest.

Eastern Cemetery holds more than 350 years of Portland's rich history. From bank robbers and murdering mutineers to Quakers and war heroes, the lives of those interred offer a window into the past. Within the sacred burial ground rest settlers who struggled with the natives over resources, citizens who had to choose their allegiance to the king or independence and abolitionists fighting for the end of slavery. Author and cemetery guide Ron Romano tells the fascinating tale of this historic landscape, illuminating centuries of Portland's history through the stories of those laid to rest.

In 1822, the White Church, designed by Isaac Damon, was constructed to house the Congregationalist worshippers in Blandford.

Blandford, Massachusetts, was initially referred to as Glasgow Lands due to the European colonists of Scots descent who arrived in 1735. These Scots founded a Presbyterian church; indeed, the reason for their remove from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, was that Hopkinton sought to adopt a Congregational form of worship. The White Church remained active long into the 20th century before its physical decline and eventual purchase by the Blandford Historical Society in 2006. While the congregants have another church nearby to call home, the White Church, listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 and affixed as part of the town seal, has long been cemented in the minds of residents of the area, regardless of religious affiliation.

Working in conjunction with the Blandford Historical Society, historian Nicholas J. Aieta of Westfield State University has pulled images from the Library of Congress and the society's archives. The writings of Blandford residents, past and present, have helped develop the story of the church's birth, physical decline, and eventual resurrection as a community center.

A father’s grief for his son. A daughter’s grief for her father. And a love story that crossed continents and an ocean, coming to rest in a tiny New Hampshire town. This small state has more than enough heart, sending men and women to fight for freedom around the world.

New Hampshire military personnel have distinguished themselves in every war from the French and Indian War to the dusty mountains of Afghanistan. The Granite State continues to honor their sacrifices, memorializing their stories in statues, bridges, buildings and highways.

Join Kathleen and Sheila Bailey as they recount the stories behind the stones.

The rugged beauty of the Cape's landscape has been captured in writing since the days of Henry David Thoreau. Yet few mention the area's architecture, aside from references to the "Cape Cod houses," the basic cottages that the earliest settlers built. From Provincetown at the northern tip to the village of Woods Hole at the opposite end, the residential architecture of Cape Cod encompasses an extensive range of styles. Scattered among the charming Capes are stately Federals and Greek Revivals built for sea captains, detailed Carpenter Gothic cottages constructed by Methodist camp-goers and sprawling Victorian and Shingle-style summer mansions built during the Gilded Age. Journey with Cape Cod native Jaci Conry as she reveals the architectural influences of different eras on this timeless peninsula.

A beautiful vacation destination today, the Berkshires has been the chosen enclave for many influential and artistic notables since the 18th century.

Those hustling to find lodging in the Berkshires today may not know they are repeating a two-hundred fifty- year-old ritual. In the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries, the Berkshires played host to some of the most fascinating characters in American literature, politics, business, and the arts. They came with the warm breezes and left when they felt the first cold snap in the autumnal air. The Berkshires: Coach Inns to Cottages is a photographic record of Berkshire dwelling places from the rough simplicity of stagecoach inns to the glittering luxury of Gilded Age cottages. Come inside the Berkshire coach inns where ""one might be subjected to disagreeable exposures,"" as Timothy Dwight noted in 1823. Come inside the Berkshire cottages where the rich and powerful were entertained according to the precepts of fashionable society. Use this volume as a guide to the many structures that have been preserved.