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Great Stone Dam across the Merrimack River at Lawrence Massachusetts from the ENEL website . The crestgate system installed by ENEL is visible enough for you to see what a so-called “bladder” dam looks like. Another view of the Great Stone Dam, May 2010 courtesy of Corey Sciuto. This view allows for a fuller…
Read More »Young Abigail Adams (1766) Portrait by Benjamin Blythe We are reminded that on this day March 31, 1776, Abigail Adams wrote to her husband John Adams – future President of the United States – as he and other members of the Continental Congress were gathered as the governing body of the Thirteen Colonies.…
Read More »Our North Tewkbury neighborhood is abuzz yet again with talk of happenings along the River Road Tewksbury/Andover corridor. The road itself is in the final stages of reconstruction and reconfiguration – just awaiting some utility pole removal. The enormous Avalon project on the former site of the Poor Clares Monastery…
Read More »In one of the most memorable images from John F. Kennedy’s inauguration, poet Robert Frost at the age of 86, was unable to read a poem written for the occasion, “For John F. Kennedy, His Inauguration” because of glare. Instead, he recited “The Gift Outright” from memory. On this…
Read More »Sources are telling the Boston Globe and the Eagle-Tribune that State Senator Steven Baddour of Methuen is resigning from his seat. From the Globe: Steven A. Baddour is expected to announce his resignation from the Massachusetts State Senate Monday, ending a decade-long run representing the First Essex District to take…
Read More »Today MassMoments reminds us that on this day March 23, 1948, Jack Kerouac noted in his diary that although it was a struggle, once he had written the first 2500 words of a 360,000 word project, he was on his way to completing his first novel “The Town and the…
Read More »These serene words of spring are by Robert Browning from his “Pippa Passes” ~ The Year’s at the Spring The year’s at the spring, And day’s at the morn; Morning’s at seven; The hill-side’s dew-pearled; The lark’s on the wing; The snail’s on the thorn; God’s in his Heaven— All’s…
Read More »Rumors have been running about the Merrimack Valley that former Mayor of Methuen Bill Manzi was gearing up to run for the Register of Deeds seat in northern Essex County. The seat is currently held by first termer Robert Kelly of Andover. Kelly has been targeted by some – particularly FOX…
Read More »Mort de César, Vincenzo Camuccini, 1798 Caesar: Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue shriller than all the music Cry “Caesar!” Speak, Caesar is turn’d to hear. Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March. Caesar: What man is that? Brutus: A soothsayer bids you…
Read More »MassMoments reminds us that today’s state of Maine began as a separate colony in the 1620s but from the 1650s until 1820, it was part of Massachusetts. The selling of public land in Maine for debt relief in the 1790s saw the landscape and demographics change. As thousands of families from…
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