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Today MassMoments reminds us that on May 27, 1863 the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry – gathered on the Boston Common then paraded in review by the State House as they began their way South. This first black regiment from the North had orders to to proceed to Beaufort, South Carolina…
Read More »Many calendars already have a big circle drawn around an important time on the Fall Calendar. This time is set aside for what is well-known as the “Big E” – officially known as the Eastern States Exposition. The Big E is billed far and wide as “New England’s State Fair.”…
Read More »Early settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were both inhospitable and intolerant of those who didn’t share their religious beliefs. These Puritans were particularly hostile to the “devilish” Roman Catholic Frenchmen of Quebec and especially to the Jesuit missionary priests they brought with them. Jesuit conversions of the natives along…
Read More »Above: Entrance to St. Mary Cemetery on River Road in North Tewksbury Yesterday – starting earlier than usual this year, Bill and I made our Memorial Day visit to some family graves at three local cemeteries – St. Patrick and the Edson cemeteries in Lowell and St. Mary Cemetery in…
Read More »Thanks to Lowell Celebrates Kerouac! on Facebook and the blog Reader’s Almanac of the Library of America for this film clip and commentary about Bob Dylan, Jack Kerouac, and Allen Ginsberg. The footage is from November 1975 in Edson Cemetery in Lowell, when Bob Dylan was in the city with…
Read More »I, too, wondered at the dearth of commentary about Speaker Boehner’s commencement speech given at Catholic University and especially the letter written by a group of Catholic academics, including some leading members of the Catholic University faculty. I find Washington Post columist E. J. Dionne’s recent column interesting as he…
Read More »“THE PORCH is to eastern Massachusetts what Steel Magnolias is to northwest Louisiana. A deceptively tender play that is also very funny. It’s an inviting place to set a while and will leave you feeling right neighborly.” Broadway World Tickets are moving fast for the four performances of Jack Neary’s…
Read More »I recently asked Justin Kwan, the founder of the new Lowell-based website culturehive.com to send a post introducing himself and his website: When I moved to the Lowell area four years ago, I was first introduced to the art scene from a post about the Urban Village Art Series that…
Read More »MassMoments reminds us that on this day May 22, 1856, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was viciously attacked on the floor of the United States – beaten with a cane by Preston Brooks, a Congressman from South Carolina. The issue – the language used by Sumner in a passionate anti-slavery…
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