The Isaac Royall House and Slave Quaters

 I visited the Royall House and Slave Quarters. This house is located at 15 George St in Medford Ma. It was first owned by Massachusetts governor John Winthrop. The buildings and Small park that makes up the site today was once a farm about 4 miles long.  In 1737 Colonel Isaac Royall,  was a prosperous merchant who amassed a great wealth in Antigua in the late 1700s running a great sugar plantation. Isaac Royall, his family and 27 slaves called this home. The surroundings of the house was in the most elegant fashion back in the day. It had a formal garden that featured fruit trees,  lilacs, shrubbery and a ornate summer house. Isaac owned the largest number of slaves in the area This was home to Slaves for 150 Years.

Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Royall_House

              http://www.medfordhistorical.org/medford-history/africa-to-medford/slavery-in-medford/

             

Gallows Hill Salem

                                    GALLOWS HILL, SALEM MASSACHUSETTS

 

Which site pictured above is the infamous gallows hill? The truth is historians really aren’t sure. There are many different theories and myths on where the actual site is located. Some believe that it is located at the site pictured on the left which was actually dubbed “Gallows Hill Park”. Although that location has the name, most researchers believe that the image on the right is the actual hill where the gallows was located.

The image on the right is located between Boston and Bridge Street in Salem, MA right next to Proctor Street which runs adjacent to the location. The hill is rather small and is covered by trees, rocks and located directly behind a Walgreens pharmacy. Researchers believed that this location would have been much more practical to conduct the hangings of those accused of being witches. The location of SITE 2 would have had a pond known as Bickford’s pond located directly at its base which connected to this North River. The North River traveled all throughout Salem and into modern day Danvers which was originally part of Salem Village.

One theory is that when Rebbecca Nurse was hanged at the gallows, her body was dumped at the base of the hill and next to the pond. Benjamin Nurse the son of one of the accused and condemned was noted traveling down the North River and picking his mother’s dead body up from the base of the hill and returning her back to Salem Village for burial. Researchers agree that it would make sense for the location to have been close to the river due to the simple fact that Nurse would have had a tough time dragging his mother’s lifeless body down from SITE 1 and into a boat. Nurse would then have had to continue the voyage by rowing the boat down the North River back to Salem Village. 

There are many different theories in regards to Gallows Hill. One thing I love about this topic is that it is still an unsolved mystery to some. I think it would be interesting to continue to research this topic and look for documents and artifacts left from that time period. 

Sources:

                           http://historyofmassachusetts.org/where-is-the-real-gallows-hill/

                           http://www.boudillion.com/gallowshill/gallowshill.htm

                           http://historicaldigression.com/2010/10/22/gallows-hill-lost-historic-site/

Stage Fort Park

Stage Fort Park

Gloucester was established in 1623 by fishermen from Dorchester, England called the “Dorchester Company”. They landed on Half-moon beach and settled the area where Stage Fort park remains. The settlement was one of the first in The Mass Bay Colony.

Tablet Rock was used by Native American prophets as an altar to invoke the Great Spirit. It stands here today with a plague that marks the date of the founding.

Stage Fort Park is also home to some of Mass Bay Colony’s oldest defenses. The Fort was operational during King Philip’s War, King George’s war, and The American Revolutionary war. Cannons were set up in the hills to protect Gloucester’s fishing fleet from invading pirates and enemy warships during the war of 1812. The cannons remain to this day for visitors to observe.

The Liberty Bell

"Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants thereof" (Lev. 25:10). - a timeless message that is displayed on the Liberty Bell

The Liberty Bell, which is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an American bell of great historic significance. The Liberty Bell is perhaps one of the most prominent symbols associated with the American Revolution and the American Revolutionary War. It is one of the most familiar symbols of independence, nationhood and freedom within the United States, and has been used as an international icon of liberty.

The most famous ringing, took place on July 8, 1776, which called the citizens of Philadelphia for the reading of the Declaration of Independence. Previously, it had been rung to announce the opening of the First Continental Congress in 1774 and after the Battle of Lexington and Concord in 1775.

The Liberty Bell was known as the "Old State House bell" until 1837, when it was adopted by the American Anti-Slavery Society as a symbol of the abolitionist movement.




http://www.ushistory.org/libertybell/

Goldfish Pond is one of the older European settlements in the U.S., dating back to 1629

Commemorative Stone and plaque at Goldfish Pond in Lynn to the Ingall's Family settling the area in 1629

Goldfish Pond is the oldest European settled area in the city of Lynn, and one of the oldest in the country.  Below and via link, is what Alonzo Lewis, Lynn's first historian, had to say about that settling on page 15 of his History of Lynn, published in 1829.

"The first white men who are known to have been inhabitants of Lynn, were Edmund Ingalls, and his brother Francis Ingalls.  A record, preserved in the family of the former, says that "Mr. Edmund Ingalls came from Lincolnshire, in England, to Lynn, in1629." He was a farmer, and settled in the eastern part of the town, near a small pond in Fayette street”

The pond became known as Ingalls Pond until the name was changed in the 1880's when the granite perimeters were built around the pond and island; and the pond and immediate surrounding land became a City park.

Below is the plaque with its inscription:

The plaque refers to "rods", which is a unit of measure used in the past that equals 16 1/2 feet.  That would put the house on Bloomfield Street, maybe across the street from the stone?

I grew up on Goldfish Pond.  I used to tell people that the Ingalls Family was not the Ingalls Family of Little House on the Prairie and Laura Ingalls Wilder fame.  I was wrong.  I recently learned that her family lineage also traces back to Edmund Ingalls.  Here is the link to the article in Genealogy Magazine.  http://www.genealogymagazine.com/ingalls.html