Douglas L. Heath and Alison C. Simcox's Books

Breakheart Reservation

By: Alison C. Simcox,Douglas L. Heath

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Comprising over 600 acres of woodlands, wetlands, and hilly terrain, Breakheart Reservation has expansive views that reach south to Boston, north to New Hampshire, and east to the Atlantic Ocean. What began as a parcel of common land awarded to new settlers arriving in Saugus in the early 1700s is today considered a gem in the Massachusetts state park system. In the 1890s, businessman Benjamin Johnson and two friends bought the land to create a private hunting retreat called Breakheart Hill Forest. The tranquil forest was catapulted into the limelight in 1900 when their caretaker was brutally murdered. Three decades later, Johnson and his partners sold the land to the state. It became a camp for the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps and was later transformed into a recreational area"--Publisher description.

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130

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Arcadia Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0738597791

ISBN 13

9780738597799

Lake Quannapowitt

By: Alison C. Simcox,Douglas L. Heath

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Lake Quannapowitt

By: Alison C. Simcox,Douglas L. Heath

Lake Quannapowitt is named for James Quonopohit, a member of the Pawtucket tribe of Nipmuc Indians and signer of the 1686 deed selling land to European colonists. A town called Redding (now Wakefield) developed on the shore of the lake that provided colonists with a bounty of fish, including salmon and alewives, until mills stopped their passage upstream. The town remained rural until the Boston and Maine Railroad arrived in 1845. Overnight, new markets became accessible, and Lake Quannapowitt ice was exported to destinations worldwide. Icehouses dominated the shoreline and stood side-by-side with boathouses and bathhouses. Some in Wakefield remember the last days of ice harvesting, although barely a trace of its existence remains. More residents remember Hill's Boathouse and Dance Hall, where many a romance began. For recent arrivals who walk and jog its idyllic 5-kilometer shore, the lake's industrial and complex past will come as a surprise.

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132

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Arcadia Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

0738573892

ISBN 13

9780738573892

The Lost Mill Village of Middlesex Fells

By: Douglas L. Heath,Alison C. Simcox

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The Lost Mill Village of Middlesex Fells

By: Douglas L. Heath,Alison C. Simcox

One of the earliest mill communities in the Massachusetts Bay Colony formed along Spot Pond Brook, a few miles north of Boston. Thomas Coytmore built the first mill in 1640 at the brook's downstream end in "Mistick Side" (present-day Malden). Other mills sprang up along the brook as well. Today, most of Spot Pond Brook is hidden in culverts beneath the busy streets of Malden and Melrose. However, remnants of the lost mill village of Haywardville--foundations, millruns and ponds and waterfalls--are preserved within Middlesex Fells Reservation, part of Boston's world-famous Metropolitan Park System. Authors Douglas L. Heath and Alison C. Simcox trace the history of this thriving early American community.

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128

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Arcadia Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1439661707

ISBN 13

9781439661703

Murder at Breakheart Hill Farm

The Shocking 1900 Case that Gripped Boston's North Shore

By: Douglas L. Heath,Alison C. Simcox

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Murder at Breakheart Hill Farm

The Shocking 1900 Case that Gripped Boston's North Shore

By: Douglas L. Heath,Alison C. Simcox

On a dark, rainy night in October 1900, George E. Bailey, caretaker of Breakheart Hill farm, disappeared. He no longer made his daily milk runs to town or stopped at the tavern for his favorite cherry rum. Some suspected foul play right away, as Bailey's "wife" had recently gone to Maine, leaving Bailey alone with his farmhand, John C. Best, who was known to be a drunk and a potentially violent man. Nine days later, when Bailey's dismembered body was fished out of a local pond, all eyes quickly focused on Best. Crowds descended on the farm, and the sensational murder captured headlines in Boston's newspapers. Using official records and newspaper archives, authors Douglas L. Heath and Alison C. Simcox uncover the facts and bizarre circumstances of this shocking tale.

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144

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Arcadia Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1439671257

ISBN 13

9781439671252

Middlesex Fells

By: Alison C. Simcox and Douglas L. Heath

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Middlesex Fells

By: Alison C. Simcox and Douglas L. Heath

Comprising over 2,500 acres of forest, wetlands, and rugged hills, Middlesex Fells, just seven miles north of Boston, is one of the nation's first state parks and contains the world's first public land trust, Virginia Wood. For centuries, the Fells provided rich hunting and fishing grounds for Native Americans. In 1632, Gov. John Winthrop and others explored the area and named the largest pond Spot Pond because of the many islands and rocks protruding through the ice. The Fells was used for farming and timber, and Spot Pond Brook became the focus of industrial activity, which culminated in 1858 with the Hayward Rubber Mills. In the 1880s and 1890s, Middlesex Fells was a key property in the Boston metropolitan park movement driven by conservationists Wilson Flagg, Elizur Wright, Frederick Law Olmsted, Charles Eliot, George Davenport, and Sylvester Baxter. In 1894, the Metropolitan Park Commission began acquiring Fells land. Electric trolleys crossed the Fells from 1910 to 1946, and in 1959, with the car culture in control, Interstate 93 was built through the area. Today, the Fells, as envisioned by its founders, is a forested haven for city dwellers.

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128

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Arcadia Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

146712270X

ISBN 13

9781467122702

The Lost Mill Village of Middlesex Fells

By: Douglas L. Heath,Alison C. Simcox

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The Lost Mill Village of Middlesex Fells

By: Douglas L. Heath,Alison C. Simcox

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128

Publisher

Arcadia Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1439661707

ISBN 13

9781439661703

Murder at Breakheart Hill Farm

The Shocking 1900 Case that Gripped Boston's North Shore

By: Douglas L. Heath,Alison C. Simcox

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Murder at Breakheart Hill Farm

The Shocking 1900 Case that Gripped Boston's North Shore

By: Douglas L. Heath,Alison C. Simcox

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

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Page Count

144

Publisher

Arcadia Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1439671257

ISBN 13

9781439671252

Book's by Douglas L. Heath and Alison C. Simcox

Breakheart Reservation

Breakheart Reservation

Lake Quannapowitt

Lake Quannapowitt

The Lost Mill Village of Middlesex Fells

The Lost Mill Village of Middlesex Fells

Murder at Breakheart Hill Farm

Murder at Breakheart Hill Farm

Middlesex Fells

Middlesex Fells

The Lost Mill Village of Middlesex Fells

The Lost Mill Village of Middlesex Fells

Murder at Breakheart Hill Farm

Murder at Breakheart Hill Farm

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