Our most recent blog post attempts, despite difficulties in early record-keeping, to list all the residents of black and mixed-race ancestry in Acton between its founding in 1735 and the end of the Civil War.
Some of the earlier blog posts explored:
There's plenty to discover on the blog; check it out!
Some of the earlier blog posts explored:
- The first six Acton women voters
- Thomas Darby, an Acton Minute Man who survived the Concord fight but was killed at the Battle of White Plains
- Charles L. Heywood, whose incredibly active life included a railroad career, wide-ranging charitable work, inventions, and business ventures
- West Acton's roller skating rink and roller polo team
- Acton's "Old Chestnut Tree" that was apparently a favorite of Henry David Thoreau
- Aaron Woods, an Acton hermit and supposed miser who became the subject of national news interest twice in the 1870s.
- West Acton's barrel shop before and after the fire of 1913
- John Fletcher, his boot and shoe business, his advocacy for temperance and against slavery, and the large impact he had on Acton, particularly the town center.
- Henry Barker and his cider mill, a topic inspired by trying to identify a large portrait found in a South Acton barn.
- Yacht Racing in Acton
- Francis Skinner (1797-1865) who grew up in Acton and went off to create a very different life in Boston for his descendants
- Sarah (Faulkner) Skinner who went blind in her later years.
- Dances in Acton
- The New England Sawmill Unit in WW1
- Acton baseball
- Schoolhouse construction and maintenance in the town's earlier days
- The house that sits where Isaac Davis's home once stood
- Ice harvesting
- Clara (Hapgood) Nash, early attorney, teacher, and poet
- Daniel Scarlett, astronomer, historian, and more
- John Oliver, Soldier of the Revolution
- Rev. James T. Woodbury and Abolition
- Acton Women's 1895 Vote
- Mystery Pictures from Hall Brothers & the Beach Family
- Acton Industries - Vises & Morocco & Gun Powder
- and much more, see lists of topics and people
There's plenty to discover on the blog; check it out!