250 years ago today, Henry Knox began the diary he’d keep for much of the Ticonderoga expedition. It begins with: Worcester Nov 20 1775 paid Miller of worcester to leave with his wife two seven dollar one six dollar Continential Bills The diary is held by @mhs1791.bsky.social #rev250 #ma250

Dunno, but the fact that Democrats are so bad at what they do that Trump got a second term puts a lot of this on them.

The issue of the loss of this particular house beyond architecture (if it really was partly First Period, it was one of only a few hundred left) and the James Otis connection is the 2 enslaved people who lived here and who sued for their freedom in the 1770s and won andovermanews.com/historic-169...

Let me tell you about the other Epstein files the Trump administration is STILL HIDING — records that aren’t affected by the bill Congress passed today.

There’s so much nonsense out there about “ancient stone astronomical alignments” and “ceremonial stone landscapes” in the NE US. Like this talk, it’s all nonsense but is a growing movement. Glad I’m not going into archaeology now, nor can I imagine what the field will be like in 20 years.

17 NOVEMBER 1775, PHILADELPHIA: The Continental Congress unanimously votes to appoint Henry Knox colonel of the Continental Army’s artillery regiment; the United States Army Field Artillery Branch marks the event as its birthday.

An affirmative maintenance/demo by neglect bylaw perhaps could have saved this house, but very few communities have them. andovermanews.com/historic-169...

Yesterday marked the 250th anniversary of the start of the Ticonderoga Expedition in which 25-year-old Henry Knox led the effort to haul 60 tons of artillery on sleds from Fort Ticonderoga south to Albany and east across Massachusetts to the Continental Army camps in Cambridge.

The Western Railroad btw Springfield and Worcester was surveyed and built FROM SCRATCH in under 3 years in the 1830s. Just making the existing rail line from Springfield to Albany faster (the “full build,” presuming Boston to Springfield will be done ~2030) will take until 2045.

While some “brown furniture” seems to be coming back (hello, Regency!), a lot of prices are still so low that I managed to acquire a piece that seems to be by Duncan Phyfe for next to nothing. May have been a companion to this one at Boscobel, which is identical. www.boscobel.org/the-collecti...

VERY well-paying historic property survey job with the City of Northampton for a very cool place, a former Methodist camp meeting. #historicpreservation www.northamptonma.gov/bids.aspx?bi...

For years, visitors to the Gropius House had to contend with an outdoor porta loo. A new architecture competition is betting the design community is flush with solutions https://www.wallpaper.com/architecture/walter-gropius-house-toilet-competition

Imagine owning this fabulous ca. 1790 house in Virginia and putting in those vinyl replacement windows 🙃

How can there be a person named Salem Derby. That there’s a horse race.

remarkable that the issue of selling an unused parking lot to develop housing was as contentious as it was www.nepm.org/regional-new...

The rise of Regency and Regency-style furniture continues apace

This cute 1930s former public school in Wilmington, MA is going to be razed because the town manager “wants 14 parking spaces” where it was. Ah, the suburban mentality. It’s surrounded by acres of parking and other undeveloped land. It was designed by an obscure architect named Halsey Horner.

Depressed to see this grand old house in Deerfield, MA in the midst of a gut reno. Historic Deerfield intervened to divert some stuff from the landfill to keep for their own projects, but everything else is toast. An expert on timber framing in the region has been inside and thinks it’s early 18th c

I met him when he was a trade envoy and came to NYC to make the rounds at an event. He stopped at me for some reason (I think bc I was the only non-businessperson in the room) and we spoke for at least 15 minutes about historic preservation. He was weirdly, unnecessarily aggressive and obnoxious.

Presumably this is happening at least partly because the other candidate in the primary race is nearly an octogenarian?

It really is astounding how perfect opportunities are handed to Democrats and they do literally nothing. I genuinely don’t understand it.

That makes sense. User privacy already was garbage. My late uncle’s account got hacked by a Chinese woman who slowly took over his profile and despite repeated reports no one ever did anything to help.

Well this has gotten out of hand very quickly. www.nytimes.com/live/2025/10...

The most aimless people I’ve known have become “life coaches.” Not sure if that’s good or bad for their paying clients.

The amount of flipped furniture on FB Marketplace is wild and it’s all mid century stuff restained or colonial revival stuff painted black or navy with bright hardware. Most of the flipped pieces are worthless, like these, but now and then you see a real treasure that fell into the wrong hands.

Fun fact: Section 107 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 explicitly exempts the White House, Capitol, and Supreme Court building from being subject to any provision of the act.

Classic autumnal scene in New England

Look at this wonderful ca. 1800 Chinese export bowl with Masonic imagery. Sold today and not surprised someone was willing to pay 3x the high auction estimate.

Well yes, when prices in more affluent towns are through the roof, nice and well-built houses for $250-300k within 30 mins of Northampton, Amherst, Hartford etc. are going to create a “hot” market.

Someone lucked out on this table today. Got it for $250! The Nichols House Museum in Boston has a similar one they attribute to Thomas Seymour, a major figure in early 19th-c American furniture. Incredible what you can still buy for virtually nothing. auctions.neauction.com/online-aucti...

Surely someone needs a portrait of Jonathan Edwards. auctions.neauction.com/online-aucti...

"WE MAKE NEWS LOUDER. IF STORY GOOD ON ONE SIDE, SHOW OTHER SIDE TOO. OTHER SIDE WRONG? OTHER SIDE WANT BLEACH IN VEINS? ANIMAL RUN BOTH. REPORT BOTH SIDES. EVEN WHEN ONE SIDE THINK HEAD MEDS MAKE QUIET BABIES."

Sir John Soane described the Bank of England building he designed as ‘the pride and boast of my life’, but in 1925 his masterpiece was demolished to make way for Herbert Baker’s bigger but more boring vision, writes @willwiles.bsky.social

My oh my, what a house www.zillow.com/homedetails/...

We are thrilled to announce that our NEW Large Language Model will be released on 11.18.25.

Everyone must go to hud.gov right now

This property in New Hampshire is wild www.tateandfoss.com/listing/5050...

Am at the dentist, and the receptionist is telling a customer who said she’s going to Germany that it’s difficult to get soda and sweet cereal there, as if this is important information. (I suppose if dental hygiene is important it is, but also am quite sure it’s not true.)

This seems like a waste of government resources. Where’s DOGE when you need it?

I never use Threads but have an account. 75% of posts now seem to have this Antifa “warning” 😂

This apartment building in downtown Lynn, MA was built in an area riddled with vacant lots. Was it built on a vacant lot? Nope. A nice 1930 bank in good shape was razed to make way for it 🤦‍♂️ Second photo is the bank in 2021. I don’t think the city’s historical commission even imposed demo delay.

Calling all writers and literary lovers! Join historical novelist Jodi Daynard for a one-day writing retreat at the 1878 Eustis Estate on Monday, October 13. Escape into writing 📚https://loom.ly/ZTpPZqw • #HistoricNewEngland #HNE #NewEngland #EustisEstate

Today I was told by my car insurer that even though all parties agree that I was not the one at fault in a fender bender (a distracted driver ran into me at a red light), my premium may go up because I filed a claim. There is almost nothing about the US that makes me think it’s worth living here.

French President Emmanuel Macron called President Donald Trump after being stopped at a New York street blocked off for his US counterpart's motorcade during the UN General Assembly reut.rs/42acMSC

Good win for #preservation law in Massachusetts. A Holyoke man (a lawyer!) sued the city, arguing that the local historic district designation of his house was a taking. Appeals court said nope. 128archive.com/Disposition/...

I have taken the Tylenol that was in the medicine cabinet and which they think probably is the reason you like trains forgive me but that’s bullshit you got autism from your dad

Vincent Scully’s 1950 modernist house in Woodbridge, CT listed in the National Register last week 👍👍👍 He designed it himself. portal.ct.gov/-/media/decd...

They’re just looking for Venezuela to respond militarily to give them an excuse for a regime change operation.

In an ideal world we wouldn’t have or need philanthropists, but in our imperfect one Agnes Gund was exactly the kind we need right now with the seemingly endless assaults on the arts and humanities. She also was remarkably down to earth and kind. RIP.

Read recently that the “high speed” (note: maybe 70mph average) east-west rail route from Boston to Albany probably won’t be done until 2045. Twenty years just to improve an existing rail line under 200 miles long. Nothing works in this country.