Jackson Homestead Museum
Today Matt and I went to The Newton History Museum at the Jackson Homestead. It was a lot of fun. Fun and educational, may I add!
It’s a cute little museum in the old Jackson mansion on Washington St in Newtonville. It’s only $2 admission if you’re a Newton resident, otherwise it’s $5.
The abolitionist exhibit was my favorite part. Did you know that Massachusetts was the first state to outlaw slavery? There were many famous abolitionists who spoke here. Newton also had stops in the Underground Railroad!
We also learned about some of the history of our neighborhood, Nathaniel Hawthorne also lived in West Newton for a little while where he wrote The Blithedale Romance in 1851!
They also have files for all houses built before 1904. There was a file on our house, which was build sometime between 1870 and 1890. The family who sold us the house told us something different than the file. Our house is pretty old, with some interesting things in the basement to prove it….such as the head of a pick axe and an anvil. I will never cease to be amused by the anvil. I joke that I keep it handy in case our house is invaded by roadrunners. Meep meep!
Massachusetts is a state extremely rich in history, and it was great learning about what happened in the town I reside in!
If you’re interested: Vintage Newton Postcards! And here’s history on the West Newton Cinema!
This is what West Newton Square (right around the corner from where I live!) once looked like:
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Wow that is awesome, esp. that they had info on your house!