Eccentric Boston Baker’s Ridge Hill elaborate art manor
Emerson Baker of Boston built Ridge Hill as a giant eccentric estate. The sprawling grounds feature a black painted stable tower resembling a church, allegorical murals, a 60 foot high Campanile inspired tower, and a zoo like collection of oddities including mounted animals, old tools, and theatrical installations. He plans a Union Monument marquee with bayonets, a blue grey wedding scene, ghostly generals, a subterranean lake, and a maze ending in a bear pit.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Baker
Welles
New York
Emerson Baker
Boston
Albany
Gowoverners
Central Park
Ridge Hill
Weer
Florence
Phoebus
von Hedden
Irt
Erior
Horino
Philadel
Iea
Gray
Massachusetts
Robert E. Lee
Ulysses S. Grant
Boston Post-Office
Ridge Hills Farms
Mr. Baker
The Baker Folly and a Grand Governors Fete
A Boston landscape reveals William Emerson Baker's bizarre grounds where visitors throng daily to see grotesque displays and painted animals. He funds a grand plan for a Tropho-Phagian Institute to reform cooking with a college and degrees, inviting state governors and dignitaries to a corner-stone fete marked by toy balloons.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Baker
William Emerson Baker
Tropho-Phagian Institute
Charles River
Massachusetts Colleges
Hayes
Board of Aldermen of
Boston
A Strange Theft By a Mouse in New Preston
In New Preston the Bennetts hosted Mr. C. Kenney and wife from New York. Kenney hid a ten dollar bill in his boot heel. by morning the bill vanished, later found snagged by a mouse hole as the burglar dragged it across the room. The mouse remains at large. a reward is offered.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
H. A. ‘Bennett
New Preston
C. Kenney
New York
Largest Jet Jewelry Firm Located in Pawtucket
The country’s largest jet jewelry establishment sits in Pawtucket with 1 person employed. Most of its seaspec is imported from France.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Pawtucket
A Thoughtful Husband’s Waxing Tale in Elmira Gazette
An Elmira Gazette paragraph recounts a domestic comic scene in which a husband, wearing a sling and a patchy nose, fights with sealing wax mishaps while his wife and cat observe. The man burns himself, swears, flings the wax, and ends up plastered in flour and oil, provoking a street scene as onlookers watch.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Maria
Abe
Elmira Gazette
Rattlesnake Attack Described In Early Text
An 19th century account explains how rattlesnakes strike to inject venom. It notes the head thrust, fang penetration, and venom flow into the wound, with venom ejecting from the glands. It records a case of the snake throwing venom several feet and even into a man's eyes from six feet.
Dangerous sport ends with rattlesnake sighting
A woman walking near St Louis with a nurse and two children lost one child briefly. The child called from behind a stump saying he played with a big worm. Investigating, the women found a rattlesnake two feet long coiled near the stump, posing danger to the child.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Chidren
St. Louis
Ames
This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!