Walls, Rock, and Rum: Colonial History and the Founding of Middlesex Fells (History & Guide)

The Complex History of One of Our Great State Parks.Middlesex Fells, located north of Boston, is one of the most storied state parks in the United States.Home to Indigenous Peoples for thousands of years, this land became part of Charlestown, the first capital of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Puritans transformed the landscape, marked woodlots with stone walls, and gave the largest lots to wealthy men. They harvested timber and quarried stone from the Fells to build houses, ships, and walls and to fuel brickmaking and rum distilling. Enslaved labor, acquired through the transatlantic trade, supported these markets.Today the Fells is preserved, but beyond its trails and wooded vistas lie deeper stories of Indigenous communities and colonial transformation. Alison C. Simcox and Douglas L. Heath trace this history with new research published for the first time. Read more