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, 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 homes, 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.

Bios:

Alison Simcox is an Environmental Scientist and Writer. She recently retired from the US EPA as a specialist in air quality. In 1998, she was the second woman to receive a doctorate in Engineering from Tufts University. She is on the Board of Directors of the Saugus River Watershed Council and co-leads history walks for the Friends of the Middlesex Fells.

 Douglas Heath is an Environmental Scientist and History Researcher. A US Navy veteran, he worked at the US Geological Survey and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for 30 years protecting drinking water supplies in New England. He is a Certified Interpretive Guide. He leads history walks for the Friends of Middlesex Fells. He is also Vice President of the Saugus River Watershed Council. Alison and Doug have written six books: Lake Quannapowitt; Breakheart Reservation; Middlesex Fells; The Lost Mill Village of Middlesex Fells; Murder at Breakheart Hill Farm; and Walls, Rock, & Rum. The sixth book will be published by The History Press in May 2026. The Lost Mill Village won the 2018 Preservation Award from the New England Chapter of the Victorian Society in America. In 2022, Alison and Doug received the Gertrude Spaulding Award for their work protecting Lake Quannapowitt and for their book of the same name. They have also written trail guides for the Virginia Wood and Bellevue Pond areas of the Fells.