The Wachusett Reservoir dam in Clinton today, over 120 years since it was built. Photo/Wikimedia Commons/Dale E. Martin

Wachusett Reservoir was once the largest man-made water supply in the world

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By Michael Perna Jr. Contributing Writer REGION - In the late 1870s, it had become apparent that the city of Boston and surrounding communities were in...
Maurice Lerner, who played minor league baseball for a decade after being a star player at Brookline High School, later became a hit man for the Mafia.

Brookline big-league prospect was recruited as hitman for Fidel Castro

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By Sharon Oliver Contributing Writer BROOKLINE - Once considered polite and athletic, Maurice Lerner was born in Cambridge in 1935 and grew up in Brookline, where...
The lavish Hotel Bancroft in Worcester, opened in 1913, closed in 1964, and is now a luxury apartment complex. Photo/Wikimedia Commons/Kenneth C. Zirkel

Hotel Bancroft was once Worcester’s premier lodging and event destination

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By Michael Perna Jr. Contributing Writer WORCESTER - When it was first opened in 1913, the Hotel Bancroft immediately became Worcester’s premier destination not only for...
The Fung Wah bus that ran between Boston and New York City from 1996 to 2015 was a dirt-cheap, if sometimes hair-raising option to travel between the two cities.

All aboard for the misadventures of a Fung Wah bus ride

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By Sharon Oliver Contributing Writer BOSTON - Practically everyone enjoys a good road trip, right? For some, even if the mode of transportation came with patches...
The Old Farmer’s Almanac, founded in 1792 in Shrewsbury, is still being published. Photo/Wikimedia Commons

The Old Farmer’s Almanac has its roots in Shrewsbury

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By Michael Perna Jr. Contributing Writer SHREWSBURY - The Old Farmer’s Almanac. Most people have probably looked through an issue at one time or another through...
Ora Nichols, a Springfield native, ran the sound effects department at CBS Radio during the 1930s.

Ora Nichols was a sound effects pioneer who took on Orson Welles

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By Sharon Oliver Contributing Writer SPRINGFIELD - Born Aurore Dolores Daigle in 1893 in Springfield, Ora Nichols was the first and only female to head a...
While “cat ladies” like the one pictured here are sometimes stereotyped as loners with mental health issues, by several accounts Lowell’s Shirley Martin is described as a kind widow who was friendly with some people but mostly kept to herself.

Lowell’s “cat lady” had an illustrious background

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By Sharon Oliver Contributing Writer LOWELL - Shirley Martin came from money, traveled extensively with her politically influential family and once lived in a 149-year-old Italianate...
The Dugout Café in Boston had a storied past, from the 1950 Brink’s armored car robbery allegedly planned there to serving as a refuge for stranded sports fans during the Blizzard of ’78.

The Dugout Café was a legendary Boston dive bar

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By Sharon Oliver Contributing Writer BOSTON - There are thousands of small dive bars scattered throughout the U.S. that are notorious for not only good times...
Dale and Lui Passetto being interviewed in 1981 by WRGB-CBS-6 Albany outside of their Lee home that reputedly had supernatural visitations and required an exorcism.

The Berkshire County family who lived their own ‘Amityville Horror’

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By Sharon Oliver Contributing Writer LEE - Although there were no books written or movies made to give a chilling account of their alleged harrowing experience,...
Three-decker houses were invented in Worcester during the late 19th century to help meet the housing needs of the thousands of immigrants that flooded the city to work in its many factories.

Three-decker houses were invented in Worcester

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By Michael Perna Jr. Contributing Writer WORCESTER - During the late 1800s and into the early 1900s, a new style of housing, the three-decker, was created...
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