Third annual North Quabbin History Tour celebrates region’s past

Those who are curious about the region’s history can learn more on Sunday, Sept. 20, when local historical societies host the North Quabbin History Tour.

The tour, now in its third year, will include museums in Athol, Royalston, Orange, Petersham, New Salem and Phillipston.

The Orange Historical Society will offer guided tours throughout its 20-room museum and its three-story barn. Each room and barn space is organized thematically.

Orange Historical Society member Ann Reed said full tours tend to take an hour and a half, but the society will also accommodate any visitor requests to simply take in a particular attraction — like the Grout automobiles or the New Home sewing machine collection. Tours end at the gift shop, which Reed said has recently been restocked with Grout baseball caps, in a variety of colors, priced at $25 each.

The Swift River Valley Historical Society will have an open house at 40 Elm St. in New Salem from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. People are invited to stop by and learn how residents lived in Dana, Enfield, Prescott and Greenwich, the four towns that were disincorporated in 1938 for the Quabbin Reservoir’s creation. Admission is free and there will be refreshments.

For the Royalston Historical Society, the event marks the grand reopening of the first floor of its museum at 10 On the Common.

Royalston Historical Society members have been busy in recent months cleaning and organizing the museum and adding to displays throughout the historic two-story structure, which also houses the town’s Post Office.

Historical Society member Lorraine Casinghino said museum visitors will find historic photographs and displays that include items that are rarely, if ever, seen by the public. Casinghino said Sunday’s event, while honoring Royalston’s past, is also a tribute to “members of the Historical Society who have preceded us and collected all of these valuable items.”

She cited Peter Kraniak, a 30-year member and longtime president of the society, who died on April 19, 2025. Kraniak had served as chair of Royalston’s Historic District Commission, and worked to preserve the historic nature and appearance of buildings and homes in the area around the town common.

“He really was important here,” said society member Maureen Blasco. “He was the one who really worked to keep the society going.”

Casinghino highlighted “a whole wall of early maps,” and also pointed out a collection of boots sitting on an old table as one enters the museum. A number of leatherworking tools accompany the display.

“We found all of those boots inside the wall of a house here on the common,” she said. “People used to hide a shoe — a shoe — in the eves of a house to ward off evil spirits. But we found 25 shoes in this one house, and there’s no indication a cobbler ever lived there. So, somebody was either very superstitious or, another theory, they used to piece out leatherwork from Worcester to tanners and shoemakers in this area to assemble.”

Visitors will also find a cabinet holding scales and other items used by the person in charge of weights and measures for the town.

“Every town in Massachusetts got one,” Blasco said of the scales. “Many towns have thrown theirs away. It’s one of a very few that are left.”

Pictures that have been curated for Sunday’s reopening include many celebrating Royalston’s past as a factory town, as well as others paying homage to the residents of Finnish heritage who began moving to town in the 1880s and 1890s, and either worked in the local mills or established farms in town.

Other displays include items and pictures pertaining to the town’s agricultural and trade history, floods and fires that have occurred over the years, and geological and archaeological exhibits. The second floor includes a large display of handmade quilts.

All of the museums in the North Quabbin History Tour will be open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 20. Addresses for each are: Royalston Historical Society, 10 On the Common; Athol Historical Society, 1307 Main St.; Orange Historical Society, 41 North Main St.; Petersham Historical Society, 10 North Main St.; Narragansett Historical Society, 1 Boynton Road, Templeton; Swift River Valley Historical Society, 40 Elm St., New Salem; and Phillipston Historical Society, 80 State Road.

Domenic Poli contributed reporting.