Roxbury Heritage State Park

Roxbury Heritage State Park
Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston
Dillaway-Thomas House
Country	United States
State	Massachusetts
Region	Suffolk County
Municipality	Boston

Location	183 Roxbury Street
- coordinates	42°19′49″N 71°5′26″W / 42.33028°N 71.09056°W / 42.33028; -71.09056Coordinates: 42°19′49″N 71°5′26″W / 42.33028°N 71.09056°W / 42.33028; -71.09056

Area	2.146 acres (1 ha) ^[1] (nine parcels)

Founded	1992
Management	Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation

Location of Roxbury Heritage State Park
Website: Roxbury Heritage State Park

Roxbury Heritage State Park is a history-themed heritage park in the oldest part of Roxbury, a former town annexed in 1868 by Boston, Massachusetts.^[2]^[3] It is anchored by the Dillaway–Thomas House, a large colonial structure built in 1750 and thought to be the oldest surviving house in Roxbury.^[4]^[5] The location includes an adjacent 1-acre (0.40 ha) landscaped park with views of the Boston skyline,^[1]^[4] and is part of the Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston.

Background

The heritage park is located in the John Eliot Square area of northern Roxbury, which was the site of the town center after its founding in 1630.^[2] The Georgian-style home was built as a parsonage for Rev. Oliver Peabody, pastor of the First Church of Roxbury in 1750.^[6] The house was later owned by Martha Dillaway and then John Thomas, an American commander in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.^[6] While Thomas owned the house in 1776, cannons from Fort Ticonderoga in New York were transported by Henry Knox to Cambridge, Massachusetts and then through Roxbury on the way to forming the Fortification of Dorchester Heights, where they were used to force the evacuation of the British from Boston on March 17.^[7] A marker commemorating the neighborhood as a stop on the Knox trail and signifying Thomas' role in ending the Siege of Boston was placed at the park in 2009.^[8] The marker was the 57th placed to commemorate the Knox Expedition, and the first added since the string of monuments marking the trail was established in 1927.^[9]^[10]

The house was first restored in the 1930s by a preservationist who also introduced some inaccurate fixtures in an effort to embellish its history.^[5] After two fires in the 1970s, a state representative who was a former Roxbury resident successfully petitioned the legislature in 1984 for funding to restore the house and preserve it as a heritage park.^[6] The following restoration was done leaving some spots showing levels of all previous work done to the house left exposed, creating a physical timeline of the architectural history of the house.^[5] The completed house was opened to the public in 1992, and contains exhibits tracing periods of the history of Roxbury from the past to the present.^[4]^[6]

References

1 2 Protected and recreational open space datalayer, Office of Geographic and Environmental Information (MassGIS), Commonwealth of Massachusetts Executive Office of Environmental Affairs - http://www.mass.gov/mgis/dd-over.htm
1 2 "Roxbury's History". Discover Roxbury. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
↑ "Boston's Neighborhoods: Roxbury". Boston Redevelopment Authority. Retrieved 15 December 2009.
1 2 3 "Roxbury Heritage State Park". MassParks. Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs, Department of Conservation and Recreation. Retrieved August 17, 2013.
1 2 3 Campbell, Robert (May 20, 1993). "A window on the past: Inside Roxbury's Dillaway-Thomas House, an archeological approach to restoration lays bare a succession of style". The Boston Globe. Boston.
1 2 3 4 Coleman, Sandy (October 11, 1992). "Roxbury house reopens to tell of past, future". The Boston Globe. Boston.
↑ "Celebrating the Knox Trail" (PDF). Evacuation Day Heritage Committee. 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 July 2008. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
↑ "The Knox Museum joins Evacuation Day celebration" (PDF). The Cannon. General Henry Knox Museum. Spring 2009. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
↑ Miller, Yawu (March 19, 2009). "Roxbury role in Revolutionary War recognized with marker". Bay State Banner. Boston. Archived from the original on January 4, 2010. Retrieved September 10, 2013.
↑ "Interpreting History: Installation of Interpretive Easel at Roxbury Knox Trail Marker". Evacuation Day Heritage Committee. Archived from the original on May 4, 2010. Retrieved September 10, 2013.

External links

Roxbury Heritage State Park Department of Conservation and Recreation

Metropolitan Park System of Greater Boston

Coastal reservations	Belle Isle Marsh Boston Harbor Islands Castle Island Dorchester Shores Fort Revere Lynn Shore Nahant Beach Nantasket Beach Quincy Shore Revere Beach Rumney Marsh Webb Memorial Weymouth Back River

River reservations	Alewife Brook Charles River Chestnut Hill Cutler Elm Bank Hemlock Gorge Mystic River Neponset River Pope John Paul II Squantum Point Park Upper Charles River

Woodland reservations	Beaver Brook Blue Hills Breakheart Hammond Pond Middlesex Fells Quincy Quarries Southwest Corridor Stony Brook Wilson Mountain

Heritage state parks	Lynn Roxbury

Parkways and roads	Alewife Brook Arborway Blue Hills Blue Hills Reservation Charles River Reservation Day Boulevard Fellsway Fenway Fresh Pond Furnace Brook Hamond Pond Hull Shore Drive Jamaicaway Lynn Fells Memorial Drive Morrissey Boulevard Mystic Valley Nahant Beach Boulevard Nantasket Avenue Park Drive Quincy Shore Drive Revere Beach Riverway Soldiers Field Road Stony Brook Storrow Drive Truman VFW West Roxbury Winthrop Winthrop Shore Drive

Department of Conservation and Recreation Greater Boston List of Massachusetts State Parks

Protected areas of Massachusetts

Federal

National Historical Parks	Adams Blackstone River Valley Boston Lowell Minute Man New Bedford Whaling

National Historic Sites	Boston African American Frederick Law Olmsted John Fitzgerald Kennedy Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters Salem Maritime Saugus Iron Works Springfield Armory

Other National Park Service Units	Appalachian National Scenic Trail Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area Cape Cod National Seashore

National Wildlife Refuges	Assabet River Great Meadows Mashpee Massasoit Monomoy Nantucket Nomans Land Oxbow Parker River Silvio O. Conte Thacher Island

Other	Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Waquoit Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve West Hill Dam (USACE)

State Parks

Parks	Alewife Brook Ames Nowell Ashland Bash Bish Falls Blackstone River and Canal Heritage Borderland Boston Harbor Islands Bradley Palmer C. M. Gardner Callahan Castle Island State Park Chicopee Memorial City Square Clarksburg Cochituate Connecticut River Greenway Demarest Lloyd Dighton Rock Dunn Ellisville Harbor Fall River Heritage Gardner Heritage Great Brook Farm Halibut Point Hampton Ponds Holyoke Heritage Hopkinton Lake Lorraine Lake Wyola Lawrence Heritage Lowell Heritage Lynn Heritage Massasoit Maudslay Moore Mount Holyoke Range Natural Bridge Nickerson Pearl Hill Pilgrim Quinsigamond Robinson Roxbury Heritage Rutland Skinner South Cape Beach Wahconah Falls Webb Memorial Wells Western Gateway Heritage Whitehall Wompatuck

Reservations	Beaver Brook Belle Isle Marsh Blue Hills Breakheart Charles River Chestnut Hill Cutler Dorchester Shores Elm Bank Fort Phoenix Hammond Pond Hemlock Gorge Horseneck Beach Jug End Lynn Shore Middlesex Fells Mount Everett Mount Greylock Mount Sugarloaf Mount Tom Myles Standish Mystic River Nahant Beach Nantasket Beach Nasketucket Bay Neponset River Pope John Paul II Purgatory Chasm Quincy Quarries Quincy Shore Revere Beach Rumney Marsh Salisbury Beach Sandy Point Scusset Beach Stony Brook Upper Charles River Wachusett Mountain Walden Pond West Island Weymouth Wilson Mountain

Other	Appalachian Trail Ashuwillticook Rail Trail Cape Cod Rail Trail Fort Revere Lake Dennison Recreation Area Lower Neponset River Trail Nashua River Rail Trail Norwottuck Rail Trail Quabbin Reservoir Southwest Corridor Park Squantum Point Park Streeter Point Recreation Area Sudbury Reservoir Wachusett Reservoir Ware River Watershed Area

State Forests

Wildlife Management Areas

Wildlife Management Areas	Agawam Lake Agawam Mill Pond Ashby Ashfield Hawley Attitash Ayer Game Farm Baddacook Pond Bakers Pond Bay Circuit Trail Bearse Pond Becket Bennett Birch Hill Black Brook Blackstone / West River Bolton Flats Boxboro Station Brayton Point Salt Marsh Breakneck Brook Brewer Brook Bullock Ledge Burrage Pond Canoe River Catamount Chalet Chase Garden Creek Salt Marsh Childs River Chockalog Swamp Church Homestead Clapps Pond Clinton Bluff Concord River Connecticut River Cook Pond Copicut Coy Hill Crane Pond Cummington Cusky Pond Dartmoor Farm Darwin Scott Memorial Day Mountain Deerfield River Dogfish Bar Beach Coastal Dolomite Ledges Dunstable Brook E. Kent Swift Eagle Island East Mountain Eastham Salt Marsh Elbow Meadow English Salt Marsh Eugene D. Moran Facing Rock Fairfield Brook Farmington River Fish Brook Fisherville Pond Fisk Forestdale Lot Fisk Meadows Five Mile River Flagg Swamp Flint Pond Four Chimneys Fox Den Fox Island Salt Marsh Frances A. Crane Freetown Swamp George L. Darey Housatonic Valley Glen Echo Lake Gosnold Grassy Pond (Dennis) Grassy Pond (Plymouth) Green River (Franklin County) Green River (Berkshire County) Greenfield River Halfway Pond Hamilton Hancock Harlow / Cooks Pond Haskell Swamp Hauk Swamp Hawksnest State Park Hawley Head Of The Plains Herman Covey High Ridge Hinsdale Flats Hiram H. Fox Hockomock Swamp Hog Pond Lot Honey Pot Hoosatonic River Hoosic River Hop Brook Housatonic River Hubbard Brook Hunting Hills Hyannis Ponds Ipswich River John J. Kelly Joint Base Cape Cod Jug End Fen Jug End Kampoosa Fen Katama Plains Knops Pond Konkapot River Lackey Pond Lake Lorraine Lake Rohunta Lake Snipatuit Lake Warner Lanesboro Lawrence Brook Lawrence Pond Lot Leadmine Leyden Lilly Pond Little Alum Pond Long Sought For Pond Maple Hill Maple Springs Martha Deering Martin H. Burns Mascuppic Lake Mashpee Pine Barrens Mashpee Pond Lot Mashpee River Mckinstry Brook Meetinghouse Swamp Merrill Pond Miacomet Heath Mill River Millers River Mine Brook Montague Plains Montague Moose Brook Moose Brook Moose Hill Mossy Pond Mount Watatic Reservation Mt. Esther Mt. Toby Highlands Mt. Toby Mt. Tom Muddy Brook Muddy Pond Mulpus Brook Nashua River Natty Brook Nemasket River Nissitissit River Noquochoke Nordeen Marsh North Brookfield North Shore Salt Marsh Northboro Oakham Olivers Pond Orange Otis Packard Pond Palmer Pantry Brook Pauchaug Brook Peru Peterson Swamp Phillipston Podunk Marsh Poland Brook Popple Camp Popponesset Beach Poutwater Pond Powell Brook Prince River Provincetown Route 6 Corridor Purchade Brook Quaboag Quacumquasit Quag Pond Bog Quashnet River Quashnet Woods State Reservation Quinapoxet River Quinsigamond Marsh Quisset Raccoon Hill Rainbow Beach Red Brook Richardson Robbins Pond Rochester Rocky Gutter Rowe Salisbury Salt Marsh Salisbury Salt Marsh Sandwich Game Farm Sandy Pond Satan's Kingdom Savage Hill Savoy Sawmill River Scorton Creek Coastal SE Mass Bioreserve Sevenmile River Shattuck Brook Sheperds Island Shubael Pond Sibley Brook Sly Pond South Barrier Beach South Meadow Pond South Shore Salt Marsh South Triangle Pond Southampton Southwick Spectacle Pond Springhill Lot Sputtermill Pond Squannacook River Stafford Hill Sudbury River Sunderland Islands Taconic Mountain Taunton River Taunton River Tekoa Mountain Thad Ellis Thayer Pond Three Mile Pond Townsend Townsend Hill Trapfall Brook Triangle Pond Tully Brook Tully Mountain Tully River Wakeby Pond Wales Walnut Hill Ware River Warwick Wendell West Meadows Westboro Westfield River Westfield Weymouth Back River Whately Great Swamp Whately Ponds Whately Wilbraham Game Farm William Forward Williams River Williamsburg Winimusset Wolf Swamp

Wildlife Sanctuaries	Billingsgate Island Carr Island E. Howe Forbush Egg Rock Grace A. Robson J.C. Phillips Knight Penikese Island Ram Island (Salisbury) Ram Island (Mattapoisett) Susan B. Minns Tarpaulin Cove Watatic Mountain

The Nature Conservancy

Black Pond Bog Boat Meadow Francis Newhall Woods Grassy Pond Greene Swamp Halfway Pond Island Hawley Bog Hockomock Swamp Hoft Farm Homer-Watcha Preserve Katama Plains McElwain-Olsen Miacomet Moors Reed Brook Drury Sandy Neck David H. Smith Preserve and Fire Trail Stacy Mountain Tatkon

Trustees of Reservations

Audubon Society Wildlife Sanctuaries

Arcadia Broad Meadow Brook Broadmoor Daniel Webster Drumlin Farm High Ledges Ipswich River Moose Hill North River Pleasant Valley Stony Brook Wachussett Meadow Wellfleet Bay

Other

Concord Land Conservation Trust Harvard Forest Lincoln Land Conservation Trust Lloyd Center for the Environment Lynn Woods Reservation Norcross Wildlife Sanctuary

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Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
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