A Walking Tour of My Next Novel

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Ever since I decided to set the sequel to my debut novel, Kelegeen, in Worcester, Massachusetts, I’ve been seeing the city in a new way. I grew up and still live in a town that abuts Worcester and work a full-time job located in downtown Worcester. I’ve spent countless hours in the city of Worcester. I even rented a house there many years ago. Naturally, I thought I knew Worcester. I know how to get to a lot of places in the city and even when lost, I’ve been able to use landmarks I can see in the distance to figure out in which direction I should head. Of course, now that I have GPS, I don’t need to do that, but sometimes I do just to know I still can.

Recently, I discovered Crown Hill, a hidden jewel in a section of Worcester I never knew existed. My friend and fellow writing group member, Cindy Shenette, is a docent for Preservation Worcester. While discussing where my Irish domestic servant characters would have lived and worked, Cindy mentioned Crown Hill.  This, she said, is where Worcester’s middle class resided. They were the folks who could have afforded to hire one, possibly two, domestic servants. Perfect! Luckily for me, Cindy conducts walking tours of the Crown Hill area and offered to take me on a private tour. Naturally, I jumped at the chance.

On a lovely morning in late June, Cindy picked me up and off we went. The tour began outside a house a on the corner of Pleasant and Oxford streets. It was built in 1844 by Asa Walker, a merchant tailor who owned a store on Marion Street. Asa lived there with his wife, Lucy.  Made of brick, the house is unusual for the area since most were made of wood.

Greek Revival home of Asa and Lucy Walker built in 1844

Across from the side of this house stands a brick building that is now Rob Roy Academy Hair and Beauty School, but in the time of my story was the Pleasant Street Primary School. Could this be where the children of Meg's and Kathleen's employers were educated?

Originally the Pleasant Street Primary School - Now the Rob Roy Academy Hair and Beauty School

As the tour continued along Oxford Street, Crown Street, Congress Street and the sections of Pleasant Street and Chatham Street that pass through the Crown Hill area, we saw a plethora of homes that would have stood at the time of the setting of my novel. Most were Greek Revival along with a few Italianate and Second Empire houses.

Greek Revival House

Elijah and Mercy Brooks House - Served as a parsonage for a nearby Quaker Meeting House

Two views of an Italianate house

As we strolled along, the morning grew warmer and we were grateful for the tree lined sidewalks. We stopped to note the few remaining gas streetlamps (still in use!) and hitching posts for horses (not still in use).

Gas streetl lamp - still in use

Since Crown Hill is a designated historic district there are strict rules governing what residents are and are not allowed to do with the outside of their houses. Though now, many of the Greek Revival houses are painted in various colors, in the mid-1800s they would all have been an off-white, making the street resemble a row of ancient Greek temples. As Cindy noted, if all the vehicles were removed, the paved roads replaced with dirt, and the houses all painted the same color, it would look pretty much the same as it did back then.  It didn’t take much imagination to picture myself as one of my characters walking down these very streets. What an amazing feeling to enter into the world of my characters!

Tour guide and fellow writer, Cindy Shenette

Author, Eileen O'Finlan taking notes while happily walking the same streets as her characters