Above: The Historical Commission has partnered with the Historical Society to hold an event at its new center to commemorate the 250th anniversary of an historical event and the story of a 99 year old landmark. (logos from SHC letterhead and SHAC website, photo by Beth Melo)
Last week, I posted about a regional celebration in Framingham related to Henry Knox passing through Southborough. Last night, I learned that an upcoming event in town will revisit the history of the trail and the route marker in Southborough.
The Southborough Historical Commission and Southborough Historical Society are asking the public to save the date for “a compelling historical presentation” next month.
The free event “Commemorating Henry Knox and the ‘Noble Train of Artillery’ in the Automobile Age” is scheduled for Sunday, March 15, 2026, at 2:00 pm. It will be open to the public, with no registration required.
The talk will be held in the Southborough History & Arts Center (at Fayville Village Hall, 42 Central Street).
A press release promotes the talk by historian Ben Haley:
The 1920s Knox Trail marker project generated the interest in General Henry Knox’s Ticonderoga expedition that remains to this day. Yet despite a dedicated effort to find Knox’s exact route, what the 1920s Knox Commission ended up marking was not that; rather, it was what their chairman described as “a new Knox Trail” catering to automobiles. Historian Ben Haley has traced this little-known story—of why the markers were erected where they were—through the rich correspondence surviving in the collection of the Knox Commission.
The Southborough Historical Commission is sponsoring this talk in recognition of Southborough’s Knox marker, located at 28 Main Street, and in celebration of General Knox’s passage through Southborough 250 years ago, dragging the 60 tons of artillery pieces that would bring about the end of the Siege of Boston on March 17, 1776 (celebrated as Evacuation Day).
About the Speaker:
Ben Haley is a historian and Director of the National Register of Historic Places Program for the Massachusetts Historical Commission. He also shares his expertise in the classroom, teaching historic preservation at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
You can read more about the Southborough connection to the trail in my post from last Friday here.
