Join us for an afternoon of local lore and history with the authors of a new and fascinating book, The Ammo Dump: A Taking of Heritage. Co-authored by Maynard historian Paul Boothroyd and his sons Paul Boothroyd, Jr. and Todd Boothroyd, the book explores the U.S. Army’s seizure by eminent domain of some 3,100 acres of land spanning Maynard, Stow, Sudbury and Hudson in the spring of 1942.

What if you received a knock on your door tonight and were told you had to leave? You had no more than a month to do so, and you could only take what was not nailed down? Eighty Massachusetts families faced that predicament on March 25, 1942. This book tells their story.

At the breakout of World War II, 1942, the U.S. government required four square miles to create an ammunition depot. Explosives would be staged in 50 bunkers before shipping via Boston to Europe for the war against the Third Reich. Eminent domain was ordered, and the land taken, forever.

However, that’s only the surface of the tale…

Explore the who, how, and why. Learn about close-knit families in Maynard, Stow, Sudbury, and Hudson, Massachusetts, who lost their farms, their livelihoods. They not only had to find new places to live and work, they had to deal with the loss of all they had built. Their heritage was taken.

This program is free and open to the public. Thanks to the Harvard Cultural Council.

This program is offered by the Fort Devens Museum as part of the Hidden Treasures Festival of Nature, Culture & History, an annual month-long celebration showcasing events and activities hosted by local partners celebrating the unique places, objects, and stories of the Freedom’s Way National Heritage Area. Hidden Treasures programs are free and open to the public. Click to discover more Hidden Treasures!