A Page from North Quabbin History: Solomon Willard and the Bunker Hill Monument
Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown. file photo
Bunker Hill Monument. Contributed photo
Petersham birthplace of Solomon Willard. Willard’s birthplace once stood on the southeast corner of North Main Street and Route 101 and was taken down in 1890, Contributed photo/Petersham Historical Society
Modified: 7/11/2021 5:07:28 PM
The Bunker Hill Monument is well known statewide and nationally. The architect of this 221-foot-tall historical icon was Solomon Willard, a Petersham native.
Willard was born and raised in Petersham, attending schools there, according to Christine Mandel of the Petersham Historical Society. Willard’s birthplace once stood on the southeast corner of North Main Street and Route 101 and was taken down in 1890, when the current stone house was built, she continued. This house was one of the houses occupied by Daniel Shays’ men on the night of Feb. 3, 1787 during Shays’ Rebellion. “Solomon would have been about 4 years old at that time. His older brother, Samuel, wrote about the experience in later years,” she said.