Episode Guest
Aubrey Brown, Interpretive Park Ranger
Lowell National Historical Park
Park Stats
- Location: Lowell, Massachusetts
- Date designated: June 6, 1978
- President when the monument was created: Jimmy Carter
- Park size: 137 acres
- Number of visitors (2023): 256,303
- Interesting Facts:
- Textile Mill that was built in 1821 at the beginning of the industrial era
- Dependant on the immigrants and women who were entering the workforce
- Work in the mill was dedicated to war supplies during WWII
- Primary products coming from the mill were cloth for dish towels
- Home to 30-40 employees in their boarding house
Speed Round
What is your earliest park memory?
My earliest park memory is a trip that my family took to Mammoth Cave National Park. Grew up in Ohio and mammoth Cave was right there. We were not a National Park family, like we just didn’t go to national parks, but Mammoth Cave, it’s cool. I very distinctly remember descending down into this cave. I thought we did the entire cave. No, we did maybe a mile of the 400 plus miles of mammoth cave, but for me, we did the whole cave.
What made you love the parks?
Honestly, it’s the Rangers. Because the parks do speak for themselves, whether it’s a natural park or historical park, but having the opportunity to talk to a ranger who knows some of those hidden stories, who knows how to help you connect to those places. And it’s not just the interpretive rangers that give you the tours and give you the programs. Even the maintenance workers, they have their own stories and they share their own experiences with you. And just being able to make those connections because these natural and cultural national park units, it doesn’t matter unless you have that human connection. And so the park rangers, they give you that human connection.
What is your favorite thing about Lowell National Historical Park?
Honestly, my interest is so vast and varied. But my favorite thing about Lowell National Historical Park is the fact that there is so much here. I’m never bored. I’m constantly finding new things to research, new things to take deep dives into.
If I had to give a favorite thing that a visitor can experience, I’m gonna say for me it’s the Suffolk Mill tour. Seeing the power looms operating and everything, that’s great. It’s fun, but you get to dig down deep into the guts of these mills to see exactly how ingenuity they were in manufacturing. So I’m not an engineer, but I like to know things. And so that gives me the opportunity to really wrap my head around this whole city.
What park have you yet to visit but is on your bucket list and why?
I am a social historian. I started out in archeology before switching over to history, and I am very much interested in social institutions that were created in the 19th century. Things like poor houses. I’m a specialist in poor houses, orphanages, hospitals, just these topics that are set aside because they’re a little unsavory for a lot of people. So the park that I just wanna visit is Kalaupapa in Hawaii on the island of Molokai. And that is it’s a active. Community, which is one of the few national parks that has an active community there.
But this is where from in the 19th century, even up until the 1950s people were sent to this remote location for leprosy and not really to cure leprosy, just to shove them away because there was no cure at the time. They didn’t know that it is a preventable thing. And so I would love to go to Kalaupapa to see how they first set up the community but also to learn the people who were sent there, how they survived, how they passed their days.
And even today you have people who are either were sent there for leprosy or are descendants of families that were sent there. And that’s just a part of history that I think we need to appreciate a little more.
What are three must-haves you pack for a park visit?
Water snacks, and very good walking shoes. Whether you’re hiking a mountain or walking downtown, you gotta have good footwear.
What is your favorite campfire activity?
Here at Lowell we don’t really have a campfire activity like you might get at other parks. But for me, at other parks I’ve been to that have evening programs or campfire talks, I like to learn more about learn more about the nightlife, whether it’s astronomy or animals that are native to the area and how they exist at night. Just having the opportunity to be immersed in a time where normally we’re shuttered in our homes and being able to be outside and experiencing whatever nature, natural or manmade is available.
Tent, camper, or cabin?
I love to be in a tent. I just feel like I am in a cocoon. It’s like this, I’m in nature, but I still have that nice little protective barrier. But there’s nothing like hearing the zipper in the morning when you unzip it, and instantly you’re there.
Hiking with or without trekking poles?
It depends on the terrain. If I’m just walking on fairly level surfaces, usually no trekking poles. But I do find that they are very beneficial, especially if you are walking on varied terrain, especially steep inclines up or down. They just provide a little extra stability. And I am one of those people I cannot walk without looking around and I get distracted. And so I’m very clumsy. Trekking poles do help me when I need to be paying a little more attention to my footing instead of what’s around me.
And what is your favorite trail snack?
So my favorite trail snack, I have to go with roasted chickpeas and dried fruit. It’s a good salty, sweet combination.
What is the favorite animal sighting that you’ve had?
My favorite animal sighting, this is tough. I guess your standard animal sighting would be, I saw a mountain lion when I worked at Carlsbad Caverns National Park. I was driving outta the park and this mountain lion just casually crossed the road as I was driving outta the park after a night sky program. That was pretty wild. I had to really second guess what I saw, but I could not debunk it. I asked some of some of the rangers who had been there longer said, oh yeah. Was it at mile three? Oh yeah. It was a mountain lion. Multiple people had seen the mountain lion at mile three.
I guess my favorite wild life spotting encounter experience, again, I have to go back to Carlsbad Caverns and watching the bat flight. You have thousands of hundreds of thousands of bats just billowing out of the cave. And to be able to be there and just hear it, smell it, it’s an incredible experience.
What is your favorite sound in the parks?
My favorite sound, I love when those looms turn on. I just love the rhythm. I dance to it every time. So we’ll go with the looms
What is the greatest gift the parks give to us?
Wonder. No matter where you are, they’re going to give you wonder and curiosity and just makes you step outside of your own little bubble to realize that there is much more out there. There are things that are worth protecting. Because they are not limitless. They’re finite resources that could easily disappear, whether it is the natural land or whether it is the mills. At any point in time this could all go away. And so that wonder that you’re left with it’s what makes it all worthwhile.