Road From Roxbury

Seven-year-old Charlotte Tucker begins to sense the big world around Roxbury, Massachusetts, and wonder when she will get to see it.

What was once Beaverdam, Moresville, and Batavia-Kill are now known as Roxbury, Grand Gorge, and the Denver/Vega Valley. Pioneers worked their way south from Grand Gorge, and by the 1790s, the settlements in Roxbury, Denver, and Vega were beginning to take shape. Around Roxbury looks at the history of the area, from the 1800s to the mid-1900s. Farms, thriving businesses, fine hotels, boardinghouses, and community gatherings all contributed to the growth of Roxbury. Railroad baron Jay Gould and naturalist John Burroughs were both born in Roxbury, and each left their mark on history, both locally and nationally. The town has seen many changes yet manages to retain much of its appeal to this day.

Living with her family in Roxbury, Massachusetts, five-year-old Charlotte Tucker, who would grow up to become the grandmother of Laura Ingalls Wilder, feels the effects of the War of 1812.