Talk about West Newton Hill

Abele, who lives in Newtonville, will provide examples of the area’s 19th and 20th century homes such as the Horace Mann House. There is also the site where Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote “The Blithedale Romance,” a residence which stood at the intersection of Chestnut and Highland streets from about 1848 until it was demolished in 1940.

Abele will also share photographs from the museum’s collection and describe how maps, photographs, and remnants of stone walls and fences can be used to reconstruct patterns of development.

“When people have an appreciation for how neighborhoods develop and evolve,” she said, “it helps them make decisions about whether to change or continue caring for them.”