The Topsfield Fair, just off Route 1 in Topsfield, Massachusetts, has been entertaining crowds since 1818. People from nearby towns have gathered over the years to marvel at oxen-plowing matches, women who change into gorillas, and a succession of technological developments, like the noisy gasoline engines that were on display back in 1903.

(Text adapted from and photograph shot on assignment for "A Journey Down Old U.S. 1," December 1984, National Geographic magazine)