This was William Windom's debut as the curmudgeonly Dr. Seth Hazlitt. He previously made a guest appearance at the end of season 1, Funeral at Fifty-Mile (1985), playing a different character.
This is the first time the name Joshua Peabody, Cabot Cove's Revolutionary War hero, is mentioned.
Robin Bach, who played Ellsworth Buffum, died just five years after this episode aired, due to complications from AIDS in 1991. He was 43. Bach appeared as different characters in five episodes (S1.E2, S2.E2, S3.E1, S4.E22, S6.E12).
David Sheiner (Arthur Griswold) also appeared in S5.E6 "Wearing of the Green" as a different character (Leo Selkirk). That episode was Sheiner's final acting credit.