Quilt Raffle - “Harmony”

Tickets are on sale at Catamount Country Store on Main Road in Colrain. Please support the Historical Society and try to win this beautiful handmade quilt.

The quilt is made with antique block fabric combined with new reproduction material to make it usable/washable. King Size.

Tickets are $5 each.

Drawing December 20, 2022. You do not need to be present to win.

Proceeds benefit the Colrain Historical Society.

2022 Calendars For Sale

 

The “Colrain on Canvas” 2022 calendars are for sale at 

• Pine Hill Orchards in Colrain
• Catamount Country Store in Colrain
• Hager’s Farm Market in Shelburne
• Boswell’s Books in Shelburne Falls

$15 each, proceeds benefit the Colrain Historical Society. These make great gifts!

For shipping please email deborahjeanwheeler@gmail.com. Shipping $3.00 additional.

November 2021 Update and Membership Drive

Click on the photos below to enlarge and read.

Dear Members and Friends,

 Flushed with pride in the success of our art exhibition, "Colrain on Canvas II," we approach 2022 with hopes for the return of in-person programs in an accessible Stacy Barn, the certification of the Pitt House for use as a museum, and a fresh Colrain on Canvas III.

Beyond their appeal as fundraisers, these popular "Colrain on Canvas" exhibitions of regional art serve to build community in Colrain. We invite your participation as volunteers in these and other Historical Society events. It's fun. 

Plans for the coming year---Covid permitting—include a Woodland Garden tour and Christmas house tour fundraisers, and a free, on-site program on the Dude Ranch. 

Why all this fundraising? Simply put, when we assumed trusteeship of the Pitt House property last year, we assumed the expense of maintaining, heating and insuring five buildings on the property. The material history of Colrain lives here in the collection of artifacts, photographs, textiles and documents donated by Colrain residents for more than 50 years. They tell Colrain's story. We curate the collection to preserve it and to uncover and display forgotten or little-known bits of town history in exhibits and in free programs. We hope to use the collection as a portal into Colrain's unique history for school children as well. 

As we plan for the re-opening of a refreshed museum in the Pitt House, once required repairs earn a certificate of occupancy, our focus is on relevancy: what did Colrain look like historically, who were its residents and what did they do? We welcome your input. 

Those repairs, largely foundational in the house and barn, will require capital funds beyond our annual operational budget. For that purpose we will be launching a capital campaign which you will hear about shortly. We will also be building a legacy circle of folks who include the Historical Society in their estate planning. Please consider joining that circle as a steward of Colrain's history into the future. 

Please fill out the form below and return it in the enclosed envelope with your generous donation. 

Thank you, 

 CHS Board of Directors 

Belden Merims, Joan McQuade, Ken Noyes, Phil Sherburne, Debby Wheeler, Janet Umphress, Casey Ryan, Bill Cole and Sarah Hollister 

- - - - - -

I support the efforts of the Colrain Historical Society!

**Non-member friends who contribute $50 or more will become life members.

Name

Address 

Email 

Phone 

Please accept my donation of ( ) $50 ( ) $100 ( ) $250 ( ) $500 Other:$ 

Please make check payable to The Colrain Historical Society. Thank you! 

Note: The CHS is a 501 (c) (3) charitable organization, so all your donations are deductible to the extent of the State and Federal tax regulations.

Two New Signs at the Arthur A. Smith Covered Bridge

Arthur A. Smith Bridge informational sign.

The Colrain Historical Commission has installed an informational sign on the eastern approach to the iconic Arthur A. Smith covered bridge in Lyonsville. This sign speaks for itself, but a smaller sign inside the bridge on the western end bears noting. The elegiac poem on that sign was composed about the bridge by the late Carol Purington, well-known here and the unofficial poet laureate of Colrain. Heath artist Frederick Burrington contributed the accompanying drawing.

“Covered Bridge” poem by Carol Purington, drawing by Frederick Burrington.

Poem and drawing are mounted on the upstream interior wall of the bridge on the West end.

Approach from the West side (from Foundry Village Rd).

Approach from the East side (from Rt. 112). Photo by David Nims.

Current Colrain Historical Commission members are 

• Belden Merims 
• Harold (Guy) Wheeler 
• Joan McQuade 
• Robert Ramirez 
• Sarah Davenport 
• David Nims, Chair

Colrain on Canvas II Art Show Prints For Sale

These are 6 prints of paintings that were in the Colrain on Canvas II Art show. They are for sale at $10.00 each. They can be mailed for an additional $1.50. 

Payment can be mailed or sent through PayPal. Local pickup with cash payment is also an option. All proceeds benefit the Colrain Historical Society. For more information email Deborahjeanwheeler@gmail.com or send a message through the Colrain Historical Society Facebook page.

The prints measure 11 “x 14”, including the border. 

• Top left is the Second Baptist Church on Christian Hill by Debra Schecterle Booth. 
• Top right is Griswoldville by Maria Miller Kingsley. (Ignore the glare from my camera.)
• Middle left is Colrain Center by Jim Baker.
• Middle right is Smith covered bridge by Robert Chandler.
• Bottom left is Colrain Center by Althea Brigham.
• Bottom right is The Red Mill by William Lester Stevens.

Colrain the inspiration for weekend art show

 

An article about the “Colrain on Canvas II” Art Show was in the Recorder on Tuesday, September 28. Read the article on the Greenfield Recorder website.

https://www.recorder.com/Colrain-the-inspiration-for-weekend-art-show-42693955

Colrain on Canvas ll

Colrain on Canvas ll

Saturday and Sunday, September 25-26

10 am - 4 pm

Shelburne Buckland Community Center

53 Main St, Shelburne Falls, MA

Admission $10

The Colrain Historical Society will present Colrain on Canvas II, with 65 Colrain scenes recently found in private collections.

Most of the works are from private collections in the Hilltowns, many depicting homes and villages in Colrain “as they once were.” The paintings are all different from the last show in 2019.

Artists are both contemporary and deceased, famous and not-so-famous, trained as well as self-taught. It is intentionally a non-curated show: the mixed media, the varying skills of the artists and their perspectives are part of the magic. Among the paintings to be shown is this Griswoldville scene by Colrain native, Maria Miller Kingsley.

In a separate room, prints of some of the show paintings, antique map reproductions, and some contemporary paintings will be available for sale.

Also, there will be a separate side exhibit assembled by Sarah Hollister, “Found at the Conway Dump,” which documents the names and lives of workers in the early Griswold Mill, 1838 to 1842. This material came from a ledger kept at the mill by a 19-year-old accountant of sorts, which was found recently at the Conway dump.

The show is a fundraiser for the Colrain Historical Society.

October News: Program Postponement and Annual Meeting Via Zoom

We had planned to have our annual meeting and a much-anticipated program about the Colrain dude ranch at the former dude ranch property in October. Alas, the spread of the Covid delta variant has made an indoor gathering now feel unwise. We have reluctantly decided to postpone that program until 2022, perhaps in June.

However, because under the society bylaws we need to hold an annual meeting and election of officers, we will do that on Zoom on Thursday, October 14, at 7 p.m. We will send you a reminder and link for the Zoom meeting in advance. We hope enough of you will attend this fairly brief meeting to provide a quorum. 

Regretfully, Belden Merims, chr., Board of Directors

Fifty Years in Foundry Village

Calvin Patterson Call (1910-2007) lived the first fifty years of his life in Foundry Village, a neighborhood in Colrain, Massachusetts. In the late 1900s and early 2000s he wrote about his memories of that time. He printed copies for family and friends, and gifted one to the Griswold Memorial Library. Recently his daughter Lois gave permission to make a PDF copy available on the Colrain Historical Society website.

Click this link to read the 34 page document.

The document contains six sections:

Foundry Village

The Family of Byron and Alice Call

Foundry Village School

Colrain Center

Bridges in Colrain

Colrain Stores (as I remember)

 

Program: Found at the Conway Dump

David Vining’s account book for the years 1838-1843

We’re back, Thursday, August 12, with an engaging program by Sarah Hollister, "Found at the Conway Dump,” based on an early account book kept by David Vining at the Griswold Manufacturing Co. from 1838-1843. The book has names of many workers and contractors at the mill, including Shippee, McCloud, Temple and Denison. It’s a fascinating slice of Colrain history rescued from the dump.

The evening wlll begin with a potluck picnic supper behind the Pitt House on Main Road, Colrain, at 6 p.m., followed at 7 by a CHS meeting, which will include a progress report on work completed on the Pitt House property and work yet to be done. Sarah’s program will begin at 7:30. 

For the potluck, bring a salad, main course, or dessert to share, plus your place setting. Beverage will be provided, or bring your own. 

Griswold Manufacturing

“Upper Mill” in Lyonsville

Historical Notes 2021

The Spring 2021 edition of Historical Notes, the newsletter of the Colrain Historical Society, was mailed to members in late April. Click here for a PDF version. Click on the photos of the pages below to view a larger image.

November 2020 Update and Membership Drive

Click on the photos below to enlarge and read.