At last, spring! As frost leaves the ground behind the Museum, heavy equipment will move in to replace the out-of-code septic system with a tight tank. Next step: structural work to allow the installation of a handicap-accessible bathroom at ground level, which state code requires for a certificate of occupancy. It's been a long haul, and costly.
While this project winds its way through the bureaucracy, volunteers have labored to inventory, scan and digitize the historical society's collection of artifacts, documents, archival photographs, letters and deeds - nearly 3,000 of them so far - which constitute the material history of Colrain. When they finish their work, we'll know exactly what we have and where it is. Ultimately, this will make possible a museum online for the world to see.
But first, a physical museum that taps the collection to tell Colrain's story about early settlers, its scattered villages and the men and women, farmers, mill workers, and woodsmen who lived and worked here. We'll show their schools, mills, churches, the
clothes they wore and who they were, right up through the 20th century.
The Curatorial Committee is working on that too.
And while all this goes on largely unseen, we'll keep you busy with programs in the Stacy Barn and events through early December. We'll have programs on the history of sheep in Colrain, on a sense of place in Colrain, among other Colrain-focused topics.
Mark your calendar for Sunday, August 3,
and an ice cream social with live music behind the museum, celebrating the 100th birthday of a lively CHS member (it's a surprise).
Our popular "Colrain and the Hilltowns on Canvas" returns for its sixth year with a new display of paintings and drawings of local scenes by known professionals and talented amateur artists, September 19-21.
And don't miss the Christmas potluck and auction
(live and silent) fundraiser at the Shelburne-Buckland Community Center in Shelburne Falls, December 6.
You can help us by donating Colrain items, crafts for gifts, antiques and baked goods for sale. Watch for details.
Coming this fall to a store near you: the Colrain Apple Cookbook, long in the works, with apple recipes from Colrain cooks, photos and a brief history of apples and orchards in Colrain.
(From the Spring 2025 Newsletter.)
