Colrain and the Hilltowns on Canvas VI Art Show

Red Mill by W. Lester Stevens

Adamsville Road, Colrain

Colrain Historical Society’s Annual Colrain and the Hilltowns on Canvas VI Art Show

Friday, September 19, 5 pm - 8 pm

Saturday, September 20, 10 am - 4 pm

Sunday, September 21, 10 am - 4 pm

at the Shelburne Buckland Community Center

53 Main St. Shelburne Falls, Ma. 

For this fundraising event, over 50 pieces of art covering the 19th to the 21st century from private homes and collections in West County will be hanging.

As in the past, there are famous regional painters, professionals as well as self-taught artists included in the show. Every painting is new to this show. There will be a silent auction of 3 paintings including a Dirk Xu of Arms Academy and an A. Hale Johnson print. 

Admission is $10.00.

For more information contact Deb Wheeler at 413-624-8800.

Program: A Brief History of Sheep and other Fiber Animals, Colrain and Surrounding Towns: 1738 - 2025

Sheep on the Common in Colrain Center.

Undated photo. Note that it is a reverse image.

Photo from the CHS collection.

Thursday, September 11, 2025

Meeting at 7 pm and program at 7:30 pm 

Stacy Barn 8 Main Rd Colrain 

By 1837 there were 55,308 sheep in Franklin County. Most were pastured in the upland towns of Ashfield, Colrain, Charlemont, Leyden, and Conway. Changes in the landscape will be discussed as a result of this “sheep fever”. By 1850 things began to change politically including ending tariffs on wool from England. The early changing market conditions will be outlined as well as the change to dairy cattle as an alternative.

Washroom Construction at the Pitt House

 This is excerpted from an email report by Nina Reyes to CHS committee members, dated August 20, 2025. Belden Merims suggested it be posted here. The work is part of an ongoing effort to obtain a Certificate of Occupancy. The Spring 2025 newsletter previewed this project: ”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.”

1) The tight-tank installation is complete. When I left the job-site this afternoon, he was completing the PVC connection between the tank and the plumbing remnant from the septic tank. Tomorrow, Scott Denison’s electrician is going to run an alarm into the mud porch (because there is no crawl space beneath that area, the connection will likely have to come in via conduit, and it seemed least obtrusive to not bring it into the museum itself). I expect an inspection will be required before the thing can be covered over entirely. 

2) Roger’s crew installed a series of five support posts that will be used to install laminated beams to span the entire length beneath the eaves timbers, which were merely cobbled together. They will be removed once the laminated beams are in place and secured to the eaves timbers with steel plates, and facsimiles of the original posts will be installed in their stead. To my understanding, the northern wall will receive its own series of posts for the same purpose tomorrow. This work is all being done in preparation for hanging the building, which will allow for the digging of footings. 

3) The crew also padded out the west wall of the office in preparation for installing R-19 insulation. It’s a little hard to see in the picture below, but 2x6 boards were sistered to the existing 2x4 studs, creating a cavity capable of accepting the R-value prescribed by the architect’s drawing. 

Ice Cream Social

Date: Sunday, August 3, 2025 

Time: 2 - 4 pm

Location: Museum of Colrain History, 8 Main Road, Colrain

It takes a village to celebrate. 

The Colrain Historical Society wants to thank the many volunteers who make possible the work we do---and to celebrate the 100th birthday of Marion Stafford--one of our earliest, and most social, members---at an Ice Cream Social behind the museum Sunday, August 3, from 2-4 p.m. As it did last year, Blueberry Haus of Guilford, Vt. will provide the ice cream. It’s free, so join us and the birthday girl.

A young boy enjoys an ice cream cone in Colrain.

Marion H. Lusty Stafford’s birth announcement in the Greenfield newspaper.