Wednesday, December 27, 2023

The Early Settlers of Colrain, Mass.

 


A scanned copy of “The Early Settlers of Colrain, Mass.” by Charles McClellan is on the Library of Congress website. This is a wonderful source of information about early Colrain and its people, and very readable. 

Read it here:

The book may also be read at Colrain’s Griswold Memorial Library.

Colrain's First Public House

 



Colrain’s first publick house, built in 1738-39, was known as Pennell’s Tavern, later Woods’ Tavern and an inn. It was here that Colrain’s Committee of Correspondence met in 1774 “to discuss the situation and other matters including probably, certain liquids that John Woods naturally kept” and framed the Colrain Resolutions against the tea tax and British rule, according to “Early Settlers of Colrain” by Charles H. McClellan (1885). A portion of the tavern’s wainscoting is preserved in the Historical Museum in Deerfield. The building stood just northwest of the home David Nims at the top of Chandler Hill. This photo was taken long after the tavern ceased to function and shortly before it was torn down in the 1890s.

A scanned copy of the Lyon family genealogy on the Google books website is the source of this photo.


Saturday, December 9, 2023

Programs on YouTube

 Some of the Colrain Historical Society programs were recorded and posted to our YouTube channel. 

https://www.youtube.com/@colrainhistoricalsociety2338

“Those Colrain Girls” presented October 12, 2023.

Colrain’s Own “Dr. Ollie” presented April 13, 2023.

A Hurrah’s Nest and Other Yankee Talk presented May 12, 2022

Pioneer Valley Dude Ranch presented July 14, 2022.





Thursday, November 30, 2023

November 2023 Update and Membership Drive

Click on the photos below to enlarge and read.



November, 2023

Dear Members and Friends,

In 1909, in Colrain, Estella Smith married Ralph Purrington in a white tulle and lace wedding dress. In 2023, their granddaughter in California sent us that dress and a portrait of the newlyweds, plus a photo of Ralph on the job on the Shelburne Falls-Colrain Electric Road (trolley).

That’s the stuff of the story of Colrain and of the people who lived here.

The Colrain Historical Society preserves and maintains an extensive collection of artifacts, photos (especially), documents and textiles that tell those stories. They will be told in the Museum of Colrain History (formerly known as the Pitt House) throughout our five buildings in Colrain center. Work to restore these buildings for a refreshed museum will continue in 2024. You can support us in this work by volunteering to help at the summer garden tour or the “Colrain and the Hilltowns on Canvas” in the fall or by working on the collection or in building maintenance.

Meanwhile, the collection will inspire programs next summer such as “Murder on Catamount” and Colrain’s Johnny Appleseed.

We hope you’ll consider joining the Helen Stacy Legacy Circle by including the Historical Society in your estate planning as a steward of Colrain’s history into the future.

We count on your support to meet ongoing expenses such as heating, insurance and maintenance. Please fill out the form on the back of this letter and return it in the enclosed envelope with your generous contribution.

Thank you,

Colrain Historical Society Board of Directors 
 Joan McQuade, Maria Kingsley, Phil Sherburne, Debby Wheeler, Sarah Hollister, Casey Ryan, Bill Cole, Belden Merims and Cynthia Herbert


- - - - - - 


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 Federal tax regulations.

Saturday, November 4, 2023

Christmas in Colrain House Tour


Two festively decorated gingerbread houses in a snowy scene

December 2 and 3, 2023
10 am to 4 pm


The Historical Society's Christmas in Colrain house tour will feature four House interiors fully decorated for the Holidays! 

- An early colonial home in the Williamsburg natural style
- A Victorian home from the 1900's with Christmas trees and elegance 
- A country home, warm and cozy 
- And a Christmas wonderland: a collectors Christmas 

There will also be a raffle of a handmade Christmas quilt. Gingerbread houses and boxwood Christmas trees will be for for sale. 

 Tickets are $20 each and can be purchased at Pine Hill Orchard (248 Greenfield Rd., Colrain) or Catamount Country Store (113 Main Rd., Colrain) after Nov. 15th. For more information call 624-8800. A map for the self guided tour in Colrain will be on your ticket. Tour hours on both days are 10am-4pm.


2023 Calendars now available!


On Sept 22nd and 23rd the Colrain Historical Society hosted an exhibition of paintings titled “Colrain and the Hilltowns on Canvas”. The exhibit’s offerings of over 75 paintings by 40 different artists, all from private collections, ranged from 19th century works to contemporary pieces reflecting the changing face of our towns over time. 

The thirteen images in this calendar are selected from the exhibit. Calendars can be purchased for $15 at Pine Hill Orchards, Catamount Country Store or Hager’s Farm Market. For more information call 624-8800.

"Industries and Occupations of Old Colrain" - now available!


This extensively researched and colorful narrative of Colrain industries and occupations dating from the early years of the town was written by Katherine Cram for the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association. The Colrain Historical Society has recently published it with many added archival photographs. 

The book is available at Catamount Country Store and at Pine Hill Orchards for $20. A perfect Christmas present!

More information about the book here.

Friday, September 29, 2023

Program: “Those Colrain Girls”

“Those Colrain Girls” will relate the hi-jinks of a variety of women who grew up in various villages of town during the 1950s and 1960s at the October meeting of the Colrain Historical Society on Thursday, October 12, at the home of Joan McQuade, 7 Main Road. 

The evening will begin with a potluck supper at 6 p.m., followed by a business meeting at 7 and the election of officers. The program will begin at 7:30.

Attendees are asked to bring an entree, vegetables or dessert to share, along with a table setting. There will be cider to drink. The program is free and open to the public. 

Four Colrain girls and their brother in 1953.


Saturday, September 16, 2023

Industries and Occupations of Colrain by Katherine Holton Cram - 2023 Edition


The Colrain Historical Society is excited to offer a new booklet for sale. It is a reprint of “Industries and Occupations of Colrain” by Katherine Holton Cram, originally published in 1941, with 72 added photographs and maps and new text.

Cram’s original 30-page history appeared in the 1941 Annual Report of the Pioneer Valley Memorial Association and has not been printed since then. In a 1936 newspaper article Katherine Cram reports that she spent many years researching the genealogy and history of Colrain families, and said “You see, there is a real need for a history of Colrain, for the past of this town is scattered through many volumes.” 

The original 1941 text is courtesy of the PVMA Library, Deerfield, Massachusetts. The new edition is © 2023 by the Colrain Historical Society, Inc.

Click on the images below to enlarge. The front cover image (page 1) is at the top of this post.


Page 2

Page 3

Page 5

Page 34

Page 35

Back cover

Monday, September 4, 2023

Colrain and the Hilltowns on Canvas - Sept 23rd and 24th

 
The Colrain Historical Society will sponsor its fourth annual fundraising art show on Sept 23 and 24, 9 am - 4 pm,  at the Shelburne-Buckland Community Center, 53 Main Street in Shelburne Falls. Admission: $10.

There will be over 75 paintings by 48 different artists, all paintings not seen in previous years. Most are works on loan from private collections and homes in the hilltowns. The artists are contemporary or deceased, famous and not so famous, as well as self-taught. It is intentionally a non-curated show. The mixed media, skill of the artist, and their prospective is part of the magic.


Please join us again this year for this rare opportunity to see a slice of hill town art and history. Regionally famous painters will include George Gardner Symons, Steve Maniatty, Robert Strong Woodward, Edwin Lorenzo Elmer and A. Hale Johnson among others. A special feature will be paintings by Judith Russell, a longtime Shelburne Falls folk artist.

We will also have prints and reprints of some items in the Historical Society’s collection and reprints of old maps for sale as well.


The Historical Society will also have a new booklet for sale, based on the Industries and Occupations of Colrain done by Katherine Cram in the late 1930s.
Front cover
Back cover

Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Program: Showing of Documentary Film “Root Hog or Die”

“Root Hog or Die” DVD cover image

The Colrain Historical Society will show the 1973 documentary film “Root Hog or Die,” which portrays the vanishing way of life of dairy farmers in Western Massachusetts and southern Vermont, on Thursday, September 14, at 7:30 p.m. in the Stacy Barn behind the Pitt House at 8 Main Road, Colrain. 

Digitally remastered by Bernardston filmmaker Rawn Fulton, his film visits “an array of elders, who reflect on farming’s deep natural patterns, share their family histories and personal memories… [manifesting] the quiet pride they take in their lives as farmers.” Fulton will show the film and stay for a question and answer period. 

The program will follow a meeting at 7 p.m. Both are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. 

More information about the film, and a short preview may be seen here: https://store.der.org/root-hog-or-die-p485.aspx

Read this 2012 Greenfield Recorder article by Richie Davis:



Excerpt about Colrain’s Fred Call from the Ritchie Davis article.

The DVD is available at Colrain’s Griswold Memorial Library and other local public libraries.

Back cover of the DVD

Four screenshots from the film showing Fred Call at his gas station in Colrain Center.





Save the Dates for the Colrain and Hill Towns on Canvas Art Show

SEPTEMBER 23, 24, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Colrain and Hill Towns on Canvas IV

at the Shelburne-Buckland Community Center

Back of the 2023 Colrain Historical Society Calendar showing some of the paintings from the 2022 Art Show.

More paintings of Colrain and Hill Town scenes, and antique maps and art for sale at this benefit exhibition.

Monday, July 24, 2023

Program: “Sugar Mountain” Author Talk

Front book cover

Colrain novelist Alfred Alcorn will discuss his novel “Sugar Mountain,” and growing up on a dairy farm in South Chelmsfoird in a Historical Society program Thursday, August 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the Stacy Barn behind the Pitt House on Main Road in Colrain. 

Published in 2013 and set in Colrain, “Sugar Mountain” follows an extended family attempting to survive marauding neighbors and a Covid-like pandemic. 

The program will follow a 7 p.m. meeting. Both are free and open to the public, Refreshments will be served. Questions: call 624-3453.

Back book cover

Read an article about the novel in the Greenfield Recorder:


Check available copies of the book in the local public library system: https://bark.cwmars.org/eg/opac/record/3305161


Saturday, July 8, 2023

Daylily and Perennials Sale


Saturday and Sunday
JULY 22 & 23
10 am - 4 pm

Colrain Historical Society Daylily sale at the Pitt House, 8 Main Road, Colrain. Name variety potted daylilies, many award winners, in various colors, hopefully in bloom. Plus other interesting perennials.

The daylilies will also be available for sale at the Historical Society Potluck Supper and Meeting as well on Thursday July 20 at 6 pm at the Pitt House backyard lawn.

Proceeds benefit the Colrain Historical Society.






Monday, June 26, 2023

July Meeting and Potluck Picnic Supper

[UPDATE 7/2/2023] Notice: Because of the weather, our regular monthly meeting and potluck picnic must be postponed from tomorrow to next Thursday, July 20, at 6 p.m. at the Pitt House. I hope you can come. We’ve assembled an exhibit of never-before-seen items from the collection for you to enjoy.

 
Undated photo of Colrain Center as seen from near the location of the current school, looking south the the village and surrounding hills.
Undated photo of Colrain Center viewed from the location of the current school looking south to the village and surrounding hills.


The Colrain Historical Society will hold their July meeting and potluck picnic supper behind the Pitt House at 8 Main Road in Colrain on Thursday, July  13  20

Picnic at 6 p.m. will be followed by a brief meeting and show-and-tell of interesting items from the society’s extensive collection, including a lace and tulle wedding dress worn by a Colrain bride in 1909.

For the picnic, bring a main course, veggie, salad or dessert to share. Iced tea will be available.

Undated photo of Colrain Center.


Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Colrain Annual Reports through the Internet Archive

Cover of 1957 Colrain Annual Report with photo of Griswold Memorial Library
Screenshot of the Internet Archive website showing the cover of the 1957 Annual Report with a photo of the Griswold Memorial Library.


Griswold Memorial Library, in collaboration with Boston Public Library, is working to digitize materials in the library’s local history collection, starting with their collection of Annual Reports. See them here: https://archive.org/details/griswoldmemoriallibrary

Screenshot of the Griswold Memorial Library page on the Internet Archive website.

Screenshot showing the available years of the Colrain Annual Report.


Some of the recent years of the Annual Report are available on the Town of Colrain website:  https://colrain-ma.gov/p/8101/Annual-Reports

Screenshot of the Annual Reports page on the Town of Colrain website.





Monday, June 19, 2023

The Red Mill

In this photo, dated sometime after 1913, you can see the box shop to the left of what became the Sewell home.


The Red Mill, on the bank of the West Branch River across from the cemetery, operated the first electric power generator in Colrain, beginning in 1904. Operator Frederick Purrington provided current to local homes until midnight, when he went to bed. On request, he would stay open until 1 a.m. for house parties, unless he forgot. 

But the mill had a long history as a grist mill operated by Joseph Smith beginning in the early 1800s, also producing wooden grain measures, soap boxes and later butter boxes, and heavy shipping boxes called shooks. Leo and Lawrence Lively operated the box shop until 1943, when Carl Sewell bought and operated the business. Destroyed by fire in 1947, it was remodeled as a home for the Sewells. ​

In this photo, dated sometime after 1913, you can see the box shop to the left of what became the Sewell home.


Friday, June 2, 2023

Program: “The Canal at Montague”

Screen shot of opening scene of video with aerial photo of canal in Montague, Massachusetts.
Screenshot from the video showing a historic photo of the canal and factory buildings.

This fascinating video, tracing the history of the industrial canal around which Turners Falls grew, will be shown and discussed at a program following the 7 p.m. meeting of the Colrain Historical Society on Thursday, June 8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Stacy Barn behind the Pitt House at 8 Main Road. 

Built after the Civil War, the canal made possible the expansion the Griswold Manufacturing Company, long the major employer in Colrain. Videographer Chris Clawson will be present to answer questions about this important era of local industrial history. 

The program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. Questions? Call Belden, 624-3453.

Screenshot from video showing aerial view of the canal, the Connecticut River, and the village of Turners Falls, Massachusetts.
Screenshot from video showing an aerial view of the canal, Connecticut River, and the village of Turners Falls.


Thursday, May 4, 2023

Tour of the Wheel-View Farm Museum


The Wheel-View Farm Museum at 212 Reynolds Road, Shelburne will host the May meeting of the Colrain Historical Society on Thursday, May 11, at 7 p.m

After a brief business meeting, hosts John and Carolyn Wheeler will talk about the history of their farm and the museum at 7:30. Attendees can tour the museum, which offers a peek into the world of small farms around the turn of the 20th century and earlier. 

 The program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served. With questions, call 413-624-3453.

Wheel-View Farm location shown on 1894 USGS Map, Greenfield, MA quadrangle



Wheel-View Farm Leopold Conservation Award video 2022 (includes a segment about the museum.)



Wednesday, April 26, 2023

Winnifred Lincoln’s 1938 Hurricane and Flood Experience in Colrain Center

Martha Donelson Katz recently gifted to the Colrain Historical Society a letter written by her grandmother, Winnifred E. McKay Lincoln (1875 - 1951,) after the hurricane and flood of September, 1938. Winnifred lived then in the Methodist parsonage, now gone, which was near to the old Colrain Central School, now the town garage. In vivid prose she describes the harrowing experience of being alone in the house as the North River tore over its banks and into her house. She goes on to describe the huge work of recovery and the effect on the town of Colrain.

Winnifred Lincoln leased this house in Colrain Center from the Methodist Church. It was the former Parsonage. In her letter she refers to the round porch on the front right corner as the “front piazza.”

The first page of Winnifred Lincoln’s letter to her Aunt Emma, written in cursive on personalized letterhead paper.


Monday Evening 
October 3, 1938 

Dear Aunt Emma, ​

Your letter came several days ago, but this is the first chance I have had to answer it. You said that Brewster did not suffer from the flood of Sept. 21 at all, and you are very fortunate. ​

Colrain not only suffered, but is practically ruined,--the damage to roads and bridges alone being nearly $400,000! As the town is bonded for only $70,000, you can see that the state must bear the burden. Every farm the length of the valley met with loss and devastation, unless their buildings set high up, as do the Donelsons, for they were unharmed, although they worked like mad, all night, to keep the water from going into their incubator cellar. ​

Every little brook had become a roaring torrent, the river had been filling and rising steadily for four days of rain, and on Wednesday afternoon of the 31st, at about 4:30, the hurricane started. ​

We could see the trees snapping and breaking across the valley, and the sound of the roaring river was deafening. At 5:15, all the lights in town went out, and I immediately lighted five candles, got my flash-light, finished my supper, called Bunny [her cat] in, fastened everything securely outside, and locked every window and door. I kept going to the front window to watch the river, which was almost up to the floor of the bridge by that time. Something told me to begin to pick up everything I could, so I went to work in the darkness and alone, hurrying like mad. I turned up all the bedspreads, picked up all scatter rugs, cushions, pillows, afghans, etc, and threw them up the attic stairs, piled the beds with all the small chairs, tables, folding screens, sewing cabinet, hatrack, footstool, magazine rack---everything I could lay my hands on! The beds were heaped! I actually threw Bunny upstairs, he was so frightened. I moved all vases to firm places, so that they’d be safe, looped the velvet portieres up over the door-casing, and tossed the clothing in my own closet up on to the shelf above. I was racing thro’ the house, holding my flashlight all the time, and just as I came from the kitchen to the dining-room the last time I saw water on the floor, and instantly heard it begin to thunder into the cellar-- just like cannonading!! I could not see outside the house, it was so dark but the wind was frightful! ​

My house was marooned even then, although I did not know it, the cellar filled almost instantly, and in less time than I could possible tell you, every single room in the house was filling, the big rugs lifted from the floor and I could feel them billow as I walked. In a minute or so, the water was over my ankles, and simply pouring in everywhere, and everything dark except for my flashlight and my little flickering candles. I telephoned to Ruth [her daughter Ruth Donelson] for help, but they couldn’t get out of their own yard, because the river was several feet deep over their road [Rte. 112 north of town]. The central operator telephoned to say that some men were coming in a boat to get me, and just then the telephone went out of commission. ​

Just then, also, I heard the sound of breaking glass, and I thought that the hurricane had blown in an upstairs window, and my mind said, “How are you going to fix that in this darkness?” ​

I started to find my way thro’ the water to the attic stairs, and as I waded up the first two stairs, I heard someone call my name. And, to my amazement, three men were in the attic, having entered from over the woodshed roof, smashed a window, and came to take me out of the house. ​

So we came down the stairs, the second one being already under water; we ploughed through the rooms to the back door which opens on the side piazza, and a boat had been rowed right up on to the piazza floor, so I was told to step into it, and I did so. The water all around my house, over the garden, past all my neighbors’ buildings, etc., was six feet deep. It was even with the window sills outside my house, but inside, on all the floors it was 15 inches deep!!

I was taken to a neighbor’s house at the upper end of the village that night, and I stayed there until the Sat. following when I went to Ruth’s, and where I am now. ​

The next morning when I came back to my house, I came to a scene of ruins, wreckage, and mud! The water receded that same evening, but all the big rugs, lower parts of gables, chairs, stuffed furniture, book cases, etc., were soaked and plastered with heavy river muck! It was heart-breaking! ​

So, all my furniture was moved out at​ once and put into temporary storage, and all rugs, portieres, all linen from my linen chests (some 21 sheets in the bottom drawers), 6 table-cloths, clothing galore, etc., etc., were sent to the cleaners at once. What that bill will be, I do not know! Then every linoleum in the house had to be taken up, the floors throughout the house were flushed with the fire-hose to get out some of the mud. ​

Just now, my house is empty of everything, and it is the most desolate looking place you ever saw. I have had a man working there for eight days steady, and the floors have been swept three times each, washed four times each, and then disinfected!​ ​

And today a man has been scrubbing all the base-boards and lower half of all doors. Then he must clean all the registers, finish the woodwork, then go down cellar to shovel out more mud. ​

I had an electric pump at work last Friday, to pump water out of the cellar, and when that was done, about two and a half feet of river mud and silt was left. All my preserve jars had been tipped from the shelves when the water poured in, and they had to be shoveled out of that deep mud, washed with the fire hose about five times, then each jar immersed in a lysol bath for several minutes, and then have a final rinsing. The Board of Health says that all products in sealed jars will be all right to eat. Any garden product which grew in the ground, like potatoes, can be used this winter, but cabbages, beans, etc., are not to be used by anyone. 

​I am staying at Ruth’s now, and Reuben [Donelson, Ruth’s husband] takes me back and forth to my own house every morning and noon. All the water is shut off, electricity is shut off, and the sewer, which empties into the river, is buried under ​tons of gravel. A man dug there all day yesterday, but there are tons of gravel over the end of that sewer pipe, and it will be hard work to find it. 

 So with the shock and tragedy of it all, I am about exhausted. I could write much more, but I mustn’t do so this time. Suffice it to say, that I am well and “holding my own,” and am starting again to live and settle. Every house on River Road met with the same experience, some of them worse than mine. My piano is now up at Ruth’s, and it is to be examined and repaired tomorrow. My oil burner for the furnace is to be reconditioned, and all electric motors cleaned at once. My front piazza had all its brick supports knocked out by the water, and the whole brick walk torn wholey up. ​

The bricks from the underpinning of my piazza were found away across the next yard. My rose trellises were blown to bits. The furnace was, of course, filled with water and when the flood poured into the cellar, the register pipes all filled at once and the water shot up through the registers themselves like a geyser. In the morning, all the registers were out of place and somewhere else on the floors. My over-stuffed furniture (which was a very nice set of Evie’s) was soaked about six inches up, and is slowly drying out. I had rescued the five big cushions from them, so that’s a little help. ​

This bridge in front of my house had one big pier washed out, and it has dropped twenty feet into the river. For three days after the ​flood, we had to climb a 20 ft, ladder to get up on to the bridge, for all the road bed was washed out from the end of the bridge about a hundred feet up past my house, Mr. Hall’s house, and the school-house. The sidewalk is entirely gone, my garden, driveways, etc., have a six inch deposit of mud which is like a heavy hard cake. I do not see how it can ever be shoveled out. My barn sits a long way back from the road, and the planks in the floor of it were lifted, so that there was about no floor the next morning. ​

My oil burner which Mr. Robinson saw, has been sent to the Hartford factory to be entirely reconditioned, so, until that comes back, and the furnace has been taken apart and cleaned, I am working in an empty house with a fire in the parlor fireplace and a wood-stove set up in the dining room, and we keep a fire going in it night and day. But for the first 10 days we had no heat here whatever, and I have worn my rubbers, two sweaters and a coat all the time here in the house. Yet I have not caught any cold. ​

The linoleums throughout the house have had to be taken up, washed and scrubbed out-of-doors, dried and rolled, and are now ready to go back when the baseboards, doors, and wall-paper have been cleaned. The house was washed on the outside with the fire-hose, and all windows also. A cord of wood in my cellar was buried in two and a half feet of muck, and had to be shoveled out piece by piece. Now it is all out in the yard being dried. The lovely front piazza has settled four inches already, and the front steps are in bad condition. A carpenter is coming Thurs. or Friday to see what has to be done here. The heater and electric range cannot be put back into the kitchen yet because the floor boards have buckled so from the dampness, so the carpenter must take them up. Two cellar windows have been smashed out entirely, and under my front piazza it is gullied out about five feet deep. ​

You see no mention of little Colrain in the papers, but its condition is tragic! In the little school-house next to me,the water was over the tops of the pupils’ desks, so all the books were ruined. Farther down River Road, where the houses set lower to the ground like Cape Cod houses, the water reached a level of 33 inches inside the houses, covered the tops of their kitchen ranges, and was over the keyboards of their pianos! ​

My own piano stood in 15 inches of water, so the pedals are all out of order, swollen and spring, the case is blistered from the water and mud, and I am having a piano man come from Greenfield today or tomorrow to attend to it. Another big expense item! ​

One of the very tragic things which happened here in town occurred in one of the cemeteries. There had been a burial that Wed. morning of a young woman named Emily LaCrosse. So, of course, the earth at her grave was loose and soft, and when the flood came that night, about 60 or 70 stones in that cemetery were tipped over, and washed away, that new grave was washed open, and the casket in its box was floated away. They found pieces of the outer box the next day, but the body was not found for several days (casket all gone), and the body was several miles from here down the Deerfield River, which is at least five miles from us. ​

The Avery poultry farm next above Donelson’s had about 60 poultry houses out on their range near the river where they own much land. There were about 125 hens in each house. Thirty or forty houses were utterly demolished, the hens swept down river several miles, and the next day they could rake dead poultry out of the mud below Griswoldville (5 miles away) by the hundreds. Their loss to poultry alone is about $4,000, and that doesn’t include their 40 houses. The big iron bridge at Griswoldville just lifted up and floated completely away downstream. Old covered bridges have gone; almost every bridge in Colrain has either gone entirely or is so damaged that they have had to be discarded for a period, or temporary ramps of heavy timber made so that they can be traversed. Many farmers have lost acres of land which are now so buried under a deposit of mud, gravel, and heavy stones, that they have reverted to river bed, and can never be reclaimed. ​

Cows out to pasture that night took to the hills in fright, because of the hurricane and the rushing waters, and some were killed by falling trees. One cow here in Colrain was caught by the current, washed downstream and over three dams before anyone could see her or rescue her. But they got her out the next morning, and she gave birth to a fine calf, and is all right!! Can you beat that. ​

In some sections here, the roads have been so torn out, to such a depth, that they can never be rebuilt, and roadways must be laid elsewhere. On Deerfield Street in Greenfield, the water poured in the second story windows. The damage to trees everywhere is appalling, for row upon row of trees in either woodlands, forests, or in streets, have been snapped right off. Even Malden has lost most of the lovely shade trees on Dexter, Hawthorne, Maple and Clifton Sts., as well as in Maplewood, and all thro’ Middlesex Falls. ​

And so I might go on, but I have told you enough to give you an idea of the cruel horror that has swept thro’ here. I have had no time or strength to write letters, but I did manage to write Paul yesterday, and now I have written to you. Lutie was to have visited me sometime this fall, but now it would be impossible for at present I have no home, and it is also practically impossible to get from Shelburne Falls to Colrain because the roads are so torn up. I wish you would write to her for me, and either tell her the circumstances, or better still,send her this letter for her to read, and then she will return it to you---that will save your having to write her any explanation at all. ​

Ruth’s family are all well, and the children are so lovely. Everyone has done and is doing all they can to help me, but I shall get through it somehow. I always do, and I must maintain my home, no matter what comes. The expense of all this is what disturbs me, for labor, cleaning, repairs, etc., count up amazingly. I am trying to write one letter a day, but there is so much to tell that it is exhausting to write it, even a part of it. ​

Every man in town is working on the roads, and has been summoned by the W.P.A., who permit only a 40 hr. week,--so they are all idle today, and things at a standstill when everyone ought to be working like mad! Idiotic!! ​

No more now. I do hope you are well. Please remember me to Miss Calder. I meant to write her earlier but I haven’t been able to do so. Martha [Donelson] will be two years old this coming Monday, the 10th. ​

Much love to you ​
From Winnifred

The last page of the letter.

The location of the house (outlined in yellow on Colrain’s tax map) This lot is now owned by the Town of Colrain. The house and barn shown on this map were demolished a few years ago.

A recent street view showing the empty lot at 3 River St.

North Adams Transcript newspaper article about the flooding in the River Street neighborhood and other areas in Colrain.

Photo of the Methodist Parsonage in 2012 taken by Samantha Terrill.