Election of Officers, and Apple Capital Cookbook Discussion

The next meeting of the Colrain Historical Society will be held on Thursday, October 8 at the 7 Main Rd Colrain home of Joan McQuade at 7pm. (May be too cold in the Stacy barn.)

There will be the annual election of the slate of officers presented by the nomination committee followed by a dessert potluck. 

Recipes for the desserts need to be taken from the newly published Apple Capital Cookbook- 250 years of Colrain Apple Recipes and Stories. The book is available at Catamount Country Store, Pine Hill Orchard and Nancy Dole Books at the Mill. It will make a great Holiday gift for those with everything! 

The editors of the cookbook, who collected recipes and stories over the last 25 years will talk about more stories and elaborate on the apple industry in Colrain to conclude the night.

Historic Pulpit

This classic pulpit, carved by Colrain cabinetmaker Jesse Lyons (1767-1830) (or possibly his father, David), was used in the North River meetinghouse from 1795-1835. Legend has it that the Rev. Samuel Taggert preached his eulogy of George Washington from that pulpit shortly after the president’s death in 1799. Located north of what later became known as Colrain City, that church folded and disappeared without a trace, and the pulpit was removed to the Brick Meetinghouse, built in 1834. There it was used as the Town Hall moderator’s desk on the ground floor for 70 years until Lorenzo Griswold had it restored and placed upstairs in the “audience room” in 1904. More than 200 years old, the pulpit remains in the Brick Meetinghouse, abandoned as a church since about 1990. There are concerns about the status of the historic pulpit.

Colrain & The Hilltowns On Canvas Art Show VII

Friday, September 18, 5 pm - 9 pm

Saturday, September 19, 10 am - 4 pm

Sunday, September 20, 10 am - 4 pm

Shelburne Buckland Community Center 

53 Main St., Shelburne Falls 

An exhibition from private collections: over 50 works by 30 different artists - from contemporary to our long gone regional professionals - Wm Lester Stevens, Woodward. Maniatty, Symons, & Hale Johnson. 

This is a Fundraiser for the Colrain Historical Society.

All New Scenes Of Colrain & Hilltowns By The Local & By The Famous.

Painting by Robert Steinem: “Off Road Vehicle” 

Painting by Brent Shields: “Buckland Farm Early Autumn”

CHS Facebook post:

We are up to 60:painting including ones by Marshall Looman, Althea Brigham, A Hale Johnson and Donald Greason from Colrain as well as contemporary painters Hui Jing, Rob Steinem, Tom Yeomans, Albert McGuire, Cynthia Herbert, Giselle Harrington, Lynn Fisher, Rodger Desreuisseau, Kendra Daniel, Leslie Brooks and Laura Bruffee also from Colrain. It will be a very interesting show with many historical paintings of the Hilltowns as well as modern pieces.

Program: The Continental Army: How General Washington Created It and The Stories of Five Davenport Brothers who Served

Presented by Anne Hayden, a historian associated with the Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia.

 

September 10, 2026, 7:30 pm 

in the Stacey Barn behind the Pitt House

8 Main Road in Colrain

Admission is free to the public, and refreshments will be served. 

Fortifications on Dorchester Heights, March 5, 1776.

George Washington looking at the British Navy in Boston Harbor from the Fortifications. 

Anne Hayden will describe the 17th century militia system that kept Massachusetts Bay Colony towns safe from Indians. One hundred years later this was the foundation of the Continental Army that colonists needed if they were going to gain independence. Anne will outline Washington’s actions during the Siege of Boston and then at Valley Forge which transformed his soldiers into a skilled army. The five Davenport brothers, who are her ancestors, grew up together in Dorchester and served in different ways during the war. Two of them wrote letters home, and she will read excerpts from some of their letters. 

Topics Anne will cover in her talk:

The American Revolution: How the Continental Army Developed & Excerpts from James Davenport’s Letter

The American Revolution: Washington Created the Continental Army & Five Brothers Who Served and Wrote Letters Home

The Continental Army: How Washington Created It & The Experiences of Five Brothers Who Served In It

The American Revolution: The Experiences of Five Davenport Brothers During the War

The Continental Army: How General Washington Created It & Five Brothers Who Fought In It 

Gravestone of Joseph Davenport in Colrain’s West Branch Cemetery 

Joseph Davenport came from a family of professional weavers in Dorchester and settled in Colrain in 1780. He is the progenitor of many who bear the name Davenport in Franklin County today. Davenport served at the Battle of Bunker Hill and in other battles of the Revolutionary War. He died in Colrain in August,1817, aged 71 years, and was buried in the West Branch Cemetery. His war experiences, along with those of his nephews from Dorchester (letter writers James and Issac Davenport), will be the subject of a presentation at the Colrain Historical Society.