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.

Program: Colrain Resolves of 1774

In recognition of the 250th national celebration, the Colrain Historical Society will present a program about the Colrain Resolves of 1774, which anticipated the Declaration of Independence by two years. The presentation will include showing of a short film dramatizing the event by Irish filmmakers. 

The program is at 7:30 pm on Thursday, June 11. It will follow the June meeting at 7 in the Stacy Barn behind the Pitt House at 8 Main Road in Colrain. 

 Both are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Photo: screenshot of a copy of an address titled The early settlers of Colrain, Mass.; or, Some account of ye early settlement of "Boston township no. 2, alias Colrain." by McClellan, Charles H., 1885. There are no known copies of the original Resolves. This is the earliest account of the event that exists.

Program: East Colrain Tales

East Colrain tales will be the subject of Colrain Historical Society’s May program, Thursday, May 14, 2026, in the Stacy Barn behind the Pitt House at 8 Main Road in Colrain. 

 Harry Hollister will present selections from a diary about life on the Copeland farm in East Colrain during the 1930s and 1940s. Mark Scranton, who has lived on that farm for the last 50 years, will relate stories about life in that area when there were still many working farms. 

 The photo above, dating from the late 19th century, shows the original Edgar Copeland farmhouse, which was replaced in 1912 by the present Scranton farmhouse. The photo is from the collection of Mark Scranton.

The program at 7:30 p.m. will follow the CHS meeting at 7. Both are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Greenfield Recorder clipping from 1912 mentioning the new house built by Edgar Copeland and son for “a probable cost of $4000.”

Program: A Walk Through the Villages of Colrain Through Post Cards

The Elm Grove Bridge, but where was it?

Before texting, email, Facebook, and even telephones, postcards such as this one were a common form of social communication in town. If you wanted to invite a neighbor for a visit, you’d drop them a postcard. Scores of postcards of local scenes dating from around 1910 will offer a tour of Colrain, its villages and people on Thursday, October 9, in the Stacy Barn behind the Museum of Colrain History on Main Road. Debby Wheeler will show cards from her collection and from the Colrain Historical Society at 7:30 p.m. following the annual meeting and election of officers of CHS at 7 p.m. 

 The meeting and program are open to the public, and refreshments will be served.

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.

Program: Colrain - A Sense of Place

Our June 12th meeting will be a brief meeting, dinner, and program at the home of Johnnie Chace, 167 Calvin Coombs Road (the former Dude Ranch), beginning at 5:30 pm. The theme for the night is Colrain: A Sense of Place. 

We hope to take you on a journey where "Sense of Place" becomes not just knowing where you are on a map but the connection you feel when you understand what happened here, who lived here, how they shaped the place -and how the place shaped them. It's when a bend in the road becomes more than a view- it becomes a story. 

Erica Wheeler, singer-songwriter, will guide us through story, conversation, and song on the path to the sense of belonging to our Town. 

Please RSVP to Deborah Jean Wheeler by email at deborahjeanwheeler@gmail . com or by phone at 624-8800 by June 5th. There is no charge for this event; seats are on a first come first served basis.

Postcard showing the former Dude Ranch.

Program: A Walking Tour of Foundry Village

The Cary cider and vinegar works and workers, which operated from 1860 into the 1950s. Photo from the Colrain Historical Society collection.

The Colrain Historical Society will host a walking tour of Foundry Village led by Judith Roberts and Jonathan LaGreze Thursday, May 8, at 7:15 p.m. following a brief business meeting at 7. ​

Site of the first grist mill in Colrain, Foundry Village was a busy industrial center for 200 years. The Langstroth Moveable Frame Bee Hive, still in use by beekeepers today, was first manufactured here. Because of all the industry in this bustling little community, it was electrified by 1910, early for a rural town. ​

Participants will see and learn about the Smith covered bridge, the schoolhouse, the Baptist Church, sites of the foundry, grist mill, turning shop, blacksmith’s shop, and the butcher shop, ending up in the vinegar bottling room of the former Cary Cider Mill for discussion and refreshments. The walk will be only a few hundred yards, and the bottling room is wheelchair accessible. ​

Park at the Baptist Church for the meeting at 7 and the tour to follow. In the event of rain, the tour and meeting will be postponed until Thursday, May 15. To inquire about postponement, call Debby at 413-624-8800 or Belden at 413-625-2003.

Program: Colrain, Apple Capital!

How the apple got to Colrain, and what we did with it, will be the topic of the Colrain Historical Society’s October program. West County Cider’s Field Maloney will tell the story of the apple in Colrain from early settlement to the present. Colrain’s history has been rich in apples and cider and orchards for several centuries now. 

The program on Thursday, October 10, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. will follow the business meeting and election of CHS Officers at 7 in the Stacy Barn behind the Pitt House. 

Refreshments will be served, including cider. 

The program is free and open to the public.

Photo above: Terry and Judith Maloney on Catamount with fresh glasses of their West County Cider, 2007.

Article from the Brattleboro New England Farmer in November 1910 stating the opinion of one Colrain apple grower that “the best apples in the world are grown in Colrain.”

Program: Timber! Logging, Lumbering & Millwork - Stories & Reflections

Thursday Sept. 12th, 7:30pm.

A group of local woodsmen and colleagues, including our very own Matt Slowinski, Lee Denison, David Nims, Kenny Noyes, and Harry Hollister (voicing Carroll Stowe), will share their stories and reflections on logging, lumbering and mill work in Colrain for a program of the Colrain Historical Society, Thursday, September 12, in the Stacy Barn at the Museum of Colrain History at 8 Main Road. 

The program at 7:30 p.m. will follow a business meeting at 7. 

The public is invited to this free program. Refreshments (Bill Cole’s not-yet-famous lemon bars and "ants on a log") will be served afterward. 

The undated photo above, courtesy of Lee Denison, shows a portable, steam-powered sawmill and workers: Carroll Denison, far right; Gilbert Barton, second from left.

[Source: September 2024 issue of the Colrain Clarion and email from CHS.]

Program: A Murder on Catamount

Thursday, June 13th at 7:00 pm in the Stacy Barn, located at the Colrain Museum of History, 8 Main Road, Colrain.

Pownal Station circa 1875

On September 9, 1875 at the Pownal, Vermont train station, two fugitives slipped aboard a train among a crowd of firemen returning from a muster in North Adams. Their hasty plans to leave behind their problems — and the scene of a crime — are the subject of the Colrain Historical Society’s program on June 13. 

This forgotten story, researched and presented by the Catamount Hill Association’s historian, Prentice Crosier, will follow the Historical Society’s 7:00 o’clock business meeting at the Stacy Barn, 8 Main Road in Colrain Center. 

 The program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Joseph Riley Farnsworth is buried in Colrain’s West Branch Cemetery. His distinctive zinc monument is easily found on the west side of the cemetery near Adamsville Road.

Program: Griswoldville, The Grand Plan

Thursday, May 9th at 7:30pm in the Stacy Barn, located at the Colrain Museum of History, 8 Main Road, Colrain

A photo from the report. 

The view is from High St. looking North toward St. John’s Church and Church St. on the right, and on the left is the canal, Main Road (Rt. 112), an apartment building, a house, and the covered bridge crossing the North River at the start of Adamsville Rd.

The May program at the Colrain Historical Society will be a photographic journey through the village as far North as the Willis Place block as it was in 1920. The Griswold Manufacturing Company commissioned a Boston firm to develop a plan to improve and expand life in the village. A book with black and white photos and the grand plan was presented to the company.

The plan outlined where to put athletic fields, tennis courts, swimming pool and lockers. It mentioned the locker area could be small as only men would be swimming- this was 1920! The pictures to be shown from the book are one of a kind and show the entire village with the ideas for improvements, including sidewalks, shrubs and tree planting. They suggest painting all the houses lovely pastel colors.

Of the multitude of suggestions in this plan not one thing happened. Years ago the book was pulled from the trash at the mill and eventually found its way to the Historical Society.

The program in the Stacy Barn, Thursday, May 9, at 7:30 p.m following the business meeting at 7pm is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

The report was prepared by a landscape architect from Boston named Bremer W. Pond.

Photocopy of the report cover

Photo of Bremer Whidden Pond

Biography of Bremer Whidden Pond

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.

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.

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:

http://www.der.org/resources/articles/root-hog-greenfield-recorder.pdf

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.

https://bark.cwmars.org/eg/opac/record/2787150

Back cover of the DVD

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

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:

https://www.recorder.com/LT-Sugar-Mountain-novel-40465695

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

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 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.