Saturday, May 18, 2024 at 2 pm
150 Year Commemoration of the Mill River Flood Disaster First Congregational Church of Williamsburg 4 North Main Street, Williamsburg, Mass. This event is both in-person and livestream.
To connect to the livestream broadcast on YouTube, click on this button.
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Historic Northampton will be closed on Saturday, May 18, 2024.
Open Wednesday - Sunday, 12 noon to 4 pm
Current Exhibit:
Making it on Main Street: An Exhibit at Historic Northampton
Current Exhibit:
Making it on Main Street: An Exhibit at Historic Northampton
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for new ways to stay connected to Historic Northampton.
for new ways to stay connected to Historic Northampton.
mill River Flood 150 Year commemoration
May 16, 1874
The sudden collapse of the Williamsburg dam in western Massachusetts let loose a flood that swept
away parts of Williamsburg, Skinnerville, Haydenville, and Leeds. It killed 139 people, all within an hour.
It was the first major dam disaster in the U.S.
away parts of Williamsburg, Skinnerville, Haydenville, and Leeds. It killed 139 people, all within an hour.
It was the first major dam disaster in the U.S.
Commemoration of the Mill River Flood
May 18, 2024 | 2:00 pm
First Congregational Church of Williamsburg
4 North Main Street, Williamsburg, Mass. The program will feature new musical compositions by Nick Reid and Louise Mosrie, the “May 16th, 1874” ballad by Lynne Bertrand and Penny Schultz, with cellist Stephen Katz, and the story of the disaster in the words of witnesses (arranged by Elizabeth Sharpe) with a reading of the victims’ names. A re-enactment of dam keeper George Cheney’s frantic horseback ride to warn the village will follow on North Main Street. Two trees will be planted at the church honoring the first two victims of the flood.
The event will be in-person and livestreamed.
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George Cheney on his horse
Views of the Flood in Mill River Valley Photographed and published by the Knowlton Brothers. |
Leeds Commemoration Gathering
May 19, 2024 | 1:00 pm
Church lawn, 195 Main Street, Leeds, Mass.
There will be a recounting of Myron Day’s heroic ride warning Leeds, a reading of the names of the 51 Leeds victims, and the performance of an original song by John Daniel.
River-inspired art pieces by Leeds artists, original illustrations from Millicent and The Day it Rained Buttons by Nancy Meagher, and an art piece made by the Leeds After School Enrichment River Arts Club will be on display. A memorial tree will be planted to honor Myron Day. |
View of the destruction in Leeds
from a stereoscopic card. |
Back by Popular Demand
PULLING AT THE rOOTS
Three Plays About Northampton History
Produced by Plays in Place
circling suspicion |
ROSe |
The optimist's razor |
June 19 - 23, 2024 and June 26 - 29, 2024
Acknowledging Indigenous history
Acknowledging Indigenous History
Here, we acknowledge that we stand on Indigenous land, inhabited by Native American people for roughly 11,000 years, since the glaciers receded. This place that we now call Northampton was known to Native people as Nonotuck or Norwottuck. Nonotuck homelands stretched across both sides of the Kwinitekw (now called the Connecticut River), including the present-day towns of Amherst, Hadley, Hatfield, South Hadley, Northampton, and Easthampton.
Nonotuck people were closely connected, through trade, diplomacy, and kinship, to other Native communities in the region: the Quaboag in present-day Brookfield; the Agawam in present-day Springfield; the Woronoco in present-day Westfield; the Pocumtuck in present-day Deerfield; and the Sokoki in present-day Northfield. During the early 1600s, these Native groups engaged in reciprocal trade relations with English colonial settlers and with other Native nations. By the late 1600s, however, the pressures of colonial warfare forced many Native families to relocate, taking shelter in other Native territories. We offer condolences for the Nonotuck people who were forced to leave their homeland, while also offering gratitude for the Native communities that took them in.
Despite the loss of land due to colonial settlement, a number of Native nations have persisted across the territory that we now call “New England.” These include: the Nipmuc to the East; the Wampanoag and Narragansett to the Southeast; the Mohegan, Pequot, and Schaghticoke to the South; the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican to the West; and the Abenaki to the North, among others. Recognizing that the entirety of the North American continent constitutes Indigenous homelands, we affirm, honor, and respect the sovereignty of these and hundreds of other Indigenous Native American and First Nations peoples who survive today.
Learn More
Nonotuck people were closely connected, through trade, diplomacy, and kinship, to other Native communities in the region: the Quaboag in present-day Brookfield; the Agawam in present-day Springfield; the Woronoco in present-day Westfield; the Pocumtuck in present-day Deerfield; and the Sokoki in present-day Northfield. During the early 1600s, these Native groups engaged in reciprocal trade relations with English colonial settlers and with other Native nations. By the late 1600s, however, the pressures of colonial warfare forced many Native families to relocate, taking shelter in other Native territories. We offer condolences for the Nonotuck people who were forced to leave their homeland, while also offering gratitude for the Native communities that took them in.
Despite the loss of land due to colonial settlement, a number of Native nations have persisted across the territory that we now call “New England.” These include: the Nipmuc to the East; the Wampanoag and Narragansett to the Southeast; the Mohegan, Pequot, and Schaghticoke to the South; the Stockbridge-Munsee Mohican to the West; and the Abenaki to the North, among others. Recognizing that the entirety of the North American continent constitutes Indigenous homelands, we affirm, honor, and respect the sovereignty of these and hundreds of other Indigenous Native American and First Nations peoples who survive today.
Learn More
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