And Now For Something Completely Different

If anyone wishes to comment on any posts, I'll now have to moderate your remarks before they go up. Too much Spam! I'll try to be speedy with the process...

Journey To The Center Of Western Massachusetts-based 18th Century Historical Reenactment Enthusiasts

If you've been paying attention, you'll have noticed that I've failed to post an update in several weeks, while Sarah has posted several terrific travelogues about our various journeys. She assigned me to write a very small one about one of our barely-out-of-town trips, to nearby Deerfield, several weeks ago, and I'm just now getting around to it.

It is a long neighborhood featuring many period homes, an inn, restaurant and a few museums as well as two boarding schools, many of which have been deeded to a historic preservation foundation and decidedly historically preserved. Residents of Deerfield may gain access to the public buildings for free, while non-residents must pay for a ticket which entitles them to tour some of the homes. A few historical interpreters very cordially guide you through select homes. Also, in September, History Detectives star Tukufu Zuberi made an appearance there in support of the Springfield, Mass.-based PBS station. We did not attend.

So join me on a journey BACK IN TIME to MID 18th CENTURY WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS...

A table.


The Bement House, which was constructed out of bement, an early forerunner of cement fabricated from birch bark.


A home so well constructed for privacy that it is, in fact, invisible.


Dwight House, inhabited by early members of the Schrute family, an active clan of beet farmers.


Even as a guest residence 200 years ago, this tiny house was considered a small, piddling disgrace.


The wheel, invented in Deerfield circa 1753.








Several pictures of Deerfield Academy, a prestigious boarding school which I made a special point to visit, as it housed not one but two stars of television's LOST, in fact just one year apart from each other--Matthew Fox and Nestor Carbonell. Despite my intensive searching, I found no mysterious hatches, polar bears, eyeliner or other artifactual remnants of their time there.