Although it’s probably too late to prove the location of an important colonial Greenfield landmark, it never hurts to ponder the possibilities. The place under consideration is the first overnight encampment occupied by captors and captives retreating from the surprise pre-dawn attack on Old Deerfield by French and Indian raiders on February 29, 1704. The […]

Gray, rainy, spring morning. Woodstove idle. Cool indoors. Still writing in my comfy winter kitchen nook. I’m thinking about colonial New England soldier Constant Bliss, who, by chance, popped into view during recent local-history meanderings. What a name, huh? Constant Bliss. Something to stive for. Perpetual joy. Very un-Puritanical. Born to Reverend John and Anna […]

A 60-year-old photo posted recently on Facebook by a former classmate really got my wheels spinning. Shot on the final day of school in June 1963, the black-and-white image appeared on Deerfield Now. It showed my fourth-grade class standing on the front granite stairs leading into the two-story, brick South Deerfield Elementary School that then […]