HATFIELD — In the decades following World War II, a popular bar and restaurant brought high-profile visitors to Hatfield, including officials like U.S. Sen. John F. Kennedy, Julie Nixon and David Eisenhower, two presidential children who married and studied at Smith College and Amherst College.
As a popular place for weddings and banquets, and with a menu featuring a number of whiskey-based drinks, the Hatfield Club and Barn on Elm Street was one of the prominent sites in town for socialization and imbibing alcohol during the 20th and 21st centuries.
Yet in spite of the long tradition of alcohol consumption, Hatfield, like the rest of the United States, went through the Prohibition era and was a dry town for many years following the success of the Temperance Movement that began in the late 19th century.
With photos and artifacts, including pewter tankards used at a Hatfield tavern in the 1800s and a bottle of Kugler’s Special 86 proof blended whiskey made sometime after 1948, the Hatfield Historical Society on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. unveils its new exhibit “Booze, Schmooze and News: Remembering Hatfield Taverns and Clubs” in the museum on the second floor of the Hatfield Library.
The opening comes 90 minutes before the lighting of a giant birthday cake for the town’s 350th anniversary at the annual Luminarium.
Historical Museum curator Kathie Gow said as the centennial of Prohibition in 2020 approached, a decision was made to explore the history of the consumption, manufacture and sale of alcohol in Hatfield, from the town’s founding in 1670 to the drinking, dancing and music at bars and taverns in almost every corner of town throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
“It seemed like a good time to do an exhibit on drinking establishments,” Gow said. “It turns out to be a strong foundation of Hatfield’s people and social activity.”
The exhibit, which will be up for about nine months, begins with the pre-Prohibition era. Rob Wilson, a member of the Historical Society, helped impart his knowledge of this time period.
“Drinking was quite an activity in the Colonial era,” Wilson said, noting that people could consume alcohol eight to 10 times a day, as it was often viewed as an elixir rather than being used for social purposes.
Wilson read Daniel White Wells and Reuben Field Wells’ book, “A History of Hatfield in Three Parts,” which documents the social customs of the townspeople, including drinking. The Wellses were descendants of Dr. Daniel White, who ran Dr. Daniel White’s House and Tavern on Main Street. Gow said cider, beer and ale were all produced during the town’s first 200 years.
“Brewing and distilling were happening everywhere in Hatfield,” Gow said.
One of those drinks, flip, an eggnog-like concoction made from ale, rum, eggs, sugar, and nutmeg, was mixed until it was creamy and poured into mugs, where a heated iron rod was put into each serving. To replicate this, without alcohol, the museum will have egg nog supplied by River Valley Co-op available, as well as cookies.
In addition to the tankards, the early years of alcohol are represented in a case by a shard from a flip glass, lottery tickets sold to raise money to build a bridge between Hatfield and Hadley, a “tole tray” from Dr. Daniel White’s House and Tavern and a display of smaller “firing” glasses, with heavy bases that allowed them to be slammed on a table, without breaking, after making a toast.
Another case contains a 1908 letter from Robert M. Woods, a retired minister at Hatfield Congregational Church, who asked to continue a ban on the town licensing drinking establishments, and support from one of the town’s two family doctors Charles A. Byrne, who pasted into his 1920 appointment book a copy of the 18th Amendment.
Small cough syrup and vanilla extract bottles show how people could still get alcohol.
“There are local stories about people getting drunk by drinking vanilla,” Gow said.
The years following Prohibition saw the return of establishments, with Pelc’s Cafe (formerly the Elm Street Cafe) the first to open in 1934. Now the site of Grill ‘N Chill, the establishment is represented with a photo of women, likely in the 1940s, enjoying their beverages.
A large sign taken from inside one of the taverns is for Jacob Ruppert’s Knickerbocker Brewery, while another sign depicts Casper the Friendly Ghost, the mascot for the former Casper’s.
The Hatfield Club and Barn, which could accommodate 1,500 people and once had Natalie Cole perform for a function when she was a student at the University of Massachusetts, is depicted through its menu, a photograph and the bottle of whiskey.
Susan Kugler, whose family ran the establishment, said New Year’s Eve was a big deal before it closed in the mid 1970s.
“Many patrons are said to have met their sweethearts at the Hatfield Barn because it was an easy way for young people from across the Valley to get to know each other,” Kugler said.
Kugler said the bar and restaurant were also known for baked, stuffed lobster and deep-fried shrimp, scallops and clams, all-you-can-eat smorgasbords and polka dances on Saturday nights.
Other places in the exhibit include the former B&B Restaurant, which also hosted a television repair business and the converted dairy barn that was home to Aggie’s Place, also known as The Last Chance Cafe.
Gow said bars and taverns became meeting places for friends, hosting card games and community events, raising money for churches and charities and sponsoring local sports teams.
In addition to the exhibit, visitors Saturday will also be able to don historic clothing and have their photographs taken.
The exhibit, which is sponsored by the Hatfield Pub, Double B’s Bar & Grill, the Hatfield American Legion Post 344 and Grill ‘N Chill, has allowed Gow to talk to many people and provided an avenue for people interested in preserving history and artifacts.
She added that people are excited to talk about some places they haven’t thought about in a while, “and to have their stories saved and shared.”
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
