HATFIELD — A special Hatfield Historical Museum event on Saturday, timed to the nation’s 250th birthday and supported by the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism, will give participants insights into the past 13,000 years of life in Hatfield along the Connecticut River, including the conflict between the Indigenous and colonial people in the 1700s.
Museum curator Meg Baker said the idea of “Walking On Native Land: Land Use in the 1700s,” which begins at 11 a.m. at the boat launch on Kellogg Hill Road, is for people to think in different ways about the land on which they live, and how the land shapes both history and the present.
In her presentation, Baker will compare the geology of northeastern America with the geology of the United Kingdom, using agriculture and land use as a way to frame the conflict.
“Living in the basin of Lake Hitchcock, in the Northeast Woodlands area of the continent, it’s easy for us to start talking about history with 1776, but there were people here literally thousands of years before the ‘shot heard round the world’ and everything that followed,” Baker said.
Kasko Crane, a Hatfield resident and Indigenous language teacher, will open the program with Abenaki welcoming words and share songs for everyone to join.
Bob Osley, who grew up in Hatfield and has wandered around the fields and rivers learning about the landscape for decades, will share some of the information he’s picked up over that time.
According to Baker, she, Crane and Osley share a keen interest in the history of the region, including the people who have lived here in the past.
Baker said tracing the history back 13,000 years is possible through research in battlefield archaeology drawn locally from the Kells Farm site in Greenfield. That shows the “habitual occupancy” through camp fires and other signs of human life.
Hatfield itself predates the country’s founding by more than a century. Hatfield was founded in 1670, with Baker noting the English settlers had formed Capawonk in 1653.
Because the hourlong event is on the banks of the river, those who attend are encouraged to dress for the weather and wear comfortable shoes. They can also bring folding chairs or lawn chairs, and there will be dedicated accessible parking.
Baker observes the site is near where the town treats its wastewater.
“I find it incredibly ironic that the Hatfield treatment plant at 260 Main St., where wastewater is treated and cleaned before returning to the river, is a place people drive past all the time without knowing there’s a place right next to it where Native people stood 13,000 years ago that is largely unchanged,” Baker said.
The event will feature maps through the ages, a handout for additional information, and stories of the people who lived along this part of the river long before 1776. The program will close out with a dialogue about features of the landscape and locations of important historical sites. Baker said she also hopes people will impart any information they have, too.
“People can bring their own knowledge to share,” Baker said.
The state Office of Travel & Tourism is putting on various events across Massachusetts as part of the MA250th celebrations.
For more information, send email to hatfieldhistoricalsociety@gmail.com
