HATFIELD — Domestic artifacts from Hatfield dating to the 1770s, the American Revolutionary era that will be celebrated this summer, are on display as part of a new exhibit at the Hatfield Historical Museum.
Among the items in the exhibit that opened on Tuesday are a baby’s cap, a family Bible, a smoker’s pipe and a blue-and-white homespun cloth.
Museum curator Meg Baker said the exhibit, while timed to the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, has three parts.
The first is geology that shaped the Pioneer Valley, through the arrival of Indigenous people around 13,000 years ago. The second is the domestic picture, with furniture, books and tools of daily life when about 1,500 settlers, mostly farming families, lived in town. The third is the soldiers and those who served, with over 125 men and boys joining the Continental Army from 1775 to 1785.
“Without a doubt, the story of the soldiers is a huge part of our national and local history, and many people’s genealogy,” Baker said. “With this, I wanted to ground those men and boys in their world, their families and friends.”
“Being able to show people the spinning wheel and share that it comes from the home of Eunice and James Porter, whose youngest son Silas was 16 when he went to fight in the war, gives Silas more context,” Baker added.
By drawing attention to the family connections, Baker said she hopes visitors will consider the lives of the parents, siblings, sweethearts and children of the soldiers, alongside the more famous names of the first American veterans.
Also in the exhibit is a reproduction of the Autograph Petition, now in the collection of Historic Deerfield. That was made on Oct. 4, 1774 and is a plea by 28 men from Hatfield to Capt. John Allis, Lt. Samuel Partridge and Ensign Elijah Dickinson, asking for military training. The three veterans of the Seven Years’ War, also called the French & Indian Wars, had announced they were refusing to follow what they considered to be unjust orders from the Crown.
“This is really where the war for independence begins in Hatfield, with these men saying they can see what’s coming and they want to be prepared, months before the alarm at Lexington & Concord on April 19, 1775,” Baker said.
The exhibit, upstairs in the Hatfield Public Library, will be open Tuesdays from 1:30 to 3 p.m. For more information, send email to hatfieldhistoricalsociety@gmail.com.
Meeting to focus on grist mill removal in Hatfield
HATFIELD — A public meeting on the D.F. Riley Grist Mill project and its future removal will be hosted by the Connecticut River Conservancy at the Hatfield Elementary School Thursday at 6 p.m.
The meeting will update the public on the conservancy’s work with the dam owners and engineers Tighe and Bond.
The dam has been marked as a hazard by the state’s Office of Dam Safety and removal has been identified as more cost effective than repairing. But there are impacts on the ecology, the town and individuals that are being considered by Tighe and Bond.
Work on removing the dam next to the Old Mill Inn could start in late 2028, based on preliminary, pre-permitting plans presented to the Select Board in January.
For more information, contact Becky Budd at the Connecticut River Conservancy at 413-772-2020.
