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Betsy McKee
Apr 27, 20232 min read
Tales of Discovery II: Obed and Mary (Newell) Montague
Like I've said before, we love tales of discovery, and re-discovery. This is a tale of Mary Newell Montague and her husband Obed...
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Betsy McKee
Mar 30, 20232 min read
Martha Chapin Goldthwait (1863-1934)
Faithful readers will be familiar with the name Goldthwait from previous History Notes, including a recent one about the return of a...
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Betsy McKee
Mar 16, 20236 min read
Stop Thief! The Mystery of the Missing Gun!
The exciting news in 2023 is the return of a firearm missing from the Longmeadow Historical Society Collections since 1970! The story...
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Beth Hoff
Mar 9, 20237 min read
“… poor & unprovided for…” – The Indentured Simonds Children
In the early days of the Commonwealth, children of parents who, for one reason or another, were unable to care for them became public...
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Melissa M. Cybulski
Mar 2, 20232 min read
Skating, Sleighing and Sliding
Barney & Berry Ice Skates Longmeadow Historical Society Collection Next week, local historian and friend of the Longmeadow Historical...
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Al McKee
Feb 16, 20236 min read
Charles Backus Storrs: Abolitionist
Charles Backus Storrs stood before his audience and gave his inauguration address on February 9th, 1831 in Hudson, Ohio. At age...
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Melissa M. Cybulski
Feb 9, 20233 min read
Emma's Essay: A Soldier Boy in the Army
In honor of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, we thought we would look at an item in our collection from the era of his presidency: a child’s...
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Al McKee
Jan 26, 20238 min read
A Longmeadow Boy and the Gold Rush in 1851
Gold rush stories are great places to find drama and intrigue. The History Room at the Chicopee Library holds a series of letters that...
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Melissa M. Cybulski
Dec 21, 20223 min read
Sarah A. Coomes Colton's Paintings
Two charming folk art paintings in the collection of the Longmeadow Historical Society bear the hallmarks of the kind of work educated...
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Melissa M. Cybulski
Dec 8, 20222 min read
"Be a good boy and learn..."
Samuel C. Booth's Penmanship Book, 1820 From the Collection of the Longmeadow Historical Society Penmanship copybooks like this one used...
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Lenny Shaker
Nov 22, 20223 min read
The Chapel
The First Church of Christ of Longmeadow is a truly historic town landmark. At one time there was an associated structure that stood for...
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Beth Hoff
Nov 22, 20225 min read
The Mystery of the Seaman's Journal
Front Piece of a Seaman's Journal The Mystery of the Seaman's Journal Recently rediscovered in the archives of the Storrs House Museum is...
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Beth Hoff
Nov 22, 20224 min read
Dairy Farming in Longmeadow
Jarius R. Kibbe and oxen of Frank B. Allen. Image courtesy of Stephen Forbes. Until the turn of the century, most Longmeadow families...
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Betsy McKee
Nov 21, 20226 min read
"I am like a lost sheep in the world:": The Letters of Jeannette Cooley
Last week's History Note told the story behind the inscription on James Cooley's cenotaph in Longmeadow Cemetery. A cenotaph is a...
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Betsy McKee
Nov 21, 20225 min read
"What does that mean on that gravestone?"
Cooley family gravestone, Longmeadow Cemetery James Cooley Died at Lima while Charge d'affairs for U.S. to Peru. Feb. 24, 1828, AE 37....
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Beth Hoff
Nov 21, 20226 min read
James S. Dwight’s Voyage on the Kate Hastings
Last week's History Note shared the detective work that went into identifying the author and origins of a Seaman's Journal found in our...
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Betsy McKee
Nov 21, 20222 min read
"View of the Connecticut River from Pecousic Brook" Revisited
This painting of the Connecticut River looking north across present-day Forest Park has been a treasured item of the Longmeadow...
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Betsy McKee
Nov 21, 20221 min read
A Soldier's Letter Home: Thomas Francis Cordis, 1843-1915
Thomas (Tommy) Francis Cordis was born in Longmeadow in 1843 and enlisted in the 46th Mass. Volunteers in September of 1862, at the age...
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Betsy McKee
Nov 21, 20223 min read
Fire! Fire!
If you were one of the many people who voted at the Community House this week, then you were visiting the site of a significant mid-19th...
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Tim Casey
Nov 20, 20224 min read
Diggin' in The Meadows
The Silvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge, colloquially known as “The Meadows,” is a stretch of meadows and wetlands that dominate the...
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