Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 15, 1995 TAG: 9501270007
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: G-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEVE SILK THE HARTFORD COURANT
DATELINE: DEERFIELD, MASS. LENGTH: Long
Like Daniel Belding, a townsman whose exploits and suffering in Indian attacks are commemorated in a town memorial, Deerfield has prospered against long odds. It triumphed over warring Indians, floods, tumultuous political eras and the long march of time to take its place as one of the country's foremost treasuries of history.
Today Deerfield is a destination for anyone enamored of bygone days. Its timeless allure of a past preserved appeals to day-trippers and weekenders in search of old New England. Some say Deerfield, located in the state's north central region, is so entrenched in another era that it has become a town of ghosts. But the only thing haunting about it is the vividness with which those long-gone days come back to life.
Deerfield's mile-long main drag, known simply as The Street, is an avenue that has changed little in the last century. Historic homes from the 18th and 19th century line the broad boulevard like opposing ranks of grizzled warriors. You can stroll through more than 100 years of American architecture and furniture-making while visiting the 13 historic houses that have been transformed into minimuseums filled with period furniture and decorative art - pewter, textiles, paintings and silver.
Early Americana is on view at the Sheldon-Hawks House, built more than 250 years ago. The house, with its pedimented doorway and rich, syrup-colored interior paneling, is a fine example of Colonial craftsmanship. Inside is a vast collection of brass candlesticks. Among its other curiosities is a so-called good morning staircase, a dark stairwell that divides at a series of triangle-shaped steps leading in two opposite directions.
Or, for a window onto the Jacksonian era of American history, stop by the showoff-y Hinsdale and Anna Williams House, with its wildly garish wallpapers, eye-popping carpets and general air of ostentation.
Both the Sheldon-Hawks House and the Hinsdale and Anna Williams House, like the other former homes on display in Historic Deerfield, have been restored to appear exactly as they did in their respective eras.
The old and immaculately restored homes are part of Historic Deerfield, and are the main draw to the part of Deerfield known as Old Deerfield.
But many of the town's greatest delights are out of doors. The village itself still exudes the ``tidy, thrifty appearance'' noted by Timothy Dwight in his 1821 book ``Travels in New-England and New-York.'' It's a perfect place for walking - some out-of-towners come just to amble up and down The Street.
Strolling along under a colonnade of maples and oaks, past listing and swaybacked yet handsome houses, stone hitching posts, perfect picket fences, and the campus of the eternally preppy, Ivy-League looking Deerfield Academy, you're in quintessential Currier and Ives New England.
The little town crowns a low plateau just out of reach of the flood plain of the nearby Deerfield River. The high spot protected settlers not only from flood waters, but from the marauding Indians who attacked often during the town's early days. An extra measure of safety came from a high stockade.
Strolling along the rolling plateau on sidewalks set far back from the street, you'll see in the distance cornfields and cattle barns, wallowing pigs and bleating sheep. The rich and deep topsoil that lured the first settlers to Deerfield still nourishes the agricultural efforts of their descendants.
You can explore that heritage along the Channing Blake Meadow Walk, a half-mile trek through fields and farms that leads to the river. Here, along the villagers' daily commute to the fertile bottoms, the landscape opens wide. (Begin optional trim)
The commingling of field and village harks back to a more ancient time, when the townsfolk tended their fields by day and retreated to the sanctuary of their stockade by night. Fear must have filled many a dark hour 300 or so years ago, when Deerfield marked the northwest frontier for settlers from England.
One cold February night in 1704, a band of French soldiers and their Indian allies slipped over the stockade walls on drifted snow. In the surprise attack, they torched the town and rounded up its inhabitants. The youngest and oldest were killed; the rest marched through the snows to Canada.
The numbers change, depending on the source, but it's safe to say that about half the 300 townsfolk were caught in the roundup, and about 40 were killed. About 110 trudged toward Canada; about a third died on the way. Several years later a ragged band of 30 or so captives returned, in the company of their minister, John Williams. (Williams recounted the tale in ``The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion,'' a book that remained popular for years.)
The attack reduced Deerfield to an ash heap. Despite its near obliteration, the defiant village refused to die.
Perhaps that early brush with death endowed the villagers with a greater than normal appreciation for the past. Some of the first efforts at historic preservation in young America can be traced to Deerfield. In 1847, the townsfolk mounted an effort to preserve the John Sheldon House, one of the very few houses that survived the massacre. Its owner wanted to build a larger home, and it was slated to be razed.
Although the house was eventually demolished, its wooden door, crosshatched by tomahawk slashes, was saved. Today it is displayed at the Memorial Hall Museum. The museum also has erected a replica of the house, known simply as the Old Indian House, on The Street. (End optional trim)
The spirit of preservation proved long lived in Deerfield. Efforts to keep the past alive began in earnest late in the 1800s, when a large number of the town's houses were inhabited by single women, some of whom developed an interest in Colonial history and design.
Things really slipped into gear in 1936 when millionaire Henry N. Flynt and his wife, Helen, motored into town to drop their son off at Deerfield Academy. There they met headmaster Frank Boyden, who enlisted them in his efforts to beautify the town surrounding the private school.
The Flynts soon bought a few houses in town, and donated them to the school. Not long after, they bought the local inn, which they restored and refurbished. They also snapped up a house, known today as the Allen House. It is now furnished as it was in 1975, when Helen left it and all their holdings to Historic Deerfield, the organization the Flynts founded in 1952.
With the establishment of Historic Deerfield, the Flynts set about collecting with a vengeance. Like other noted collectors of Americana, such as Henry Francis du Pont of Winterthur fame, the Flynts were omnivorous - they snapped up old houses and everything that might go in them - clothes, silver, china, furniture (especially that made in the Connecticut River Valley).
Eventually the Flynts' trove included 52 buildings and some 20,000 objects. Nearly half the village is owned by Historic Deerfield, so it looks as if the past has been safely preserved for the future.
by CNB