Merry Christmas everyone! from the Nims Association! Have you ever wondered what winters were like at the turn of the century? Heres an excerpt - MEMORIES: THE PRESERVATION OF THE IDEAS OF AN AGE, Compiled and Edited by: Einhorn, M. R., Jacobson, B. H., Kavulich, J. S., Molfetta, R. T., Schumaker, W. S.; Editorial Supervisors: Johnson, A. B., Rhodes, D. W.; Students and Faculty of the Eaglebrook School, Deerfield, Mass. 1976. Not paginated. This taken from the Introduction: the years 1890 – 1930, a time of growth, trails, and an uncertain future. These are blended recollections of one topic. These are in book form from taped interviews recording an oral history with the tapes being donated to the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Assoc. This comment is from Mrs. Margery Joy (Burnham) Howe 1902-1997, who arrived as a wife of Deerfield Academy faculty member Sheldon Jenks Howe 1887-1978. She is the author of Deerfield Embroidery, 1987. WINTER MEMORIES Before the age of gasoline – driven snow plows, snowmobiles, and other inventions, winter offered stern challenges – and lots of fun – to the residents of a small New England Village. “In the winter” Mrs. Howe explained, “people can still remember when they had a really, really, deep snow. “They would attach a horse or oxen team to a plow which would be tied to the top of the runners of the sled and plow the streets, I can remember when we were in New Hampshire in the winter. I saw for the first time a roller. It looked like a big tire about twenty feet in diameter. “The one I saw had eight horses and a man walking ahead of it with a lantern. It flattened the snow right out, plowing right through it. Had they moved the snow, there would not have been a chance to use the sleighs.” Mrs. Howe also explained that: “During the winter months, when the weather was bad, the trainmaster at the old depot used to keep track of the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association meetings. Often, the meeting would run late in the evening. He would then go down to the town hall with a lantern and help people from Greenfield and Turners Falls make their way back to the station to get on the train.” Mrs. Howe continued: “When Harriet Harris’ mother wanted to go to town she would go with her husband when he delivered his own milk to people, and catch the trolley. The trolley ran through the Town of Deerfield to Greenfield. She would run across the street on cold, cold mornings from her house out to where Routes 5 and 10 are now with two hot baked sweet potatoes warming her hands. When she reached the Wapping houses, where Mrs. Boyden grew up in the Childs’ house, she’d run in there and pop the potatoes in the oven. Then she would go out, take the trolley to Greenfield, do her errands, and when she got back, she would stop and take her potatoes out of the oven and put them in her pockets to keep her hands warm and have the potatoes for lunch.” She also spoke of other winter pastimes: “I remember the hill that Eaglebrook School is on used to be one of the best places to get a sleigh ride. You would start from the top, from about where Mr. Rogers’ farm is, and come straight down, under the arch, and into the town common.” (Note: This would be approximately a two and one-half mile ride.)
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 00:06:40 +0000
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