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    Northfield
    Northfield
    Northfield
    Ebook189 pages1 hour

    Northfield

    By Marie Booth Ferré, Susan Post Ross and Joan McRae Stoia

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    About this ebook

    Northfield s mountains, abundant forests, and rich agricultural fields along the Connecticut River sustained native inhabitants for centuries before the English settled in the area known as Squakheag in 1713. Incorporated in 1723, Northfield became a crossroads for travel and commerce, supporting ferries, taverns, mills, and other farm-related businesses. Elegant Federal-style homes crafted in the 1800s by the Stearns brothers still line the iconic Main Street. Northfield native Dwight L. Moody, a famous evangelist, founded area schools and summer conferences. In the late 19th century, the quiet farming town became heaven on earth to Moody s followers, who arrived by the hundreds each summer seeking spiritual renewal and relief from the cities. The railroad brought visitors to the first American youth hostel and to the popular Northfield Inn and Chateau, where many permanent residents found employment. Around Northfield, Queen Anne style homes provided lodging for boarders, while tearooms, milliners, liveries, and grocers served visitors. Today, Northfield s vitality and spirit endures, forged by education, hard work, civic engagement, and perseverance.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateAug 4, 2014
    ISBN9781439646595
    Northfield
    Author

    Marie Booth Ferré

    To celebrate its past and inspire a vision for Northfield�s future, local historians Marie Booth Ferr�, Susan Post Ross, and Joan McRae Stoia have compiled photographs from the Northfield Mount Hermon Archives, the Northfield Historical Society, and private collections.

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      Book preview

      Northfield - Marie Booth Ferré

      telling.

      INTRODUCTION

      For those who have little familiarity with Northfield, this book will introduce the dramatic story of one of the earliest English settlements on the frontier. The remote village of Squakheag, as Northfield was known, would eventually play a key role in the contest between England and France for control of the New World. For the many families with a long history here, the thousands of people who have been educated in Northfield, and still more who attended the Northfield Summer Conferences, the images gathered here will hopefully rekindle fond memories of those very special experiences. This book can be viewed as Northfield’s scrapbook, a glimpse into the everyday life of the people who lived and visited here. This seems the best approach for a small volume containing selected highlights of the town’s history from 1669 to the 1960s. Still, it is hoped that readers will linger long enough among the pictures to discover the recurring themes and values that help make Northfield unique.

      The story begins with the Native people who planted, hunted, and fished in this area and revered the Connecticut River Valley for its abundant gifts. This book attempts to honor that reverence. Despite the fact that it took three attempts to settle the town and that few of the English dwellings survive, the original town plan is still very much in evidence in today’s Northfield. The citizens’ perseverance is to be admired.

      Among people passing through contemporary Northfield, the most common reaction is What a beautiful town! If they know Northfield at all, they know about its impressive collection of imposing historic homes set back from the main street. Northfield center has remained relatively untouched since the early 1800s, a distinction the town owes to the Stearns family of artisans, whose work was as durable as it is beautiful. It is hoped that readers will be as delighted as the authors were to learn more about the inspiration that informed their aesthetic, the technologies that intrigued them, and what can only be described in modern terms as their intuitive marketing ability.

      Of course, what goes on within a community is ultimately more important than its appearance. The vitality of Northfield’s early-19th-century community is impressive. The archives of the Northfield Historical Society are full of programs and playbills from theatrical productions, lectures, dances, and other entertainments that took place with great frequency and enthusiasm. With prosperity came the appreciation and time for learning and self-improvement. The first Social Library was founded by a group of citizens in 1813. In the practice of law, Northfield was considered a focus of legal talent in the county, and it is credited with producing at least one Supreme Court justice.

      In the mid-19th century, Northfield’s economy was supported by farming and enriched by what is thought of today as a clean industry—education. While remaining largely uninvolved in the manufacturing activity that characterized other Massachusetts towns during the industrial revolution, Northfield was by no means unaffected by it. The town benefited significantly from several trends in the Victorian era.

      First, Northfield’s location in the heart of New England made it a hub for the new railroads crisscrossing the region. If a passenger was going anywhere in New England, they went through Northfield. Second, due to the educational and religious fervor of the times, the town became home to several academies, including the Northfield Seminary and Mount Hermon School for Boys, founded by native son D.L. Moody and his family. Through their efforts, Northfield became an internationally known center for missionary training and Protestant thought. Moody brought vision to the list of Northfield values.

      Lastly, since manufacturing was a dirty activity, city dwellers found it necessary to retreat to the countryside during the summers to escape the smoke and smell. Northfield’s picturesque hills, clean air, ponds and streams, and rail service made it a popular destination for those seeking relief from the cities. A grand hotel, the Northfield, with an array of amenities like golf, tennis, swimming, and ice-skating, drew wealthy tourists, celebrities, and politicians to town. Today’s tourists and recent arrivals will be surprised by the descriptions of the retail and service businesses that sprang up in response to religious and recreational tourism, only a fraction of which appear in this book. These merchants exhibited ingenuity.

      In addition to its physical attributes, one of Northfield’s strengths, less visible on the surface but nonetheless ever-present among its people, is its spirit. That spirit was tested during the 20th century, when the town experienced two punishing floods and the 1938 hurricane. While the river has been a source of sustenance, it also took a huge toll on the town. The devastating effects on the community from fires and natural disasters are evident in the photographic record, reminding citizens how the work of generations can be washed away in a few hours. After the disasters, Northfield’s people responded by forming clubs, building new public schools, and coming together to celebrate important historical milestones with parades, festivals, and pageants. Add to Northfield’s list of attributes, then, resilience and determination.

      The purpose of this book is not merely to glorify the past, but to use it as a tool for envisioning what lies ahead. Today, Northfield is once again in transition. The lesson of these photographs is that change is a natural and recurring process. What emerges from the closing of one era builds on the past while developing its own defining characteristics. The best of what was is still here.

      One indicator of that is a resurgence of interest in agriculture. Organic farming, biomass, small-scale production, heritage fruits, and farm-to-table cuisine (what the old-time farmers would call eating well) are diversifying Northfield agriculture. Once again, the beautiful landscape beckons to urban dwellers as strongly as it did in Moody’s time, offering a refreshing respite from urban congestion and life’s complications. It is hoped that, in perusing these pages, visually strolling along Main Street, readers will agree with the many visitors who say that being in Northfield is like stepping back into a more romantic time.

      Dedicated Northfield citizens are helping to recreate an outdoor recreation identity for the town. New state forests, improved mountain trails, updated athletic

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