History lovers will have a unique opportunity to explore the past of western Massachusetts this weekend when the annual Hilltown History Trail returns for its fifth consecutive year.
Ten local museums will open their doors this Saturday, Aug. 1, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Trail organizer Stacy Kontrabecki warns that even the most ambitious historians might find it impossible to hit every stop in a single day. Instead, she suggests lingering at a few locations to appreciate the distinct regional history each has to offer.
“There’s a lot of extremely interesting things tucked in the back corner of some of these museums,” Kontrabecki said. “In Cummington, one of my favorite things … there’s an artist, she’s created these amazing depictions of life in the town, and they’re scattered throughout this particular museum.”
The idea for the history trail sparked during Kontrabecki’s visit to the Plainfield Historical Society museum. Like many local volunteer-run historical societies, the Plainfield site was typically open only by appointment. Once inside, however, Kontrabecki was awed by the exhibits.
“It was an amazing tour, and the docent who was a volunteer from down the road gave us a great swing around the place, and I was like ‘oh my gosh! You never have a scheduled open time?'” Kontrabecki recalled. “At the time, I was a trustee on the Buckland Historical Society and our schedule for open times was two Saturdays or two Sundays a month in July and August. I said ‘hey, you could open the same day we open and we’ll tell our people to go to the other place.'”
This year’s Hilltown History Trail features the same lineup as last year. Participating sites include: the Buckland Historical Society Museum (20 Upper St., Buckland); Wilder Homestead (129 Ashfield Road, Buckland); The Kemp-McCarthy Museum (282 Zoar Road, Rowe); Browning Bench Tool Factory (Pond Road, Rowe); Kingman Tavern (41 Main St., Cummington); Shelburne Historical Society Museum (33 Severance St., Shelburne Falls); The Old Town House (6 East Main St., Heath); The Center Schoolhouse (11 East Main St., Heath); Hawley’s Old Town Common (across from 235 East Hawley Road, Hawley); and East Hawley Meetinghouse (332 East Hawley Road, Hawley).
Each museum protects a unique slice of local lore.
“There’s the history of the caged man of Buckland. There was a young man whose father was a minister and didn’t quite like the way the young man was expressing his opinions,” Kontrabecki said. “And so, he kept him confined, in a house, in a cage, in Buckland for most of his life, and it sounds completely outrageous.”
Because the participating museums are scattered across the western half of Franklin County, the trail doubles as an invitation to explore the scenic backroads of West County. Travelers can take in the sights of historic villages like Shelburne Falls and drive the region’s “beautiful country roads,” according to Kontrabecki.
“It’s really about opening the pages of history,” Kontrabecki said. “It’s an amalgamation of people from the past and the present, and it’s always good to have a little bit of context to what happened here before you.”
While much of the trail emphasizes colonial history, several museums are placing a deeper focus on the founding of the nation as the United States marks its 250th anniversary. Hand-in-hand with that theme, curators are also highlighting Indigenous history.
“[It’s about] understanding that there’s Native histories of the past, but there are people from First Nations that also live here today,” Kontrabecki said. “By and large, the artifacts that these different towns have are colonial in nature, but it doesn’t make it any less interesting to see.”
Admission to all participating museums is free, though donations will be accepted to support each museum. For more information about the trail and a downloadable trail map, visit bucklandmasshistory.org.
