If you drive up to Cummington along Route 9, you’ll see a sign for The William Cullen Bryant Homestead — a beautiful 19th-century farmstead that overlooks the Westfield River Valley surrounded by fields and forest.
Owned by The Trustees, a regional non-profit land conservation and historic preservation organization, this property is the childhood home and later summer residence of poet, conservationist, journalist and abolitionist William Cullen Bryant.
The name William Cullen Bryant doesn’t really ring a bell anymore, yet Bryant was quite the celebrity in the mid-1800s. In fact, he is the same Bryant for whom Bryant Park is named in New York City, one of the first vice presidents of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, editor of the New York Evening Post and the man responsible for bringing Abraham Lincoln to public attention.
Rumor has it that when Charles Dickens arrived in the United States, the first thing he said while stepping off the steamship was, “Where is William Cullen Bryant?”
Although he spent a large portion of his life in New York City, Bryant grew up on a small farm in Cummington. The iconic New England landscapes that define our Western Massachusetts region filled young Bryant’s poetry with verses that reflected a love for his hometown woods and countryside. A great friend of Hudson River School painter Thomas Cole, Bryant’s nature poetry and Cole’s paintings inspired Americans to go outside and experience the sublime in nature. His poetry resonated with the public’s desire to witness the unique character of our local landscapes.
In 1865, Bryant longed to escape the city and return home.
He purchased back the property of his childhood as a summer house and for the last 12 years of his life, relived his favorite childhood pastimes. He planted over 1,300 apple trees, 200 pear trees, various berry bushes and spent his days taking long walks through forests, fields and alongside his beloved rivulet — where you can still hike today. The Homestead is where Bryant the New Yorker returned to be Bryant the farmer and Bryant the poet.
It was home.
Today, the Bryant Homestead features a rich collection of original objects including the 1794 diary of Bryant’s mother, Sarah Snell Bryant. Through Sarah’s diary, as well asother objects, emerge the stories of everyday agrarian life in the 1800’s. In Bryant’s short autobiography, he fondly recalls the cider-making and maple sugaring seasons as his most memorable, along with days spent assisting his grandfather with farm chores.
This year, The Homestead plans to offer a variety of living history events in an effort to offer tangible and meaningful experiences with local place, history and rural life. This weekend’s >bold
The William Cullen Bryant Homestead is open most weekends through the remainder of the summer. Admission is $10 for nonmembers. Visit bit.ly/2YaUfqp for more information.
Andrea Caluori is northwest engagement site manager at The Trustees of Reservations.