Upcoming Events
Visions of the Past
March 6, 2025, 7 p.m.,
Whately Town Hall Auditorium
Joint program with Hatfield Historical Society.
Photographer Dale Monette pairs Department of Conservation & Recreation (DCR) images of construction of the Quabbin Reservoir in the mid-1930s with images of the same locations today. Come see how the houses and landscape looked during the Reservoir’s construction period, compared to 90 years later. Many never-before-seen before images from the DCR Archives are included in this program. You will also see pictures of what everyday life was like in the four Quabbin Valley towns that were erased by the Reservoir.
Bridges of Franklin County
Thursday, April 24, 2025, 7 p.m.
Whately Town Hall Auditorium
Stephen Mikesell of Whately will talk about 20 historically significant 19th and 20th century bridges in Franklin County, including covered bridges, technologically rare bridges, industrial bridges, and bridges built after the disastrous floods of 1936. Steve will bring his dual interests in engineering and history to bear in this illustrated talk, as he did in his 2017 book A Tale of Two Bridges, about the 1936 and 2013 versions of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
Spring Festival, 2025
Sunday May 25, 2025
Whately Town Hall
11 a.m. (following veterans’ memorial day ceremony) – 2 p.m.
- Greg Cootware, master beekeeper and Vice President of Franklin County Beekeepers
- Gail Callahan, tie dying
- Music by Old Country Road
- Food by P’frogi and Masa Mexicano
- New exhibit opening at WHS Museum! Stay tuned for details!
Fall Festival 2025
Sunday, September 28–hold the date!
Whately Town Hall
11a.m. – 2 p.m.
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Past Events
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Beavers in the Valley
Sunday November 17, 2024. 7 p.m., Whately Town Hall Auditorium
Naturalists Allison Bell and Laurie Sanders (Co-director, Historic Northampton) explore the dramatic history, and future, of these fascinating animals. Photos and video will show their busy lives—family groups, seasonal food, building projects—and the amazing diversity of wildlife that beaver habitat supports across Whately and the region. Learn how, after early extirpation by fur trade trappers, beavers were reintroduced to the valley. Today, they are recognized as a keystone species across North America, and the environmental benefits of their engineering are highly valued.
And That's the Way it Was! Glimpses of Deerfield's Agricultural Heritage
Saturday November 9, 2024. 1:30-3:30 p.m., Great Falls Discovery Center Hallway Gallery (exhibit), Great Hall (reception and presentation), Turners Falls
As part of the Mass Humanities sponsored Food, Farms, and Factories programming, this exhibit explores the history of agriculture in our fertile floodplain valley–from indigenous land use before English settlement to today’s evolving story.
And That’s the Way it Was! Glimpses of Deerfield’s Agricultural Heritage, 2:00—3:30 p.m. Peter Thomas presents a recorded oral history and slideshow of farmers and farming, including experiences by descendants of Polish and Ukrainian immigrants. The Massachusetts Commissioner of Agricultural Resources also discusses the state of farming today and looks to what might be coming in future decades.
Fall Festival, 2024
Sunday, September 29, 2024
11 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Whately Town Hall
Hidden History Hunt*–a self-guided tour reveals stories from Whately’s past.
Cider Making Demonstration–We’ll be pressing cider with an antique-style press and apples from Quonquont Farm.
Clothing and Memorabilia display–from Lois Bean’s 1955 stay in Japan.
Music by Whately’s own Chestnut Serenaders.*
Food from Maso Mexicano of Florence and P’frogi by Irida of Northampton.
Free Ice Cream courtesy Maple Valley Creamery and Chrysanthemums for sale–thanks to Mill River Farm of Deerfield.
*Sponsored by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council through the Whately Cultural Council.
Spring Festival, 2024
Sunday, May 26, 2024
12 noon to 2 p.m.
Whately Historical Society’s Spring Festival at the Whately Town Hall, 194 Chestnut Plain Road: The events of the day will kick off with a Memorial Day parade from the Whately Congregational Church to the Whately Center Cemetery then back to the Town Hall for brief speeches, the national anthem, some singing and band playing followed by a variety of events as you can read in our latest newsletter. Music by Seven Mile Line, activities about insects led by Micky McKinley of the Hitchcock Center for the Environment; a basket-weaving demonstration by Laurie Smith; food and drink by Tom’s Long Hot Dogs—and, of course, free ice cream. Join us!
An Illustrator's Journey: From Whately to the World of Children's Books and Back Again.
Thursday, June 20, 2024
Town Hall Auditorium
7 p.m.
Longtime Hatfield resident Monica Vachula who has illustrated books about Paul Revere, Sophia Smith, and Noah Webster, will speak about her work.
Read more about Monica at https://www.wmig.org/artists/vachula#thumb
Who was Edward Hitchcock?
Wednesday, November 8, 2023
Meekins Library, Williamsburg
7 p.m.
A talk by retired Holyoke Community College biology professor Bob McMaster of Williamsburg on Edward Hitchcock at Meekins Library in Williamsburg on Wednesday, November 8, at 7:00 pm. See below for additional details. Here’s a link to the Meekins Facebook page where you will find more details.
Tuesday March 5, 2024, 7 p.m.
As Robert Thorson notes in his book, Stone by Stone, “abandoned stone walls are the signatures of rural New England.” Thorson’s research on the region’s historic stone walls has revealed that the majority were built between 1775 and 1825, principally by farm families and their hired hands, to mark boundaries between properties, enclose pastures and fields, and clear the fields of stones left by the last glaciation. There are an estimated 240,000 miles of stone walls in New England—a distance longer than the entire U.S. coastline. In this illustrated presentation, Thorson will describe the history of stone walls in New England, how and why they were made, by whom, and their purposes and styles. He will incorporate the present-day ecological roles of walls and discuss how what were once barriers in the landscape now bind together the region’s cultural fabric. Finally, Thorson will offer suggestions for how landowners, towns, and other organizations can inventory and map their historic stone walls.
Information and registration (sliding scale)
Sponsored by Historic Northampton, in partnership with the Hatfield Historical Society, Whately Historical Society, & Westhampton Historical Commission.
Sunday October 6, 2024, 2 p.m., Whately Town Hall Auditorium
“Toys, Games and their Makers, 1880-1950.” The 2024 WHS exhibit, “Childhood in Whately,” includes many toys and games, every one with a story. Exhibit co-curator Ann Lomeli will tell some of these stories and guide us through the exhibit in the Museum.
Thursday September 12, 2024. 3 p.m., Whately Town Hall Auditorium
“Creating Inviting Gardens for Birds.” Naturalist and birder Dan Ziomek, manager of Sugarloaf Gardens, will offer practical advice about using plantings to attract birds. Co-sponsored with Valley Neighbors
Gravestone Talks and a Tour of the Whately Center Cemetery
Saturday, November 11
10 a.m. to noon
A gravestone lecture/tour beginning at the Whately Town Hall Meeting Room at 194 Chestnut Plain Road in Whately, MA, 10 AM to noonish, and after lunch, a visit to the Whately Center Cemetery which is a short walk down the road.
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A Whately Sampler
Sunday, November 12, 2023
2 p.m., Town Hall Auditorium
This fall’s “Sampler” will feature three short talks: Ann Lomeli will talk about World War II V-Mail letters and a 1943 – 1945 cache of Pvt. Marshall Pease’s letters home to Whately; Dereka Smith will introduce us to “Four Cornish Miners in West Whately;” and Donna Wiley will talk on “The Three Lives of Laura Sanderson, 1851 -1949.
All three talks were videotaped by Franklin Community Access Television. You can view them, by clicking the links below.
Trolleys of the Valley
Saturday, October 14, 2023; 10 am—Noon Trolleys
Self-guided tour of the Trolley route from Hatfield to Greenfield and exhibitions of trolley memorabilia at four cooperating museums. Begin at any one of the four museums where tour brochures will be available. Sponsors: Whately, Hatfield & Greenfield Historical Societies, Historic Deerfield, and their museums.
Fall Festival, 2023
Sunday, October 1, 11:00 am—2:00 pm Fall Festival
Whately Historical Society’s Fall Festival at the Whately Town Hall, 194 Chestnut Plain Road: Music by Seven Mile Line and Old Country Road Band; food by Tom’s Famous Long Hot Dogs; free ice cream; face painting; braided rugs by Ruth Leahey; and blacksmithing by Rick Martin.
Music and face painting supported by a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council through the Whately Cultural Council.
Historic Deerfield Tour
Friday, September 22, 2023; 10:30-12:30 Historic Deerfield
Tour of Historic Deerfield, with a talk by Annie Rubel, their Historic Preservationist, on preserving and restoring old houses; a choice between a walking tour to discuss slavery in Deerfield or an open-hearth cooking demonstration; and tour of the newly restored Barnard Tavern.
Meet at the Historic Deerfield Visitor’s Center at Hall Tavern, 80 Old Main Street, at 10:30 am. Parking nearby. Free Historic Deerfield one-day passes for Whately Historical Society members. Lunch option afterwards at Champneys Restaurant, in the Deerfield Inn, with a 10% discount. Passes good for the whole day. Co-sponsored by the Whately Historical Society.
Onoko's Vow: Film and panel discussion via Zoom
July 25, 2023
7 p.m.
In 1910, the Edison Company released Ononko’s Vow, an early silent movie filmed on location in Deerfield and Whately, Massachusetts. Herbert S. Streeter of Greenfield wrote the script, which he loosely based on actual events in the early colonial history of Deerfield. The 15-minute film tells the fanciful story of a fictional Native American character Ononko, and his relationship with a settler family, set against the backdrop of two violent encounters involving colonial settlers and Indigenous people. Join us to view a newly digitized version of this almost forgotten film followed by a panel discussion with Dr. Carolyn Anderson, silent film historian and Professor Emerita of UMass Amherst, and Dr. Margaret Bruchac, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Coordinator of Native American and Indigenous Studies, and Associate Faculty in the Penn Cultural Heritage Center at the University of Pennsylvania. This is a hybrid program; attendees will have the option to attend in person at the Deerfield Community Center or via Zoom webinar. Preregistration required.
Spring Festival, 2023
Sunday, May 28, 2023
noon – 3 p.m., Town Hall Auditorium
- Food: hot dogs, burgers, and chili from Tom’s Hot Dogs; free ice cream from Snow’s
- Music: Westhampton-based, country rock Lonesome Brothers Band. Supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council through the Whately Cultural Council.
- Woodworking: Whately’s own Dan and J.P. Kennedy will demonstrate traditional woodworking tools and techniques, featuring augurs, drill presses, clamps planes, mortise-and-tenon joint making,and a shingle shaper. Samples of different kinds of local wood will be on display, and stools, tables, and benches by these craftsmen will be available for sale.
- Pollinators: local pollinator expert Fred Morrison will explain the critical role of insects to our flowers, trees, and plants of all types, using mounted pollinator insects, books, posters, a good stereoscope, nets and other collecting equipment, and maybe a few live native bees to tell the tale. Supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council through the Whately Cultural Council.
- Exhibits: in the Historical Society Museum:
“Roaring Brook” examines the History, geography, flora and fauna of Whately’s famous Whately Glen and Roaring Brook and its water falls. Roaring Brook feeds the Whately Great Swamp and the Mill River, but several impoundments provide drinking water for South Deerfield. Whately Glen’s waterfalls attracted students, local and national tourists, as well as artists from New York, Boston, and closer-by including the prolific Hatfield-based Kingsley brothers
(Allison Bell, Maida Goodwin, and Donna Wiley, curators).
“Family History Exhibits” See photographs and memorabilia of the Sanderson/Bean family of West Whately and the Zaniewski family of East Whately (Adelia Bardwell and Jane Grybko, curators).
FCAT Whately 250th Anniversary Video will be running on continuous loop in the Virginia Allis Community Room on the first floor of Town Hall
Anniversary Quilts: The Whately 200th and 250th Anniversary Quilts are both on display on the West wall of the Auditorium in the Town Hall.
A Whately Sampler
Sunday, April 23, 2023
4 p.m., Town Hall Auditorium
“A Whately Sampler” will feature three short talks: Richard Colter, a retired historian from the National Park Service at the Springfield Armory, will talk about the 1813 flintlock musket in the WHS collection; Dereka Smith will introduce three Whately-born brothers who launched a renowned building firm in North Adams in the 1840s; and a “how-to” session with Donna Wiley on exploring “Whately’s Hidden History,” the digital map of Whately developed in 2022.
The Kingsley Brothers: Artists in Whately Glen
Thursday, March 16, 2023
7 p.m., Town Hall Auditorium
Elbridge and Lewis Kingsley grew up in Hatfield in the mid-1800s and created an impressive portfolio of photography, illustrations, and paintings of the Valley—including images of Roaring Brook and Whately Glen. Elbridge achieved world fame for his wood engravings and recruited leading artists to join him in Whately to work from nature. This talk is in conjunction with the WHS Roaring Brook exhibit and sponsored jointly by WHS and the Hatfield Historical Society. Video of this event.
