THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 19th, 2026 6PM
Join us on Thursday, November 19th at 6pm at the David and Joyce Milne Public Library for a lecture on Williamstown’s Summer Cottages by local historian Dustin Griffin.
More than a hundred years ago Williamstown was home to an active “summer colony” whose members built very large summer “cottages.” The most famous of them is Elm Tree House at Mount Hope, but there were many others, some long gone, some still here. Local historian Dusty Griffin will present a slide lecture about the people and the houses they built.
Lecturer: Over the last eight years, local historian Dustin (Dusty) Griffin has published four collections of essays on the history of Williamstown and Williams College, the most recent of them in June 2025. He calls the essays “microhistories,” deep dives into the history of a particular place, a notable person, or a significant event. He has often given to audiences in Williamstown. He is now at work on a fifth collection. Today’s talk is drawn from one of the chapters in that forthcoming book.
Before turning to local history, Dusty was Professor of English at New York University and the author of nine scholarly books on 18th-century English literature. He is currently chair of the Williamstown Historical Commission, which has recently posted on the website of the Williamstown Historical Museum a self-guided online tour of historic houses in town. He and his wife, Gale, have lived in Williamstown since 2003.
