SATURDAY OCTOBER 24th, 2026 11AM
32 NEW ASHFORD ROAD, WILLIAMSTOWN, MA
Join us on Saturday, October 24th, at 11am at the Williamstown Historical Museum for a lecture by local author Molly Rideout exploring the life and legacy of Grace Greylock Niles.
Grace Greylock Niles (1864-1943) has been both praised and mocked, called brilliant and called crazy. Born near the border between Williamstown and Pownal and often moving between both towns, Grace was an artist, a nurse, a botanist and a local historian who fought to maintain her independence as an unattached woman living with schizophrenia.
In this talk, local author Molly Rideout examines new research to understand the ways Grace fought for this freedom despite a range of injustices, including a possible framing by a wealthy Williamstown man that resulted in her involuntarily committal to the Brattleboro Retreat for the final 20 years of her life. Rideout will read from her forthcoming essay, “Bog Hag” and share both the known and previously unknown stories of the woman whom the Banner called, “the most talented person native to this small Vermont town.”
Molly Rideout is a writer, bookmaker, local history researcher, and public artist dedicated to telling the stories of forgotten rural people. Originally from the Midwest, she now lives in the Berkshires, where she works for the nonprofit Assets for Artists.
