Self Guided Tour of Williamstown

Bruce MacDonald: The History and Renovation of the Smedley House

On Saturday, October 10th at the Milne Public Library Bruce MacDonald will talk on The History and Renovation of the Smedley House. The Smedley House is the striking 1772 house at the corner of Colonial Village currently under renovation. The house’s new owner, Bruce, will discuss the historical significance of this 18th century home, its historic construction, and current renovation (detailing how the 18th century construction gets to the 23rd century).

The lecture will even include information about Bill Flynt’s dendrochronological analysis of the beams in the home that helped pinpoint a date for initial construction. Bruce is the current owner of the Smedley House. A history buff, fan of historic architecture and experienced developer, Bruce is enthusiastic about this project and has made some amazing discoveries. He is working to preserve the historic character of the Smedley home while making it livable for homeowners in 2015 and and two centuries into the future!
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Before & After; The Story of a Small Town’s Artifacts & Their Conservation

We hope you will join us!
Saturday, October 3rd, 11 am
at the Williamstown Historical Museum
for the opening of our exhibit:
Before and After; The Story of a Small Town’s Artifacts
and Their Conservation

This exhibit was created by you and for you. Williamstown residents and friends donated the artifacts in this exhibit, voted at the 2014 Annual Town Meeting to have these artifacts conserved, and your interaction with these objects makes them meaningful. Materials donated over the years helped us build a narrative for the objects that allowed us to tell some of the stories of the people and places of our little town. You are an important part of that story. We hope you’ll come admire some of your work. The exhibit focuses on the objects that were conserved at the Williamstown Art Conservation Center using CPC funds. The Pine Cobble Seventh Graders (now eighth graders) contributed descriptive paragraphs detailing some of the objects. This exhibit couldn’t have been done without you. Thank you!

We will have delicious treats for you upon your arrival. We look forward to seeing you next Saturday!

For questions please email sarah@williamstownhistoricalmuseum.org or call 413.458.2160.

Conservation in Williamstown: Its Historic Roots with Phillip McKnight

On Saturday, September 25th, 2015, Phil McKnight presented a lecture on the historic roots of conservation.  Phil’s lecture included images of 19th century American Romantic paintings and traced the development of the practice of land conservation here in Williamstown by first briefly tracing the historical development of an American consciousness towards the environment.  What were the driving forces which brought northern Europeans to the New World and how did those forces begin to change as we as a people began our westward journey across this vast continent?  In what manner did we confront the enormous challenges of the frontier and in doing so, how did we change the natural environment?  This story was applied to Williamstown, using both the Williamstown Conservation Commission and the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation as examples of promoting orderly change within the concept of land conservation.

 

If you missed his lecture, you can view it online here at the WilliNet website:  Conservation in Williamstown:  Its Historic Roots

PRMcK Photo #2Phil teaches a course on environmental law and environmental history during the fall semester at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in North Adams and during the winter term at Williams College.