Wolf Swamp Road and School
Wolf Swamp Road School c. 1956 Longmeadow Historical Society Archives Who among us has not wondered about the name “Wolf Swamp?” In...
top of page
Want to have the latest History Notes delivered right to your inbox weekly? Head over to Sign Up for Our Newsletter to get History Notes sent to your email every Thursday morning!
Betsy McKee
- May 18
- 2 min
Alice F. Willard
Alice F. Willard 1866-1946 Alice Faith Willard, daughter of Mason and Aurelia Coomes Willard, was born in 1866 and was a lifelong...
49 views0 comments
Melissa M. Cybulski
- May 4
- 2 min
A Walk Through the Old Emerson Place
Cooley-Emerson House at 476 Longmeadow Street image courtesy raveis.com It’s not every day you get a complete basement-to-attic tour of...
74 views0 comments
Betsy McKee
- Apr 27
- 2 min
Tales of Discovery II: Obed and Mary (Newell) Montague
Like I've said before, we love tales of discovery, and re-discovery. This is a tale of Mary Newell Montague and her husband Obed...
4 views0 comments
Betsy McKee
- Mar 30
- 2 min
Martha Chapin Goldthwait (1863-1934)
Faithful readers will be familiar with the name Goldthwait from previous History Notes, including a recent one about the return of a...
6 views0 comments
Betsy McKee
- Mar 16
- 6 min
Stop Thief! The Mystery of the Missing Gun!
The exciting news in 2023 is the return of a firearm missing from the Longmeadow Historical Society Collections since 1970! The story...
47 views0 comments
Beth Hoff
- Mar 9
- 7 min
“… poor & unprovided for…” – The Indentured Simonds Children
In the early days of the Commonwealth, children of parents who, for one reason or another, were unable to care for them became public...
4 views0 comments
Melissa M. Cybulski
- Mar 2
- 2 min
Skating, Sleighing and Sliding
Barney & Berry Ice Skates Longmeadow Historical Society Collection Next week, local historian and friend of the Longmeadow Historical...
1 view0 comments
Al McKee
- Feb 16
- 6 min
Charles Backus Storrs: Abolitionist
Charles Backus Storrs stood before his audience and gave his inauguration address on February 9th, 1831 in Hudson, Ohio. At age...
29 views0 comments
Melissa M. Cybulski
- Feb 9
- 3 min
Emma's Essay: A Soldier Boy in the Army
In honor of Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, we thought we would look at an item in our collection from the era of his presidency: a child’s...
1 view0 comments
Al McKee
- Jan 26
- 8 min
A Longmeadow Boy and the Gold Rush in 1851
Gold rush stories are great places to find drama and intrigue. The History Room at the Chicopee Library holds a series of letters that...
5 views0 comments
Melissa M. Cybulski
- Dec 21, 2022
- 3 min
Sarah A. Coomes Colton's Paintings
Two charming folk art paintings in the collection of the Longmeadow Historical Society bear the hallmarks of the kind of work educated...
16 views0 comments
Melissa M. Cybulski
- Dec 8, 2022
- 2 min
"Be a good boy and learn..."
Samuel C. Booth's Penmanship Book, 1820 From the Collection of the Longmeadow Historical Society Penmanship copybooks like this one used...
9 views0 comments
Lenny Shaker
- Nov 22, 2022
- 3 min
The Chapel
The First Church of Christ of Longmeadow is a truly historic town landmark. At one time there was an associated structure that stood for...
11 views0 comments
Beth Hoff
- Nov 22, 2022
- 5 min
The Mystery of the Seaman's Journal
Front Piece of a Seaman's Journal The Mystery of the Seaman's Journal Recently rediscovered in the archives of the Storrs House Museum is...
8 views0 comments
Beth Hoff
- Nov 22, 2022
- 4 min
Dairy Farming in Longmeadow
Jarius R. Kibbe and oxen of Frank B. Allen. Image courtesy of Stephen Forbes. Until the turn of the century, most Longmeadow families...
81 views0 comments
Betsy McKee
- Nov 21, 2022
- 6 min
"I am like a lost sheep in the world:": The Letters of Jeannette Cooley
Last week's History Note told the story behind the inscription on James Cooley's cenotaph in Longmeadow Cemetery. A cenotaph is a...
6 views0 comments
Betsy McKee
- Nov 21, 2022
- 5 min
"What does that mean on that gravestone?"
Cooley family gravestone, Longmeadow Cemetery James Cooley Died at Lima while Charge d'affairs for U.S. to Peru. Feb. 24, 1828, AE 37....
7 views0 comments
Beth Hoff
- Nov 21, 2022
- 6 min
James S. Dwight’s Voyage on the Kate Hastings
Last week's History Note shared the detective work that went into identifying the author and origins of a Seaman's Journal found in our...
2 views0 comments
Betsy McKee
- Nov 21, 2022
- 2 min
"View of the Connecticut River from Pecousic Brook" Revisited
This painting of the Connecticut River looking north across present-day Forest Park has been a treasured item of the Longmeadow...
8 views0 comments