Programs

Welcome to the Colrain Historical Society’s

Halloween Extravaganza!

A Walk Through the Ages of Antique and Vintage Halloween

A partially narrated tour through a house fully decorated for the holiday 

With hundreds of items on display from the 1900s to the present.

How the Apple Got to Colrain, and What We Did With It, will be the topic of the Colrain Historical Society’s October program.  West County Cider’s Field Maloney will tell the story of the apple in Colrain from early settlement to the present. Colrain’s history has been rich in apples, cider, and orchards for several centuries now. We will explore this rich history.

The program at 7:30 p.m. will follow the business meeting and election at 7 in the Stacy Barn behind the Pitt House.  Apple-y refreshments will be served, including cider.  The program is free and open to the public.

Sept 21st and 22nd, 10 am to 4 pm

The Colrain Historical Society will sponsor the fifth annual fundraising art show at the Shelburne Buckland Community Center. Please join us for a rare opportunity to see this bit of visual history. Admission fee is $10.00. 

There will be over 50 paintings by 40 different artists as well as prints and reprints of some items in the Historical Society’s collection and old maps of our area for sale.

A group of local woodsmen and colleagues will share their stories and reflections on logging, lumbering, and millwork in Colrain for a program of the Colrain Historical Society, on Thursday, September 12, in the Stacy Barn at the Museum of Colrain History on Main Road.  The program at 7:30 p.m. will follow a business meeting at 7.  The public is invited to this free program.  Refreshments will be served afterward.

The Colrain Historical Society is sponsoring 2 flower garden tour days in Colrain. The
self-guided drive around Colrain to 9 gardens is July 20 and 21 from 10 am to 4 pm.
$20.00 Tickets with the map can be purchased at Pine Hill Orchards or Catamount
Country Store. 

Rare specialty plants from a Ct. nursery, a large selection of daylilies,
and native pollinator plants will be for sale as well. You will see plant collectors gardens,
perennials, pollinator habitats, unusual annuals, well-established trees and shrubs in the
various landscapes of Colrain. 

Grab-and-go lunches are available at Catamount Country Store
on Saturday and Pine Hill on Saturday and Sunday. Bring a blanket and enjoy lunch in a
garden of your choice.

Prentice Crosier has uncovered details of the 1875 robbery and murder of Joseph Riley Farnsworth, a Civil War veteran on Catamount.

Tour hours: 10-4

Ticket: $20.00 all ages

There will be 4 House interiors fully decorated for the Holidays!
-An early colonial home in the Williamsburg natural style
-A Victorian home in the 1900’s with Christmas trees and elegance
-A country home, warm and cozy
-And Christmas wonderland, a collector’s Christmas

There will be a raffle of a handmade Christmas quilt.
Gingerbread houses and boxwood Christmas trees will be for sale.
The map for the self-guided tour in Colrain will be on your ticket.

Tickets can be purchased at:
Pine Hill Orchard 248 Greenfield Road Colrain or
Catamount Country Store 113 Main Rd Colrain after Nov. 15

This event is sponsored by the Colrain Historical Society
For more information call 624-8800.

Join Michelle Hillman, Elaine Stanley, Betty Johnson, Debby Wheeler, Maria Kingsley, and Joan McQuade as they recount their times around the holidays during elementary and high school.

The Colrain Historical Society sponsored the fourth annual fundraising art show on Sept. 23 and 24 at the Shelburne Buckland Community Center Main St., Shelburne Falls. 

This year, art showing our neighboring hilltowns rounded out the Colrain paintings. Regionally famous painters will include George Gardner Symons, Steve Maniatty, Robert Strong Woodward, W. Lester Stevens, and Edwin Lorenzo Elmer among others. 

A special feature will be paintings by Judith Russell, a longtime Shelburne Falls folk artist. Some of her original work will be for sale as a special offering. We will also have prints and reprints of some items in the Historical Society’s collection and old maps for sale. The Historical Society will have a new booklet for sale, based on the Industries and Occupations of Colrain done by Katherine Cram in the late 1930s. 

There will be over 75 paintings by 48 different artists. Most are works on loan from private collections and homes in the hilltowns. The artists are contemporary or deceased, famous and not-so-famous, as well as self-taught. it is intentionally a non-curated show. The mixed media, the skill of the artists, and their perspectives are part of the magic. 

Please join us again this year for this rare opportunity to see this bit of visual history. Admission is $10.00

John H. Olson, M.D., “Dr. Olie,” practiced medicine from his Colrain home at 7 Main Road from 1937 to 1976. His office was on the first floor and some of the bedrooms upstairs functioned as hospital rooms. He was famous for removing tonsils and delivering babies at home…and his Willys Jeep. The historical society plans to make part of its collection his tonsillectomy chair, house-call bag, and medical implements. In this video, Dr. Olie’s daughter, Joan McQuade, talks about her memories of her father. The program was standing-room only, and several of his former patients also tell their tales.