Deerfield: Whose Story? A Historiographic Field Trip

The Partnership of HIstoric Bostons tells the story of early Boston, Massachusetts, and the wider 17th century world. Join our public history events to explore topics from myths about Puritans to early anti-vaxxers to the fate of Native peoples incarcerated during King Philip's War.

Partnership of Historic Bostons

Deerfield,1704, is remembered as a massacre of innocents. Memorial Hall Museum tells a revelatory story from all five sides to the conflict.

Memorial Hall Museum

Deerfield, 1704: a byword in colonial literature for the unprovoked, savage massacre and capture of innocents by Native warriors. The very door which the warriors battered was preserved and later placed in a museum – testament to what generations of white settlers and their descendants saw as a terrorist attack. The story of Deerfield’s 1704 attack has been told and retold ever since. Is this picture of seemingly wanton violence the whole story? Was it a “massacre,” or was it defensive? What role did foreign powers play? Why were Mohawk warriors from Canada part of the attack, and what did the Pocumtuck, on whose land the colonists had built Deerfield, hope to achieve? On this field trip to Deerfield, we will see how the Memorial Hall Museum explores the views of the five parties to the conflict: English, French, Kanienkehaka (Mohawk), Wendat (Huron), and Wobunaki (including the Pocumtuck people, who had lived in the Deerfield area for more than 10,000 years). In so doing, it challenges the longstanding telling of this history as a colonial catastrophe, and looks at the wider context. In a tour designed just for PHB members and friends, we will view the museum’s Deerfield raid exhibition and see how it opens up what was a one-dimensional view of history to voices from all sides to the conflict. This is a brilliant example of how, historiographically, we can start to tell a nuanced and multisided account of New England history. “Recognizing the damage inflicted by colonial settlement,” says the museum, it “seeks to interpret these fraught histories from culturally diverse, nuanced, and inclusive perspectives. We seek to build productive relations with contemporary Native American nations today, in the interests of truth and reconciliation.” The PHB board will be on the tour, and we invite you to join us! COST $10PHB will pay the museum on everyone’s behalf. We encourage you to make an additional donation to the museum. PLAN YOUR DAYThis is a brilliant day out, so don't rush there and back. Take your time and see all that Deerfield has to offer.The tourWe arrive at 11am, gather in the parking lot next to the Memorial Hall Museum, at 10 Memorial St. The tour begins at 11:15. Only 10 people at a time will be able to view the room on the 1704 massacre, so the two groups will take turns viewing the room and visiting the library. The entire museum is fascinating – 19 galleries filled with a collection dating back to 1797. Memorial Hall Museum <a href="https://memorialhalldeerfield.org" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer"> https://memorialhalldeerfield.org</a>See also <a href="https://deerfield-ma.org" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association</a> The tour will take roughly 2 hours. The destinationMemorial Hall Museum8 Memorial St.Deerfield, MA 01342Public transport to Deerfield is extremely limited and PHB is no longer able to provide rides. The drive from Boston is just under 2 hours. LunchThere are a number of restaurants in Deerfield - none of which we've sampled, unfortunately, so we cannot make any recommendations. But from a brief google sample, there's....<a href="https://wolfiesrestaurantma.com" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Wolfie's </a><a href="https://www.champneysrestaurant.com" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Champney's at the Deerfield Inn</a><a href="http://holiday-pizza.net" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Holiday Pizza</a><a href="https://buenoysano.com" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Bueno y Sano</a>After lunch, you might wish to explore Deerfield. There’s no set departure time, and there's so much to explore.Historic Deerfield <a href="https://www.historic-deerfield.org" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">discover Deerfield</a>BACKGROUNDWe can’t recommend highly enough the museum’s website, <a href="http://1704.deerfield.history.museum" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Raid on Deerfield: The Many Stories of 1704</a>. Bring your magnifying glass – the font size is miniscule – but the website’s content, and the equal understanding it gives to all five sides of the events at Deerfield, are unsurpassed. You can see the museum’s other excellent websites at <a href="http://www.americancenturies.mass.edu" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">americancenturies.mass.edu americancenturies.mass.edu</a>John Demos, The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America (New York: Vintage Books, 1995), tells the story of Eunice Williams, captured along with much of her family in the 1704 raid. She chose not to be redeemed but remained with her Mohawk husband and her Mohawk community, while regularly visiting her colonial kin in Massachusetts. Image: Arosen's Gifts, c 1700-1750, Tobacco bag, red slate gorget, bullet or shot pouch, and a finger-woven sash. Native gifts given to Reverend Stephen Williams of Longmeadow, MA, by Arosen, Eunice (Williams) Kanenstenhawi’s husband. Eunice and her brother Stephen had both been captives of the 1704 raid on Deerfield, MA, but Eunice elected to remain with her Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) family at Kahnawake in Canada. The gifts were given to the reverend during visits that Eunice and Arosen made to New England from Canada. Courtesy of the Memorial Hall Museum, Deerfield, MA.

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Deerfield: Whose Story? A Historiographic Field Trip

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