Welcome to week 76 of Bidwell Lore! This week we stay on the subject of Laurel Cottage in Stockbridge with an article written by local historian Bernard A. Drew. Laurel Cottage’s Four-Star historyby Bernard A. Drew This article originally appeared in The Berkshire Eagle, 10 September 2005. Lightning may seldom strike twice in nature, but it’s...
Tag: Bidwell House Museum
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Bidwell Lore: Harriet Beecher Stowe and Laurel Cottage Part II
Welcome to week 75 of Bidwell Lore! This week, we have the second part of Rick Wilcox’s story about Harriet Beecher Stowe and Laurel Cottage in Stockbridge. It is an interesting tale that you will definitely enjoy. The Ox, the Ass, and Judge Byington’s Gate: Harriet Beecher Stowe and Laurel Cottage Part II To read Part I...
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Bidwell Lore – Harriet Beecher Stowe and Laurel Cottage, Part I
Welcome to week 74 of Bidwell Lore! We have a new 2-part story from Rick Wilcox this week about Harriet Beecher Stowe and Laurel Cottage in Stockbridge. It is an interesting tale that you will definitely enjoy. The following story was gleaned from the files of the Stockbridge Library Museum & Archives and the Bidwell family...
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Bidwell Lore – Reenacting an Early American Life, Part IV
Welcome to week 73 of Bidwell Lore! We continue below with the final installment of the series “Reenacting an Early American Life” by our guest columnist, the esteemed Samuel Knight Professor of American History Emeritus at Yale University, John Demos. This week Demos finishes the narrative as 1779 turns to 1780. For today’s installment, we share December...
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Bidwell Lore – Reenacting an Early American Life, Part III
Welcome to week 72 of Bidwell Lore! For part 3 of this series, John Demos moves forward in time almost 30 years to imagine Reverend Bidwell’s life during the last week of December, 1779. For today’s installment, we share December 27, 28 and 29. The previous two installments imagined a week in April 1752, which you...
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Bidwell Lore – Reenacting An Early American Life Part II
Welcome to week 71 of Bidwell Lore! Last week we began a new series called “Reenacting an American Life,” where John Demos imagines two weeks of diary entries for Reverend Bidwell, one for a week in April 1752 and one for a week in December 1779-December 1780. For the first installment, which you can read...
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Bidwell Lore – Reenacting an Early American Life
Welcome to week 70 of Bidwell Lore! We took a few weeks off while preparing for a takeover of the property by the British and Continental armies. Things have now gone back to normal and we are happy to be back with a new series for the next few weeks called “Reenacting an Early American Life”...
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Bidwell Lore – The Meeting House Continued
Last week, we learned how Township No. 1’s Meeting House was finally constructed so it could be used by Rev. Adonijah Bidwell for weekly services and for town business. This week, we’ll see if we can figure out what the building may have looked like, and some of the formative events that were discussed and...
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Bidwell Lore – The Meeting House
Welcome to week 64 of Bidwell Lore. This week we share more information about the completion of the first Meeting House in Township #1. As we have learned over the past few weeks, it took more than thirteen years to build the first Meeting House in Township No. 1. But, finally, in October 1750, the Meeting House and...
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Bidwell Lore – A New Minister for Township #1
Welcome to week 63 of Bidwell Lore. This week, we talk about the selection of Adonijah Bidwell as the new minister of Township #1. We learned in the last article that it took 13 years of struggles and effort—from 1737 to 1750—to make real progress toward completing the first meeting house in Township No. 1. This was due to...