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..Ashfield has always celebrated its history and the outstanding talents of its inhabitants! In 1965, for example, the town of Ashfield celebrated its bicentennial ... an event which was notable largely for celebrating the fact that nothing much of note - at least as historians often judge events - seems to have happened in the town for two hundred years (or so it seemed to me, reading volume I of Ashfield's history)!
There were no disasters comparable to the Indian massacres that overtook Deerfield and Charlemont, no floods like the one that wiped out the old earthern dam in Williamburg and left so many people homeless. People were born, grew up, pursued their livelihoods and died here in relative peace and quiet, while those Indian massacres, disastrous floods, wars, industrialization, affluence and other momentous occurrences swirled all around them, bringing tremendous changes, some good, some bad - but the face of the little hilltown of Ashfield stayed very much the same throughout! We have a fine historical society, where you can see lots of old pictures and artifacts, and read about our history. Click on the image below to learn more.
Oh, sure, a few things changed in the village. The beautiful New England Town Hall image above and on the Ashfield Home Page was once a Congregational Church up at Paddy's Flat on the Norton Hill Road right by the old graveyard there. The present Congregational Church is on the other side of Main Street now, across from Town Hall, and is equally beautiful. Click on the image below to learn more - and, additionally, click here to read about their exceptionally fine cookbook! It's one I find indispensible at all times of the year, but especially at harvest time, where it sits on my kitchen table, along with that old tried-and-true Putting Food By, and gets daily usage!
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Too many of the huge old sugar maple trees that used to line Main Street from end to end were decimated by disease and ice storms a few years ago, but there are still a few left standing and lots of them on Norton Hill Road as it descends the steep hill to Main Street.
Like so many of the other buildings that line our Main Street, Belding Library has a long history in the town. The image on the left which I have reproduced is a testimonial in itself to the library's historical and educational significance! Click on the artist's image to read that history.
There's a new post office building now, much larger and fancier than the old one, which used to share space with the hardware store. The Grange Hall only occasionally draws crowds of farming families to membership and dinner meetings, but the old building is still sound and stands proud, and its remaining active members are looking at rewriting their by-laws to turn it into a community social hall, which is much needed by the town. Even our convenience store is different from ordinary stores of this kind! It's our convenience store - and a whole lot more - run by the Nolans, and is one of the most frequented spots in Ashfield. Click on the image to read more.
Another unique Ashfield institution is Ashfield House. Built in the 19th century, this extensive building has been used over the years as a resort hotel and, later, as an old people's home, As a child in the early 30s, I remember driving by Ashfield House on Main Street and seeing a long line of elderly people rocking in wicker armchairs lined up all along the extensive porch. Currently, under the devoted care of its owner Suzanne Corbett, it is being used as a mixed, governmentally-funded housing facility for handicapped, low income and elderly people.
I became friends with one old Ashfield resident, Grace Hall, a woman in her nineties who had been a farmer's wife early in her life, and who lived in a small apartment on the street floor. She has since moved to Windsor, VT, to be closer to her daughter, but at the time, I was driving her to her doctor. On the way, I would ask her lots of questions about her life, both past and present, which was great fun. Grace told me that she thought Suzanne did a great job of both mothering and policing the young people who lived in the house, and said they were very solicitous of and helpful to her! I found that information very moving!
Time has increasingly begun to catch up with our little town, which is undergoing a growing sense of conflict-engendering concern over how to cope with the increasing number of challenges it faces. For hundreds of years, the lack of a town sewage disposal system seemed the norm for townspeople, but the volume of wastewater had begun creating a steadily increasing level of pollution of South Brook, where the wastewater from many families ended up. Sanderson Academy had became too small and in need of too much modernization to meet the needs of Ashfield's children, according to the state's educational standards. The nearby town of Plainfield was having similar problems. What was to be done about these problems? Click on the images to find out.
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Franklin County, where Ashfield is located, is also the poorest county in Massachusetts. It is often hard for people to make a living here, hard for small businesses to support themselves. Some of the elderly, some of whom live outside the limits of the village itself on farms that no longer work as such, are left widowed, lonely and poor. If it were not for nearby families and friends, their plight would be serious indeed. As it is, life has always been hard for many farming families in this region, at least in comparison with what is considered the norm for more prosperous regions of the state. You may see some of the statistical data for Ashfield by clicking here.
The hilly character, geographical elevation and short growing season of this charming hill town make it economically difficult if not impossible for many of the small truck, subsistence or dairy farms that used to support so many families to compete with Connecticut Valley and other agricultural acreages. Employment is hard to find within the village, and many if not most families are forced to commute to neighboring cities for work.
An outsider might think that, in the face of such evident disadvantages and unresolved problems, the people of Ashfield might consider themselves badly off or in need of outside help. Not so! You would be misreading the character of western Massachusetts hilltowns - of which Ashfield is a prime exemplar! - if you were to draw such a conclusion. It might even be said that the rest of the country could take its cue from the spirit of Ashfield's elders and families in general. We cope - we endure - we care about our neighbors. Oh sure, you'll hear some old residents complain that "nobody cares any more, " because we're a feisty bunch, but in actuality, the level of concern and cooperation among Ashfield residents is so high that one hears more complaints about excessive nosiness than about neglect!
We create new enterprises. Our Ashfield Cheese-making Center is an example. This Center supplies cheese-makers over a large region of the northeast with the cultures, supplies and advice they will need to start and to continue making good cheeses! I've heard they even serve as a B&B on occasion, but I haven't chacked it out. Here it is, summer and winter.
....The spirit of natural cooperation and connection is alive and well among us. And we're not afraid of hard work. Lots of people tap their maple trees for their own use, and we have several thriving sugaring businesses as well. This one's on the Creamery Road. They built their own covered bridge over the brook.
At two of the other sugaring farms that run seasonal restaurants, people line up in the spring to eat pancakes and waffles with butter, fresh maple syrup and coffee.
Now this story I just hate to report! Until recently, Elmer Lesure's old general store was run by Margaret Keith and her partner Ron Johnson, and sold crafts and baked goods and served wonderful food. Read more about what happened by clicking on the image.
We worried when the old reliable hardware store, which used to be owned and run by Harold Keyes, was no longer his - but we needn't have! It was put in the capable and creative hands of Nancy Hoff and Laura Bessette. Read all about their new and wonderful store by clicking on the image.
Next door, but in the same beautiful building, is Country Pie Pizza, which is entirely run by young people, puts out gorgeous pizza and other good stuff, and is extremely popular of an evening, rain or shine, in all seasons!
Flatlanders sometimes have a hard time accepting and understanding the village culture of complaint and skepticism shared by us hilltowners. Of course Town Meetings brings it all out, as one strong-minded villager after another rises to offer his/her opinion. We never seem to agree, even when various proposals are voted in by a large majority or, often, unanimously. Having voiced all shades of viewpoint, we sometimes seem to give in as a body and vote to support whatever the Select Board or the Finance Committee recommend. We also have problems that seem to get put off year after year because we just can't manage to agree - but the insidious process accompanying such problem-solving which has resulted from our turning to Federal one-size-fits-all programs and has engendered so much uniformity in so many communities has a hard time adapting to the hardiness and adamant individualism of Ashfield's people.
Take the fight over sidewalks! Can we use our superb Ashfield stone, quarried by a local family, or must we submit to the state's recommendations for asphalt? The jury was out for several years on that one, but it looks as though we will have to bow to the state after all! We sure tried everything we could to hold our own, but we needed the sidewalks, and our preferred choices proved just too expensive or otherwise unfeasible. Asphalt sidewalks finally got voted in at a special Town Meeting recently! Schoolkids, bike-riders and old folks will now be able to walk on Main Street unscathed (well, at least when the snow and ice aren't too deep and dangerous!).
But whatever the battlefield, you can read all about it in our town's monthly newspaper, the Ashfield News, which, under the expert, dedicated and passionate guidance of its talented editor Sally Straus, does a remarkable job of covering all sides of the swirling and never-ending controversies that keep us alive and well as a real community, ably aided and abetted by Faye Whitney-Lussier, stalwart girl reporter, and by Laura Besette and several other faithful past-up volunteers. This monthly newspaper is one of Ashfield's small but authentic miracles! PLEASE send Sally some money for the support of the paper, which is perpetually under-funded! Send it once if that's the best you can do, or, better yet, send her a pledge for regular amounts - and KEEP THE PLEDGE! Send your checks to S. Straus, 57 Bronson Ave., Ashfield, MA 01330.
Click on the masthead image above to see more examples of reportage by this marvelous newspaper.
The townspeople of Ashfield began realizing a few years ago that they were going to have to roll up their sleeves and tackle a growing number of possible opportunities disguised as problems too large to ignore! It has been far from easy, working out solutions to these problems, and the boon of grant aids from the state and the Federal government has often involved an unwanted tradeoff in the form of the threat of a loss of local autonomy. And so we fight and we complain. Click on one of the options below to learn more about the programs and activities which have been designed to meet the town's new challenges.
One thing about Ashfield, however, remains a constant: the beauty of the land! In the fall, the artist's palette of leafy colors that surrounds you as you walk through the woods or drive along the road leaves you breathless with wonder! I would sing of the wooded hills - the abundance of wild life - the farms with their soaring, cathedral-like barns and their winter-sturdy farmhouses, their cows and horses peacefully grazing in nearby pasture meadows - the roads that connect the small towns - winding, hilly roads, some asphalted, many still dirt, that lead one, entranced, traveling further and further still, through huge, overarching maple trees that march like sentinels along the way, waiting for the clusters of sap buckets that will adorn them in February!
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The glory of the autumn foliage in our hills is beyond description! Beauty is everywhere around you. You walk on a multi-colored carpet of leaves underfoot. Looking upward, the intensity of the clear blue sky seen through lacy branches makes it seem almost like deep lake water. Living in these blessed hills, one senses keenly the sacredness of life.