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4
 In case we haven’t mentioned it lately,
We LOVE Our Volunteers
BY TOM STOCKTON, PRESIDENT
With the arrival of summer, our new season has gotten off to a great start
at the Stone House. Our new year began with our Annual Meeting on Sunday,
April 24th at the home of
Denise Smith.
After our usual pot-luck luncheon and a fascinating trivia quiz conducted
by
Marnie Henneman,
those in attendance heard final reports on all the hard work done by the
Museum, Finance, Bylaws, Education, and Nominating committees. We
discussed the current state of our buildings and our plans for the coming
year. Our traditional thanks were given to many of our hard-working
volunteers, for we always keep in mind that our volunteers are key to our
success and the furtherance of our mission. We honored trustee
Peg Louraine
who is rotating off the board, elected new trustee
Randi Shenkman,
and elected our officers.
We
continue to plan for work to be done to improve our climate control system
and to address certain structural issues inside the Stone House. We were
awarded two Community Preservation Grants at the 2009 town meeting, and
have just been given the money to deal with our old climate-control
system. We also continue to hope to be part of the preservation of the
Washington District Schoolhouse.
Our
Opening Day celebration, May 14, was a great success. There were “Made In
Belchertown” crafters, our “Old Bag” sale (where many found bargains), a
raffle and sales table, a terrific plant sale, and, of course, tours of
the Stone House Museum. How can we give enough thanks to the volunteers
who worked tirelessly to bring off the separate elements that made this
such a wonderful day for our organization. Special thanks are due to
Sally Shattuck
who headed
up our Plant Sale,
Linda Snow, Marnie Henneman
and
Cheryl Dutton
who headed
up the bags,
Carol Mierzewski
who rounded up volunteers and worked on the raffle and sales table,
Gerri Amprino
who
organized the crafters, and
Becki Smith
and
Millie Harrington
for all
their work to make the grounds so beautiful. Many thanks to all!
We also
thank
Marnie Henneman
and
Louise Butler
for representing the Belchertown Historical Association at the annual
Memorial Day commemoration at the Quabbin Cemetery.
A great—if
chilly—time was had by all at our annual Members Only Cocktail Party on
June 24, and many people went home with door prizes.
We are
pleased this year to have a display in our exhibit room that coordinates
with the town’s 250th celebration. Trustee
Maureen Austin
and
Mary Ellen Kuzmeski
created a
time-line of Belchertown History around the top of the room, and the
Museum Committee continues to place interesting objects from our
collection in the display cases at the appropriate place in the
time-line.
Speaking
of the town’s 250th celebration, kudos to the town’s 250th
Anniversary Committee for a fantastic job on the July 2 Picnic on the
Common. During the festivities it was my honor, on behalf of the Board of
Trustees, to present a plaque to our Archivist Emerita,
Doris Dickinson,
who was in town for this historic occasion. The plaque, which will hang
in the archives, reads:
“May
13, 2009 By a unanimous vote of the Board of Trustees of the Belchertown
Historical Association these archives are henceforth to be named ‘The
Doris Dickinson Archives’ in recognition of the many varied and vital
contributions to this association of Archivist Emerita Doris Dickinson.”
We could
never itemize or properly quantify all of Doris’ many contributions, and I
was proud to be able to honor Doris in this way on behalf of our
association.
This year
our Living History Days event will be on Saturday, August 13, and we are
pleased to provide another activity relevant to Belchertown’s history
during this anniversary year. The event this year will be a
FARM TOUR,
celebrating our agrarian past and showing how agriculture has survived and
adapted in town up to the present day. One person asked me: “Are there
any farms left in town?” Well—THERE ARE! For the modest price of $10 per
family, visit 7 local farms and see everything from tree and vegetable
farming to alpacas and beef cattle. The Stone House will be open with a
display of our nineteenth century farm equipment, our re-creation 19th
century garden, and $1 ice cream from 12 – 3! The Living History event
will be a lot of fun, as well as a much-needed fundraiser, and will
include the historic small engines and tractors on the Common, sponsored
by the town’s agricultural commission. Please join us to celebrate this
continuing link with our past.
Please
don’t forget that we are always looking for cleaners, dusters,
house-sitters and docents during the summer months. If you have time
during the week or on Saturdays and an interest in becoming more involved
with our museum please contact me at 323-0946.
I hope to
see all our old and new friends at the many events we have coming up this
summer and fall. Remember—membership in the Belchertown Historical
Association is always fun and informative, and memberships make great
gifts!
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