Historic Houses
Step into early America as you tour Historic Deerfield’s eleven house museums. Explore hundreds of years of history along an original, mile-long street. Two houses, the Stebbins House and Sheldon House, are available for self-guided tours all day during the regular season.
Built in 1734, the Ashley House served as the home of Deerfield’s 18th-century minister with furnishings of the Connecticut River elite and English ceramics. It is an example of Deerfield’s first 18th-century building boom.
Built in 1734, and renovated in 1945, the Allen House served as the residence of Historic Deerfield’s founders Henry and Helen Flynt. The interiors of the house have been left as they were when the Flynts lived here.
Built in 1799, the Asa Stebbins House features Federal period architecture, wall treatments, and decorative arts. It was the first brick house in Deerfield, and the interior of the house features neoclassical furnishings dating from 1790 to 1830.
Built in 1795, the Barnard Tavern was at the center of village life at the end of the 18th century. In the early 19th century, roads and canals improved transportation and communication between towns in the new nation. This building is currently closed for restoration and reinterpretation. It will reopen in Fall 2010.
Built ca. 1754 in Springfield, Massachusetts, the Dwight House was moved to Deerfield in 1950 when it was threatened with demolition.
Built circa 1750, the Frary House depicts the Colonial Revival home of Miss C. Alice Baker, as restored in the 1890s with New England antiques, Arts and Crafts needlework, ironware and basketry. Baker was a teacher, collector, and antiquarian researcher, who restored the Frary House in 1892. Today Miss Baker’s home interprets the village’s active Arts and Crafts movement, her antiquarian pursuits, and her role in fostering the Colonial Revival in Deerfield.
Built in 1754/7, the Sheldon House has an 1802 single-story ell or addition to the rear. The house is interpreted to the period of 1780 to 1810, when the house was occupied by three generations of Sheldon family members.
Built in 1747, the Wells-Thorn House presents period rooms depicting the lifestyle of Deerfield residents in a progression from the early days of 1725 all the way up to the high-style of the 1850s. It is furnished to illustrate the development of the agricultural economy, domestic life, and refinement in the Connecticut Valley.
Originally constructed in 1730, the Hinsdale and Anna Williams House was extensively renovated to its present appearance in 1816. Ebenezer Hinsdale Williams, a landowner and farmer, was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts, educated at Harvard College, and later moved to Deerfield, his mother’s native village.
This kitchen garden serves as a source of fresh ingredients for the museum’s open hearth cooking demonstrations and classes. The garden contains an assortment of useful plants commonly found in New England during the 18th and early 19th centuries.
A state-of-the-art museum facility featuring exhibitions and a visible storage area modeled on those at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
The first stop for visitors to Historic Deerfield, the Hall Tavern Visitor Center was originally built in 1760 in Charlemont, Massachusetts (about 20 miles west of Deerfield), and a ballroom wing was added around 1800. Today Museum Attendants welcome visitors with information about tickets, membership, the day’s activities, and an orientation film.
The Channing Blake Meadow Walk, a fully accessible footpath open seasonally, takes visitors past a working farm and through meadows to the Deerfield River. Interpretive panels along the one-third mile walk describe local geology, natural history, and Native and European presence.
The path is open May 1 through December 1.
The Deerfield Inn is a classic, full-service original country inn built in 1884 that continues to welcome travelers from around the world. Guests enjoy 23 individual rooms, a relaxed fine dining restaurant featuring creative American cuisine featuring local produce, and a convivial tavern. Reservations for meals and lodging are suggested.
The Old Burying Ground at the end of Albany Road is open to the public during daylight hours, and offers a wealth of information about the early settlers of the area. It is owned and operated by the Town of Deerfield, Massachusetts, and contains many unique and beautiful grave stones.
Built circa 1814, the house containing the Henry Needham Flynt Silver and Metalware Collection reflects Historic Deerfield founder Henry Flynt’s interest in early American silver. The core collection of 92 pieces of American silver purchased in England by the Flynts in 1954 has grown to more than 4,000 pieces of American and English silver in a variety of forms.
Historic Deerfield offers a wide array of gifts and books for our visitors in the Museum Store. We carry a variety of American crafts, jewelry, and reproductions as well as souvenirs.
The libraries of Deerfield’s two leading museum organizations, Historic Deerfield and the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA), are housed together in one building, known as the Memorial Libraries. It is located next to the Memorial Hall Museum.