USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., 1725-1885 > Part 18
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The First Congregational church of South Egremont .- In 1767 the inhab- itants erected a church building and made an effort to establish a church, but the object was not accomplished until February 20, 1770, when a Congrega- tional society was organized, and on the 28th of that month Rev. Eliphalet Steele was installed as pastor. Mr. Steele remained with the people, in entire harmony, until the time of the Shays Rebellion, when, many of his parishioners being among the malcontents, they became his enemies, from the fact that he did not sympathize with them. Some of them entered his house at night, and, after inflicting sundry personal indignities upon him, stole his watch and several articles of clothing. The disturbing elements thus introduced never became thoroughly reconciled, though Mr. Steele remained with the society until April 29, 1794, when he was dismissed. From this time the society gradually diminished in size and strength until it finally became extinct. In 1816, however, a new society was formed, which
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TOWN OF FLORIDA.
still exists. It was organized by Rev. Aaron Kinne, with thirteen members, Rev. Gardner Hayden being the first pastor. The old church building stood upon a sightly eminence in the center of the township, about a mile from the present building, which is in the heart of Egremont village. This building erected in 1833, at a cost of $2,500.00, will comfortably seat 300 persons, and is now valued, including grounds, at about its original cost. The soci- ety now has 120 members, with Rev. Parris P. Farwell, pastor.
The Baptist church, located at North Egremont, was organized in 1787 and incorporated in 1808. Their house of worship, erected in 1817, will seat 400 persons, and is valued at $2,occ.oo. Rev. Jeduthan Gray was the first pastor. The society now has fifty-six members, with no regular pastor at present writing.
F LORIDA lies in the extreme northeastern corner of the county, in lat. 42° 40', and long. 3º 59'. It is very irregular in outline, having Ver- mont, and Monroe, Franklin county, on the north, Rowe and Charle- mont, from which it is divided by Deerfield river, on the east, Savoy, from which it is partly separated by Cold river, on the south, and North Adams and Clarksburg on the west. It was incorporated as a town, June 15, 1805, the northern point being previously taken by Bernardston, in compensation for the loss sustained by a town of that name in running the line between Massa- chusetts and Vermont. The tract was for many years known as " Bernard- ston's grant." Bullock's grant and King's grant, so-called, each contributed towards forming the present town's territory. On May 2, 1848, a part of Clarksburg was annexed to the town.
Florida lies upon the summit of the Green Mountain range, and contains some of the finest mountain scenery in the State, and is also noted for being tunnelled its entire width, from east to west, by the celebrated Hoosac tunnel, (see page 56). Hoosac Mountain, which extends nearly the whole length of the town, rises to a height of 1,448 feet above Deerfield river, and affords some magnificent views, of which the following extract from the pen of Mr. Washington Gladden gives a vivid picture :-
"On this bleak, rough mountain-top lies all that is inhabitable of the town of Florida. There are a few good grazing farms; but grain has a slim chance between the late and the early frosts. The winter's are long and fierce. During the Revolutionary war, a body of troops attempted to make the passage of this mountain in mid-winter, and nearly perished with cold and hunger. Passing on the left a dilapidated old tavern, where none but a stranger will be likely to get taken. in, and on the right, as we ascend the western crest, a smooth surface of rock, with furrows chiselled in it, by primitive ice bergs, then suddenly bursts upon us a scene whose splendor makes abundant com- pensation for the dreariness of the three miles just passed.
" In the center of the picture rises Greylock, king of mountains: about him are the group of lesser peaks that make his court. On the north, Mount
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TOWN OF FLORIDA.
Adams, a spur of the Green Mountain range, closes the scene. Between this and the Greylock group, the beautiful curves of the Taconic range fill the western horizon. From the north flows down, through the valley that sepa- rates the mountain on which we stand, from Mount Adams, the north branch of the Hoosac river ; from the south, through the village of South Adams, and the valley that lies between us and Greylock, comes the other branch of the river, and 1,500 feet below us lies the village of North Adams, packed in among its ravines, and climbing the slopes on every side; and here the two branches of the Hoosac unite, and flow on westward through the other valley that divides Greylock from Mount Adams. Williamstown lies at the foot of the Taconic hills, just behind the spur of Mount Adams. The straight line of the Pittsfield and North Adams railroad cuts the southern valley in twain ; the Troy and Boston railroad bisects the western valley; and the twin spires of little Stamford, in Vermont, brighten the valley on the north. These three deep valleys, with the village at their point of confluence and the lordly mountain-walls that shut them in, give us a picture whose beauty will not be eclipsed by any scene that New England can show us. If it should fall to your lot, good reader, as it fell to the lot of one ('whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell') to stand upon the rock that overhangs the road by which we are descending, while the sun, hiding behind amber clouds in the west, touches the western slope of the old mountain there in the center with the most delicate pink and purple hues ; while the shadows gather in the hollows of its eastern side, and the sweet breath of a summer evening steals over the green meadows where the little river winds among its alder bushes,- if this should be your felicity, you will say, and reverently too, 'It is good to be here: let us make tabernacles, and abide ; for surely there shall never rest upon our souls a purer benediction.'"
Cold river, with its tributaries, flows a southerly course through nearly the whole length of the town, and forming a part of its southern boundary. The underlying rock is calcareous gneiss and the Quebec group, containing a vein of serpentine marble.
In 1880 Florida had a population of 459. In 1883, the town employed eight female teachers in its public schools, at an average monthly salary of $23.00. The town then had ninety-nine school children and raised $831.54 for school purposes.
FLORIDA is a postoffice located in the central part of the town.
HOOSAC TUNNEL (p. o.) is a hamlet located at the eastern mouth of the " Great Bore."
The settlement of the town was begun by Dr. Daniel Nelson, from Stam- ford, Conn., in 1783. Previous to 1795 he was joined by Paul Knowlton, from Shrewsbury, Sylvanus Clark, from Southampton, Nathan Drury, from Shelburne, Jesse King, from Deerfield, and Stephen Staples, from Adams, and soon after this the settlement was quite numerously reinforced.
Aside from the Revolutionary incident of the American troops passing the mountain, occupying three weeks in the journey, it is also related that four Irish deserters from Burgoyne's army supported themselves here for several years, mostly by hunting and fishing.
Dr. Daniel Nelson came on horseback to Florida from Long Meadow, and 10*
I46
TOWN OF FLORIDA.
settled on Deerfield river, in the southeastern part of the town, where he subsequently had quite an extended practice. He is the only one of the first settlers now represented here, having a grandson, Wallace E. Nelson, residing on the old homestead. Dr. Nelson tended the toll-gate on the turn- pike across the mountain for forty years.
Sylvanus Clark, one of the early settlers, removed from Southampton in 1785, and located on the place now owned by Noah Clark. Of a family of three sons and three daughters, none are now living, but Sylvanus has two sons, grandsons of Sylvanus, now residing in the place.
Samuel Phillips, who settled in the northern part of Florida about 1800,. reared a family of six children, only one, Anson Mayhew Phillips, of Shel- burne Falls, still surviving. There are but two representatives of the family in town, Consider R. and Samuel A., sons of Samuel Ripley.
Ebenezer Bradley, of Rowe, came to Florida, about 1804. He had born to him a family of six children, the only one now living being Beda Bradley, who lives with her nephew, Ira Bradley, upon the old homestead cleared by his grandfather. In early times the family lived in a log house, and the howling of wolves was frequently heard.
Daniel Burnett came to Florida, from Ashfield, about the year 1805. But two of a family of eleven children are now living, and only one, Isaac, re- sides in Florida, living upon the old homestead. Daniel Burnett, Jr., repre- sented by Horace W., married Miss Electa Loomis, who taught the first school, about 1800, in a barn.
Nathan Kemp came to Florida, from Shelburne, in 1806 or '07, when the country was but thinly settled, locating on the farm now owned by his grand- son, Nathan W. Kemp. He reared a family of seven children, but the only representatives now in town are Nathan W., Mrs. Gideon, his mother, and an aunt, Mrs. Kendall Kemp.
Thomas Tower, born in Ashfield, February 8, 1783, came to Florida in 1807, and located in the southeastern part, on the place where Ephraim now resides. Of a family of two sons and two daughters, only one son, Ephraim, and a daughter, Mrs. Clarissa Whitcomb, now reside in town. Ephraim has had a family of three children, one son, Austin, residing upon the old homestead with his father. Three brothers of Thomas Tower also located in Florida, two of whom are still represented in town-William by two sons, Sedate, and Dennis, and one daughter, Mrs. Kemp; and Martin by three sons, Miles, Minor and Sidney.
Ebenezer Thatcher, from Conway, came here in January, 1807, locating in the southern part of the town. He reared a family of six sons and three daughters, nearly all of whom settled here, but of whom only one, Sumner, now resides here. Sumner has two sons and four daughters now living, two of whom, Sereno S. and Amelia M., reside in Florida. Sereno lives on the place cleared by his father. Two brothers of Sumner are also represented here-one, Jerry, by his two sons, Marcus, and Ebenezer ; Leonard, by one daughter, Mrs. Sedate Tower.
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TOWN OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
William White removed from Templeton, his native place, to Athol, and finally, after making several settlements, located in Florida, about 1822. He had born to him two sons and three daughters, the two sons, William and Nathan, settling in Florida. William reared six children, two of whom, George W., and Mrs. Lorenzo Whitcomb, now reside in town. Nathan, who lives on the old homestead, has been twice married, having one son, Ernest C., by his first wife.
The Baptist church, located at Florida village, was organized in 1810, with twenty-six members. Their first church building was erected in 1824, and the present structure in 1861. The church building cost $3,000.00, will accommodate about 175 persons, and is now valued, including grounds, at $4,000.00. The society now has seventy-three members, with Rev. George L. Reeberg, pastor.
G REAT BARRINGTON lies in the southwestern part of the county, in lat. 42° 12' and long. 3º 40', bounded north by Stockbridge, West Stockbridge and Lee, east by Tyringham Monterey and New Marlboro, south by Sheffield and New Marlboro, and west by Alford and Egremont. This town formed a part of the territory granted as the "Upper and Lower Housatonic Township," the history of which transaction has already been mentioned in the County Chapter. The Upper Township was surveyed by Timothy Dwight, of Northamton, in October, 1736. It had been encroached upon the survey of the new "Indian Town" (Stockbridge), so that it seems that the boundary of the whole township was as follows: "Beginning at the north western corner of Sheffield, the line ran east 9° south, 1,902 rods, then north 40° east, over the Beartown mountain, 2,256 rods, to a point which falls on the farm of David and John Baker, in Cape street, so-called, in the present town of Lee. It then ran west, 9º north, crossing the southern slope of Rat- tlesnake mountain and Stockbridge mountain, 3,150 rods to the supposed line of New York; then south, 11º west, 1,950 rods, to the point first men- tioned ; containing 31,360 acres, the area of seven miles square. The part taken up by the Indian Town was on the north of the township, 770 rods in breadth, extending from the supposed line of New York, six miles, or 1,920 rods east. This contained 9,240 acres, so that what belonged to the Upper Housatonic Township in 1736, was 22, 120 acres." In 1743 this tract was in- corporated as the North Parish of Sheffield,-sometimes called Upper Shef- field, and during that period was included in and formed a part of the town of Sheffield. But June 30, 1761, it was incorporated as a separate township, under the name of Great Barrington, so named in honor of Lord Barrington, of England, "the first of the name and peerage of Barrington." Its prefix "Great" was obtained, it is said, from the following circumstance : "The divis- ional line between Massachusetts and Rhode Island was unsettled and in con -
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TOWN OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
troversy. The town of Barrington, now in Rhode Island, lay near the disputed line, and had been, in some degree, subject to the jurisdiction of Massachu- setts ; but as it was uncertain whether, by adjustment of the line, Barrington would fall within Massachusetts or Rhode Island, and to obviate the possible impropriety of having two towns of the same name in the province, it was determined that the new town should be called Great Barrington."
In its outline the town is of irregular form though its average length and breadth are nearly the same,-a little less than seven miles. The whole area of the town, as near as the roughness of its boundary lines and the in- accuracies of their recorded surveys permit of computation, is 28,621 acres, or a little less than forty-five square miles. February 16, 1778 a considerable tract of land was taken from the northwesterly part of the town and included in Alford. This section was 652 rods in length, north and south, with a width of 210 rods at its northern and 266 rods at its southern end ; again, February 18, 1819, another piece, south of and adjoining the above described tract, was separated from this town and annexed to Alford, making with the first piece a strip of 712 rods in length, and 296 rods in width at its southern end. In the northeastern section, that part of the Upper township known as the Hoplands, was taken from this town and included in the town of Lee at the time of its incorporation, October 21, 1777. By the setting off to Alford, Great Barrington lost 1,075 acres of its territory, which was still further reduced about 4,700 acres by the annexation of the Hoplands to Lee. By these changes the whole reduction of area since the incorporation of the town has been nearly 5,800 acres. In January, 1761, a small tract, including the dwelling and part of the lands of GarrettBurghardt, was, on his own petition, set off from Egremont and attached to Sheffield, and on the incorporation of Great Barrington, a few months later, fell within the limits of this town. This change caused the jog or irregularity in the west line of the town near the late residence of Jacob Burghardt, deceased. On the south, the divisional line between this town and Sheffield, which is now commonly considered a straight line, was formerly the north of the Indian Reservation, and in the legis- lative act of the 13th of January, 1742, investing the -afterwards-North Parish, of Sheffield, with parish privileges, is thus described : " Beginning at the most northwesterly corner of the Indian land, in the west line of the town of Sheffield, running easterly on said Indian land till it comes to a beech tree marked, near the mouth of Green river, then turning something northerly, and leaving to Sheffield a small piece of meadow, or intervale of said Indian land till it comes to range the line and beech tree on the easterly side of said meadow, or intervale, and then to continue said line till it intersects the east line of Sheffield Propriety." By this line as described,-which afterwards became the south line of Great Barrington,-the " clear meadow," reserved by the Indians, was left to the town of Sheffield, but in later years the crook in this line has been dis- regarded, and, without any known legislative enactment, by common con-
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TOWN OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
sent of both towns, this line has been perambulated, surveyed and recorded as a straight line, thus leaving the clear meadow within the limits of Great Barrington.
The surface of the town is broken and uneven, yet affording sufficient level, arable land to have it rank as a fine agricultural town. In the north- easterly part Bear mountain extends southeasterly from Stockbrige and Lee in to Monterey, cutting off from the main body of the town the school district of Beartown, and rendering it inaccessible by public highways except through the adjoining towns of Stockbridge and Lee, or Monterey. To the westward of Bear mountain, and directly at its base, lies the locality known as Muddy Brook, a secluded farming district-extending from the top of Three-mile hill northerly to the Stockbridge line-through which flows the stream that gives name to the locality. To the westward of the central part of Muddy brook valley the monument mountain rises, reaching northerly into Stock- bridge and spreading westerly with spurs and offshoots to the Housatonic river, which washes its base at the village of Housatonic, in the extreme northerly part of the town; from its southern base a long range of hills extends southerly along the western border of the Muddy brook valley to Three-mile hill, and there unites with the Warner mountain, a spur of East Mountain. Immediately east of Great Barrington village, the East mountain, or, as it is somtimes called, the Great mountain, rises to an elevation several hundred feet, having its northern terminus in a singularly prominent pile of rocks, about one-third of a mile east of the "Great Bridge," from which it extends, with a gradually widening base, easterly, beyond Three-mile hill into New Marlboro, and southerly into Sheffield. Opposite to, and east of the southern part of the village, lies the Little mountain, apparently thrown from the larger or East mountain, in some great convulsion of nature, and still reclining in the lap of the parent mountain. Between the Little and East mountains a narrow valley intervenes, through which passes one of the early highways of the town, and also the East Mountain brook, which supplies the village with water. The East mountain, below the village, recedes from the river and in the southerly part of the town throws out an arm to the westward, which extends into Sheffield, and is called June mountain. To the eastward of June mountain, between it and the East mountain, passes the road to the Soda Springs and Brush hill, and the elevated intervening valley furnishes a course for Roaring brook, which flows northerly to its confluence with the Housatonic, near the late residence of David Leavitt, deceased. In the northwesterly part of the town the mountain called Tom Ball, in West Stockbridge, and Long Pond mountain, in this town, enters the town from West Stockbridge and reaches along the Alford town line, more than two miles, to the valley of See- konk brook. This mountain, too, has an offshoot to the eastward, called Sherlock mountain, the eastern base of which borders on Williams river. Between the Sherlock and Lond Pond mountains is an elevated valley, con- taining good farming lands, and forming the basin of Long pond, a secluded
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TOWN OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
and attractive sheet of water of about 100 acres. The principal streams of water are the Housatonic, Williams and Green rivers.
The town thus cut by mountain, hill and valley, presents in all a magnifi- cent piece of scenery, the most attractive of its many points being Monu- ment Mountain, extending from the northern part of the town into Stock- bridge. This weird pile,
" Shaggy and wild
With mossy trees and pinnacles of flint, And many a hanging crag, "
was made famous long ago by William Cullen Bryant's well-known poem, " Monument Mountain." It derives its name from a curious monument on its southern slope, raised by the Indians for some unknown purpose, which was still standing when the white men first came to this region. There are many traditions extant as to the origin of this monument. Mr. Bryant, who was familiar with the mountain, has given the popular tradition in the above men- tioned beautiful poem, which states as follows : "Long before white men came, a beautiful maiden was so unfortunate as to fall in love with her cousin, -a love deemed illegal by these stern tribes. She struggled a long time with her unfortunate passion, but all in vain ; at length, overcome with despair and shame, she climbed one day the dizzy height of this mountain precipice accompanied only by a friend, a playmate of her young and inno- cent years. On the verge of the precipice the friends sat down, and then-
"When the sun grew low, And the hill shadows long, she threw herself From the steep rock and perished. There was scooped
Upon the mountain's southern slope a grave, And there they laid her in the very garb With which the maiden decked herself for death,
And o'er the mould that covered her the tribe Built up a simple monument-a cone Of small loose stones. * *
As the legend runs, "the cone of small loose stones," was built and con- tinued to grow by continual deposits, as each one who passed the grave cast another stone upon the heap, out of respect to the memory of her whose body rested beneath. It is said that years ago this cone was leveled by some van- dal, out of curiosity, or otherwise, and that it hassince been rebuilt by visitors in the same manner in which it was originally raised.
The rocks entering into the geological formation of the territory are prin- cipally of limestone formation, forming in some places ledges of excellent marble. In the western part of the town there is a ledge of talcose slate, and in the eastern part a range of quartz rock. Iron ore exists in some localities to a considerable extent.
In 1880 Great Barrington had a population of 4,653. In 1883 it employed five male and twenty-nine female teachers in its public schools, at an average monthly salary of $42.00 for males and $30.44 for females. There were 718
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TOWN OF GREAT BARRINGTON.
school children, while the entire amount raised for school purposes was $8,933.61.
GREAT BARRINGTON is a handsome post village located in the central part of the town on the Housatonic river and on the Housatonic railroad. At the time of the incorporation of the town it was a straggling hamlet known as Upper Sheffield, extending from Pixley street south to the Great Bridge, and thence to the Zina Parks place, south of Merritt I. Wheeler's ; but with the exception of the old David Ingersoll house, there were no dwellings between the bridge and the present Congregational church, and the few dwellings south of that point were scattered at wide intervales. Indeed, nearly all the buildings in Water street have been erected during the past fifty years. The central part, proper, of this hamlet was east of the bridge ; and its not very extensive business was mostly in that vicinity. The meeting-house, standing in the west line of the upper burial ground, the mills on the river bank, erected by David Ingersoll more than twenty years before, and the notable tavern of Captain Hewitt Root, at the east end of the bridge, formed a nu- cleus about which a few dwellings had been congregated. Further east, at the Bung Hill corner, was another small collection of residences, a shop or two, and the smithy of Jonathan Nash. In laying out the lands on the east side of the river, through Pixley street, the settling committee appear to have had in view the site of a prospective village on the level ground in that vicin- ity, and gave the main road in that part of the town a width of ten rods. The establishment of the courts and the subsequent erection of the county buildings, as mentioned on page 35, gave an impulse to the growth and added to the importance of both the village and the town.
It is now a charming village of about 2,700 inhabitants, whose broad main street, numberless huge elms, fine business blocks, neat and well-kept houses, and its business activity wins for it the admiration of all. It has, aside from its business blocks and manufactories, four churches (Congrega- tional, Methodist, Episcopal and Roman Catholic), two banks and many fine private residences. The scenic beauties in its near vicinity are marked and striking, while its drives in all directions are among the most charming to be found.
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