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December 9: WHM’s Next History Book Group Meeting

On Thursday, December 9 from 1-2:30 p.m. we will be meeting via Zoom (see link below) to discuss Women of Privilege: 100 Years of Love and Loss in a Family of the Hudson River Valley by Susan Gillotti. The book traces the decline of a once-privileged Hudson River Valley family whose neighbors were Vanderbilts, Delanos, and Roosevelts. Based on diaries and journals, and written by a family descendant, it combines biography and memoir with social history. Copies are available through your local library or at most bookstores!

Topic: WHM December Book Club Meeting
Time: Dec 9, 2021 01:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 817 1215 7832
Passcode: 144699
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Meeting ID: 817 1215 7832
Passcode: 144699
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Haunted Williamstown? Read some spooky local stories!

Local kids dress up for Halloween in 1992

By Effie Skinner, Volunteer

As Halloween comes around, you may be wondering if there are any ghosts in Williamstown. There is, in fact, a history of haunted buildings and ghosts being reported in the area.

A photograph of “Old Coot” from a 1939 issue of the North Adams Transcript.

On Mount Greylock, the place deemed to be North America’s wizarding school, there are rumors of a ghost named “Old Coot.” A man named Bill Saunders from Adams fought in the Civil War and did not immediately return. When Saunders came back after several years and discovered his wife had married another man, he became a hermit in the woods of Greylock. He lived there for several years. “When Saunder’s body was found about 100 years ago by some hunters, they swore they saw a shadow-like substance leave the hermit’s bones and dart like the wind toward the deep and dark woods of Mt. Greylock.” There have been a few reports since then of a ghost named Old Coot roaming around the mountain, so if you’re up for a hike in the fall foliage, keep an eye out for him.

There are also many tales relating to the Bennington Bigfoot. In 1879, two Pownal men saw a creature “being about five feet high, resembling a man in form and movement, but covered all over with bright red hair, and having a long straggly beard, and with very wild eyes.” A similar figure was sighted by Art and Ella Rosenburg, who lived at Sheep Hill, and then by Dave and Barbara Taylor while horseback riding on Berlin Road.

A long time ago at Kidder Hollow in South Williamstown, “Old Man Kidder” would scare trespassers off his land. If people were passing through, he would “hide behind big rocks or trees and leap out to scare them off.” After he died, he continued to protect his land and “his sudden appearances would be even scarier.”

The old Stratton Inn.

A building near Stratton Road has had reports of mysterious, possibly supernatural, events. Throughout its life, the old Stratton Inn has “served as a stagecoach stop, a boarding school, a speakeasy, a motel and research offices for the Getty Foundation.” While the building was being used by the Getty Foundation, it had several spooky occurrences. Two women working in the building reported that a hanging plant began swinging oddly. On a separate occasion, a custodian also noticed the hanging plant “violently swinging.” 

There have also been reports of hauntings in our local Milne library. When the property was being used as the Pine Cobble School, some cleaners discovered strange appearances of a chair and “plumes of steam” coming from a basement faucet. One librarian heard footsteps while alone in the building. There is even a report of “a woman in white walking in the building after hours.”

Have fun this Halloween and keep an eye out for strange occurrences in historical houses around town!

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Join us for a celebration of local baseball history!

The WHM will be hosting an event focusing on local baseball history on Saturday, October 16 from 11-1 pm. Our temporary exhibit on the history of baseball in Williamstown, presented by Baseball in the Berkshires will be coming to a close in the next few weeks. Please join us on the 16th for an event featuring:

  • A Q&A and remarks from prominent local baseball figures
  • A chance to meet baseball pros and Williamstown natives Jonah Bayliss and Ryan Cameron
  • A guided tour of the temporary exhibit
  • Refreshments
  • … and more!

The event will be held at the museum, 32 New Ashford Road in Williamstown, rain or shine! We hope to see you there.

Please see a flyer for this event here.