The Origin of
Our Community
by C.A. Chicoine
Halfway between
Williamstown and North Adams, there lies hidden and long forgotten, a
vague marker on a small boulder, at the back end of a nearly vacant
parking lot, commemorating Fort Massachusetts and its
defenders. There is nothing there telling us what war this fort was
built for. And nothing telling us what had actually taken place on
this site––only that there must have been some conflict between
the fort's inhabitants and, presumably, their enemy: a “scene of
their struggle in the wilderness,” as the plaque indicates. But
nowhere does it tell us what that struggle was.
To the left of this
commemorative boulder there is a fireplace and chimney. It is what
remains from the replica fort that was built there in the 1930's, by
the Fort Massachusetts Historical Society. On what would be the
outside of it, there is a small sign that reads, “Fort
Massachusetts 1745”––shedding some light on the fort's
construction date.
What the boulder's plaque
commemorates is the siege that took place there during the French and
Indian Wars––why we are gathered here today, in observance of the
thirty brave individuals' trials and tribulations.
Every historical site has
an important story to tell. The story of Fort Massachusetts is a
compelling, suspenseful, and inspiring story. It speaks of hope and
courage, and maintaining one's integrity in the face of adversity.
It's a story of life and death and the human spirit. It is a story
worth hearing.
There was much more to
Fort Massachusetts than the Siege of 1746. There were ambushes, and
one more attack where they successfully defended the fort and
succeeded in driving off the enemy. The first English settlers in
this area were the soldiers and their families, helping to clear the
way for further European settlement into this region. In fact, in the
spring of 1746, one of the soldiers, John Perry––a carpenter by
trade, who helped construct this and other nearby forts––picked
himself out a plot of land just down the road from here, in the
eastern portion of Blackinton, and built a house on it for he and his
wife. After the siege, it was pillaged and burned to the ground along
with the fort. Some of the original proprietors of the entire
township of West Hoosac––now Williamstown––were soldiers of
the fort. God's Acre–the burial ground for the soldiers and
their families who died while stationed there at Fort
Massachusetts––was the first cemetery in the northern Berkshires.
Although it had been
brought up in the early eighteen hundreds, it wasn't until 1859 that
the site was properly acknowledged with the planting of a memorial
tree, an elm tree, by Professor Arthur Perry of Williams
College––aptly referred to as Perry's Elm. It was planted
in what was the middle of the parade-ground within the original fort.
In 1897, a flagstaff was raised nearby. And then, in 1933, a
replica fort was built, housing the first local history museum in the
area. And, in 1976, the Fort Massachusetts Chapter of the Daughters
of the American Revolution set a boulder on the site with a bronze
tablet commemorating the fort and its defenders.
Gradually, the site fell
into ruin. Until, in the spring of 2012, a group of Price Chopper
employees took it upon themselves to reclaim and rescue this historic
site from what seemed like decades worth of trash and foliage
overgrowth. They trail-blazed the way for us, the Friends of Fort
Massachusetts, to carry on their endeavor, to preserve the site
as a park.
With the closing of the
former Price Chopper in February of 2016, there had been some concern
as to fate of the site. That is where the Friends of Fort
Massachusetts come in. Our vision is to preserve the site of Fort
Massachusetts as a public park––the Fort Massachusetts Memorial
Park.
We must strive to preserve
our historic sites, for they are some of our most tangible, authentic
links to our past. There is no other historic site in the northern
Berkshires more worthy of preservation than that of the site of Fort
Massachusetts––the origin of our community.
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