Deerfield Village June 2008

Deerfield began settlement in 1665 with a group of men from Dedham Massachusetts. King Phillips War of 1676 decimated over 75% of all villages throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts, including Deerfield. Deerfield lay abondoned until 1682 when settlers began to settle again. The New England area is again entangled in Queen Anne's War and in 1704 an Indian party came in to raid Deerfield once again. Even though the settlement was within a stockaded area, many of the settlers were killed by the Native peoples. Native peoples captured many of the settlers to hold for ransom and several of those settlers, mostly women, chose not to return to English life after several years of living among the Indians. John Demos' book "The Unredeemed Captive" retells some of the stories. Many of the towns homes are still standing within the village and most are actively lived in by current residents. The Sheldon House was one of those homes attacked by the Indians and the door bearing the hatchet marks of the attack is still in the Deerfield Museum

The Corse family: Mr. Corse dies in 1690 in Deerfiled, he wife dies 1707 and several of their children die between these years.

This mans headstone states that he was among the first born in the village and that he was also one of those captured by the "savages"

The headstone above reads that he died in 1727 at the age of 70 something and that he had been captured by the "savages" meaning he had been one of the many captured during the 1704 raid

Many of the homes of the period still stand. We were able to get a private tour of the inside which had about a dozen rooms.

This is my Yale roomie Mary. She had just graduated from Rutgers University with her Masters Degree. The day we went to Deerfield it was also my birthday!