Adam, left, and Jeremiah Babcock talk about the removal of the component pieces of the 18th-century barn they are disassembling. WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. For David Babcock, deconstruction and reconstruction are two sides of the same coin and a part of who he is. Babcock is in Williamstown this month removing a 19th-century barn from a property on Green River Road (Route 43). In the not-too-distant future, he will be back in town putting the same barn back together on the property of the Williamstown Historical Museum. My father, he was farming back in the 50s, Babock said this week. He needed a barn, and my grandfather was a carpenter in Williamstown. . It was his grandfather who raised him, and he asked my great-grandfather if he could build a farm. And he said, There s an old barn up on the family property in Berlin, N.Y. We could go up there and take that down and bring it here to Hancock. My father was, I think, in his early 20s at the time, and he
The Williamstown Historical Museum will present a free talk titled âThe History of Oblong Roadâ with Dusty Griffin at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 17, via Zoom. The talk will be illustrated with numerous photos and documents and will be followed by a 15 minute question and answer session.
Oblong Road was one of the earliest parts of Williamstown to be settled. For all of the 19th century, the neighborhood was almost completely devoted to farming and was dominated by three large farming families: The Youngs, the Torreys and the Phelpses. Two of them continue into the 21st century.
For more information, including the Zoom login, call 413-458-2160, email info@williamstownhistoricalmuseum.org or visit williamstownhistoricalmuseum.org.
Margot and Bill Moomaw asked the town to allow them to address nuisance vegetation, particularly bur reed, that has taken hold in their pond since they treated it for Eurasian milfoil nine years ago. With this submission, the Moomaws are requesting approval for a multi-year pond management plan, beginning with hydro-raking to remove the accumulated biomass, muck and silt in order to create better conditions for aquatic species, and to restore depth to the pond, the couple wrote in a letter supporting their application. Post-hydro-raking, annual assessments of the pond will determine the use of targeted chemical means to control emergent nuisance vegetation with agents that are considered safe for aquatic species and humans.
The museum is seeking town funds to pay about 17 percent of the $301,600 cost of dismantling, preserving and reassembling an historic Williamstown barn on the institution s grounds. We re hopeful we ll get at least a portion of the funding for this project, said Sarah Currie, a member of the commission who also serves as executive director for the museum. It s important, we think to save this barn because this is one of an ever dwindling collection of barns like this. They often fall into disrepair and are demolished, and their stories can t be told. It s significant to the town because agriculture was so significant to the town.
Four agencies submitted requests by Friday s deadline for grants ranging from $50,000 to $160,000. Together, the aggregate is more than 8 percent over the total funds the committee is expecting to be available for fiscal year 2022. The largest request is from the town s Affordable Housing Trust, which settled on a sum of $160,000 in new Community Preservation Act funding during an open meeting last month. The committee also had an inclination in the fall that the Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation would be seeking town funds to support the acquisition of an Agricultural Preservation Restriction at Fairfields Farm; that request came in at $56,000. The Williamstown Historical Museum seeks $50,000 for the restoration, transport and reassembly of an historic barn to the museum s New Ashford Road (Route 7) home. Northern Berkshire Habitat for Humanity wants $80,000 to support the construction of a second single-family home on a lot at the corner of Cole Avenue an