There is no one history of Amherst, but there are many stories of the town and its people. Join Amherst Historical Society President George Naughton to hear about the people and events which made the town what it is today.

After the success of the Erie Canal, canals were proposed in many areas of the young United States. Robert Madison will share his research with us, regarding the effort to build a canal from Northampton to New Haven. Begun in 1822 and completed in 1835, the canal only operated until 1847, when it was rendered obsolete by the railroad.

The town of Pelham is located just east of Amherst. It is known for being the home of Daniel Shays, and for losing a portion of its land to the Quabbin Reservoir in the 1930s. It is also the home of the longest continually-used meeting house in the United States.

Mabel Loomis Todd was married to the Amherst College astronomer, David Peck Todd, and lived in Amherst from 1881 to 1917. She was a world traveler, author, and editor, who, along with Thomas Wentworth Higginson,  was responsible for bringing the poetry of Emily Dickinson into print. She and her husband and daughter were deeply involved in the life of the town, in ways which have not always been recognized.

Author Aife (pronounced ee'-fah), Murray will talk about her new creative endeavor, The Slave is Gone (the title is from Emily Dickinson’s Civil War era poem “The Light Burns Sure”), which aims to expand the audience’s understanding of little known local stories about western Mass and Amherst youth in the podcast and through supplemental features. 

Author Jacqueline T Lynch will talk about her book, Beside the Still Waters, which takes the reader back to the four towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott before they were submerged by the Quabbin Reservoir.

Challenging the narrative that Amherst College was primarily a breakaway from Williams College, Mr Blair Kamin will describe how the people of the Town of Amherst gave birth to the College—and how the Acropolis-like plan of the early College and its Greek Revival centerpiece reflected their highest aspirations.

Mr. John Hanson has been collecting and studying early New England epitaph verse for years.  In this talk, he will share some outstanding verses on old stones in Amherst's West Cemetery and discuss their sources, including Scripture, hymnody, poetry, and original poetry composed for a particular individual.