The one-mile stretch of Historic Deerfield, located on the Academy’s campus, is dedicated to preserving the colonial town of Deerfield and the greater Connecticut River Valley. Historic Deerfield boasts eleven house museums and a collection of over 25,000 objects made or used in America between 1650 and 1850 in the Flynt Center for Early New England Life.
Historic Deerfield has been linked with the Academy since 1952, when it was founded by Deerfield parent Henry Flynt following the encouragement of former Head of School Frank Boyden. After Flynt’s recruitment onto the Board of Trustees, Boyden and Flynt co-founded Historic Deerfield, then known as Heritage Foundation.
Regarding the academic integration of Historic Deerfield resources in the Academy, History Department Chair Brian Hamilton said, “The interactions between our department and Historic Deerfield have waxed and waned over the years.” Mr. Hamilton and other faculty members are working to strengthen the bonds with Historic Deerfield both outside and inside the classroom. He mentioned that U.S. History classes are incorporating Historic Deerfield artifacts and documents for in-class projects.
Additionally, Mr. Hamilton noted that forty-five-minute classes in the pre-COVID schedule made it more difficult to schedule visits to Historic Deerfield. With the newer schedule, field trips have been conducted in history, English, and even theater classes, where students performed as ghosts of historical figures.
History Teacher Tara Keegan led her Witchcraft in the Atlantic World class on a visit to the Wells- Thorn house to supplement a unit on witchcraft trials in the New World. Dr. Keegan hoped that the exhibition would better frame the class’s studies regarding the lives of those convicted of witchcraft. “We talked about how they lived and how prevalent fear was in their everyday life,” she said. “That’s something that is really hard to replicate for students. It puts them in the mindset of something so terrifying and something so unfamiliar.”
Jazmin Olaguez ’25, a student in U.S. History, also visited the Wells-Thorn house with her class. Olaguez also expressed that the trip brought history to life. “It put in perspective the time where these were mothers, fathers, and children,” she said. “Not much time has passed. We still have the same traditions. We still have the same ideas. We still love the same, we still commit crime, we all die, and we all live.”
Mr. Hamilton, Dr. Keegan, and Olaguez all encourage students to visit Historic Deerfield. Historic Deerfield has taken strides to preserve the architecture of the time period. Mr. Hamilton even noted that the buildings on Main Street “looked more modern in the 1940s and 1960s. It’s kind of a weird respite to pop into and feel like you’re in another world.”
Dr. Keegan emphasized that students should visit the first floor of the Wells-Thorn house because it offers a glimpse into the Academy of the past. “From one of the downstairs corner rooms, you can see our campus,” she said. “That room is designed in the style of 1800. You can look at the school in a room that’s designed to mimic a room when the school was founded.”
Connections to the Academy do not end there—in the Flynt Center for Early New England Life, the original “Deerfield Door” is on display on the first floor. Another part of the current exhibition commemorates the work of Madeline Yale Wynn, a pioneer of the arts and crafts movement in Deerfield and the original resident of the Manse.
Historic Deerfield’s Associate Director of Marketing and Communications Danaë DiNicola emphasized Wynn’s attachment to the Manse in an interview with the Scroll and said, “She promised that when she was going to die, she was going to come back and haunt Historic Deerfield’s relationship with the Academy has grown past physical overlap. The Academy and Historic Deerfield have established an institutional membership, allowing students, faculty, and staff to visit the museum for free. As a former staff member in the Academy’s Communications office, Ms. DiNicola expressed her delight at new opportunities for further collaboration. “Having worked at both places, I have always wondered why there wasn’t more cross-pollination. You know how people call Deerfield Academy ‘The Bubble’—it’s almost like we have been separated.” Ms. DiNicola cited this membership as a catalyst for change which allows those affiliated with the Academy to “feel free to just duck in when they have a spare half hour and go to our house or go to the museum or participate in any of our programs,” she said.