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A Trip to the Colonel Ashley House
By Ursula B.G. Kilner, Salisbury
Guilt finally got me to go see the interior of the Colonel Ashley House on Cooper Hill Road in Sheffield, just over the Massachusetts/ Connecticut border. The house lies about three miles up the road from Bird Bottom Farm. After Hal Borland died in 1978 his wife Barbara had a memorial ceremony on the front lawn of the house. After the ceremony the front door was open and we who gathered there went in and out, but I guess no one really looks at a house in such circumstances, when something like a memorial service takes the center of one's attention.
The Colonel Ashley House was part of Eighteenth Century Day presented by the Sheffield Historical Society on Saturday and Sunday, July 6-7. Both the Colonel Ashley House and the Dan Raymond House on Main Street in Sheffield were part of a Family Celebration. I only made the Colonel Ashley House Tour, but I feel as a longtime Life Member of the Sheffield Historical Society I have finally made my initial entrance to the museum buildings. I have been on the walking tours of the town and earlier tours of Dan Raymond House—but long ago. Now I feel caught up.
The Colonel Ashley House, built about 1732 in Ashley Falls, was moved to the far end of town about 1930 when the land it sat on was sold. People thought nothing unusual about moving existing buildings (not like the modulars of today) and proceeded undaunted. The Sheffield Congregational Church was moved back from Main Street (Route 7) to its present location to make way for a town green. The Congregational Church in Spencertown, NY was moved from its position between two roads at a junction to its present location, where it is now on the side of the western road. A great furor ensued when the project was in its planning stages, as the church was to be moved to what was an Indian burial ground. After much negotiating with the Indians (now in upstate New York), the New York State Indian Affairs Office and other officials, the graveyard was moved away and then the church was moved onto the site. And the building on Main Street in Sheffield that now houses P.J.'s Convenience Store was moved from southern Connecticut and is the oldest house in Sheffield, though it is not native to the town.
The once thriving mill in Ashley Falls run by the Dunham family once had daughter Jean (now Mrs. Fish) and mother Fannie running an attached bakery … ooooh, the fragrance of fresh baked bread made right there with stone ground flour … many a car came to a halt as fresh bread "perfume" wafted over the highway. Father John managed the mill and he taught me a lot about "dressing" the mill stones. The only fellow who did the dressing came from Vermont; he traveled from mill to mill dressing the grinding stones that were powered by the waterfalls next to the mills. Fresh ground flour was available for sale, and we sent many a packet to friends all over the country. We did the same with the fresh baked breads. I wish I had the funds to restore the mill. What a thrill it would be to see the stones at work once again, but I suppose the stones may be gone, and any fellow with the experience and knowledge for dressing the stones could not be found.
The Colonel Ashley House has been beautifully restored with its wide floor boards, original doors and appropriate furnishings for the period of time the Ashleys lived in the house. To confuse things, the Colonel Ashley House is just down the road from the General Ashley House. General Ashley was Colonel Ashley's son, and his house has undergone a great deal of restoration and change.
One of the questions asked by another visitor to the Colonel Ashley House was: "Where did the Ashley money come from?" The answer, which is the answer for many wealthy families in northwestern Connecticut, southwestern Massachusetts and adjacent New York, is iron and wood (the latter made into fuel and furniture). Both iron and wood were abundant and there is still high-grade iron ore in the hills, but the iron from the Far West is much easier and cheaper to extract, so the iron industry petered out in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Our own house was built in 1743 as a schoolhouse, eleven years after Colonel Ashley’s House. One thing about young pupils walking to school in 1743 (and up to 1929): they would not have the media (even their town newspapers) saying 60% of them were overweight. Nothin’ like walking almost everywhere!
A tour of Colonel Ashley's House brings the history of people, mining history and early industrial history close to visitors. The house has all the threads of the past in its very building materials. I am glad I went to see the inside of the Colonel Ashley House. What made the day of my visit to the Colonel Ashley House particularly delightful is that I found a four-leaf clover just before entering the house.
I now feel forgiven for not having made the visit sooner.
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