Catamount Hill Association, Inc,

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Catamount Hill Association, Inc, Catamount Hill in Colrain Massachusetts was settled after the Revolutionary War. Relatives of the those families have been meeting since 1875.

There is an annual meeting yearly and a Quinquennial Reunion every 5 years. History: In the summer of 1875 many families who had left the rocky hills of Catamont for more arable land in New York and west returned to renew old friendships and to visit familiar scenes. They were welcomed by the remaining residents of the hill, who had prepared a picnic ground for the occasion near the “Dens.” So rewarding was the event that the Catamount Hill Association was founded to hold reunions every five years, beginning in 1880. The two-day events, with picnics, hikes, and the reading of prepared papers attracted participants from great distances, some camping, others staying with old friends and relatives. In 1912 the Association held a centennial flag-raising at Hillside park. Though Catamount is empty of residents now, the reunions of its descendants continue to this day. 2012 will mark the bi-centennial of the flag-raising, which will be celebrated by meetings and a hike of the plateau led by Colrain historian Muriel Russell. Raising the flag
Again, war with England threatened in 1812. Of the two major parties, Republican Democrats supported “Mr. Jefferson’s War,” and the Federalists opposed it. On Catamount, the steep, rocky southwest corner of Colrain only recently settled, the populace, some 50 families, was largely Republican. Before he marched off to war, Amassa Shippee sought to inspire others by raising a flag on the tiny schoolhouse there. Few had seen the American flag, which had only flown in battle, but Shippee described its design to his wife Rhoda and other women , who wove and dyed and sewed the fabric. Shippee cut two pine trees for a mast. This was the first American flag flown over a schoolhouse, or any public building. In years to come Colrain would celebrate this event in re-enactments, poetry, art and parades.

http://www.catamounthillassociation.org/events.html ​The East Catamount Vernal Pools and Spring Flowers Walk...
04/25/2025

http://www.catamounthillassociation.org/events.html



​The East Catamount Vernal Pools and Spring Flowers Walk has been postponed until Sunday April 27 at 9:30. We will meet at the West Branch Cemetery. Please join us!

The Catamount Hill Association is pleased to announce two hikes led by Muriel Russell. I nformation on...

05/12/2024

Saturday, June 15th will be the next guided hike on Catamount Hill, weather permitting. There will also be a flag raising. Meet at 9:30 a.m. at the corner of Rt. 112 & Charlemont Rd., Colrain. For folks walking up on their own, follow the red hanging tags to the Schoolhouse Monument, but if you wish to eat lunch at the pond first, follow the blue tags north, at the right hand turn. Then look for red tags leading you west from the pond, over the hill & turn right for the monument. Flag raising is at 2 p.m.

Everyone attending the flag raising will be hiking uphill along old town roads and if you choose South Catamount Hill Rd. watch for signs marking cellar holes where families lived. First, the Farleys then, along the flag mid level section, on the right, Reuben Shippee. Farther along, Daniel’s on the left. The road is flooded just beyond where Peter Shippee’s family lived at what is called the rock house because he used a rock ledge for the backside. Following the red flags, move off the road, to the right and be very careful crossing the brook. It is only a short distance over that woodland trail to the old road. From the pond turn left, the the next right.

Please bring extra socks, water, your lunch & unscented bug repellent. Friendly dogs welcome.

Here are some photos of the April 27th guided hike on Catamount Hill. It was a beautiful day weather wise. Those who at...
05/05/2024

Here are some photos of the April 27th guided hike on Catamount Hill. It was a beautiful day weather wise. Those who attended had an enjoyable time. Thank you to Muriel for guiding the hike. Muriel is very knowledgeable about the Hill, not just the flora and fauna, but also the early settlers and where the cellar holes of early houses and barns are. There are two more hikes planned for this year so we encourage you to plan to attend one of them. If you have ancestors that lived on the hill Muriel will personalize the hike to show you their site. The dates for the other two hikes are June 15th and September 28th. Add them to your calendar!

03/25/2024

Vernal Pools: Saturday, April, 27, 2024
The Catamount Hill Association is sponsoring a guided hike on Catamount Hill, weather permitting. Meet at 10 a.m. at the corner of Rt. 112 and Charlemont Rd., Colrain. This wetland walk begins on Stacy Rd. We will be walking uphill, passing brooks, vernal pools and McCleod/Catamount Pond. Then, we will walk along the Adna Bass trail, visiting the Bass and Dwight homesites and Sam Brown’s mill site. Trees have recently fallen across this trail, but it is passable. Spring wildflowers are blooming. Dress according to the weather. Bring extra socks, water and your lunch. Use unscented bug repellent. Friendly dogs welcome. Space limited to 12 participants. To register contact CHA through their email address: [email protected]

There are two more hikes planned this year. One in June and one in September. Information on those hikes will be posted closer to the date of each.

03/10/2024

“A check of the earliest families on the Hill shows that they were mostly young men, newly married, who had served as privates in the Revolution. They were refugees without money from towns nearer the coast. They became real pioneers camping in the woods. Ten of these families stayed less than ten years. Their lots were not advantageous enough to be continued as settler’s farms.

The Carys, Smiths and Farleys on top and the Johnsons and Houghtons at the base became settlers who continued to live there for several generations. Between 1790 and 1810 came Nathan Barnes, Paul Davenport and Joseph Farnsworth from Guilford, Vermont; three Shippee sons, Peter Jr., Reuben and Amasa from over the hill in East Charlemont; Howard Edson, Elisha Owen (called Hoehandle) and Pittman Phillips from Ashfield; Elihu Holden from Buckland; Nelson Churchill from Middleboro; and Widow Dwight with three children from Williamsburg.”

From The Puzzzle of Catamount Hill by Elmer F. Davenport, 1969

02/19/2024

“Settlement of the Hill first came up the brook from Deacon Moses Johnson’s along the scouting path from Colrain’s Fort Morris to Taylor’s in East Charlemont. The road came down Fox Brook from the east, crossed the river and meadow, went northwest up the Johnson brook, crossing over the ridge, turning south and passing the south end of Beaver Pond. It passed by the site of the first school flag episode with a fiddler’s elbow, due to the impossible terrain. It skirted the south end of Paul Davenport’s meadow then up the hill crossing the ridge north of Peter Hill and down to Othniel Taylor’s. It was called a county road.

THE EARLIEST CATAMOUNT FAMILIES…

John Call Jr., Joseph Wood, Eben Houghton, Benjamin Farley, Stephen Call, John Call, Ensign Thomas Fox, Moses Johnson, Billy Johnson, Benjamin Sprague, Barnard McNitt, Betty Love, Cornelius Gilbert, Abraham Pennell, Patience Cannon, David Smith, Major Hezekiah Smith Jr., Zebulon Pierce, Judah Pierce and Sam Randall.”

from Puzzle Of Catamount Hill by Elmer F. Davenport, 1969

01/29/2024

“Boston Township No. 2 was given by the General Court of the Province of Massachusetts to the Town of Boston in 1735 because of its large expenses for the support of schools and the poor. The name Colrain was given in 1743.

Joseph Heath bought the whole area. Two years later he divided it equally with Joshua Winslow and Gershom Keys also of Boston at 19 cents per acre. Sixty lots were laid out of 50 acres each in three ranges starting from the east side. This was in accord with the provision of the grant that 60 families be settled within five years. The Scotch Irish were the first to buy lots and settle.

The western part of the town came under the third division. In 1755 by a deed of partition the ten proprietors drew lots which resulted in Joshua Winslow owning 17 lots on Catamount Hill, three men of the Seaver family owning 11, and Joshua Newel 3. These lots contained 100 acres each laid out 160 rods east and west by 100 rods. In the 1760’s five families from Woodstock, Connecticut came, settling in the valley of the North River, but it was another two decades before many of the lots were sold.”

From The Puzzle of Catamount Hill by Elmer F. Davenport, 1969

01/09/2024

“In 1967 the State of Massachusetts acquired by exchange of properties about one-third of the 3500-acre plateau in southwest Colrain called Catamount Hill. As a hunter, naturalist, ski-mobiler or sightseer travels the old roads and trails of this abandoned settlement he cannot help but marvel how families could have lived here. And yet beginning in 1780 young families began ‘making their pitch’ resulting during the next century in about fifty families making this their habitation and source of livelihood.

Questions that come to mind are, what kind of people were they, where did they arrive from, how did they manage to exist here, and what happened to them and their descendants.”

From The Puzzle Of Catamount Hill by Elmer F. Davenport, 1969

12/24/2023

As we gather with family and friends for Christmas let us remember how our Catamount Hill ancestors celebrated. The primary theme would have been church and gathering for a meal. Festivities would have been small and simple. As Dr. Ammon Davenport said at one of the quinquennial reunions “Santa Claus was poor in those days, and the boys and girls did not find waiting for them in the early dawn of Christmas morning, sleds and skates for winter use, each boy made his own sled, not any fancy double rippers, but went into the woods and cut a tree, having the right crook for the runners, and made his entire sled.”

Merry Christmas to all!

(quote from A Sketch Of The Origin And Growth Of The Catamount Hill Association Of Colrain, Mass)

Address

P. O. Box 8
Shelburne Falls, MA
01370

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