Born
in 1818 on her family’s farm in the central Massachusetts town of West Brookfield,
Lucy Stone rose to become one the foremost leaders of the 19th-century women’s
rights movement. A gifted orator and prodigious organizer, Stone was a moving
force behind the national women’s rights conventions of the 1850s and the
American Woman’s Suffrage Association in 1869. In 1870, with the help of
her husband, she began publishing The Woman’s Journal, which soon became
the leading women’s rights journal of its day.Recently, The Trustees of Reservations, a statewide conservation and historic preservation organization, acquired the land in West Brookfield that includes the site of Stone’s birth, childhood home and arriage. Like many 19th-century farms, the property has reverted to forest, and sadly the farmhouse burned in 1950. When the land was threatened last year by sale and possible development, The Trustees led a partnership with the town and the state to protect more than 350 acres of this historic property. The Trustees retained 61 acres, including the home site.
“We’re very excited about this opportunity to protect a site so closely associated with one of the nation’s great women’s rights leaders,” explains Charlie Wyman, Land Protection Specialist with The Trustees. “The property has historic and conservation value, of course. But it also provides a wonderful opportunity to teach – about Lucy Stone, the women’s rights movement, and the landscape that was so important to her.”
Following a period of planning and research, The Trustees plan to install trails, interpretive panels, a parking lot and other improvements to make the property accessible and welcoming to visitors. A campaign to raise the $140,000 needed to complete the project and establish a modest management endowment is now underway.
For more information, call Charlie Wyman at 413-587-0716, or visit www.thetrustees.org/lucystone.cfm.
 BWHT Board members hold a photo of Amy Beach’s music room. l to r: Sylvia McDowell, Jessica Donner, Liane Curtis, Mary Smoyer Composer Amy Beach would have felt right at home at Liane Curtis’ lecture on her: the setting was in the music room of the Gibson House on Beacon Street, a room almost identical to Beach’s music room in her Commonwealth Avenue home. |
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