History from the Deerfield Inn

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History

When Edward and Frederick Everett opened the Deerfield Inn in July 1884 as a replacement for an earlier inn on the village common that had been destroyed by fire, a plague of grasshoppers was devouring its way across drought-stricken Franklin County. Not surprisingly there is nothing written about the actual opening date, but in The Gazette and Courier, July 14, 1884, a reporter noted that "JM Bradley has a good business at the new hotel."

A week later the papers report that the grasshoppers continued to devour all crops and that ravaged farmers were slaughtering their cattle for lack of grass. The inn's summer visitors apparently stayed on, despite the heat and the voracious grasshoppers. On September 1, 1884, a Deerfield reporter writes that, "the summer boarders are folding their tents and stealing away, browner and better for their stay."

Within a year the inn was enlarged by George Arms, a local builder, and a brochure from 1885 describes the Deerfield Inn as "in all appointments far ahead of the average country hotel."

The locusts had long gone, but the guests stayed on and kept coming for - as a brochure from the 1920s promises - “the atmosphere and charm of early days, with modern comfort and convenience.” Breakfast started at 30¢, dinner could be had for $1.00, and a double room with running water was priced at $3.00.

A postcard signed by Carl, posted for one penny, and written to his friends the Fabriques in July 1923 declares the Deerfield Inn "a very nice place indeed."

Today the Deerfield Inn remains the centerpiece of Old Deerfield, an unspoiled 350 year-old village and National Historic Landmark.

And now for our two ghosts! Cora Carlisle was an owner of the inn at one time and she used to hold seances in her living room here. When her husband died she used to call up his spirit so she could ask his opinion on business matters. Her medium was a large and hairy man with a large and hairy cat on his lap who would wedge himself into an overstuffed chair so successfully that it was hard to tell where the medium left off and the chair began. Cora knocks on the door of her former living room and says, "It's Cora, let me in!" in an astringent and bossy voice. If you peep out she moves off fairly hastily down the corridor in her nightclothes.

Hershel likes to tease guests and staff from time to time. Hershel slips under the door and appears in a bright box of light like a phone booth. The light breaks up and bounces around the room for a bit. If you are not paying attention by then, Hershel starts to tease by tugging at the bedclothes and lobbing magazines around the room. He will give you a good push on the back when you are carrying a tray of glasses to the kitchen, and rock furiously on a still day on one of the porch rockers.

This village has had a long and bloody history and most of the houses have a spirit attached! Tems untouched by the progress of history elsewhere in America.

In fact Benjamin Silliman, a visitor to the village in 1819, was so struck by the "very interesting antiquity in this town", that he wrote about Deerfield in the journal he kept of his tour between Hartford and Quebec. The "very interesting antiquity" is still here all those years after Silliman's journey.

We hope you enjoy your visit here and will leave the better for your stay!

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