Historic Deerfield — Attraction in Deerfield

Historic Deerfield has an outstanding collection of preserved, restored, and rebuilt eighteenth and nineteenth century homes. The houses are lined up on historic Old Main Street. The houses have guided tours which allow you to experience and learn the history of each house. The Flynt Center of Early New England Life is a modern museum in Historic Deerfield that displays over 2,500 artifacts from across New England. Some of the houses also offer demonstrations of life in this village in early America. All together there are over 12 different buildings in the village. For all that Historic Deerfield offers there are some things which could be better. Some of the houses are currently not open due to renovations or simply not having enough staffing. Although tours are offered for different buildings they are offered at the top of the hour only. It would be better to allow for self guided tours, or audio tours in many of the historic houses. This way visitors could see many more of the houses and get to see everything that is there. The village does need to showcase more of the history that it has, and there were simply too many houses that were closed. Tickets should be purchased in the Visitor Center. The gift shop is across from the Visitor Center and offers many different Historic Deerfield items. Some of the best houses to see in the village include the Wells-Thorn House, the Sheldon House, the Williams House, and the Barnard Tavern. An interesting place with...

AUG 2024 ~ Spent a lovely afternoon in Deerfield, meeting a few people who are very passionate about this unique place. Sally Phillips in the Visitors Center directed me to Memorial Hall, where I could find more family history details in a book called Family & Landscape. At Memorial Hall, I had a pleasant conversation with retired teacher, Patty who had some great stories to share. Tom was also very helpful, going above and beyond to help me find the book and directed me to another called The Deerfield Massacre. He also provided me with a map of the nearby Old Burying Ground and one with a layout of the homes in the town. I was short on time and never made it into any of the houses available for touring, but i can tell you, these people love their local history and are happy to take the time to bring it to life in conversation. Very grateful to all! Hope to return again for a more in-depth...

There were so many old buildings, it was like walking through a time machine. Except for the modern cars. Those were new. But the buildings! They were great.

The entire district is small enough to walk easily, although I prefer taking a stroll. Maybe even a saunter.

The newest building was built in, I believe, the 1880s, with many being much older than that. Except the one with is a rebuild from the 1920s if the faded marker in front is to be believed.

To go into some of the historic houses, you'll need to buy tickets at the museum. But be careful as some if the houses are privately owned and you don't want to walk in on them. Also there are a couple of schools who own some land.

Overall it was a very nice experience. They I...