William Cullen Bryant, the famous 19th century poet and journalist, never once Tweeted, and his “crib” at the family homestead here is an actual wooden cradle.
CUMMINGTON -- William Cullen Bryant never once Tweeted, and his “crib” at the family homestead here is an actual wooden cradle.
So what interest would today’s teenagers have in the dignified home and property of a 19th-century poet and journalist, perched above a small, rural town in Western Massachusetts?
The Trustees of Reservations’ Bryant Homestead may be as old as the hills, but the hills surrounding it have attracted and inspired young people, including Bryant himself, for generations.
This summer, three area teens are participating in a new fellowship program that uses the homestead as a backdrop for an introduction to the field of community history. They are helping to preserve and interpret the National Historic Landmark and its grounds.
Emily Larkin, of Williamsburg, a senior at Hampshire Regional High School, Brenna Keogh, of Ashfield, a senior at Mohawk Trail Regional High School, and Ian Prudhomme, of Windsor, a senior at Wahconah Regional High School, are learning how the Trustees of the Reservations, a statewide conservation organization, manages one of its iconic properties, according to Mark Wamsley, programs and outreach coordinator for the trustees’ Highland Communities Initiative.
The teens are being directed in their summer experience by John Morton, a graduate student in the history department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Trustees’ staff are directing the team as they explore the skills needed for collections management, public engagement and historic site stewardship.
Central to their fellowships will also be learning about the history of the homestead and of Cummington.
The fellows’ first formal engagement with the public will come on Saturday, July 16, when they assist in the presentation of the trustees’ annual Bryant Day celebration.
As a former U.S. poet laureate, Richard Wilbur, gives readings, the teens will be leading a new guided tour of the homestead. They will be giving the same tour on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the remainder of July and August and will be developing a self-guided tour that future visitors will be able to use.
“I don’t know of many other programs like this around the country,” said Morton. “The Bryant Homestead has used teenagers as tour guides in the past, but it is rare to have them also play such a crucial role in developing educational programs, and in protecting the historic property.”
“The teen fellowship program is coming at an opportune time. It gives us an opportunity to inject new and fresh ideas into the interpretation of the landscape and historic buildings of the Bryant Homestead,” added Jim Caffrey, hilltowns’ superintendent for the trustees. “From the teen’s perspective, it is great that we are able to provide an opportunity for local students to explore a possible career area and benefit the Homestead as well.”
While the three teens had all done cross-country skiing at another of the trustees’ properties, Notchview Reservation in Windsor, only one had visited the Bryant homestead, according to Morton. “Just visiting a historic house museum is a novel thing for most teenagers,” he noted.
The homestead was Bryant’s childhood home and later his summer retreat as an adult when he became one of America’s celebrated poets and an influential journalist. Bryan was the editor-in-chief and publisher of the New York Evening Post for more than 50 years and was a founder of the Republican political party. He opposed slavery and was a key supporter of presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln.
A passionate conservationist, he also played a role in creating New York’s Central Park.
The homestead sits on 195 acres and includes an 1840s barn, an old growth forest on the Rivulet Trail and the sugarbush used by Bryant and his brothers.