With spring weather on the horizon, residents of the North Quabbin area will soon be out hiking through the beautiful scenery that surrounds them every day. However, even the bucolic landscapes we enjoy have a history to tell.
In Petersham, popular hiking trails can be found at Harvard Forest, a place of beauty and research with trails for all to enjoy. Its history, though, also reminds us of how the landscape in the past also has its own story to tell. The land on which Harvard Forest now resides was once home to a religious community known as Adonai Shomo, which existed there from 1876 to 1897.
The community had its beginnings in the Millerite Movement of the 1840s. The Millerites believed the second coming of Jesus was at hand and would occur in 1843. When the date passed with no such event happening, the movement split, thus leading to other communities, including Adoni Shomo, according to the Harvard Forest Archives.
Frederick Howland, a Quaker, was one of those who split from the original group of Millerites although he continued to preach. After a camp meeting in Groton, where he met Sarah J. Hervey and Caroline E. Hawkes, Adoni Shomo was created. These original three, along with eight others, soon settled into the home of Leonard C. Fuller on Pleasant Street in Athol. The group lived there until 1876 when they moved to the farm in Petersham.
The estate in its heyday consisted of three distinct farms, according to the Harvard Forest Archives. The main farm had a 30-room house, a carriage house and two barns. The two other farms each had a house of six rooms and two barns.
It is clear from the Harvard Forest archives that the community was thriving on their farm.
Community members grew fruits, hay, grain and timber as well as produced jellies, grape juice, applesauce, pork and dairy products such as milk and cheese and yarn dyed indigo. The community’s wines made from elderberry, grapes and other fruits were also a popular items. The farm sold the wines for medicinal and curative purposes only, according to the Harvard Forest Archives.
The community members living at the farm were vegetarians. There was also a clear division of labor with men doing the farm chores while women being involved in spinning and weaving as well as creating palm hats, which was a industry many communities were involved in at the time.
Today, there is not much of the Adonai Shomo community left. According to the Harvard Forest archives, the community building once used by the members of the Adonai Shomo group became the first headquarters of the Harvard Forest in 1907 and is now used to house students and other visitors to the Harvard Forest.
So a thought, the next time you go for a hike in the North Quabbin, take a minute to learn about the area’s history first. It may lead you to a whole new appreciation of the tranquil woods you are hiking through.
Carla Charter is a local historian and author. She has written several books funded by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.