Michael Carolan will provide a two-part documented history and geographical genealogy of the indigenous and nonindigenous peoples, notable events, architecture and landscapes, from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth centuries, and the district’s contributions to art, industry, politics, science and religion, on October 24th and November 14th.  Known as Logg-town, Hopetown, Dwight’s Station and Pansy Park, this narrowly-defined, eight-square-mile district has been subsumed historically into the larger community. The Rev. Henry Ward Beecher—the “most famous man in America”—gave his first sermon here. The hamlet was celebrated as the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln’s first biographer, J. G. Holland. Rare aquatic flower gardens drew hundreds through Dwight’s two railroad stops. And its chapel was established after a culmination of efforts said to have been initiated by Poet Emily Dickinson’s sister-in-law. There were feuds, accidents, suicides, drownings, fires, the millwright who outlived six wives and the portrait painter who rendered the place and its characters in colorfully detailed letters preserved to this day.

Michael Carolan writes for The Springfield Republican and his essays appear on New England Public Radio. He taught literature and writing at Clark University for 13 years.