First Day

Not much time to blog, but my time in Deerfield has been pleasant, busy, and exhausting.
Arrived here at Historic Deerfield and found Allen House, one of the many beautiful homes along Old Main Street. I met Horace, our friendly co-tutor with the most robust laugh you've ever heard. I eventually moved into the Wright House with 3 other girls. The other fellows are living in Allen House where we have lunch and dinner (sometimes). Pictures will come soon! Old Main Street is beautiful, but I didn't realize how much walking we would be doing. The Street itself is one mile long and our house is at the far end. I met all of the other Fellows. Really great people. I met Josh as well and he is very nice, soft-spoken, and knowledgable. We had pizza, salad, and ice cream for a dinner meet-and-greet. We were told some of the details of the program and given reading assignments for the morning! Many, many, many pages of reading and we didn't get back to our apartment until about 8:45.

My bedroom is very cozy. I will post pictures of it later too. Woke up today at 7 to be at the Flynt Center for 8:45. We got our "professional" photo ID pictures taken, as well as several group Fellow photos. After that, we went on a brief, somewhat informal walking tour of Historic Deerfield. Josh gave as a preview into the history from the 1500s up until about the 1700s and the Raid on Deerfield. We were given reading material that was relevant to the history last night. We learned about the founding of Historic Deerfield and the contribution of the Flynts. I am already exhausted and my feet are sore. I better get used to the walking soon. Although, I can use my bike for trips when I don't have to be with the group. Deerfield is a very bike-friendly area and the locals are constantly walking and biking, as well as some of the visitors.

Later in the afternoon, we discussed the readings more in-depth. We looked extensively at the history of Deerfield, the 1704 raid, as well John William's account in The Redeemed Captive: Returning to Zion. We also discussed possible topics for our research papers. Then, we took a short walk to the library at Memorial Hall and met with the librarians. They discussed protocol and the research facilities. They and the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association have extensive primary and secondary source material relating to Deerfield and the decorative arts.

We just got back from dinner at Mesa Verde, a cool Tex Mex restaurant with the BEST salsa and chips ever. We played "get to know you" games like Two Truths and a Lie. So, we all loosened up and learned a little about each other. In a few minutes we will all reconvene at the library to receive and actually read our readings for the night. May not make it back until late and have a 7 a.m. wakeup in the morning. We will be going on an architertural walking tour and possibly attending a potluck at the President Philip Zea's personal home here on Old Main Street.

Busy days ahead!