Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum Receives MCFF Grant

HADLEY—The Porter-Phelps-Huntington (PPH) Foundation is pleased to announce that it has been approved for a $16,000 capital grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Facilities Fund (MCFF). This is the third grant the foundation has received from MCFF since it was established in 2006. The matching grant will support preservation and maintenance work not addressed through previous grants, including painting, window restoration, roofing, flashing and gutter replacement, driveway repairs, carpentry repairs and lolly column replacement.

In addition to the capital grant, MCFF’s application review panel suggested that a Systems Replacement Plan (SRP) would benefit the foundation’s overall facility planning efforts. This provides an additional $7,000 to develop a 20-year capital needs assessment for the museum and its mechanical systems.

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington House, known as Forty Acres, is an 18th-century farm on the banks of the Connecticut River that today interprets life in rural New England over three centuries. Through the words, spaces, and possessions of the women and men who lived here, the museum portrays the activities of a prosperous and productive 18th-century farmstead. Members of this household along with numerous artisans, servants, and enslaved people made Forty Acres important social and commercial link in local, regional, and national cultural and economic networks. During the 19th century the generations transformed the estate into a rural retreat. In the 20th century the house was preserved as a museum by family members and now contains the possessions of six generations of this extended family. The house, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is surrounded by over 350 acres of protected farmland, forest, and river frontage. The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is also the Way-Point Center for the National Connecticut River Scenic Byway, for which it hosts a panel exhibit on the natural history of the Valley, the Museum’s history, and sites along the by-way for travelers.

The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is located at 130 River Drive, Hadley, on Route 47 just two miles north of the junction of Routes 9 and 47 in Hadley. Although the museum and way-point center are closed and the cultural programming cancelled for the 2020 season due to the coronavirus pandemic, information about the museum, the families that lived here, and its collection are available on its website www.pphmuseum.org, where donations can also be made to assist in the maintenance and preservation of the museum and grounds. Additionally, while the facilities are closed, a pedestrian trail system beginning at the museum and traversing the farm fields along the river and to the old buggy path to the top of Mount Warner, remains open, although the museum asks that any users practice regular social distancing and carry masks in case they encounter others on the trail.