Arrowheads from Indian Hollow in Knightville, Huntington, in the Huntington Historical Society collection.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
HUNTINGTON — In honor of the 70th running of the Westfield River Wildwater Races, the race committee is hosting a series of talks on three Thursday evenings in Stanton Hall, celebrating the past, present and future of the Westfield River.
The first talk is on March 20 from 6:30-8 p.m., sponsored by the Wild & Scenic Westfield River. Dr, Margaret Bruchac, professor emeritus in anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania who is from Western Mass will talk about “The First People — Indigenous History. Who were the First People that paddled these waters? They used birchbark canoes sealed with animal fat. Over 2,000 lived and worked in the settlement of Woronoco in pre-Colonial times.”
Bruchac will also shed light on the life of Rhoda Rhoades, the Mohican “Indian Doctress,” who is buried in the Norwich Bridge cemetery in Huntington.
According to her website at maligeet.net, Bruchac, of Abenaki Indian descent, is a scholar and historical consultant specializing in museum anthropology, historical interpretation, and cultural performance, with a focus on representations of northeastern Native American Indian peoples from the colonial era to the present.
The event is free with a suggested donation of $10 towards the races.
On March 27, 6:30-8 p.m., journalist Kathryn Koegel will give an oral history of Strathmore Mills with live interviews with workers and supervisors who shut the mill down in 1999.
“These people are all 70+ years old and this may be the last time a few of them are seen in public,” Koegel said, adding that it is a story of the decline and fall of the American Dream and a model worker village.
“The irony: people had good jobs and a good life for over a century at these mills but the pollution was terrible. Now the river has healed itself but there are no jobs,“ she added.
The third in the series on April 3 will be on Legends of the Westfield River Races. This year will be the 70th running of the Westfield River Wildwater Races, the country’s oldest whitewater canoe, kayak and SUP races, taking to the Westfield River once again on Saturday, April 19. Participants brave spring whitewater rapids and portage their boats around dams for the run of their lives. The race takes place on a river so pristine it was given “Wild & Scenic” designation by an act of Congress 30 years ago.
For more information on the races or to register, go to westfieldraces.raceroster.com.
