Bidwell House Museum

A Brief History: The Bidwell House Museum is located at 100 Art School Road, Monterey, Massachusetts.  Around the late 1700s the Stockbridge Indians; part of the Mohegan Nation, was pushed out of the area and relocated in the western part of the United States. In 1760 the house was built for Reverend Adonijah Bidwell, who was the first minister in the area. Reverend Bidwell’s first wife Theodosia died suddenly in 1759 due to unknown causes and one year later married Theodosia’s first cousin Jemima. Jemima lived ten years after the marriage and gave Reverend Bidwell all of his children. After Jemima died in 1771 Reverend Bidwell married Ruth Kent in 1772 who lived to be 85 years old. The grounds were maintained and turned into a very successful dairy barn by Reverend Bidwell’s oldest son Adonijah.  However, due to the development of the railroads and farmlands moving to the west of the Erie Canal, this led to the abandonment of many New England’s farms.  In 1853 the house was sold outside of the family, having the next three generations of the Carrington Family take over.  In 1911 the property was sold to a logging company, which occupied the land and in 1913 through 1936, set up The Berkshire Summer School for the Arts.  From 1941 through 1960 the Conn Family owned the property, who then sold it to Jack Hargis and David Brush.  While Jack and David had control of the house they tried to set up the house with the same furniture that Rev. Bidwell had when he lived there.  Both Jack and David agreed that when they both passed that the house would be left to become a historic house, which in 1990 opened up to the public as a museum. 

Haunted History: With the deaths that occurred on the property, there is no doubt that this house has its unusual occurrences.  There have been claims of seeing a woman in white on the 2nd Floor.  Guests have felt unusual cold spots in some of the rooms in the house.  People have also heard unusual sounds of Indians chanting.