The 1869 Ashley House Gets Moved

A glimpse of Old Deerfield from 80 years ago... Historic Deerfield librarian Jeanne Solensky recently unearthed a treasure in our collection: an 8-minute film documenting the moving of the “second” Ashley House on the Street. In 1869, the Ashley family, who at the time still lived in the historic house that had been occupied by the Rev. Jonathan Ashley beginning in 1734, decided to move the older house to the back of their lot and construct a new home in a “modern style.” Seventy-five years later, the family had fallen on hard times, and they were forced to sell both houses to Frank Boyden (Deerfield Academy Headmaster) and Henry Flynt (co-founder of Historic Deerfield and at the time, Chair of the board of Deerfield Academy). Boyden wanted to move the 19th-c. house to his campus for use as a dormitory, and Flynt wanted to move the original house back to its former position on the lot and restore it. The film clip (from 1945) shows the moving of the 19th-c. house out from the Ashley lot, around the corner by Historic Deerfield’s Wright House, and down Rtes. 5 & 10 to its new location on the Academy campus. A house move was a major undertaking, and Deerfielders of all ages (including Boyden, who can be seen in several frames) turned out for the spectacle. Safety precautions—both for the spectators and for the workers such as the man high up on a rope removing tree branches—are not what we would see today! Watch for the majestic Elms that once lined the Street and for the point in the film when the scene suddenly changes from black and white to color, much like the famous moment in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy arrives in Munchkinland. That film predates this one by only 6 years, by the way.