HOW LAKE GARFIELD GOT ITS NAME—and why  by Rob Hoogs

You may have heard that the lake was named for President James A. Garfield after he was assassinated in 1881. But do you know why?  READ MORE

HISTORY OF THE LAKE GARFIELD DAMS by Linda Thorpe
PART 1: Have you ever wondered about that monument at the beach on Lake Garfield?

There have always been dams along the outlet and downriver of the lake, known as the Konkapot River, since the surveyors came here in 1737-39 to lay out the original “lots” of Township Number 1. The first town meetings were held in Watertown, Massachusetts to draw lots for the first proprietors. There were lots set aside for the first settled minister, a school lot, and a mill lot. The mill lot was first drawn by Samuel Bond who later withdrew. A second drawing was held and subsequently turned down by Thomas Slaton. It was only after a third drawing that John Brewer acquired the lot on the condition that he move it downstream from the original upper end of the lot to a stronger water supply. There he set up a sawmill and grist mill on the lake outlet flow of what we call the Konkapot River. READ MORE

PART 2: Industry on the Konkapot

When, after two earlier proprietors turned down the Mill Lot in 1738, in 1739 John Brewer recognized the ease with which small waterpower could be developed along this lower section of the river below our Lake Garfield to meet the demands of industry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and made it attractive to manufacturers. READ MORE

PART 3: Threatening Leaks   

There had been leaks in the dam from the very earliest days. In the early 1930s there was another scare that the dam was liable to break, and the water level was ordered lowered. Dye was used to try and find the leak, but with no success. In 1934 a contract was let to drive sheet steel piling at the road edge twenty feet below the level of the road. This was done to all but two of the pilings which could not be lowered below the fifteen-foot road mark. These were cut level by a cutting torch.  

When the gates were closed and the pressure of the water became greater, the leak appeared as much or even more. READ MORE

PART 4: The New Dam

Thus began, in 1968, the arduous task of planning for the present-day dam and creation of Brewer Pond out of a swamp, which would not culminate until 1973. Plans were to include straightening the roadway to remove a dangerous curve and creating a new and improved beach area. READ MORE

Lake Garfield Dam 1970 to 1972

Several big news stories happened in 1970 to 1972. The first was the repair to the Lake Garfield dam, construction of new dam, the creation of Brewer Pond, and the relocation of Sylvan Road and Tyringham Road. In May of 1970 the Massachusetts House appropriated $350,000 for this construction project, with a completion date of July 1972. The selectmen spent many hours on trips to Boston, dam inspections, and reviewing plans. A condition of the state funding was construction of a public boat ramp to Lake Garfield (a state-owned lake). The town did several land takings for the new dam at Brewer Pond, the new twelve-acre pond, and the relocation of Tyringham Road. READ MORE

The Elephant Rock Community
by Olive B. Davis, daughter of Herbert Peterson
(Presented at Monterey Historical Society meeting, September, 1975)

On Road about 100 feet past the intersection of Hupi Road with the Elephant Rock Road there is a. huge sandstone rock about 10 feet from the road. If you look quickly you may think that you are seeing an elephant. This rock was the inspiration for the name of the road. Mr. Wallace Tryon in his manuscript on the history of Monterey says that the rock was once on the farm of Hyland Dowd… READ MORE

Lake Garfield Country Club 1927 to 1941 by Linda Thorpe

An interesting, but short-lived period in the history of Monterey from 1927 to 1941 was that of the Lake Garfield Country Club. The Club’s founding family names included Diefendorfer, Eaton, Wing, Taggart, Whitestone, Groehl, and of course, Tryon. Wallace Tryon had a hand in turning a rough landscape layout into a playable nine holes and was the only year-round member.

The club was one hundred-plus acres spanning the area down Main Road east on Route 23 and up Tyringham Road. Throughout the 1930s it was a gathering place for not only golf but dances and other social events. READ MORE

Bullhead Rock Drill Holes by Michael Germain

Drill holes were a standard way of marking property lines along shorelines in early days, so there are other rocks all around the lake that are now underwater but at one time indicated boundaries (personal communication, Linda Thorpe).

Another common use of drill holes was to reference and record water levels in bodies of water.

In 1847, Frederick D. Ingersall, representing the Tyringham, Hartsville, and Mill River Hydraulic Association, was seeking flowage (flooding) rights on land to the east of Brewer Pond (so called). (See note on names at the end.) The deed between them and James M. Fargo read in part as follows, “the rights to flow the lands of the said James M. Fargo adjoining the Brewer Pond (so called) to the lower hole in a large rock which hole is six-and one-half feet higher than the ordinary level of the pond… covering about three acres and a hundred and nineteen rods of land.” (One acre equals 160 square rods. One rod, 16.5’ squared equals 272 square feet.) READ MORE

The Two Camps on Hupi Road

Hupi Road runs from Bear Mountain Road east to Route 23, crossing over Tyringham Road.  In the late 1800s, there was a farm to the right of the four corners—at the top of what was called Scott Hill—owned by Homer Dowd.

Camp Fernway/Camp Glenmere

Homer sold some of his property to Nellie Bogart who then tried to develop it into lakeshore lots. In 1918 Dr. Nathan Ives, bought some of the lakeshore lots, two houses and a barn and built a camp for his daughter Eleanor. She called it called Camp Fernway.  It housed all young girls who wore white blouses, green bloomers and white sailor caps.  Eleanor would bring about 45 camp girls and their counselors to the town church. During the two summer months it would be filled to capacity with the girls occupying pews reserved for them on the east side. In 19// Dr. Ives sold the camp to Henry Langar and his wife.
Henry also ran Camp Half Moon for boys on Lake Buel. Mrs. Langer took care of the girls. In 19// the camp was sold to Paul Winters and he changed the name to Camp Glenmere.

William Herre, the caretaker for Fernway Camp, had four children. Mrs. Oliver, who owned Camp Owasa, had some children visiting her at the lake. She asked the Herre children to come over and play with their children. They did, and the Herre boy named Frederick got into a boat, with no oars, nor tied to shore. The boat started to drift up the lake, with the nine year old Herre boy aboard, with nothing to guide the boat. Some of the children told Mr. Oliver what had happened and he took the three children home and told Mr. Herre. They went down to the lake and found the boat, but no boy. For seven days they dragged, used dynamite, with no results. The Selectmen of town ordered one hundred three point Cod Fish hooks, which were braided to a one foot pig tail and then braided into a one half inch, one hundred foot rope, one foot apart with a three quarter inch iron pipe, four inches long every three feet, the entire length of the one hundred foot rope. The second time the grapple was passed up the lake a hook was caught in the boy's sweater. Frederick was pulled to the top of the water and taken into a boat. The body was found about two hundred feet from shore. Frederick had a very large funeral and was buried in Corashire Cemetery. The Herre family, leaving town, bought a farm in Alford. William started raising turkeys.

The Jayson Camps

Homer also sold a large parcel to Mr. and Mrs. Oliver in 1921 so they could build Camp Owaissa. The camp was for girls only and consisted of a large building and several bunk houses. One night in early spring, the large building burned down. In 1926 Mrs. Oliver sold the camp to Mr. Alfred Jayson who enlarged it and made one section for girls and one for boys. The bunkhouses held about eight girls and one counselor. The boys slept in tents on wooden floors. The whole camp ate together in one mess hall but played on their own grounds and swam at their own beach. About 200 children were at the camp during July and August. The camp went under the name of Jaysons Camp Inc.—Camp Owaissa for girls and Camp Monterey for boys—until the Jaysons gave up running it in 1969.

Mills of Monterey —and why the village is here. by Rob Hoogs

As you enter the Monterey Library, look down at the bronze medallion in the center of the historic grindstone embedded in the sidewalk which reads “The Site of Brewer’s Mills.”

• What was Brewer’s Mills?

• What does that have to do with the Monterey Library?

• Have you ever wondered about “Old Center” and why the village of Monterey is here?

The answer is literally under the library. READ MORE

Short Stories —

The Story Board:
A Fish Story and Monterey Mystery

It was years after we had first rented and later bought the little red cottage on Lake Garfield, two lots east of Kinne’s Grove, that I noticed barely visible pencil markings on the wood paneling in the living room. I had to look very closely…

READ MORE from the Red Cottage by Bob Cutick, May 2022

The Hermit
by Babs Emmel Wolinsky

Back in the 1960’s my family would spend two weeks in August at our Uncle Charlie’s cottage on Lake Garfield. Time spent around the breakfast table included story telling before we ventured down the hill to the dock for a morning swim. One of these stories was about the old hermit that lived on Mt. Hunger. 

On afternoon, my mother and aunt took us blueberry picking up on the mountain. With pails ready and instructions not to eat too many, my brothers and I climbed in amongst the blueberry bushes. We picked and ate, picked and ate—far too many berries—until suddenly there was an old, white haired man with a gun in front of us.

We froze with our blue mouths open.

There was the hermit—a painter by the name of Kalman Oswald—who kindly said “Enjoy the berries.”

Judy Hayes, Who’s Who
by Bob Cutick, Excerpt, Monterey News, Jan. 2022

Judy Hayes’ earliest memories of Monterey were the summers spent in a small cottage on Lake Garfield, near where the town beach now is. At the time, there was no town beach, but her family cottage had their own. Three-year-old Judy would splash in knee-deep water, with her mother nearby teaching other kids to swim. Washing dishes required pumping water from the lake, and drinking water had to be carried from the spring adjacent to what would later be the Amidon cottage. The Shaw’s cottage had a screen porch where they ate and slept all summer long. Judy recalls that when she was living on Route 23, she had a long walk to the village to catch the school bus. No door-to-door service then. Mother Helen Bidwell Shaw’s rule was—33°-plus, you walk to the schoolhouse; freezing or below got you a lift. The bus then brought kids to the Searles School in Great Barrington.

Jacks at Camp Glenmere
by Arlene Mernit Sampson 

My strongest Glenmere memory is not of swimming, softball, or archery, not even the one or two “socials” we had with a boys’ camp across the lake. It is about playing jacks on the floor of our bunk. Everyday at rest time, every moment we were not on the way to one of the many organized camp activities and team sports. 

I wish I could remember the games we played, over and over. And over again. Jumping Jack Flash was one. What else? I wasn’t the best player– that was a veteran bunk mate named Corky. But I was okay, and even won a game once in a while. Could I ever find that bunk again or that lake? Could I even play jacks now? I might just have to find out.