These Mysterious Hills

Psst!! TMH Jr is selling beverages and cookies across from Lenox High today 330-530pm. Stop by or feel free to send a tip or sponsor a lemonade remotely via venmo https://account.venmo.com/u/jdurwin

A drug bust on this day in 1952 at Pittsfield's union station, as police arrest Richard M., 24, on narcotics charges.

Richard fled to the restroom when he saw them coming, flushing 2 capsules down the toilet, but was caught with a used hypodermic needle. His arms were littered with track marks.

Richard served 3 months in the house of correction. Later he moved to White Plains, married and had a son. Records show he died suddenly in NYC in 1966, at age 33.

[Sources: B. Eagle 6/26-7/2/1952; .S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007; Reporter-Dispatch, White Plains NY, 6/16/1966]

Stories from our local past you've never heard before; reconstructed history that can't be found anywhere else except via subscription on Patreon. A buck-fifty gets you complete access.

The "4 smallest humans beings of mature age ever known on the face of the globe" were in Pittsfield, MA on this day in 1864.

The famed 'General' Tom Thumb [aka Charles Stratton] appeared downtown at West's Hall with his new bride Lavinia Warren, along with Commodore Nutt, and Minnie Warren, in an event promoted by P.T. Barnum. Admission was 25 cents, or 15 cents for children.

While they disagreed on many points, they all seemed to concur that there were occasions when public good should override personal autonomy.

Washington first made it mandatory for troops during the Revolution. At one time or another, all our first Presidents supported various measures for quarantine and mandated inoculation.

In the Berkshires, smallpox inoculation was also first championed during the American Revolution, by patriot minuteman Dr Timothy Childs.

63 snowflakes have now unfollowed since the start of Pride month! That's a new record for us.

On the other hand, we have 179 new followers in the same time, more than cancelling them out. More importantly, thanks to all your shares, tens of thousands of people saw newly researched LGBTQ history from the Berkshires popping in their feeds this month, and a couple thousand actively read it! You did that, and I'm very grateful, so for the rest of the month all related writing and audio content will stay available free w/no paywall. Direct links to all are now right on the front of the main TMH website for easy access.

There's no re-burying this history, and no safe spaces are being left for bigots in the Berkshires. Tell your friends.

Unbeknownst to modern owners, most of an entire family already died tragically in this Pittsfield home by the time the listing date said it was built.

A majority of older homes today are sold with incorrect dates, and in most cases the sellers/agents/town assessors records simply don't know the real date - or the many secrets that linger in a building's past. The Home Historian is here to help clients uncover the real backstory of their house, land parcel, or commercial building.

15 years gone - the famous "Dragon House" in Savoy, MA, lost in 2011. Believed by many to have been burned down by a nefarious Savoy resident, who later died in 2021.

What passes for a police department in Savoy avoided serious investigation of the arson, and even illegally ignored information requests from local media about the crime.