Est. 1929 · Founded by Helen Osborne Storrow beginning 1927; dedicated 1929 · Nine relocated 18th- and 19th-century New England buildings · Earliest U.S. outdoor history museums (contemporaneous with Greenfield Village) · Permanent attraction of the Eastern States Exposition / Big E
Storrowton Village owes its existence to Helen Osborne Storrow (1864–1944), a Boston philanthropist and trustee of the Eastern States Exposition. Beginning in 1927, Storrow funded the relocation of nine historic buildings — saved from demolition in their original communities across Massachusetts and New Hampshire — to a site on the Eastern States Exposition grounds in West Springfield. The village opened in 1929 as a permanent year-round attraction and is one of the earliest examples in the United States of a relocation-based outdoor history museum (predating Williamsburg's full restoration, though contemporaneous with Henry Ford's Greenfield Village).
The village's anchor buildings include the Atkinson Tavern (moved from Prescott, Massachusetts), the Potter Mansion (the residence of Captain John Potter, a Revolutionary War officer), the Gilbert Farmstead, the Eddy Law Office, the Phillips House, the Clark Blacksmith Shop, the North Center Schoolhouse, and the Union Meeting House. Each is interpreted with period-appropriate furnishings and serves as a stop on the village tour route. A Christmas Shop and Craft Common occupy the rear of the Potter Mansion seasonally.
The Gilbert Farmstead is the subject of the most paranormal interest: the farmstead was the home of a Gilbert family that lost a young son, Clarence Gilbert, who according to family records and Spirit Sisters investigation notes died of pneumonia approximately three weeks before his third birthday in 1891. Helen Storrow's portrait hangs in the Gilbert Farmhouse, which during her lifetime served as the village's interpretive headquarters.
The village operates today under the Eastern States Exposition (the 'Big E'), at 1305 Memorial Avenue in West Springfield, Hampden County. The site is on the western bank of the Connecticut River across from downtown Springfield. The village is open seasonally for daytime tours and special programming, with the annual Halloween Ghost Tours running in October and a Yuletide ghost-tour adaptation added in recent years.
Sources
- https://www.storrowtonvillage.com/
- https://www.storrowtonvillage.com/p/events/ghost-tours
- https://www.storrowtonvillage.com/p/visit/buildings/potter
- https://archives.thereminder.com/localnews/west-springfield/spirits-active-at-west-springfield-taverns-ghost-h/
EVPs (electronic voice phenomena)Apparitions (named and unnamed)Sensed presenceEquipment manipulation (parascope, Maglite, knocks)Disembodied child laughterVisual orbs (Spirit Sisters report)
Storrowton Village is among the most documented haunted living-history sites in western Massachusetts. Per coverage in the Reminder weekly newspaper and a Spirit Sisters investigation report, paranormal activity has been reported in eight buildings: the Gilbert Farmstead, the Eddy Law Office, the Phillips House, the Clark Blacksmith Shop, the North Center Schoolhouse, the Union Meeting House, the Potter Mansion, and the Storrowton Tavern.
The village's three named spirits are well-anchored to specific buildings. Helen Osborne Storrow herself — the philanthropist who founded the village — is said to watch over her creation from the Gilbert Farmhouse, where her portrait hangs; a psychic working with Agawam Paranormal reportedly detected her presence in the farmhouse. Captain John Potter, the Revolutionary War officer whose home is now the Potter Mansion, is described in investigators' notes as 'loving his home so much that he decided to stay,' with reported activity directing investigators upstairs to his favorite book in the library. The Gilbert Farmstead is also haunted by Clarence Gilbert, the family's young son who died of pneumonia approximately three weeks before his third birthday in 1891 — Spirit Sisters reported what they characterized as their highest-quality EVP recordings ever at that location, including child laughter attributed to Clarence and adult voice responses to investigators' questions.
Additional activity reported in the Storrowton Tavern includes a young woman seen pacing between upstairs windows and an older woman who 'roams throughout the entire tavern.' Agawam Paranormal, founded by Rob Goff and operating for sixteen years as of the most recent Reminder coverage, has conducted investigations at the tavern in 2013, 2017, and 2018, often with teams of up to thirty investigators, researchers, and psychics.
The institutional acknowledgment of the paranormal activity is unusually deep for a living-history museum: the village programs formal Ghost Tours annually, added a Yuletide ghost-tour adaptation in recent years, and stations its own staff and volunteers in the buildings during the tours to share investigator findings firsthand. The Clarence Gilbert pneumonia claim is the only spirit attribution that is corroborated by what appears to be archival documentation referenced by both the village and Spirit Sisters.
Notable Entities
Helen Osborne Storrow (founder, 1864–1944)Captain John Potter (Revolutionary War officer; Potter Mansion)Clarence Gilbert (died age 2, pneumonia, 1891; Gilbert Farmstead)Unidentified young woman (Storrowton Tavern, upstairs)Unidentified older woman (Storrowton Tavern)
Media Appearances
- The Reminder — 'Spirits active at West Springfield taverns, ghost hunters say'
- WWLP 22News — 'Halloween Happenings: Ghost tours at Storrowtown Village'
- BusinessWest — 'Ghost Tours Return to Storrowton Village on Oct. 9'
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