FORTY ACRES, THE STORY OF THE BISHOP HUNTINGTON HOUSE

James Lincoln Huntington, '02.N. Y., Hastings House, 1949, 68 p., $3.50. Illus. withmap on end paper, and photos by SamuelChamberlain.

The Bishop Huntington House has been in the same family for 10 generations, the first being Moses Porter who built the house in 1752- It was the first house to be built outside the Hadley Massachusetts stockade. Dr. Huntington, the author, is a descendent of Moses Porter, and he is now living on the place. The first half of the book is largely about the family history and will be fascinating to anyone with genealogical interests. The Porters, Phelps and Huntingtons who have owned Forty Acres all came from the early New England settlers, and from them have come much of the old furniture that is now in the house. TheSe pieces have accumulated there over the years instead of the usual method of being scattered among the expanding family. Along with the furniture, the old family records are also there, and they have formed the foundation for this book. The ancestral part of the book is rather confusing unless you are an expert in these lines. A family tree would have been a help. The last part of the book, telling of Dr. Huntington's restoration, the flood of 1936 and the hurricane of 1938 is good general reading. The photographs by Samuel Chamberlain do much to help the reader visualize the old house, its barn (now a museum) and its grounds. If you like old families, old houses and old furniture, this is your book. It lacks only the above mentioned geneological tree, and a floor plan of the house to be excellent in its field.