— A Southwick Time Machine Special Biographical Feature This story is presented ad-free for uninterrupted reading. Richard W. Hardy was born in East Montpelier, Vermont, in 1936, but it was in the quiet hilltown of Tolland, Massachusetts, that his identity truly took shape. By his teens, music had already become the defining force of his life, not as a hobby, but as a vocation. Those who heard him play or studied his compositions recognized something uncommon: a depth of talent that seemed far beyond his years. From a young age, Hardy displayed extraordinary musical ability. Though he never attended a formal conservatory for advanced training, his skill was unmistakable. He became proficient in both piano and organ, composing original classical works and providing piano instruction, sharing his gift even as his own career was still in its formative stages. Music was not simply something he practiced; it was something he lived. Hardy spent approximately fourteen years in Tolland, livin...

 — A Quirky Southwick Time Machine Original This story is presented ad-free for uninterrupted reading. Jonathan Fassett Chapman was born in Champlain, New York, on Christmas Day in 1848. In his earlier years, he became captain of the "Whitehall," a steamer on Lake Champlain. In 1877, Captain Jonathan “John” Chapman came to Southwick, Massachusetts. That year, he purchased fifty acres of land at Congamond Lake from Henry H. Saunders. He also bought land from Saunders on Sheep Pasture Road, near where Our Lady of the Lake church stands today. At Congamond, where the North and Middle Ponds meet, he built a small shanty and boat house along the banks of the old canal. The bridge connecting the two ponds became known locally as Chapman’s Bridge. Captain Chapman rented flat-bottomed boats for pleasure by the hour or by the day. From his shanty, he sold soda and ice cream. In April 1889, he purchased two steamers, the "Josephine" and the stylish side-wheel "Ida Lee,...

— Part of the Southwick Time Machine Poetry Showcase Collection This story is presented ad-free for uninterrupted reading. Illustration inspired by Southwick, Massachusetts   Snowfall   by Edyth Jasmin of Southwick, Massachusetts (1940 Prize Poem)   I gaze through a frosted window pane; The west wind howls down the lane. The winding road is filled with drifts; Some snow inside the window sifts, As pastel flakes in heaven shape. Trees, like ghosts with rumpled hair, Shriek and moan as in despair. The self-same grass that winter died, Peeks through the snows with long-lost pride. The cumulus clouds above us hover, Tossing flakes the grim world over. The frozen brook runs no more. The distant pine make ceaseless roar. We hear the peal of the old church bell That sways on its moorings as if to tell That hearts are warm inside each home, And God has willed another poem.       Edyth Jasmin, circa 1942 Edyth Elizabeth (Jasmin) (Roberts) deForest: March 24, 1924 –...

⚠️ Content Advisory  ⚠️   This story involves a more modern incident from 1976.  It contains sensitive subject matter that some readers may find unsettling.  Reader discretion is advised.        — A Southwick Time Machine Reader-Requested Tragedy This story is presented ad-free for uninterrupted reading. On the afternoon of December 23, 1976, fifteen-year-old Michael J. Lefebvre of Southwick, Massachusetts, was waiting near the bus stop by his home located at 59 Summer Drive.  While Michael stood at Chapman Street and Point Grove Road near Soja’s Package Store—known today as Oak N’ Keg—a blue pickup truck approached the sharp turn at the corner of Point Grove Road and Chapman Street. The truck failed to negotiate the turn and struck Michael in front of the store. Michael was thrown approximately sixty feet into the air, landing on the opposite side of a five-foot-tall fence belonging to the store’s owner, Stanley Soja. Seconds later, th...

📜 UNEARTHED  — Preserved from limited contemporary sources.   — A Southwick Time Machine Original On January 22, 1847, Lucetta Rising went to visit her father's home for what appeared to be an ordinary family visit. Lucetta had married Aaron Humphrey Rising just four months earlier, on September 23, 1846, in Granby, Connecticut. The newlyweds had made their home across the state line in Southwick, Massachusetts. That January day, Lucetta and her husband went to visit her father, Morey Aldrich, who also lived in Southwick and worked in the manufacture of gunpowder. The atmosphere in the Aldrich home was lively and fun. Lucetta was playing with her ten-year-old brother, Bennett. When she stepped into an adjoining room, Bennett followed her. As Lucetta turned her back, the boy seized a gun that was standing in the corner. Without his sister's knowledge, Bennett loaded the gun with powder and common squirrel shot. In a playful mood, he exclaimed,   "Now I will shoot you!...