Deconstructing the Past public presentation: From farmstead to nature preserve — Coming full circle

Editor’s note: Read about how this came about: https://themanchestermirror.com/2024/03/04/manchester-is-getting-a-new-nature-preserve/ .

by Sybil Kolon

The Manchester Area Historical Society (MAHS) will host a presentation about the history of a farm carved out of the Irish Hills in the 1860s. Deconstructing the Past will recount the history of a farmhouse and the people who built and modified it over 160 years, and how the surrounding farmstead will become the future Iron Creek Preserve. This presentation will be on Tuesday, April 9, from 7pm to 8:30pm at Manchester Area Historical Society’s KJ House, 302 E Main St, and is free and open to the public.

This talk will take us full circle, from the early days before European settlement through the development of this 76-acre parcel of land into the future Iron Creek Preserve. In between, we will review the lives of the Sutton and Kolongowski families, and how the house they built and modified was methodically taken apart, allowing many of the materials to be reclaimed for future use. Artifacts and materials will be available to view.

The proposal to preserve the 1860-era house was not successful, so a series of public workshops at the site were conducted in the fall of 2023 during the deconstruction to document the process with video and pictures and to preserve key artifacts from the site. This presentation will summarize the entire process. Additional research and planning are underway.

Up-to-date background and future plans can be found on the Deconstructing the Past webpage: https://mahsmi.org/dtp

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.