FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Historic Deerfield Launches $10 Million
“America’s Town, America’s Story” Campaign

Restoration of the 1799 Asa Stebbins House is First Major Component of Campaign
The Stebbins House, built 1799. Historic Deerfield.
Deerfield, Mass. (October 7, 2019)--- Historic Deerfield, Inc., announced today it has launched a $10 million campaign to strengthen historic preservation, restoration, and visitor engagement at the museum. The campaign, entitled “America’s Town, America’s Story,” aims to shape the museum’s future by focusing on historic preservation and on new programming to share Deerfield’s stories with a wider audience. The first major component of the campaign is to raise $1.1 million for the careful restoration of the Asa Stebbins House in Deerfield.

The Stebbins House is a national treasure that continues to tell an American story 220 years after it was built. Thousands of visitors have toured the building since its opening as a house museum in the early 1950s.

Asa Stebbins likely hired one of America’s first architects, Asher Benjamin, to build his house in 1799 – the first brick house built in Deerfield and the surrounding region. It features a revolutionary “flying staircase,” an elaborate molded plaster ceiling, moldings inspired by early Greek and Roman design, and decorative wall treatments – details that make it one of Historic Deerfield’s most popular houses.

While well maintained, the house was last restored in the 1950s by Historic Deerfield founders Henry and Helen Flynt, and time has taken its toll. Deterioration brought on by use, age, and environmental conditions has resulted in physical damage to the building’s structure and finishes. Modern techniques and technology now provide the museum with an unparalleled opportunity to study the building, evaluate what can be learned from it, and develop repairs and improvements so that the Stebbins family stories can be brought to light in more accurate surroundings. 

“The Asa Stebbins House — a “trophy house” when it was new — is a revolutionary building that deserves to be preserved for future generations,” Historic Deerfield President Philip Zea said. “This campaign will enable us to stabilize the structure and to better tell the many fascinating stories hidden inside.”

Led by the museum’s Director of Historic Preservation, Eric Gradoia, a thorough research phase will allow Historic Deerfield to develop a comprehensive understanding of the building. The restoration process will include archival research to learn about the history of the building and its occupants, together with a careful study of the fabric of the building itself. By re-examining the historical record, including identifying and compiling all known archival documents pertaining to the history of the site (from the Stebbins ownership through to the present day), Historic Deerfield staff will build a chronology illustrating the life of the occupants as well as the evolution and uses of the site.

Following research and investigation of the building, necessary repairs to the building’s structure will begin. While the full scope of repair needs to be determined, known issues like the support of interior walls and their connection to the exterior brickwork must be resolved as well as the selective replacement of deteriorated timbers supporting the ell’s chimney mass. Just as the building will be studied for information, archaeology will be performed in an effort to gather information on the areas surrounding the house. 

The “America’s Town, America’s Story” campaign seeks to underscore the importance of Historic Deerfield for future generations. This unique museum focuses on the significance of small-town America to our national culture. Visitors to Deerfield learn stories of generations of real people whose beliefs, belongings, lifestyles, conflicts, economy, and technology unlock the door to the past and help to better understand today. 

The campaign, which has already raised $5 million in current-use and endowed funds, will ensure that the Stebbins House and the centuries-old buildings that line Old Main Street, and dot the historic landscape around them, are maintained and preserved. It will also help Historic Deerfield bring the houses to life by supporting new and expanded program offerings that will share Deerfield’s stories, and by extension, America’s stories, for many more generations to come.

Members of the public who wish to learn more about contributing to the campaign may call Historic Deerfield’s Director of Development, Jesse Vanek, at (413) 775-7177, or visit
About Historic Deerfield, Inc.
Historic Deerfield, Inc., is a museum of early American life situated is an authentic 18th-century New England village in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts. Its historic houses and world-famous collection of early American decorative arts open doors to new perspectives that inspire people to seek a deeper understanding of themselves, their communities, and the world.

Media Contact:

Laurie Nivison
Director of Marketing
(413) 775-7127
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