Nearly 250 years ago, John Potter, of the Central Massachetts town of North Brookfield, kept a journal. On one June afternoon, he wrote, “Nothing extriordinary [sic] happened.” The next day, he recorded, “Nothing remarkable happened.”
A few days later, he wrote, “Ditto.”
By most accounts, including his own, it seemed that Potter wasn’t a braggart. But others celebrated him, as reflected in his 1818 obituary. By then a former Revolutionary War captain, it described him as a beloved community pillar — sober and faithful.
“Never intermeddling with the concerns of others, he had but few enemies,” it read, noting that he “... endeared himself to his connexions [sic].” Neighbors flocked to his home to seek his services as a surveyor, clockmaker, mechanic, farmer, and carpenter.
And in 1776, he endeavored to build his own house, a roughly 10-year project, manufacturing even his own nails. North Brookfield lacked a town clock, so Potter built one and affixed it to the home for all to see.
In 1929, the home was disassembled and moved — piece by piece — to West Springfield, where it now serves as a centerpiece in the Storrowton Village Museum campus at the center of the Eastern States Exposition Fairgrounds.
Potter’s journal on some days reflected a relatable banality, but it also tracked his time in the Worcester County Regiment during the American Revolution. It is unlikely that Potter understood the significance of the year 1776 in what would become a nation’s history, but for those who maintain the space today and recount his family’s presence in it, his story is one they say still echoes.
Among the keepers of the Potter family legacy is Storrowton Village Museum director Jessica Fontaine, who was a volunteer at the museum for 19 years before applying for a vacancy left by its previous, longtime director.
“What I tell people is that 19 years and 45 minutes was the length of my interview,” she said. Growing up in Chicopee — about 33 miles west of North Brookfield — Fontaine said she has a long family history in the region, and she’s intensely interested in those who came before her.
“I really feel like understanding your roots, whether it’s directly your own, or one similar to yours, can inform your future,” she said. “It helps us understand where you came from, helps you know where you want to go, helps you figure out … how innovative people can be.”
Potter’s status as a creative problem-solver for his neighbors connects with, at its best, one vision of the nation’s potential, she said.
“People talk about Yankee ingenuity, and that’s real,” she said. “That still exists today, just in a more technological form.”
One way Potter expressed himself was through architecture. There are unusual carvings atop columns, a ballroom emulates classic Greco-Roman architecture with exterior-style dentils, and secret compartments abound. A puzzling set of holes punched above some doors has launched many theories. And though no records exist noting his preference for pets, he carved a cat door into the side of one entrance, and a prominent paw is printed into the ballroom fireplace tile.
Mansion, as a word, is most aptly perceived from outside, where the full scope of the rambling residence can be seen. While a wooden structure, Potter sculpted the exterior so that its planks resemble stately stone blocks.
“He built this house from his own ideas,” said Fontaine. “There are so many little intricacies in the design that were all from his own mind and creativity … You can look at the house 10 times and see something different every time.”
Inside, the space is carved up, used for Potter’s home workshop as well as living spaces. One entrance greeted family residents, and one was used for its many visitors. Potter installed blanket cranes to extend fabric dividers across rooms in order to make spaces cozier.
In his wood-planked studio, Potter would have crafted his clocks, manufactured hoops that bound barrels, and took in repairs. Rooms were added over time as needed.
Potter’s own handwritten ledger remains, with recordings from 1715 to 1793, along with his hand-built clock, which still keeps time.
George Washington didn’t sleep in the Potter house, said Fontaine, but he did visit.
The Potter family lived in the home for generations, followed by another owner up until its sale in 1929 to Storrowton Village founder Helen Storrow. She imagined an old New England village that would be assembled as a museum on the fairgrounds, and presided over the Potter house’s move from North Brookfield to West Springfield (following the relocation of other, similar buildings from nearby towns). It was disassembled and reconfigured on the site “like a puzzle,” said Fontaine. Early on, Storrow used it as a headquarters for the Eastern States Exposition’s home department, and as a visiting shelter for Girl Scouts. For a few years during World War II, said Fontaine, the United States military took over the museum sites, using the buildings for housing and storage.
Today, the museum buildings operate as part of the annual agricultural celebration that welcomes around a million and a half visitors each year for goats, cotton candy, and musical guests such as Carly Rae Jepsen performing next to a Ferris wheel. They are open during the Big E — Sept. 18 to Oct 4 this year — but also year-round; Fontaine estimates about 1,500 students tour the museum annually.
Not everyone is happy about the current configuration, it seems. Some believe that former residents — and friends — have stuck around.
“Rhoda and Lydia are here,” said Fontaine, noting Potter’s two wives. While Fontaine said she doesn’t consider herself open to paranormal experiences, a paranormal investigation group visits, and the museum offers ghost tours.
After reconfiguring some archival fashions for an exhibit, an intern complained that the ghost of a walking stick’s owner was creating a hostile work environment. It all settled down when a pillow, allegedly haunted by a stern female presence, was kept nearby. Ghost tour attendees, who described a menacing sensation in that room, stopped reporting it after museum staff added an antique piano organ. Perhaps the cranky duo had found a hobby.
As for Potter, his life appears to be peacefully at rest in the carvings and writings contained in the house.
Once a teenage tour guide at the museum, West Springfield Mayor William Reichelt said Potter’s biography illustrates how different life is 250 years later. He said he isn’t sure Potter was thinking in terms of national scale, or how much he knew about the signing of the Declaration of Independence. He was, Reichelt guessed, quite busy minding his large family (Potter had 15 children.
As Potter’s handmade clock keeps ticking, some things do remain the same — especially the need for community connection as a founding national principle.
“While everyone does have their own stuff going on, they do have this bigger work that we all have to do together, and it’s important to do as much as you can,” Reichelt said. “I never can be like him, and go off and fight — but do your part at home, do your part nationally, whatever it is. This thing [democracy] isn’t going to continue if we don’t engage with it.”