I have a strong interest in the first period --roughly 1630s to 1720s--houses of New England and hope to make a compendium of all extant homes. I am particularly interested in houses which have not been "discovered" yet; those which are hidden under old siding, or which, for whatever reasons, have escaped notice. (For example, I was driving from RT 91 towards Hatfield on a serendipitous path to Cowls Lumber Yard, when I saw what appeared to be a house from the 1600s with an overhang--I have not managed to get back that way to see if I could speak with the owner, so I am not sure, but from the outside it did look that it could be very old and important. There does not seem to be a Hatfield Historical Society website.) Does anyone know of any sites or links that would list these homes? I have already looked at the SPNEA and Antiquarian & Landmarks Society's websites. Thanks.

Gil,
Do a Google search (www.google.com). Tweak your search terms getting progressively more picky and you may discover lotsa stuff. Not only a very effective search engine but very quick. Most results returned in seconds or fractions thereof.

Hatfield doesn't have a formal historical society, but does have a very tight concentration of late 1600/early 1700 houses in what is called the Elm Street Historic District

made up of Elm, Sunset, and Scotland Sts., Little Neponset Rd.

Take exit 29 off I91N, right off the ramp is Elm. st. follow for about 2 miles and you will start to see some amazingly old and very well kept houses on both sids of the street. Most have dates proudly placarded on them.

The town is small and close knit; stopping pretty much anyone in town just may yield an hour long conversation about local history. In the summer, everyone is sitting out on their porches.

When on Chestnut st., note the very impressive Sycamore tree of about 48" in diameter standing in front of a very nice early 1700's home.

I took down an old tobacco barn on Elm st. this past fall and had a great time there, even met the 80-something year old guy who replaced the roof on the barn after the 38 Hurricane came and took it off!

feel free to email me direct to talk more if you wish.

Have fun!

shaun