List: We went to the Salem Cross Inn located in Brookfield,( Mass) for Thanksgiving.....it's a lovely old tavern located on route 9.....built in 1705 by Peregrine White's grandson (she was born on the Mayflower) 1620.......the original fireplace was built in 1699 and still in use. When the present owners (forebears of White) took over the place years ago, the "Salem Cross" was on the "front" door's latch to ward away the witches and other deviltry. The irony is that the family that descends from White..........the surname is Salem ! The inn in the early days was a tavern/stagecoach stop......many cattle drives between Boston and Albany,NY.......the drovers stopped here at this inn.......today the Inn's owners still carry on the old "Drover's Roast" during the summer months. Our Thanksgiving turkey was roasted on splits in a fireplace that can hold a whole oxen ! The woodwork in the original part of the house is just lovely deep brown.......32-38" (wide) boards ! the original part of the house is not spoiled by electric lights either.....they use candles--electric on the walls and real wax on the tables. The original part of the house is filled with old family heirlooms... (I love old houses and it took my breath away) You are probably saying that Brookfield is not in the Connecticut River Valley.....that's true today but back in those days.....it was a big part of the settlements of the Mass Bay Colony.......many of the settlers came over the Bay Path and the Hadley Path and today it's called Boston Post Road or better known as Route 20 and many of those settlers settled in the Hampshire and Hampden counties of today.....so I consider Brookfield (and the Boston Post Rd) a big part of the Conn.River Valley area even though it isnt located in the counties of CRV on today's maps. Behind the settlers (in 1700's) on the same path, there were cattle drives from Boston to Albany,NY and the drovers always stopped at the inn and today the inn still has the tradition of an old drover's roast which is held on weekends during the summer months. During the months of winter ( Jan -Apr)...there are "fireplace feast" and it's just what it states.....everything is cooked in fireplaces, including old receipes , and also pastry baked in a beehive oven(1699).......only held on weekends Fri-Sun and reservations are a must. Brookfield was totally destroyed in the King Phillip's War (as well as many other "western" Mass Bay Colony towns were that year....... Not too long ago someone on one of the list suggested a book: FLINTLOCK AND TOMAHAWK New England in King Phillip's War; Douglas E.Leach, 1958. Library cat.card # 58-5467; reprint 1995 If any of you have ancestors that lived in Massachusetts Bay area during the year of 1675-6,,,,,you should read this book.....it's fantastic.......well documented......well written. It covers most of the eastern seaboard of Massachusetts (Rhode Island as well) as well as up the Connecticut River valley .......the towns of: Connecticut: New Haven Haddam Guilford Killingworth Middletown Wethersfield Farmington Hartford Simsbury Windsor Suffield Massachusetts Springfield Westfield Northampton Hadley Hatfield Bloody Brook ( South Deerfield area today) Deerfield (Pocumtuck Northfield (Squakeag) Vermont not in 1675.....(but many of your ancestors started out in the above areas) i ordered my book from Amazon .......http://www.amazon.com.......believe it was for less than $15. If you are interested in checking out the Salem Cross Inn.... http://www.salemcrossinn.com Sorry I got carried away but I just finished that book on King Phillip's War and being there where some of it happened....it was an ultimate experience. Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving......... Cynthia Moderator of : Ct-River-Valley-L@rootsweb.com VTWindso-L@rootsweb.com CTHartfo-L@rootsweb.com to research posted information on towns and counties in the mailing list go to http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl (put name of mailing list in the first box and in the 2nd box put what you are looking for) http;//archiver.rootsweb.com/Ct-River-Valley-L/ http:archiver.rootsweb.com/VTWindso-L/ http//archiver.rootsweb.com/CTHartfo-L/