The building that is now Memorial Hall was the first home of Deerfield Academy, built in 1798 and designed by architect Asher Benjamin.
[2] In the original collection were geological specimens and "curiosities" that assisted in educating pupils, and it also had memorabilia donated by the descendants of the Reverend John Williams, who had been taken captive to Canada following the 1704 Raid on Deerfield.
In 1870, George Sheldon, a preservationist and antiquarian who was interested in historic preservation as early as 1848, founded the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association (PVMA) and served as its first president.
Its collection includes domestic furnishings, paintings, photographs, quilts, other textiles, as well as musical instruments, tools, and Native American artifacts.
An old inscription next to the door describes how the “stout door kept at bay the French and Indians,” and its “hatchet hewn face still tells the tale of that fateful night.”[6] [7] A replica of the Indian House, also in Deerfield, is another property owned by the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association and is open to the public.