Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to South Deerfield

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
Bloody Brook Monument. South Deerfield, MAPhoto: Tom Walsh · CC BY-SA 3.0
–Not graded
History · South Deerfield

South Deerfield’s post office opened in 1834, and 44% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 6 old photos and papers and maps from 1886 on.

1834first post office
0on the National Register
44%homes built before 1940
6old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From South Deerfield’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How South Deerfield began

When was South Deerfield founded?

1834

The South Deerfield post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 1,930192 years
Founding year: the first South Deerfield post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about South Deerfield’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

On the map since 18867 editions of the USGS map, 1886 to 1990. Watch South Deerfield change.Deep rootsA post office since 1834: 192 years of South Deerfield.Old housesHalf of South Deerfield’s homes were built before 1964.
★ What stands out · On the map

South Deerfield on the map, 1886 to 1990

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of South Deerfield. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

South Deerfield on the 1886 USGS mapSouth Deerfield on the 1891 USGS mapSouth Deerfield on the 1935 USGS mapSouth Deerfield on the 1941 USGS mapSouth Deerfield on the 1955 USGS mapSouth Deerfield on the 1971 USGS mapSouth Deerfield on the 1990 USGS map1886Northampton sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of South Deerfield.

Timeline

South Deerfield, 1811 to 1910

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1811Born hereJames Scollay Whitney is born here
  3. 1865In the archiveSouth Deerfield, from Sugar Loaf mountain--looking west.Alternate Title: Burt's stereosco…
  4. 1876In the archiveBattleOfBloodyBrook
  5. 1886On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  6. 20th century
  7. 1907In the archiveSouth Deerfield station postcard
  8. 1910In the archiveConnecticut River from Mt. Sugarloaf
The story

How South Deerfield came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of South Deerfield.

Read it all →

The area was once home to the Pocumtuck tribe, who were driven away by settlers relocated in 1673 from Dedham. In retaliation, on September 18, 1675, the Indians attacked and killed Captain Thomas Lathrop and a small force in the Battle of Bloody Brook before being routed by reinforcements. Thereafter called Bloody Brook or Muddy Brook, South Deerfield in 1809 attempted to be set off from Deerfield in part because of the distance to its meetinghouse and in part because of religious differences with its minister, the Reverend Samuel Willard. The grant was refused, and the village remained part of Deerfield, but South Deerfield nevertheless dedicated its own meetinghouse in 1821. Situated beside the Connecticut River, it developed as a small farming community.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

South Deerfield, decade by decade

4 decades in the archive, from the 1860s to the 1910s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1860s–1910s6 items
South Deerfield, from Sugar Loaf mountain--looking west.Alternate Title: Burt's stereoscopic views of Sugar Loaf Mounta…c. 1865South Deerfield, from Sugar Loaf mountain--looking we…South Deerfield, from Sugar Loaf mountain--looking west.Alternate Title: Burt's stereoscopic views of Sugar Loaf Mounta…c. 1865South Deerfield, from Sugar Loaf mountain--looking we…BattleOfBloodyBrook1876BattleOfBloodyBrookSouth Deerfield station postcard1907–1915South Deerfield station postcardPostcardConnecticut River from Mt. Sugarloafc. 1910Connecticut River from Mt. SugarloafPostcardOld Bartlett House1910Old Bartlett HousePostcard
1920s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Every building

South Deerfield, building by building, 1912

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a sheet.

South Deerfield fire insurance map, 1912, sheet 11912Sheet 1 of 3
BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

South Deerfield, from Sugar Loaf mountain--looking west.Alternate Title: Burt's stereoscopic views of Sugar Loaf Mounta…
Retake this viewSouth Deerfield, from Sugar Loaf mountain--looking west.Alternate Title: Burt's stereoscopic views of Sugar Loaf Mounta…, c. 1865

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on South Deerfield’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Help out

Finish South Deerfield’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewSouth Deerfield, from Sugar Loaf mounta…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Deerfield1 historic placeA+Sunderland1 historic placeAWhately1 historic placeA+

Questions about South Deerfield’s history

What year was South Deerfield founded?

The South Deerfield post office opened in 1834, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (6), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps and Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.