Ever wonder what your house has been up to? The mother and daughter team and founders of  "Dwelling in the Past," a South Egremont  firm specializing in the research of historical homes, will give a presentation of some of their intriguing local findings.

 

Lynn H. Wood, title abstractor, and Elisabeth L. Wood, genealogical researcher share a love for historic research.  Through investigating old Berkshire records and employing their many years (58 years) of combined research experience, Lynn and Beth are now bringing forward newly found, fact-based stories of past Berkshire people, places and happenings.  Each story they have found to date has been in some way unique and surprising. As they explain, history is often painted in grand strokes, on canvasses of monumental size.  The aim at Dwelling in the Past is to bring history, in all its vivid colors, to a more human scale.  By investigating the historic homes of Berkshire County, Lynn and Beth offer an opportunity to glimpse the shape, form and varied hues of residents’ lives.

 

Born in Pittsfield, Lynn grew up in the town of Otis when it had a population of 450 people.  Her father owned a general store, a great place to get to know neighbors.

 

Lynn is the editor of the book A Gift from the Past, Nellie E. Haskell’s History of Otis.  She served the town of Egremont at different times as Town Clerk, Selectmen’s Secretary and Planning Board Chair.  In 2015, she worked with Beth and many others to produce Egremont’s July “1865 Civil War Basket Picnic.”

 

Lynn and her husband Bill live in Egremont, in Bill’s great-grandparents’ home and are parents of two children and grandparents of five.  Currently, Lynn chairs the St. James Community Housing Corporation in Great Barrington and serves on the Egremont Meeting House Committee.

​

Beth lives and works in Alexandria, Virginia.  She and her husband, David Berman, have raised five children and various cats.  (Whether the training of the cats, or the training of the children has been more successful to date is the subject of some debate.) In addition to her work, Beth is an Assistant Historian for the Mayflower Society of Virginia.