A little jewel of a library in tiny Conway

— Photo by Friedrich St. Florian

Many small New England towns have some impressive public and private buildings. Consider this one — the Field Memorial Library, in Conway, Mass. (population about 1,900). The building , finished in 1901, was financed by the great Chicago retailer Marshall Field and named in memory of his parents, John and Fedelia Nash Field. Marshall Field was born on his parents’ Conway farm in 1834. He rose to become one of America’s richest men.

Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge of Boston were the architects of this jewel of a public library, working with Norcross Builders ,of Worcester, builders of the New York Public Library.

Bardwell's Ferry Bridge, built in 1882, is an historic lenticular truss bridge over the Deerfield River between Conway and Shelburne. It’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Conway is still something of a farming community (now with lots of “organic’’ crops). But this “Massachusetts Hilltown” has also lured some celebrities, most notably Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982), a Modernist poet as well as a playwright, essayist and critic, and speechwriter for President Franklin Roosevelt. Besides the area’s rugged beauty, its proximity to the colleges in the Connecticut Valley just to the east has been a lure for writers, as has the Field Memorial Library.

— Robert Whitcomb