Walking Tours

A message from The Westfield Historical Commission:

In an attempt to assist our Westfield educators, the Westfield Historical Commission, in partnership with photographer Fred Gore, is working on a project to create virtual field trips for you to use with your students.  The first one, a virtual tour of the historical monuments and Athenaeum downtown, is now available for your use. When you  click on it, you will see the following symbols: a speaker which will give you a narrated piece(with thanks to Adam Wright) explaining what you are looking at,  an “i” which will give you the text to read and for the hearing impaired,  and a 360 degree look at most of the pictures. Simply roll your mouse right or left, up or down, to see other landmarks which will help you with recognizing the locations. Click on the bottom left corner symbol (teardrop shape) to see a map of downtown Westfield with pins showing the location of the sites, as well. Finally, a “film strip” will appear at the bottom allowing you to jump around to other sites at any time.

Questions are included for you to use with your students as well.  One of the questions on the General Shepard slide will require the students to do a little research. 

We have almost completed another tour of the Edwin Smith Historical Museum in the Athenaeum and will post it as soon as possible. Future tours include Immigrant groups, industries, and lost buildings of Westfield. We are open to any ideas/requests or if you have any other thoughts on how we can be of service to you, please send them to Cindy Gaylord cpgaylord@comcast.net.