The Commonwealth Honors Stockbridge

Sponsored by Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) Forestry Program, the Town Forest Stewardship Conference, October 19, 2024, was in person only.

150 participants from all over Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont attended. There were exhibits, refreshments, and lunch included. From 9am — 1pm there were presentations about preserving and protecting forest land including the trees themselves.

After lunch there were field trips to Gould Meadows, Ice Glen, and the Berkshire Botanical Garden.

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Welcome to the 2024 Naturalization Ceremony at the Norman Rockwell Museum

Twenty-eight new citizens to the United States were sworn in. It was heart-warming. It was moving to hear the kind and welcoming words of President Joe Biden's taped message were moving in contrast to the undeserved ad hominem attacks too often spoken by political leaders.

There was the presentation of the colors followed by the National Anthem, the Oath of Allegiance "...that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law..."

We sang "America the Beautiful" and stood as the flags were re-furled and ceremoniously removed.

It was a beautiful day in the Berkshires.

United States District Judge Katherine A. Robertson prepares to swear in new citizens at the Norman Rockwell Museum. Photo: Patrick White

Display of Flags at Naturalization Ceremony. Photo: Patrick White