Early History

Learn about the history of the Chesterfield-Salem-Oakdale Jewish community and the New England Hebrew Farmers of the Emanuel Society.

NEHFES Today

Learn about NEHFES today and how you can join our efforts to preserve our historic site and legacy.

Timeline

View the NEHFES timeline, including historic newspaper articles, photos and documents from the Chesterfield-Salem-Oakdale Jewish community.

Virtual Tour

Take our interactive tour of the NEHFES historic site, including the stone remains of the synagogue, mikveh, and creamery.

Photo Archives

View our online photo albums of early Jewish Chesterfield sites and family members, along with more recent photos of those historic sites today.

Document Archives

View our digital collection of documents related to NEHFES and the Chesterfield Jewish community.

News...

NEHFES Descendants Zoom Meeting – Sunday, February 21

Descendants of the New England Hebrew Farmers of the Emanuel will have another opportunity to meet and chat virtually on Sunday, February 21, 2021, at 8pm EDT. Members are encouraged to send photos in advance to Treasurer Nancy Butler, who will organize them into a presentation that we can all…
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NEHFES Descendants from Across the U.S. and Canada Attend First-ever Virtual Annual Meeting

An amazing event occurred on June 7, 2020, when 35 descendant members and friends of The New England Hebrew Farmers of the Emanuel Society (NEHFES) of Chesterfield, Connecticut, met online for their first ever Virtual Annual Meeting. According to NEHFES President, Nancy R. Savin, “An inadvertent blessing of this tragic…
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President’s Message: New Land Record Database Now Available!

Great News! NEHFES asked title researcher Carol Spenser to create a database of all land transactions – purchases and sales – in Montville, from 1890 – 1920. The intent was to help member descendants discover exactly when their ancestors first purchased land in Chesterfield. We also hoped to estimate how…
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NEHFES Minutes and Ledger Book Available Online

NEHFES President Nancy Savin is thrilled to announce that the NEHFES Minutes and Ledger Book (1892 – 1933) has been added to the Yiddish Book Center’s Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library. This document comprises the (scanned) facsimile of the MLB together with explanatory information, translator Miriam Leberstein’s intro and her…
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NEHFES Featured in Public Television Documentary, “Harvesting Stones”

Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network recently aired “Harvesting Stones,” a documentary about the early Jewish farmers of Eastern Connecticut. The documentary, originally shown on May 25 and rebroadcast on May 29, includes footage of the NEHFES site taken during the excavation in 2012, photos about NEHFES, and an interview with NEHFES president Nancy…
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Connecticut State
Archaeological Preserve

National Register of
Historic Places