Very proud to say, Marsh is one of my idols, who encouraged folks like me to join the Chester Foundation, The Jacob’s Ladder Scenic Byway, the Jacob’s Ladder Business Association and write for the Country Journal to promote and preserve the beauty of the Hilltowns. Mr. Marsh, the Hilltown Hikers is all about what you believed in! Chester Hill Association

H. Newman Marsh Jr., left a successful career in banking in New York City for farming in the southern Berkshires town of Chester. Mr. Marsh was born in Washington, D.C., and spent his summers in Maine where he fell in love with New England. In 1981, he traded his executive vice presidency at European American Bank for a homestead in Chester that is called Misty Mountain Farm. Mr. Marsh, a 1948 graduate of Bowdoin College in Maine, served with the Marine Corps during World War Il and the Korean War. After his graduation from Bowdoin in 1948, he worked for the National Broadcasting Co. in Washington. Following his service in the Korean War, he turned down an offer by NBC to work in New York City and instead bought the Millstream Farm in New Hartford. At age 40, he left dairy farming and began a career in banking with the Hartford National Bank in 1964. He joined European American Bank in New York City and completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School in 1975. He was an executive vice president at European American upon his retirement in 1981, when he moved to Misty Mountain Farm, which he purchased in 1975. He retired last year from the board of the former Luxo Lamp Corporation, now called IJI Lighting, as a director. In Chester, Mr. Marsh began a second career in farming and community activism. He purchased the Country Journal, a weekly newspaper serving the Hilltowns of western Massachusetts, in 1981. On his 400 acres in Chester, he managed a woodlot that was nominated as Tree Farm of the Year in 1995 raised Haflinger horses and Scotch Highland cattle, and produced maple syrup. As founder of the Chester Hill Association, he organized two annual community celebrations a Maplefest held on Chester Hill and a Harvest Festival at Misty Mountain Farm. In connection with the restoration of the Chester train station, he co-founded the Chester Foundation which runs Chester on Track, a celebration of the community’s ties to the railroad. He also co-founded the Northeast Haflinger Association. He was a director with the miniature Theater of Chester. Of his community leadership, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission said in 1995, Mr. Marsh seems to act on the principle that “a community with self-esteem will make well-reasoned, intelligent decisions and simply be a better place to live.

A big THANK YOU goes out to the Chester Hill Association, Rich and Shelley Holzman and Brian Kovisto for making the Chester Hill Snow Day Event a great day even with no snow!

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