COLRAIN — The Catamount Hill Association, a nonprofit founded by descendants of residents who lived on the hill before 1875, now owns the land best known as the site where the first American flag was raised above a public schoolhouse in 1812.

During the summer of 1798, Paul Davenport bought the 300-acre parcel, parts of which stayed in the family until 1997. Davenport and Amasa Shippee were two of the men who raised the flag over the schoolhouse just before the outbreak of the clash with Great Britain that became know as the War of 1812. Their motivation was to protest the British practice of stopping American ships and pressing sailors to join the Royal Navy.

Thomas Davenport, Paul Davenport’s great-great-grandson, felt the need to give the few acres of land that was left off South Catamount Hill Road to the Catamount Hill Association in the late 1990s. The Davenport family’s intent was to place the land with the organization that maintains the site, sponsors guided tours, publishes books about the area and commemorates the historic flag raising.

“I remember Tom Davenport speaking to me on a hike about it like it was very urgent,” Prentice Crosier, Catamount Hill Association historian, recalled in a phone interview. “He was concerned it needed to be done.”

However, Thomas Davenport could not give the land to the Catamount Hill Association at the time because the organization did not yet have a 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. Instead, he gave the land to the Mary Lyon Foundation to hold onto until the Catamount Hill Association became a registered public charity. Davenport died less than a year after the land transfer, Crosier said.

Now, two decades later, the Catamount Hill Association has 501(c)(3) status, and the Mary Lyon Foundation successfully transferred the land to the organization.

“It’s greatly satisfying,” Crosier said.

The Catamount Hill Association, which hopes to attract younger participants, is now planning this year’s activities while incorporating its newly acquired land. Crosier plans to host a cemetery tour this year featuring graves of some original settlers of the Catamount Hill community.

“The transfer of the land has been completed and it will remain with the association in perpetuity,” a Catamount Hill Association statement reads.

Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.

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