The Connecticut River Oxbow: The Story of a Changing Landscape and Community
The Oxbow & Mount Holyoke
A Two-Part Lecture Series presented by Forbes Library and Historic Northampton
Event Details
After presenting to a standing-room-only crowd, Northampton resident Jonathan Moldover returns to Forbes Library for a follow-up presentation that will focus on the history of the Oxbow – from its underlying geology to the reasons why Hudson River School artist, Thomas Cole, chose this view in 1836 as emblematic of American ideology.
In his illustrated presentation, Moldover will share eyewitness accounts of the 1840 flood that cut off the oxbow and provide vivid descriptions of the changes that followed: the rise and fall of the lumber and pulp industries on the “island”; the immigrants who came to work in the mills and built homes along Island Road and Ferry Avenue; the construction of Interstate 91; followed by the creation of the Oxbow Marina, now the largest marina on the Connecticut River.
Free and open to the public.
Donations are welcome.
About Jonathan Moldover
After practicing medicine in Manhattan for most of his career, Jonathan Moldover moved to Northampton in 2015, where he took a position at Baystate in Springfield. On his commute to and from work, he noticed the large Oxbow Marina from Route 91 and realized that this was “Thomas Cole’s Oxbow.” The view of the marina, buildings and highway, however, was far from Cole’s pastoral scene.
Piqued by the changes to this iconic landscape, Moldover combined his interest in creating a photo essay about the Oxbow with an oral history project initiated by Forbes Library.
Working with his wife, Rebecca, he interviewed five Island families, recording their descriptions of raising their families, coping with floods, and adapting to the changes that came with the construction of the interstate and the marina. The end result was The Oxbow Since Thomas Cole: The Story of a Landscape, a Painting, and a Community, which he self-published in 2025.