This fortified door is one of only four outside doors dating from the seventeenth century. Saved from the house John Sheldon built in 1699, the door has become an important reminder of the battles between Deerfield's early settlers and the French and Indians. When the house was taken down in 1848, residents began to question what might happen to other things from their past. Eventually the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association was formed and they opened Memorial Hall, where the "Old Indian House door" and other items from the past could be safely kept and displayed. The memory of the 1704 attack by French and Indians from Canada could then remain alive.