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PUBLIC LIBRARY FORT WAYNE & ALLEN CO.,. IND.
M. L.
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00464 2796
GC 974.4 F317MA
Fed. writer's proj. Mass. Massachusetts
25 Aug
15Sep '4:
12Feb'/
1 Mar'.
1
9 Mar'44
26Aug
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20Sep
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/2Aug'46 ' Oct'46
AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES
MASSACHUSETTS
A GUIDE TO ITS PLACES AND PEOPLE
Written and compiled by the Federal Writers' Project_of the Works Progress Administration for the State of Massachusetts
FREDERIC W. COOK, SECRETARY OF THE COMMONWEALTH, COOPERATING SPONSOR
Illustrated
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
- BOSTON
The Riverside Press Cambridge
I 937
COPYRIGHT, 1937, BY GEORGE M. NUTTING, DIRECTOR OF PUBLICITY COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCE THIS BOOK OR PARTS THEREOF IN ANY FORM
The Riverside Press CAMBRIDGE , MASSACHUSETTS PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
332021
WORKS PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION WALKER.JOHNSON BUILDING 1734 NEW YORK AVENUE NW WASHINGTON, D. C.
HARRY L. HOPKINS ADMINISTRATOR
AUG 1 0 1938
Massachusetts: A Guide to Its Places and People is one of the volumes in the American Guide Series, written by members of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Administration. Designed primarily to give useful employment to needy unemployed writers and research workers, this project has gradually developed the ambitious objective of presenting to the American people a portrait of America, -- its history, folklore, scenery, cultural backgrounds, social and economic trends, and racial factors. In one respect, at any rate, this undertaking is unique; it represents a far-flung effort at cooperative research and writing, drawing upon all the varied abilities of its personnel. All the workers contribute according to their talents; the field worker collects data in the field, the research worker burrows in libraries, the art and literary critics cover material relevant to their own specialties, architects describe notable historical buildings and monuments; and the final editing of copy as it flows in from all corners of a state is done by the more experienced authors in the central offices. The ultimate product, whatever its faults or merits, represents a blend of the work of the entire personnel, aided by consultants, members of university faculties, specialists, officers of learned societies, oldest residents, who have volunteered their services everywhere most generously.
A great many books and brochures are being written for this series. As they appear in increasing numbers we hope the American public will come to appreciate more fully not only the unusual scope of thi's undertaking, but also the devotion shown by the workers, from the humblest field worker to the most accomplished editors engaged in the final rewrite. The Federal Writers' Project, directed by Henry G. Alsberg, is in the Division of Women's and Professional Projects under Ellen S. Woodward, Assistant Administrator.
any 2. Arfi
Harry L. Hopkins Administrator
LENSE PETIT
PL
ICIDA
CHARLES F. HURLEY GOVERNOR
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Executive Department, Boston
Massachusetts: A Guide to Its Places and People is the first major accomplishment of the Federal Writers' Project for Massachusetts. More than the conventional guide book, this volume attempts to present the history and heritage of Massachu- setts as well as 1ts numerous points of interest and the contemporary scene. Though designed to portray Massachusetts to visitors, it is also in- tended, as it were, to present Massachusetts to Massachusetts.
As Governor of the Commonwealth I am happy that this valuable work is being made available to the citizens of Massachusetts and the nation.
Charles F Hurley Governor F. 25. Com
Secretary of the Commonwealth
ONE MOMENT, PLEASE!
WHEN the Federal Writers' Project was set up in Massachusetts, and the staff received its first instructions from the central office in Washing- ton, the editors blithely embarked on a task of whose magnitude they had little conception : the job of adequately describing the 316 towns and 39 cities of the Commonwealth, and of presenting, as concisely, accurately, and simply as possible, the facts about the State, from its Architecture to its Zoology, from the year ?00,000,000 B.C., when its geological history began, to A.D., 1937 when its social history has by no means ended.
All over the Commonwealth, field workers began to interview local historians, consult town records, talk with oldest inhabitants, tramp miles of country roads. In district offices, research workers checked and re- checked data against all available sources. Officials of State and local governmental agencies were pressed into service; volunteer consultants - geologists, architects, historians, anthropologists, travel experts, critics - read, criticized, and corrected copy. Photographers clicked cameras, cartographers wrought maps, tour checkers clocked mileage.
In the State office, bulky parcels began to arrive. The mailman stag- gered upstairs with piled envelopes of field copy, heavier each day. Readers struggled desperately to keep up with incoming copy; typists and copyreaders trod water in pools of manuscript. Batteries of steel files became crammed; a hundred wooden file boxes hungered and were fed. Meanwhile, a small administrative staff labored at the vital job of keeping accounts straight and records accurate, and of seeing that each worker received - many of them for the first time in months - his or her weekly pay check.
Out of several millions of words there slowly grew a book - nay, a BOOK, some 650,000 words long. The editors, abandoning a momentarily considered idea of publishing a volume of 2000 pages mounted on wheels with a trailer attachment, sharpened a gross of blue pencils and attacked the typescript to condense it to a portable size. Chapters became pages, pages became paragraphs, paragraphs became sentences. Tempers wore thin as cherished passages were cruelly blue-penciled, and editorial con- ferences developed into pitched battles. But out of it all, writers of
X
One Moment, Please!
varied ability and training and of widely differing temperament, thrown together on the common basis of need, shared a new experience - an adventure in co-operation.
Although comprehensive, this book is not an encyclopedia. Its purpose is not to catalogue all the facts, but to present and preserve significant facts. Designed to serve the needs of the tourist, this guide will be, it is hoped, more than a manual for the casual traveler. Tours there are in plenty, and thousands of points of interest are located and described. But the adventurous-minded will discover herein other excursions, less precisely marked, along highways of letters, history, art, and archi- tecture.
In the midst of editing this book, the Federal Writers' Project of Massachusetts compiled and edited other guides, brochures, bibliogra- phies, etc., some of which have already been published, others of which are still in preparation.
The editors are deeply obligated to many governmental agencies, Fed- eral, State, and local, to commercial associations and travel agencies, to historical societies, and to hundreds of individuals, for information and assistance. They must content themselves, however, with brief and totally inadequate acknowledgment to the State Planning Board, the State Departments of Conservation and of Labor and Industries, to many local planning boards, the New England Council, the New England Hotel Association, the Boston and Albany, Boston and Maine-Central Ver- mont, and New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroads, the Boston Elevated Company, other transportation companies. Professor B. A. Hooten, of the Department of Anthropology of Harvard University, criticized the article 'First Americans'; Professor A. M. Schlesinger, of the Department of History, Harvard, read 'Enough of Its History to Explain Its People'; Professor Lawrence LaForge, of the Department of Geology, Harvard, assisted in the preparation of 'Natural Setting,' of which Professor David Potter, of the Department of Biology, Clark University, reviewed the sections of flora and fauna. Professor Walter Piston, of the Department of Music, Harvard, made suggestions for the first section of the essay 'Music and the Theater'; and Mr. Leverett Saltonstall contributed the major portion of the article 'Government.' Miss Dorothy Adlow contributed the essay 'Art.' In addition, all the above, as well as many others not named, were frequently consulted for information and advice on matter lying within their several fields. The American Antiquarian Society, the Massachusetts Historical Society, the
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One Moment, Please!
State Library, the Bostonian Society, the Boston Athenæum, and numer- ous local historical societies and libraries generously made their collec- tions available to research workers. Selectmen, town clerks, librarians, and others freely lent their aid.
The four-line stanza by Emily Dickinson in the article 'Literature' is quoted by special permission from 'Poems of Emily Dickinson,' 1937, edited by Martha Dickinson Bianchi and Alfred Leote Hampson: Little, Brown and Company, Boston.
This volume was prepared under the editorial direction of Joseph Gaer, Editor-in-Chief of the New England Guides and Chief Field Supervisor of the Federal Writers' Project.
RAY ALLEN BILLINGTON, State Director BERT JAMES LOEWENBERG Assistant State Directors MERLE COLBY
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
Photostat
By Harry L. Hopkins, Federal Administrator, Works Pro- gress Administration
FOREWORD
Photostat
By Charles F. Hurley, Governor of Massachusetts, and Frederic W. Cook, Secretary of the Commonwealth
ONE MOMENT, PLEASE!
ix
GENERAL INFORMATION xxi
Railroads
Accommodations
Highways
Climate and Equipment
Bus Lines
Information Bureaus
Airlines
Recreation
Waterways
Transportation
Traffic Regulations
CALENDAR OF EVENTS xxxii
MASSACHUSETTS: THE GENERAL BACKGROUND
CLUES TO ITS CHARACTER 3
NATURAL SETTING
9
FIRST AMERICANS
I8
ENOUGH OF ITS HISTORY TO EXPLAIN ITS PEOPLE
28 56
GOVERNMENT
LABOR
65
ARCHITECTURE
79
LITERATURE
89
LITERARY GROUPS AND MOVEMENTS
IO0
MUSIC AND THE THEATER
IIO
ART
II7
xiv
Contents
II. MAIN STREET AND VILLAGE GREEN (City and Town Descriptions and City Tours)
Amherst: An Adventure in Quietude
I27
Arlington : History and Homes I30
Boston: The Hub of the Universe I35
Brockton: City of Shoes
I76
Brookline: Opulent Comfort 179
Cambridge: University City
183
Chelsea: City of Transformations
205
Chicopee: The Future-Minded
208
Concord: Golden-Age Haven
210
Dedham: The Sober-Minded
217
Deerfield: A Beautiful Ghost
223
Everett : Industrial Half-Sister
227
Fall River: City of Falling Water
229
Fitchburg: The Farmer Goes to Town
232
Gloucester-Rockport (Cape Ann) : Mother Ann's Children
235
Haverhill: From Hardscrabble to Hats and Shoes
244
Holyoke: The Power of Water
248
Lawrence: Warp and Woof
250
Lexington: A Town of Heroic Past
255
Lowell: Company Founders and City Fathers
260
Lynn: Machine City 266
Malden: Neighbor of Boston 270
Marblehead: Where Tradition Lingers
273
Medford: Rum, Ships, and Homes
279
New Bedford: Thar She Blows!
284
Newburyport: City of Captains' Houses
29I
Newton : Commuter's Haven 295
Northampton: From Jonathan Edwards to Sophia Smith 301
Northfield: A Prophet with Honor
306
Norton: Typical New England 308
XV
Contents
Pittsfield: Power-Source and Playground
3IO
Plymouth: The Colony's First 'Main Street' 319
Provincetown: Way Up Along 326
Quincy: Iron Ships and Great Men 335
Revere: A Beach Beside a City . 34I
Salem: New England's Treasure-House
343
Somerville: Traditions of Trade 353
South Hadley: Milk, Butter, and Ideas 356
Springfield: The Metropolis of Western Massachusetts
359
Taunton: Largest City for Its Size 367
Waltham: City of Five-Score Industries 370
Watertown: Cradle of the Town Meeting 374
Wellesley: Town of Schools - and a College 379
Weymouth: Aggregate of Villages 382
Williamstown: Buckwheat, Barley, and Gentlemen 386
Woburn: Home of a Yankee Count 389
Worcester: Heart of the Commonwealth 392
III. HIGH ROADS AND LOW ROADS
(Mile-by-Mile Description of the State's Highways)
TOUR I From New Hampshire (Portsmouth) to Rhode Island (Providence). US 1
407
IA From Newburyport to Everett. State 1A 415
IB From Dedham to North Attleborough. State 1A 426
IC From Beverly to Uxbridge. State 62 and 126 430
ID From Boston to Milford. State 109 439
2 From Boston to New York (Troy). State 2 (Mo- hawk Trail) 442
2A From New Hampshire (Peterboro) to Littleton. State 119 460
2B From Orange to New Hampshire (Keene). State 78 463
3 From Boston to New Hampshire (Concord). US 3 464
4 From Boston to New York (Albany). US 20 468
xvi -
Contents
TOUR 4A From Woronoco to Great Barrington. State 17 483
4B From Huntington to Hinsdale. Sky Line Trail 487
5 From Boston to New Hampshire (Salem). State 28 488
6 From Orleans to Rhode Island (Providence). US 6 494
6A From Orleans to Provincetown. US 6 502
7 From New Hampshire (Seabrook) to Worcester. State 110 and State 70 507
7A From Newburyport to Haverhill. State 125 516
8 From Boston to Pittsfield. State 9 518
8A From Williamsburg to Hinsdale. State 143 532
9 From Vermont (Stamford) to Connecticut (Salis- bury). (Appalachian Foot Trail) 534
IO From Plymouth to Rhode Island (E. Provi- dence). US 44 535
II From New Hampshire (Fitzwilliam) to Connec- ticut (Thompson). State 12 540
IIA From Westminster to Worcester. State 64,31,122A 545
I2 From Provincetown to Williamstown (Capes to the Berkshires Bridle Trail) 546
I3 From New Hampshire (Rindge) to Connecticut (Granby). US 202 547
14 From New Bedford-Martha's Vineyard-Nan- tucket 554
I5 From Vermont (Guilford) to Connecticut (Thomp- sonville). US 5 563
15A From New Hampshire (Hinsdale) to Bernardston. State 10 567
15B From Adams to Springfield. State 116 568
15C From Northampton to Westfield. State 10 57I
15D From West Springfield to Connecticut (Suffield). State 5A 573
I7 From Vermont (Pownal) to Connecticut (North Canaan). US 7 574
17A From Pittsfield to Connecticut (Salibury). State 41 580
xvii
Contents
17B From Lanesborough to Summit of Mt. Greylock (Rockwell Rd.) 584
19 From Boston to Bourne. State 28 586
19A From Orleans to Bourne. State 28 591
2I From Vermont (Stamford) to Connecticut (Win- sted). State 8 595
23 From Athol to Rhode Island (Providence). State 32 and 122 600
23A From Barre to Connecticut (Willimantic). State 32 606
23B From Grafton to New Bedford. State 140 609
25 From Boston to Rhode Island (Tiverton). State 138 614
27 From Boston to Bourne. State 3 618
27A From Quincy to Kingston. State 3A 621
27B From Weymouth to East Bridgewater. State 18 626
CHRONOLOGY 631
FIFTY BOOKS ABOUT MASSACHUSETTS 637
INDEX 639
ILLUSTRATIONS
HISTORICAL LANDMARKS
The 'Arbella,' Salem*
John Alden House, Duxbury
Paul Revere House, Boston Commodore's Quarters, U.S. Frigate 'Constitution'
Historic American Buildings Survey Minuteman Statue, Concord*
INDUSTRY EARLY AND LATE
Fore River Shipyard, Quincy* Shipyard, Essex New England Council
Hoisting Sail Commonwealth of Massachusetts Chains, Woods Hole Buoy Yard* Old Mill, Sudbury* Charles W. Morgan,' New Bedford* Seeding Clams Commonwealth of Massachusetts
ARCHITECTURAL MILESTONES
Whipple House, Ipswich Kitchen of John Ward House, Haverhill Essex Institute Hartshorne House, Wakefield*
Hill of Churches, Truro* Chestnut Street, Salem* Assembly House, Salem* Pierce-Nichols House, Salem Essex Institute Lee Mansion*
between 26 and 27 Old South Meeting House, Boston* Leyden Street, Plymouth (first street in Massachusetts*)
Old State House, Boston John Quincy Adams House, Quincy
between 56 and 57
Cranberry Bog Courtesy of George Gardner Barker Sandwich Glass*
Nets Drying, Gloucester Courtesy of F. J. Robinson
Herring Run, Wareham* Weaving
Associated Industries of Massachusetts Printing
between 86 and 87 Old State House (interior)*
House of the Seven Gables, Salem* State House, Boston*
Holden Chapel, Harvard Harvard Film Service
'Connecticut Valley' Doorway, Mis- sion House, Stockbridge Courtesy of Fletcher Steele Public Library, Boston Trinity Church, Boston
A FLASHBACK IN EARLY PRINTS
North Bridge, Concord, 17751 Boston Common in 1768, showing the Hancock House and the Old Beacont The Old State House and the 'Bloody Massacre't The Old State House in 1801 The Old State House Fire, 1832t
between 148 and 149 The Old State House in 1876 with Mansard Roof
Boston in 1743 from the Harbort The City in 1848 from East Bostont Bird's-Eye View of Boston at about I8501 Faneuil Hall and the Old Shorelinet New State House and Bulfinch Bea- cont
XX
Illustrations
LITERARY LANDMARKS
between 210 and 211
Elmwood (James Russell Lowell House), Cambridge
Craigie-Longfellow House, Cam- bridge Custom House, Salem* Emerson Room, Antiquarian House, Concord Concord Antiquarian Society Wayside Inn, Sudbury*
Fruitlands, Harvard Orchard House, Concord
House of the Seven Gables, Salem* Arrowhead (Bush-Melville House), Pittsfield
Historic American Buildings Survey Thoreau's House, Concord Emily Dickinson House, Amherst
MASSACHUSETTS: ONE OF THE WORLD'S CENTERS OF LEARNING
between 304 and 305
The Splash of a Drop of Milk Associated Press
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology New England Council
Harvard College from the Air Institute of Geographical Exploration Bulfinch Hall, Andover Academy Smith College Quadrangles, North- ampton Curtiss-Wright Flying Service
The Court of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston Powers Studios The Court, Fogg Art Museum, Cam- bridge The Esplanade Symphony Orchestra under Fiedler Boston Chamber of Commerce The Little Red Schoolhouse, Sudbury*
OLD HOUSES AND OLD CHURCHES
between 462 and 463
Benjamin Abbot House, Andover Historic American Buildings Survey Parson Capen House, Topsfield Old Ship Church, Hingham*
Cape Cod Cottage: John Ken- rick House, Orleans*
Wooden Quoins, Winslow House, Marshfield*
Munroe Tavern, Lexington*
Fairbanks House, Dedham
Old Church in Concord*
Sparrow House, Plymouth*
Governor Gore House, Waltham
BY ROAD, BY TRAIL, AND BY CHANNEL between 524 and 525
Street in Marblehead Boston from the Air
Orleans* Highland Light, North Truro*
Harvard Buildings on the Charles, Cambridge Boston Chamber of Commerce
Connecticut Valley, near Northampton Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Windmill, Cape Cod*
Marblehead Harbor Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Lexington Green* Memorial Tower, top of Mount Grey- lock Courtesy of Arthur Palme
Illustrations marked * are by W. Lincoln Highton of the Works Progress Administration; those marked f by courtesy of Goodspeed's Book Shop, Boston; all uncredited photographs are by the staff photographer of the Federal Writers' Project of Massachusetts.
LARGE MAP OF MASSACHUSETTS Back Pocket
Reverse side: Large Map of Boston Winter Recreations Map
Summer Recreations Map
Japanese Garden, Museum of Fine Arts
Boston Museum of Fine Arts
GENERAL INFORMATION
Railroads: Boston & Maine (B. & M.), Boston & Albany (B. & A.), New York, New Haven & Hartford (N.Y., N.H. & H.), Central Vermont (C.V.).
Highways: 10I State highways. 6 Federal highways, as follows: I, Fort Kent, Maine, to Miami, Fla .; 3, Canada via Colebrook, N.H .; 5, Quebec via Newport, Vt .; 6, Greely, Colo .; 7, Quebec via St. Albans, Vt .; 20, Yellowstone Park. (For routes throughout State see folding map.)
Highway patrol to safeguard traffic and enforce traffic regulations.
Bus Lines: Intrastate: 155 lines connecting principal towns and cities. Interstate: Boston & Maine Transportation Co. (Boston to Portland, Me., Boston to White River Junction, Vt., Boston to Keene and Con- cord, N.H.); New England Transportation Co. (Boston to Hartford, Conn., Boston to Poughkeepsie, N.Y.); Berkshire Motor Coach Lines (Boston to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., via Worcester, New Haven, and New York City); Blue Line (Worcester to New York, via Springfield); Blue Way Lines (Portland, Me., and Boston to New York, via Springfield and Worcester); Eastern Greyhound Lines, Inc., of New England (Boston and Portland, Boston and New York); Frontier Coach Lines (Boston and Montreal); Greyhound Lines (national coverage); Interstate Busses Cor- poration (Providence, R.I., to Schenectady, N.Y., via Springfield and Pittsfield); I.R.T. Co., Inc. (Boston to Providence, R.I.); P.H.N. Lines, Inc. (Boston and Norwich, Conn., via Worcester); Old Colony Coach Lines, Inc. (Boston to Concord, N.H., Boston to Bar Harbor, Boston to Montreal and Quebec); Short Line System (Springfield to Portland, New York, Waterbury, Worcester, and Boston).
Airlines: Intrastate: Boston to Cape Cod and Nantucket (summer serv- ice). Interstate: American Airlines (Boston, Providence, Hartford, New Haven and New York; Boston-Buffalo and all points west). Boston- Maine-Central Vermont Airways (Portland, Augusta, Waterville, Ban- gor, Bar Harbor during summer, Manchester, Concord, White River Junction, Barre-Montpelier, Burlington).
Waterways: Regular service by steamship to New York and ports south via Cape Cod Canal from Boston or Fall River. Many trans-Atlantic liners call at Boston. Regular trips to Canada and the West Indies.
New England Steamship Co. (operated by N.Y., N.H. & H. R.R.), New Bedford to Martha's Vineyard [Dukes] and Nantucket. Cape Cod Steamship Co. (Boston to Provincetown). (Summer service only by both.)
xxiv
General Information
nic areas equipped with tables, benches, fireplaces, and sanitary facilities, . and often have additional facilities for camping, such as tent sites, trailer sites, and cabins, as well as swimming facilities. In the remaining thirty State forests, picnicking is allowed, but there are few facilities, and fires are prohibited.
There are numerous other opportunities for picnicking in the two State parks, eleven State reservations, eight semi-public reservations, and fourteen reservations controlled by the Metropolitan District Commis- sion, all of which permit picnicking in some form and provide some of the necessary facilities, such as tables and benches. Opportunity for picnick- ing is not limited to the State-provided facilities. Many cities and towns have large parks or lakeside reservations where non-residents may picnic. There are also many commercial picnic grounds, camp-grounds, and beaches.
Fairs: In 1935, approximately twenty outstanding fairs were held through- out the State, attracting some 750,000 people. More than fifty per cent of the attendance was at the two major fairs - the Brockton Fair and the Eastern States Exposition.
Horse and Dog Races: Horse and dog racing, under the pari-mutuel system of betting, has become increasingly popular. In 1935, the first year of operation of horse and dog racing under the pari-mutuel system, four flat running-horse tracks, four harness-horse tracks, and three dog tracks were licensed.
Auto Races: Auto racing is engaged in primarily as amateur competition and as a feature event at certain of the major fairs. For amateur competi- tion for midget cars, two dirt tracks have been built, one at Wayland and one at Marstons Mills on Cape Cod. On these tracks several races are scheduled during the summer and early fall. All types of cars are used, and the usual length is fifty miles. Professional and semi-professional auto racing is limited to the major fairs.
Winter Sports: The State Department of Conservation, in co-operation with the National Park Service and the Civilian Conservation Corps, has. extended the winter-sports facilities in the State forests and reservations, and is still developing them. Climatic conditions and natural topography make certain sections of the State ideal for extensive winter-sports devel- opments. The Berkshire Hills area is the best-developed section, but new trails have been constructed in the Wachusett region, more favorably located in relation to principal centers of population than the Berkshires. There are approximately seventy-five areas devoted to skiing, with many miles of trails and acres of open slopes. Jumps are few in number, only thirteen being available. Probably more than 75 per cent of the skiing facilities are concentrated in the four western counties, the major portion of these being in Berkshire County. On the Mount Wachusett State Reservation, two new downhill trails have been developed or improved. In the eastern part of the State are a few facilities: Mount Hood Memorial Park, Melrose, the two trails on the Metropolitan District Commission's
XXV
General Information
Blue Hills Reservation, and a few small municipal or private open slopes and jumps. Many golf clubs allow the use of open slopes on the courses for skiing. 'Snow trains' leave Boston regularly in winter.
There are seventeen ski and outing clubs, most of which are in central and western Massachusetts. The Western Massachusetts Winter Sports Council is the largest combined organization actively promoting winter sports in the State. The Berkshire Hills Conference also encourages winter sports.
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