USA > Massachusetts > From the Hub to the Hudson : with sketches of nature, history and industry in north-western Massachusetts > Part 2
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And now that we are reading monumental inscrip- tions we may be minded to visit the old burial-places
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FROM THE HUB TO THE HUDSON.
in this village. where many quaint epitaphs are found but none quainter than the following, many times pub- lished already, and so full of antithesis that Macaulay himself, if he ever read it, must have laid down his pen in despair of ever being able to match it :
"God wills us free ;- man wills us slaves. I will as God wills ; God's will be done. Here lies the body of JOHN JACK, a native of Africa, who died, March, 1773, aged about sixty years. Though born in a land of slavery, he was born free. Though he lived in a land of liberty, he lived a slave ; till by his honest, though stolen labors he acquired the source of slavery, which gave him his freedom ; though not long before Death, the grand tyrant, gave him his final emancipation, and put him on a footing with kings. Though a slave to vice, he. practised those virtues without which kings are but slaves."
Journeying westward again, through a region not re- markably picturesque, we halt for the first time at South Acton, where the Marlboro branch of the Fitchburg road diverges southward. While the train stops you get a pretty little view on the left, a pond in the fore- ground, and hills in the distance. From this town of Acton marched before day on the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, the two men made immortal at Concord by the first volley of the English soldiery,- Captain Isaac Davis, and Abner Hosmer.
West Acton is a neat hamlet, mainly on the south of the track.
Littleton is too small to be seen from the railroad, but not too small to be the scene of a large story about a certain lake, ominously called Nagog, where a strange rumbling noise is sometimes heard.
LOOK OUT FOR SHAKERS. 21
Groton function, a large and flourishing village a lit- tle further on, is the hub of which railroads running in six different directions are the spokes. The Fitchburg Railroad and the Worcester and Nashua Railroad pass through the town; the Stony Brook Railroad runs north-eastward to Lowell, and the Peterboro and Shir- ley Branch north-westward to Mason Village, in New Hampshire. The Indian name of the town was Petap- away, and its present name was probably given to it by one of the original grantees to whom the territory was conveyed by the General Court in 1655,-Mr. Dean Winthrop, son of Governor Winthrop. Groton was the home of the Winthrop family in England.
Shirley is a thrifty and presentable manufacturing town, of a few hundred inhabitants on the bank of a stream that empties into the Nashua River. About- this-time-look out-for-Shakers ;- to borrow the method of the almanac. In Harvard, a few miles south, and in the town of Shirley, they have flourish- ing communities, and their broad brims and sober faces are commonly visible, at any of the stations in this neighborhood. In leaving Shirley we pass out of old Middlesex County, into Worcester County.
Lunenberg is the next station. Two or three miles beyond it, an extensive and beautiful view is opened to the southward. Leominster Center with its three church spires stands in the middle of a charming landscape, two or three miles away, and the hills in the horizon gave to the picture a majestic outline. This is one of the most distant, and on the whole the
.
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most satisfactory outlook we have had since leaving
Boston. When the train stops at North Leominster, Wachusett Mountain is in full view, between two nearer hills.
Passing North Leominster, a young and ambitious village, called into existence by the railroad we are soon in the suburbs of
FITCHBURG.
This is the largest town we have seen since leaving Cambridge. It was incorporated in 1764, the region where it stands being known before that time by the name of Turkey Hills, from the large number of wild turkeys found there. At the time of the opening of the Fitchburg Railroad, in 1845, it was a smart little manufacturing village of something over three thou- sand inhabitants ; and four hundred thousand dollars would buy all the goods and wares it produced in a year ; now its population is not less than eleven thou- sand; its valuation is between six and seven millions of dollars, and more goods are manufactured every year than were manufactured in twenty years before the opening of the railroad.
This rapid growth of population and business has been largely the result of the increased railroad facili- ties. But for the railroad connecting it with Boston, Fitchburg would probably be a smaller town now than it was twenty-five years ago. When that railroad was projected, it was strongly opposed on the ground that there was not and would never be business enough to
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NO NONSENSE ABOUT IT.
pay interest on the cost of construction. One of the legislators declared that " a six-horse coach and a few baggage wagons would draw all the freight from Fitch- burg to Boston." Several six-horse coaches and quite a train of baggage wagons would be required to do the large business of this road to-day.
Fitchburg is not a stylish town. There is evidently very little aristocracy here. It is apparent that the people have not yet reached the point of giving much attention to matters of taste and elegance. Fitchburg means business. It impresses you as being a place of intense energy and vigor. It has some handsome churches,-notably the one recently built by the Epis- copalians ; it has several excellent school-houses,-in the year 1867 it expended seventy-five thousand dollars for new ones; it has a jail and house of correction that would prove, one would think, almost too attrac- tive ; it has one or two good hotels; it has many excellent houses ; all the solid elements of the best civilization are here ; but the people have, as yet, had but little time to give to architecture and landscape gardening. Æsthetical culture will soon follow, how- ever ; and the town will at length be made as pictur- esque as now it is plain and practical. These hill- sides may, under skillful treatment, become a very Arcadia for loveliness.
The town is situated in a deep ravine, through which a branch of the Nashua river flows with rapid descent, affording, within the limits of the town, a dis- tance of five miles, no less than twenty-eight excellent
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water-privileges. This power is all utilized. Here is the Putnam Machine Company, a mammoth establish- ment, making the Burleigh Rock Drill, which was invented in this town, and all sorts of iron work. This is only one of several machine-shops. Here are manufactories for building Mowing and Reaping Ma- chines, and for making scythes and knives used in various agricultural implements. More than a thou- sand men find employment in these various foundries and machine-shops. Chair-making furnishes employ- ment to about five hundred persons. Chairs are made, put together and painted, then knocked to pieces and boxed for shipping. The American Ratan Company gives employment to seventy-five persons. Ten paper- mills employ two hundred hands, and annually make three thousand five hundred tons of paper, worth at present prices one million of dollars. Three woolen- mills, three cotton-mills, and one factory making worsted yarn require for their operation nearly four hundred persons. Besides these, and many other things which cannot be mentioned, Fitchburg makes boots and shoes, palm-leaf hats and bonnets, reeds and harnesses for looms ; wool cards ; brass fixtures of various sorts ; doors and sash; piano-cases,-and money. Nearly fifty different kinds of manufacturing are constantly in progress in this busy town. People who are interested in the industrial developments of the country could spend a day or two here with great profit to themselves. Neither is the region wanting in attractions for those who love the picturesque in nature.
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THE VIEW FROM WACHUSETT.
Rollstone mountain, whose granite quarries supply the town with excellent building material, rises abruptly on the western side of the river to a height of three hun- dred feet. The view from its summit is worth climb- ing for. On the one side lie the village and the hills beyond; on the other you look across a beautiful coun- try to Wachusett, ten miles distant,-the highest land in Eastern Massachusetts. Perhaps after you have viewed it from afar, you will conclude to go over and possess yourself of its glories. That you can easily do. The Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad will carry you to a station named Wachusett, where the stages will take you up and land you at the mountain. There you will find good hotels; the mountain top is easily accessible ; and a day or two in that high and pure air will do you good. The top of this mountain is a little more than three thousand feet above tide water ; and rises, without any very steep ascent, nearly two thousand feet above the surrounding country, of which it gives you a view from thirty to fifty miles in extent on every side.
Only three miles from Fitchburg is Pearl Hill-to the top of which good roads lead you, and from which you may count twenty villages. Perhaps too you may find the place where this thing happened, of which we read in Torrey's History of Fitchburg :
" On one occasion, Isaac Gibson in his rambles on Pearl Hill found a bear's cub, which he immediately seized as his legitimate prize. The mother of the cub came to the rescue of her offspring. Gibson retreated,
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and the bear attacked him in the rear, to the manifest detriment of his pantaloons. This finally compelled him to face his unwelcome antagonist and they closed in a more than fraternal embrace. Gibson, being the more skillful wrestler of the two, threw Bruin and they came to the ground together. Without relinquishing the hug both man and beast now rolled over each other to a considerable distance down the hill, receiv- ing sundry bruises by the way. When they reached the bottom both were willing to relinquish the contest without any further experience of each others prowess. It was a draw game; the bear losing her cub, and Gibson his pantaloons."
Whether this was the contest upon which the wife looked, bestowing her applause so impartially upon both combatants, the historian does not tell us ; but it is safe to assert that there are few eastern towns of the size of Fitchburg that can tell a bigger bear story.
Falloolah is the musical name of a pretty glen in the neighborhood, of which Mr. J. C. Moulton, the excel- lent photographer of Fitchburg will tell you, and a picture of which he will show you. Mr. Moulton is, by the way, an authority concerning all the points of interest about Fitchburg and visitors would do well to consult him. If they cannot visit all the places he can tell them of, they can possess themselves of some of his admirable stereographs. Not only Fitchburg and its surroundings but other neighborhoods are represented in his collection. A series of photographs of the Au Sable Chasm, in northern New York, gives
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WESTWARD AGAIN.
a most satisfactory representation of one of the re- markable natural curiosities in America. Mention is made of this collection of stereographs in this place because they have been made with such excellent taste and skill, and are so well worth the notice of persons interested in this branch of art.
The Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad carries us westward from Fitchburg, through a rough country, over which we occasionally catch a glimpse to which distance lends enchantment. Westminster Depot is three miles from Westminster Village. The road from the railroad to the town is a pleasant one even in the winter, which is saying much for a country road ; and must be well worth traveling in the summer. The old village to which it leads is a good specimen of a New England hill town. The only thing that astonishes the visitor is the architecture of some of the dwellings in the principal street, which have an air of tremendous boldness and self-assertion.
Ashburnham is remembered by all passengers as the place where their seats and their heads are turned. Here, for some unaccountable reason, there is a sharp angle in the railroad track. The train stops on a switch; the locomotive is turned round and attached to the rear end of the train, and you are soon going back, apparently in the direction from which you have come. A better route has just been surveyed, south of this line, from Gardner through Westminster to Fitchburg, by which the angle will be avoided, the dis- tance shortened and the grade improved. The road
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FROM THE HUB TO THE HUDSON.
will soon be built in accordance with this survey. From some of the elevated grades in this town you get fine views to the southward.
Gardner is a flourishing village four miles west of Ashburnham, to which the railroad has given a won- derful stimulus, though it has long been a town of con- siderable importance, owing to its extensive manufac- ture of chairs. Though a small village, it has the lead in this branch of industry of all the other towns in the Commonwealth. Not much is seen of the village from the railroad. It is hidden among the hills on the north of the track. This fact led a reckless passenger to remark that Gardner was a very chary town. It is to be hoped that he was immediately ejected from the car.
Just beyond Gardner the railroad crosses Miller's River, a considerable stream emptying into the Con- necticut above Turner's Falls. The railroad follows the course of this river for the next forty miles, and from this point onward the scenery owes much of its attractiveness to the beauty of the river. Winding among the hills we meet a succession of picturesque surprises, which cannot be described or pointed out, but which the wide awake traveler will not be likely to miss.
Templeton lies to the southward of the track. This town, like Westminster, was an original grant to cer- tain persons who did service in King Philip's war or to their heirs, and was known by the name of Narra- gansett No. 6 till 1762, when it was incorporated with the present name.
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POP-CORN WITH ATTIC SALT.
By this time the Pop-corn Man will have made his appearance. Johnson is his name, but he is a better looking and a much better natured man than the other Johnson. If you greet him with a gentle inclina- tion of the head, he will stop by your side, take a paper bag of crisp and flaky corn from his capa- cious basket, shake a little salt into it from a small glass caster, deftly twirl it round once or twice in his fingers and pass it to you, discoursing all the time, in the most fluent manner, of " fate, free-will, foreknowledge absolute," or any other subject you choose to open, and charging you for paper bag, politeness, pop-corn and philosophy only five cents. Cultivate Johnson; he will tell you much more than this book knows about the country through which you are passing, and make you feel that you are do- ing him a favor in giving him an opportunity to answer questions.
Baldwinsville, a village in the town of Templeton, detains us but a moment, and soon after we leave it we have a fine view of Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire, ten miles to the north.
South Royalston is the village on the railroad-old Royalston being about five miles northward. Several pretty cascades in this vicinity are turned to good account for manufacturing purposes.
Athol is a lively and enterprising town, of three thousand inhabitants, on the western border of Worcester County, -another remarkable instance of the value of railroads in developing the resources
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of the country. Since the Vermont and Massachu- setts Railroad was opened, this town has made remarkable progress ; its excellent water-power is put to excellent use, and the wealth of the town has been trebled.
Orange is another village nearly as large, rivalling Athol in its activity and vigor. The manufacturing interest is large already, and is constantly increasing. Miller's River, which does the work of these smart villages gives to the traveler many beautiful glimpses of quiet pastoral beauty, as he hurries along its banks.
Wendell and Erving are feeling the impulse of the railroad also, and in due time they will no doubt grow into prominence and prosperity.
Grout's Corner is the terminus of the New London Northern Railroad, running southward through Am- herst, Belchertown, Palmer and other important towns to New London in Connecticut. Here the Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad branches,-one track go- ing north to Brattleboro, the other, which we shall fol- low, passing westward to Greenfield. Grout's Corner is making a commendable effort to live and thrive; and though it has tried once before and failed, all good people will wish it abundant success in its new endeavor. In this region there is abundance of charming scenery. A beautiful mountain view is seen to the northward, before reaching Grout's Corner,- blue hills in the distance, with a rolling country be- tween. Just east of the depot, a deep and cool ravine gives a bed to Miller's River, from which we part at
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ACROSS THE CONNECTICUT.
this point with regret, having found it for many miles a charming traveling companion. Two or three miles beyond Grout's Corner, a pretty little pond with wooded shores smiles in at the car windows on the northern side.
Montague is a fine old village, half a mile south of the railroad, and not visible from the cars. Soon after leaving the station which bears this name, the train emerges from a wooded bank upon a high, uncovered bridge, with the broad, clear current of the Connecti- cut flowing beneath, and the glorious valley opening like the Land of Promise to the northward and the southward. After so many miles of hills and cliffs and gorges, that tell of upheavals in the earth and forces primeval that have tossed and rent and piled the solid elements, how restful is the peace of this green valley with its circlet of blue hills ! Away yonder on the right are the heights of Northfield and Bernardston ; southward the symmetrical cones of the Sunderland hills ; westward the rugged ridge of Rocky Mountain, over which the Shelburne Mountains lift their heads, and through which the Deerfield flows to its peaceful wedlock with the Connecticut; and all the wide inter- val is goodly and fruitful meadow land, green with grass or golden with grain. Quickly the train draws its smoky line across this beautiful picture; crosses the Deerfield ; follows its path through the gorge it has cleft through Rocky Mountain; pauses for a mo- ment that we may gaze upon a new vision of splen- dor in the smiling meadows of old Deerfield, then
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hurries on to the Greenfield station, where you and I, good reader, are to rest awhile.
" Free carriage to the Mansion House!" That means a good bed, a bountiful and sumptuous table, and a genial host. "Free carriage to the American House !" That tells of one who will give you abundant welcome and good cheer. Pay your money and take your choice ! Rest and be thankful !
CHAPTER II.
GREENFIELD AND THEREABOUTS.
EARLY HISTORY.
T HIS good town of Greenfield, which, for the next few days, will be our resting-place and base of operations, lies on the northern verge of the famous Deerfield meadows, in the angle between the Deerfield and Connecticut Rivers, whose waters unite two miles south-eastward from the Public Square. The Con- necticut is hidden from the village by a greenstone ridge extending from Fall River on the north to South Deerfield, where it terminates in the well-known Sugar Loaf Mountain.
The town was originally a part of Deerfield, and was then called Green River. In 1753 it received its char- ter of incorporation. A dispute arose at this time con- cerning the boundary line between the towns, and con- cerning the use and improvement of certain sequestered lands, which has occasioned no little strife and litiga- tion. In the courts and the Legislature the battle has been fought with great pertinacity; many hard words
2*
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have been spoken and much printer's ink has been shed about it, and once, at least, it led to a slight un- pleasantness with pitchforks between the farmers of the two different towns. The fact that these seques- tered lands in dispute were for the use and behoof of the gospel ministry makes the quarrel slightly ridic- ulous if not disgraceful. No longer ago than 1850, the boundary question was before the Massachusetts Leg- islature, but if it has been mooted since that day this little book does not know of it.
The historic period of Greenfield was the early part of the eighteenth century, while it was yet a part of Deerfield ; and when we come to trace the story of Indian wars and incursions our path will frequently cross this territory. In the War of the Revolution, however, this town bore an honorable part.
"When the news of the battle of Lexington reached Greenfield, the people assembled on the afternoon of the same day, and formed a company of volunteers on the spot choosing Benjamin Hastings captain. Hast-
ings, however became himself second in command, yielding the first rank to Captain Timothy Childs, who, he modestly said, was a man of greater experience than himself. Aaron Davis was then chosen ensign, and the next morning the company marched for Cam- bridge. During the whole War of the Revolution the people of this town took an active interest in its progress and success, as is abundantly shown by the numerous records of votes choosing committees of correspondence and safety, approving the confederation
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PATRIOTISM AND PIETY.
of the United States, raising money for ammunition and food, and hiring men for the army, as well as by their prompt personal obedience to the calls for re- enforcements."*
WAR RECORD.
The spirit of '76 again took possession of the people of Greenfield in 1861 when President Lincoln's first call for troops was issued. Once more the bells were rung, and the people assembled, eager to buckle on the armor that their fathers had so nobly worn. From one manufacturing establishment an entire company volunteered, and the quota was speedily in marching order. In the last war as well as in the first Green- field has a full and honorable record.
CHURCHES AND PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
Going forth from our comfortable quarters at the Mansion House or the American Hotel we find our- selves upon the Main street of the village. Nearly opposite the Mansion House is the Public Square, an oblong space of half an acre surrounded by a low wooden railing. The town has recently voted to build an iron fence and to erect a Soldiers' Monument. The most conspicuous object on the north side of the square is the Orthodox Congregational Church, now building of red sandstone. The symmetry and the solidity of the structure are the admiration of visitors and the pride of the inhabitants.
The first minister of Greenfield was Rev. Edward
* Holland's Western Massachusetts : Vol. II., p. 371.
·
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FROM THE HUB TO THE HUDSON.
Billings, settled September 24, 1753. The first meet- ing-house was built in 1760, about a mile north of the village on the Bernardston road. Soon after the meeting-house was built Rev. Roger Newton was ordained as pastor of the church and continued in this office until 1816, when he died at the age of 79, having had but this one pastorate of fifty-six years. During the last three years of his ministry he had for his colleague Rev. Gamaliel S. Olds, afterwards for a long time professor of mathematics in Vermont Uni- versity and in Amherst College. In 1817 the church was divided ; and the Second Society erected its new edifice in 1819 on the ground where the present church is building. The old meeting-house stood until 1831 when it was taken down and a new one was built by the First Society at Nash's Mills three-quar- ters of a mile west of the old site.
The Rev. Dan Huntington, the father of the Rev. Frederick Dan Huntington, D. D., recently of Boston and now bishop of Central New York preached for the Second Society for some time after its organization, though he was never settled as its pastor. The name of Rev. P. C. Headley, well-known in literature, is found among the recent ministers of this church. Rev. Samuel H. Lee is the present pastor.
The Unitarian Church whose edifice is just above on the opposite side of Main street was organized in 1825. Its first minister was Rev. Winthrop Bailey, and its present pastor is Rev. John F. Moors.
The Episcopal Church was organized in 1812. Its
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" WHERE IS THE CITY ?"
excellent house of worship stands on Federal street, Rev. P. V. Finch is the rector.
The Methodist Church was organized in 1835. You notice its edifice on Church street, north of Main.
The Baptist Church, organized in 1852 and minis- tered to at present by Rev. D. M. Grant, has its local habitation on Main street west of the Square.
The Roman Catholic Church, whose pastor is Rev. Mr. Robinson, is about to erect a new church on Main street.
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