USA > Massachusetts > Gazetteer of the state of Massachusetts, pt 1 > Part 23
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In one place the water of the river has ent a channel more than thirty feet deep and sixty rods long, through the solid rock, as sym- metrically as if done by art. It is a remarkable curiosity. The geo- logical formation is granite in the east, and calciferous mica-schist in the west. In this there is found a vein of albite, associated with various cther minerals, as blue, green and red tourmaline, smoky quartz, spoduinene, kyanite, rose-beryl of large size, garnet, tin ore,
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237
CHESTNUT HILL - CHICOPEE.
columbite, and lithia-mica. The scholar can hardly find a better lo- cality for studying the curious forms and combinations which the metamorphic rocks of the State present.
Chesterfield has a good town hall, a public library of upwards of 1,200 volumes, and seven good school-houses, this list making up the series of New England town educational institutions ; to which, how- ever, should be added the church, which here is Congregationalist. This place, as a plantation, bore the name of New Hingham. It was incorporated as the town of Chesterfield, June 11, 1762. The first. church was organized October 30, 1764; and the first pastor was Rev. Benjamin Mills, ordained the same year.
Chestnut Hill. a village in Blackstone; also one in New- ' ton.
Chickataubut Hill,
in Quincy, of the Blue Hill group, is 518 feet in height.
Chicopee is an important manufacturing town situated on the eastern side of Connecticut River, in Hamp- den County, and about 100 miles west of Boston, from whence it is reached by the Boston and Albany Railroad and the Connecticut River Railroad; the latter passing through its villages on the river, and sending a branch to Chicopee Falls. On the north are South Hadley and Granby ; on the east, Ludlow ; on the south, Springfield ; on the west, West Springfield and Holyoke. The area, excepting highways and water-surfaces, is 12,800 aeres; in which is included 1,850 acres of woodland. The geological formation is middle shales and sandstone, with iron ore in several localities. The bottom land (about 25 feet above the Connecticut) and that immediately adjoining it, is of the highest and best natural quality foragricultural purposes. The land remote from the rivers is, to a large extent, pine plains averaging about 80 feet above the river, and with a soil lighter and less productive. The farms are smaller and more numerous than twenty years ago, numbering 178 in 1885. Their largest item of value was from the dairies, amounting to $53,559. Cereals were raised to the value of $16,145; vegetables, 30,553; and fruits, berries and nuts to the value of $7,464. The number of fruit trees in the town was 10,965. The farm product was valued at $193,323.
The Connecticut River forms the entire western line of the town. From its bluffs may be had a fine view of the Chicopee village, in the valley at the mouth of the Chicopee River, which here comes in from the east. About a mile and a half above is Chicopee Falls, where the river furnishes a very superior motive power, which is the chief basis of the town's prosperity. In the eastern part of the town this river forms the line with Springfield, receiving on its north side Higher, Field and Crow's-foot brooks. In the north several small ponds - Slipe Pond of 114 acres, Slabbery Pond of 69, and Smooth Pond of 10 - lend variety to the.scenery.
The Dwight Manufacturing Company and the Chicopee Manufac- turing Company have here a large number of mills for the manu-
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GAZETTEER OF MASSACHUSETTS.
facture of cotton cloths, employing in them, in 1885, 2,310 persons. There are also print and dye works, iron and brass founderies, agricultural works manufacturing farmers' implements in great variety, factories for making loom-harnesses, fire-arms, swords, and other military equipments, locks, tin-ware, boots and shoes, brooms, hair-pins, cutlery, needles, paper, soap and other articles. The Ames Manufacturing Company makes very handsome bronze cast- ings, including bas-reliefs, busts and statues of all sizes. The aggregate of manufactures in this town as given in the last census was $3,586,213. The First National Bank here has a capital of $150,- 000. The Chicopee Savings Bank had, at the close of last year, deposits amounting to $660,847; and the Chicopee Falls Savings Bank, 8205,300.
The valuation of the town in 1888 was $5,920,470 ; with a tax-rate of $14.30 on $1,000. The population was 11,516, of whom but 1,871 were voters. There is in this, as in all cotton and iron manufacturing places, a large foreign element. The number of dwellings in 1888 was 1,680.
The town has graded schools, with ten school buildings valued in 1885 at about $40,000. There are fourteen libraries more or less accessible to the public. The Chicopee Town Library contains nearly 10,000 volumes; there is a school library of 600 volumes, a private circulating library, and ten Sunday schools having libraries. The Baptists havetwo churches in the town; the Congregationalists, three ; the Methodists, two; the Unitarians and Universalists, one each ; the Episcopalians have one (Grace Church); and the Roman Catholics have three, one of which is for a French Congregation.
The last census shows that there were then resident in the town 80 persons over 80 years, seven over 90, two over 100, one over 108 years of age.
Chicopee was originally the north part of Springfield ; and among its earliest settlers were Henry Chapin and his brother Japhet, who came here about the year 1640. Twenty years later, a settlement was commenced at Shipmuck, about a mile east of Skenungonuck, or Chicopee Falls. In 1750, the people in the north part of Springfield, on both sides of the river, were incorporated as " the Fifth or Chico- pee Parish." The casting of iron hollow-ware was commenced at the Falls near the close of the last century, the iron being dug from lands in the vicinity. Benjamin Belcher, of Easton, with his family, came here in 1810, and carried on the business until his death, Dec. 17, 1833 ; after which it was continued by his sons until November, 1846. The manufacture of paper was begun here in 1807, and of cot- ton cloth in 1825. Abijah and William Witherell aided in the develop- ment of the place at this period. William Bowman and Benjamin and Lawrence Cox built the first paper mill. The village at the confluence of the Chicopee with the Connecticut River was called Cabotville, in honor of the Hon. John Cabot, until the incorporation of the town on the 29th of April, 1848.
The first minister of the place was the Rev. John Mckinstry, who was ordained in September, 1752, and died November 9, 1813, having
CHICOPEE RIVER - CHILMARK. 239
sustained the relation of a pastor 61 years. Hon. George D. Robinson, ex-governor of the Commonwealth, was for many years a resident of this town.
Chicopee River rises in Spencer, Leicester and Pax- ton, in Worcester County, where it bears the name of Seven-mile Brook. It receives the waters of Fur- nace Pond in North Brookfield, and of Quaboag Pond in Brookfield and of Wickaboag Pond in West Brookfield; then flows westward through Warren, and, turning southward, forms a portion of the west line of Brimfield and a large portion of the south line of Palmer, sep- arating that town from Monson. At Three Rivers, in the north- western part of Palmer, it is enlarged by the commingled waters of Ware and Swift rivers, coming from the northeast and the north; and, leaving Palmer, it forms the divisional line between Ludlow and Wilbraham, then separates the eastern parts of Springfield and Chic- opee, and enters the Connecticut in the southern part of the latter town, seven miles south of the falls at South Hadley and Holyoke. At the Falls in Chicopee it furnishes an important power, and smaller powers at various points in its course.
Chilmark occupies the southeastern part of Dukes Coun- ty, on Martha's Vineyard. It is about ten miles long, and from two to five wide; the area in acres being 15,389, of which but 9,650 are taxed. There are 2,884 acres of woodland, almost entirely oak; and 10,725 acres are included in the farms. These number 125; and there are 129 dwellings to shelter the population of 412 persons.
The town is bounded on the northeast by Tisbury (from which it is in part separated by Great Tisbury Pond), on the south by the ocean, and on the northwest by Gay Head and by Vineyard Sound. The geological formation is miocene tertiary. Bowlders of gray gran- ite in the form of cones, houses and sugar-bowls, abound upon the surface ; and iron ore and blue and yellow clay are obtained in sev- eral localities for exportation. The cliffs of colored clays and sand along the southern shore most strikingly exhibit the action of the ocean, rains and frost in wearing away the land. The most promi- nent elevations in Chilmark are Peaked Hill near the centre, and Prospect Hill in the northwest. The Tiasquam River drains the eastern section of the town; and several other small streams flow from the central part, both north and south, into the sea. Chilmark Pond is a large irregular sheet of salt water in the south ; and Squib- nocket, Nashaquitsa, and Menemsha Ponds are similar bodies of water in the southwest.
The soil, especially in the valleys, is loamy and productive. The usual farm crops are cultivated with the usual success; their aggregate value for the census year of 1885 was 846,522. The prin- cipal business besides farming is whaling, trap-fishing and brick- making. The proceeds of the two former in 1885 were $11,080. The valuation of the town, in 1888, was 8212,935; and the rate of
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GAZETTEER OF MASSACHUSETTS.
taxation was $12.70 on 81,000. The chief public works consist of a stone bridge 75 feet in length, a town-hall and three school-houses. The last were valued at about $1,500. There is a private circulating library in the town, and a Sunday-school library. A Congregational church was founded here in 1700, but the Methodists are now occupy- ing the field.
The Indian name of the place was Nashnukemmuck; and, while under the government of New York, it was called the " Manor of Tis- bury." It received its present name from Chilmark, in Wiltshire County, England, as early as 1698; and was incorporated Oct. 30, 1714. The Hon. Timothy Fuller, an eminent lawyer and politician, and father of the celebrated Sarah Margaret Fuller, Countess Ossoli, was born here July 11, 1778 ; and died at Groton, October 1, 1835.
Chiltonville, in Plymouth.
Chimquist, a village in Mashpee.
Christiantown, a village in Tisbury.
Church Hill, a village in South Scituate.
City Mills, a village in Norfolk.
Clapboardtrees, a village in Dedham.
Clarendon Hills, a village in Hyde Park.
Clarksburg lies in the form of a parallelogram, seven
miles long and two and a half miles wide, at the northern border of Berkshire County, about 120 miles northwest of Boston. It is bounded on the north by Stamford, N. H., east by Florida, south by North Adams, and west by Williamstown. There are 78 farms, containing 8,546 acres. The dwelling-houses number 128 ; and these afford shelter for the 708 inhabitants, 160 of whom are voters.
The land is mountainous, having, for its formative rock, granite,' Levis limestone, and Lauzon schist. Mount Hazen, northwest of the centre, rises to the height of 2,272 feet. Its latitude is 42° 44' north, and longitude 73° 9' west. Northam Brook courses down from its southern side into the Hoosac River; and the north branch of the lat- ter, in the eastern part of the town, with its affluents, Hudson's Brook, Muddy Brook and Beaver Creek, furnislies motive power of much value.
The forests, which cover more than one half the area of the town, consist mainly of oak, chestnut, spruce and hemlock. The people are principally engaged in farming, lumbering and the manufacture of powder, bricks and woollen cloth. There are several saw mills,
241
CLARK'S COVE - CLINTON.
grist mills, a woolen and a carding mill, and a number of powder mills. The aggregate value of the manufactures, in the census year of 1885, was $266,875. The farm stock and the products are in the usual proportion. The aggregate value of the latter in the year men- tioned was $67,969. The valuation in 1888 was $207,453, with a tax-rate of $20.50 on $1,000.
The town has three school buildings and a Sunday-school library. The villages are Briggsville and Powder Mills ; the post-offices the first and Clarksburg ; North Adams post-office, less than a mile from the middle of the town line, being also used; and this place affords railroad communication.
The snows in this region are deep, and the climate is severe but salubrious. In 1885 there were 13 residents over 80 years of age.
The settlement of this town was commenced in 1769 by Captain Mathew Ketchum, Nicholas Clark and others. It was named from one of its leading families, and incorporated March 2, 1798. A part of its territory was annexed to Florida, May 2, 1848. A man by the name of Hudson is supposed to have been the first white person who felled a tree in the town. His name is perpetuated by Hudson's Brook, which, soon after entering the town of North Adams, passes under a natural bridge.
Clark's Cove, on the west side of Clark's Point.
Clark's Island, celebrated as the landing-place of the Pil- grims, 1620, is a beautiful knoll in the southern part of Duxbury Bay.
Clark's Point, on the southwest side of the entrance of New Bedford Harbor, bearing a lighthouse.
Clayton, a village in New Marlborough.
Clifton, a village in Marblehead.
Cliftondale, a village in Saugus.
Clinton is one of the younger towns, remarkable for its car- petings and woven wire. It is situated in the east- erly part of Worcester County, about 35 miles west of Boston. The Fitchburg Branch of the Old Colony Railroad and the Central Massachusetts Railroad have stations at the centre, and the Worces- ter, Nashua and Portland Branch of the Boston and Maine Railroad has a station at South Clinton. Lancaster bounds it on the northwest and north, Bolton and Berlin on the east, Royalston on the south, and Sterling on the west. The area is but 3,706 acres, besides highways and water surfaces ; and of this 1,029 acres is woodland.
The land is much diversified with hills and valleys, but without extremes. The Nashua River pursues a serpentine course northeast- erly through the town, affording, with other streams, much hydrau- lie power. The summer flow is enhanced by the storage afforded by ponds. Sandy Pond of 75 acres, Mossy Pond and Clam-shell Pond,
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GAZETTEER OF MASSACHUSETTS.
west of the central hills, are beautiful sheets of water. The flora on the margin of these ponds is rich and varied; and here, among other beautiful plants, the Trillium grandiflorum appears in full per- fection.
The farms in this town number but 30; their aggregate produet in 1885 being $33,134, of which the greenhouse, hothouse and hot- beds afforded $3,700.
The manufactures of the place are extensive and peculiar ; consist- ing of Lancaster ginghams, cotton quilts and counterpanes, Brus- sels and Wilton carpetings, ladies' various underwear containing springs, gala-plaids, horn combs, clothing, wire-cloth and machinery.
The Lancaster Mills cover above four acres of land, one room de- voted to weaving embracing nearly an aere of flooring; and the sev- eral mills, in 1885, employed 1,466 persons. The Bigelow Carpet Company, in the same year, employed 774 operatives in the manu- facture of the numerous and complicated patterns of the excellent carpets for which they are famous. The Clinton Wire-cloth Com- pany is said to be the first that ever wove metallic wire by the power-loom. The products include the finest sieve-cloth, mosquito netting, desk and counter guards, and out-door fences. The cotton- goods product, in 1885, had the value of $2,788,576; while the en- tire product of the several factories reached the sum of $3,624,663 The valuation of the town in 1888 was $5,531,811; and the tax-rate was $18 on $1,000. The population is 8,945, and the voters number 1,570. There are 1,208 dwelling-houses.
There is here a national and a savings bank, the latter at the close of 18SS having $1,128,257 in deposits. The Memorial Town- hall cost about $90,000. The public library contains about 15,000 volumes, and there are an association and six Sunday-school libra- ries. The "Clinton Courant" is the weekly journal of the place, and receives a good support.
The churches are the Baptist, Congregationalist, Methodist Epis- copal, Protestant Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Second Advent and Unitarian. The usual social organizations thrive here.
Clinton furnished 336 men for the war of the Rebellion, of whom 85 were lost in the service.
This town was taken from Lancaster and incorporated March 14, 1850, being named for De Witt Clinton. The town owes much of its prosperity to Erastus Brigham Bigelow, LL.D., born in West Boyls- ton in April, 1814, who invented a machine for weaving coach-lace, and, in 1839, a power-loom for weaving two-ply ingrain carpets, which has had an extensive use.
Coatue, a village in Nantucket.
Cochesett, a village in West Bridgewater.
Cochituate, a village in Wayland; also a lake situated on the boundary of Wayland and Framingham,-
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243 ·
CODDON'S HILL - COHASSET.
the original source of the water-supply for the Boston Water-works, and still a part of the system.
Coddon's Hill, in Marblehead; height, 118 feet.
Cohasset is a pleasant seaboard town and watering-place 20 miles southeast of Boston by the South-shore Railroad. The town of Hingham separates it from the rest of Nor- folk County, to which it THE NEW belongs. It has the southeast part of Hull on the northwest, Mas- sachusetts Bay on the north and northeast, Scituate on the south- east and also on the south, with an angle of Norwell, and Hingham, on the west.
The geological forma- tion is sienite, and ledges of this rock give a ro- mantic aspect to the town, and form many picturesque and danger- ous reefs, points and islands off the shore. "The Cohasset Rocks," so called, have sent HE OLD. many a proud vessel to destruction, and are greatly dreaded by the mariner when driven to- wards the coast by the northeastern gale. The lighthouse on one of these rocks, called " Mi- not's Ledge," with its two keepers, was carried away in the tremendous storm of April 16, 1851. Another lighthouse, on the model of the Eddy- stone, constructed in its place, has withstood the storms unharmed.
THIE MINOT'S.LEDGE LIGHTHOUSE, COHASSET.
From these rocks large quantities of sea-moss are gathered, and among them numerous shellfish are taken. Scituate Hill, the high- est point of land in town, is 180 feet above sea-level, and com- mands an ocean view of remarkable extent and beauty. Connohas-
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GAZETTEER OF MASSACHUSETTS.
set River flows into the harbor and affords some motive power; and Scituate Pond, a fine sheet of water, 53 acres in extent, adds attrac- tion to the seenery in the southern part of the town. Old Harbor, being almost land locked, has the effect of an inland lakelet.
There are a number of attractive drives in the town; and the "Jerusalem Road " is famous for its charming scenery. The sum- mer residences of wealthy citizens of Boston beautify the place; and visitors to the shore for gunning, fishing, boating, bathing, dur- ing the warm season, fill the place with animation and variety. Here one has the ocean in its glory ; and the shore itself is but an extended and impressive natural curiosity.
Many of the people are engaged in the fisheries; and the annual product, as exampled in the census year of 1885, has a value of $55,503. The area of the town is 5,970 acres; and of this, 1,795 is woodland. The farms number 52, and have the usual variety of products, amounting, in the year mentioned, to $64,358. The man- ufactures of food preparations, boots and shoes, carriages and wagons, and other metallic goods, amounted to $62,797. The valu- ation of the town in 1888 was $3,444,875; with the wonderfully low tax-rate of $3.90 on $1,000. The number of dwelling-houses was 582, the population 2,216, of whom 556 were voters.
There is a savings bank, a good town-hall, and seven school build- ings, - the last estimated worth about $15,000. The schools are graded from primary to high. There is a Congregationalist church at the village of Beechwood, and one at Cohasset village; also a Unitarian. The Methodists have one at Nantasket (North Cohas- set). The railroad stations are North Cohasset, King Street, and Cohasset.
The name of this place was from the Indian Connohasset, signify- ing " fishing promontory." The territory was taken from Hingham, and incorporated as the district of Cohasset, April 26, 1770. On August 23, 1775, it was made a town, by the general act of that date. On June 14, 1823, a part of Scituate was annexed.
The Rev. Nehemiah Hobart, grandson of the Rev. Peter Hobart, of Hingham, was the first minister of the place, having been settled in 1721. Benjamin Pratt (1710-1763), a distinguished lawyer and jurist; Joshua Bates, D.D. (1776-1854), a scholar and divine; and Joshua Flint Barker (1801-1864), an eminent surgeon and author, were natives of this town.
Cohasset Narrows station, on the Old Colony Rail- road, in Wareham.
Cold Brook Springs, a village in Oakham.
Cold Spring, a village in Otis.
Coleraine (or "Colrain ") is a large, mountainous township in the northern part of Franklin County, bor- dering on Vermont, whose towns of Halifax and Guilford bound
245
COLERAINE.
it on the north; Leyden lies on the east, Greenfield, Shelburne and Charlemont are on the south, and the latter and Heath bound it on the west. Its assessed area is 25,458 acres, includ- ing 3,942 acres of woodland.
The highest of the elevations within the town are Christian Hill in the extreme north and Catamount Hill in the south; and west of this, on the line of Charlemont, is Pocumtuck Mountain, 1,888 feet high. Green River, flowing south, marks nearly the entire eastern line; while East Branch and West Branch, uniting near Foundry Village, a little south of the centre of the town, form North River, an affluent of the Deerfield River. This stream in its short course of a few miles makes its way through a narrow defile between pre- cipitous hills; and from the carriage road, which runs along in some places far above the river's bed, the traveller beholds many scenes of wild beauty.
The apple tree and the sugar maple both find here a congenial soil, and the usual farm crops flourish. The neat cattle numbered 1,559; sheep and lambs 2,236; and there were in the town 33,164 fruit trees. The farms number 168; and their aggregate product in 1885 was $187,282. There were operated at the same time two saw mills, a tannery, a cotton mill and other manufactories, whose aggregate product had the value of $169,610. The valuation of the town in 1888 was $567,316; and the tax-rate was $18 on $1,000.
The population is 1,605; of whom 362 are voters. The dwellings numbered 310; and were chiefly gathered in seven villages, viz., Coleraine Centre, Adamsville, Elm Grove, Griswohlville, Shattuck- ville, Foundry Village and Lyonsville; which, excepting the last two, are post-offices. The nearest railway stations are Buckland and Shelburne Falls, on the Fitchburg Railroad, about 120 miles north- west of Boston. The town has provided for its schools fifteen buildings, having a value of nearly $5.000. There are one Sunday- school library, two Baptist churches, two Methodist and one Con- gregationalist.
This place was originally called "Boston Township," and was settled by immigrants from the north of Ireland. It was a frontier place, and the settlers erected fortifications, three in number, for defence against the incursions of the French and Indians. Captain Hugh Morrison was the commander of the North (or Morrison's) Fort. In May, 1746, Matthew Clark, his wife, daughter and two soldiers were fired upon by Indians, by which Mr. Clark was killed and his wife and daughter wounded. Ten years later, in another incursion on the place, they wounded John Henry and John Morri- son, burned one dwelling-house, and killed some cattle on North River. In 1759, they captured John McCown, his wife and son, and put the latter to death.
The plantation was incorporated June 30, 1761; being named, probably, for Coleraine, a seaport town in Ireland, or in honor of Gabriel Hauger, created Baron Coleraine in that year. The first minister was Rev. Alexander McDowell, ordained in 1753. Rev. Samuel Taggard, the third minister, settled in 1777, was a member
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GAZETTEER OF MASSACHUSETTS.
of Congress from 1804 for fourteen years; and, it is said, regularly read his Bible through every year while he was in office.
Coleraine sent 75 men into the war of the Rebellion, of whom ten were lost. James Deane, M.D., was born in this town February 24, 1801, and died in Greenfield June 8, 1858. He was a noted natur- alist, and the first to make known (1835) the fossil footprints in the red sandstones of the valley of the Connecticut River.
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