Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people, Part 53

Author:
Publication date: 1937
Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company
Number of Pages: 802

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472

High Roads and Low Roads

who was carrying an elderly and infirm woman to a place of safety. In a few minutes they were sheltered in their fort, with the mutual feelings peculiar to such a scene.'

At one time Marlborough ranked fifth in national production of shoes. Today its manufactures include paper boxes, wire goods, shoe machinery, metal products, oil-burners, cosmetics, and textile soaps. It has a large Italian population, who were encouraged to settle here as strike-breakers after a serious labor disturbance in 1899.

On the corner of Maple and Valley Sts. is the Dennison Factory (open by permission), which specializes in the manufacture of paper boxes, paper novelties, and office accessories. This is a branch, established in 1925, of the Dennison Manufacturing Company of Framingham (see Tour 1C). Several hundred workers are employed in this modern structure of con- crete and steel.

At 277 Main St., headquarters of the American Legion and the Grand Army of the Republic, is the John Brown Bell, taken by Marlborough soldiers from the engine house at Harper's Ferry in 1861, and hidden by a loyalist in Williamsport, Md., until 1892, when it was brought to Marlborough.

Right from Marlborough on State 85 is Fort Meadow Reservoir, 1.6 m. (boating, bathing). Its waters are used by mills for wool-cleansing, and its shores are oc- cupied by summer camps. Local historians believe the reservoir is on the site of an Indian fort.

At 3.5 m. on State 85 is HUDSON (town, alt. 211, pop. 8495, sett. 1699, incorp. 1866), first known as the Mills, then as Feltonville; it received its present name when Charles Hudson agreed to give $500 as the foundation for a library if the change was made. In 1816 Daniel Stratton began the manufacture of shoes here. Francis Brigham, introducing machinery in 1835 and utilizing the water-power of the Assa- bet River, made this industry the most important in the town; in the course of time dye factories, tanneries, machine shops, box factories, and cloth mills made their appearance. George Houghton started manufacturing shoes in his home, but in time with the aid of machinery had an important factory. These industries eventually drew large numbers of Portuguese, French, Greek, Russian, Jewish, and Italian workers. On July 4, 1894, boys setting off firecrackers behind a shoe factory started a fire that destroyed about 40 buildings, chiefly factories; the area was re- built, the factories acquiring the modern equipment of which they had long been in need.

At 26.9 m. is the Williams Inn Club (L), formerly the Williams Tavern. The original tavern, built in 1662, was burned by Indians in 1776; the present building was built in the following year. Many famous guests, including Washington and Lafayette, have stopped here. The walls of the two lower stories are of brick painted white, the walls of the upper story are covered with scalloped white shingles. Four columns support the three-story porch.

US 20 turns right and follows Lakeside Ave. past Lake William, 27 m. At 29.4 m. is a marker giving directions for a five-minute walk to the Monument and Grave of Mary Goodnow. On August 18, 1707, Mary Goodnow and a friend, Mrs. Fay, left the garrison to gather herbs near Stirrup Brook. They were surprised by a small band of Indians; Mary,

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From Boston to New York State Line

who was lame, was caught in flight, slain, and scalped, her body being left beside the path.

NORTHBOROUGH, 31.7 m. (town, alt. 303, pop. 2396, sett. about 1672, incorp. 1775), is a town that was once part of Marlborough. Market- gardening and fruit-raising are carried on extensively in the area. In 1884 teeth and other remains of a huge animal were uncovered in the lower part of the town; these were identified as those of a mastodon and are now in the Museum of the Worcester Natural History Society (see WORCESTER).

West of the town hall on Church St. is the Triangular Green, on which is the Old Congregational Church (1808) with a bell from the Paul Revere foundry, cast in 1809. Behind the church is the Old Cemetery, opened in 1750, containing the Grave of Rabbi Judah Monis (1683-1764), for 40 years Professor of Hebrew at Harvard University and one of the first prominent orthodox Jews to embrace Christianity in North America.

US 20 runs through a prosperous country of poultry farms, market- gardens, and fruit orchards as neat and gaily colored as a patchwork quilt. At 33 m. is the junction with the Old Boston Post Rd. and the Southwest cut-off.

Right on this road at 2.3 m. is the Artemas Ward Homestead (open; free). Ward, first Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, later became Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. The estate is now the property of Harvard Uni- versity, and the house, largely unaltered, contains the Ward family furnishings, in- cluding the desk used by the General while in command of the Continental Army. It is a two-and-a-half-story gray-shingled house with two front entrances and two red brick chimneys. In front of the house are two hitching posts, a gray picket fence, and an old sycamore tree. Across the street is Dean Park (swimming pool), site of the birthplace of Artemas Ward. The park was a gift from Charles A. Dean to the town.

SHREWSBURY, 3.2 m. (town, alt. 671, pop. 7144, sett. 1722, incorp. 1727), named for Charles Talbot, Duke of Shrewsbury. Its lack of water-power and inaccessi- bility to outside markets precluded the development of industries. Agriculture, therefore, has remained the chief occupation. Luther Goddard, a Baptist preacher born in the town, is said to have been the first watchmaker in America. He fol- lowed watchmaking purely as an avocation, and on Sundays after his sermon he was accustomed to collect any faulty timepieces among his parishioners and return them the following Sunday in good repair.

The Howe Memorial Library (L) on Main St. contains books and papers of the Ward family.

Just west of the Town Hall is the Common, near which in Colonial days were the stocks and whipping-post required by law. The first person sent to these stocks was their manufacturer. His only payment for making them was the remittance of a fine for some previous misconduct.

At 4.1 m. on the Old Boston Post Rd. is the junction with a side road. Right on this road at 0.8 m. is the State Rifle Range, marked by an old-fashioned cannon and a flagpole.

US 20 west of 33 m. is known as the Southwest Cutoff, a three-lane express highway passing few points of interest and avoiding large com- munities.

At 35 m. is the junction with State 9 (see Tour 8).

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High Roads and Low Roads

Sec. b. JUNCTION STATE 9 to SPRINGFIELD, US 20, 57.3 m.

Between the junction of State 9 and Springfield, US 20 traverses a pleasant countryside broken by low hills sloping gently into the Con- necticut Valley.

At 8 m. are the drying beds and fountain sprays of the Worcester Puri- fication Works, where the Imhoff system is used, the sludge being sep- arated by the 'digestive' system.

US 20 skirts the city of Worcester; at 13.6 m. is the junction with State 12 (see Tour 11).

At 19.9 m. is a junction with an improved road.

Left on this road is CHARLTON, 0.8 m. (town, alt. 925, pop. 2366, sett. about 1735, incorp. 1755), named for Sir Francis Charlton, a Privy Councillor of England. Since 1789 the population has increased by only 286, and the Puritan tradition still dominates the community. Agriculture is still the chief means of livelihood. Factories and mills have operated at intervals, but the lack of abundant water- power has always hindered any permanent industrial development.

On the Common is a Memorial to William Thomas Green Morton (1819-68) (see BOSTON), given by the dentists of America to honor the man whose experiments with ether first made possible anesthesia during surgical operations. A dentist, he started the experiments to enable him to extract deep roots of teeth, working with Dr. Charles T. Jackson, a dentist. Dr. Morton did his first tooth extraction with ether on September 30, 1846, and a month later gave a public demonstration, ad- ministering ether at the Massachusetts General Hospital for a major operation. Dr. Morton was born in Charlton.

The Masonic Home, north of the Center on a broad hill, is one of the finest of fra- ternal homes for the aged in New England. It was originally built for a hotel.

On Main St., just south of the Center, the old Burying Ground (1750), now called Bay Path Cemetery, contains three Photograph Stones - headstones provided with small glass-covered niches in which were placed daguerreotypes of the deceased. Once the vogue, few of these curious stones now remain.

Here also is the 'Grizzly' Adams Headstone, beneath which one of P. T. Barnum's bear-tamers was buried after a disastrous encounter with Bruin. The great show- man himself ordered the stone, and had it decorated with a carved bas-relief of Grizzly Adams in buckskins, standing with one hand resting trustfully on the shoulder of a bear - presumably not the one that did away with him.

East of the Cemetery near Dudley Rd. is Mugget Hill (no road), crowned with 'mowings.'

CHARLTON CITY, 20.9 m. (Town of Charlton), contains two woolen mills.

At 26.6 m. is the junction with State 15.

Left on State 15 at 0.3 m. is the junction with State 131; left on 131 is STUR- BRIDGE,0.5 m. (town, alt. 622, pop. 1918, sett. about 1729, incorp. 1738), visited by Englishmen as early as 1633, but not settled for nearly a century. Dairying, sheep- raising, and orchard culture were the main occupations until the water-power at- tracted industries including tanneries, a shoe factory, a cotton mill, and an auger and bit factory.

On the edge of the Common is the Hyde Library (open Wed. 2-4; Sat. 2-4; 6-9), with a copper dome and semi-circular entrance. Here are Indian relics collected by Levi B. Chase. Opposite is the Old Cemetery, enclosed by a stone wall that was built by four companies of Revolutionary Soldiers from Sturbridge - each com- pany building one side.

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From Boston to New York State Line

I. Straight ahead from Sturbridge is SOUTHBRIDGE, 4.2 m. (town, alt. 518, pop. 15,786, sett. 1730, incorp. 1816), a manufacturing community lying in a valley. More than half the inhabitants are French-Canadians, who maintain their native customs and language. The first factory was built to make cotton yarns but was changed to a woolen mill. There are now a number of mills and factories.

The Wells Museum (open weekdays 9-4; adm. 25g), 176 Main St., is a private col- lection of early American and English, Spanish and Central European articles. The museum contains old pottery, andirons, guns, clocks, and Colonial utensils.

The American Optical Company (open by permission) on Mechanic St., 0.2 m. east of the Center, employing 3200 people, is the most important business in the town. In the building is a Museum (open during business hours), in connection with the laboratories where Dr. Edgar Tillyer, an outstanding optical expert in the coun- try, carries on experiments.

South of Southbridge, State 131 is a fine scenic route passing through the Quine- baug Valley. At 9.8 m. it crosses the Connecticut line, 10 m. north of Putnam, Conn.

2. Right from Sturbridge on State 15, at 5.4 m. is the junction with a side road; right on this road 1.2 m. is the Site of the Abandoned Tantiusque Lead Mine. In 1633 John Oldham and Samuel Hall, on a scouting expedition from Plymouth, encountered some Indians whose faces were blackened with graphite. Inquiry re- vealed that this came from 'Black Hill,' and the visit of the two scouts to this spot is the first recorded entrance of white men into Worcester County. In 1638 John Winthrop, Jr., purchased a tract here, four miles square, the deed for which is now in the Winthrop Collection of the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester. Winthrop's attempt at mining the graphite did not meet with success, however, inasmuch as the vein proved to run almost perpendicular and the difficulty of ex- tracting the ore was too great. From that time until early in this century there have been spasmodic attempts to work the mines. The region is honeycombed with shafts and tunnels, and the various workings are plainly discernible. Caution should be used in exploring, as the undergrowth has obscured some of the veins and open pits. Discarded machinery serves to identify the site.

At 27.7 m. (L) is the plant of the Snell Manufacturing Company (private), the oldest auger and bit factory in the country. Tools manu- factured here were used in building the U.S. Frigate 'Constitution' ('Old Ironsides'); a new set of tools was presented to the Navy by the company at the time the old ship was refitted.

In FISKDALE, 28.2 m. (Town of Sturbridge), on US 20 east of the Center, is the Shrine of Saint Anne, containing a relic of the saint brought here in 1892. Today clustered about her statue are canes, crutches, and broken casts left by the afflicted who believe they have been restored to health by her gracious intercession. About a hill on the grounds are the 14 Stations of the Cross with 49 steps leading to a cross on the summit.

I. Right from Fiskdale on Brookfield Rd. at 0.2 m. (L) is the Abner Allen House, a long, low, one-and-a-half-story structure built in 1735 and still occupied by the Allen family, whose ancestor, Moses Allen, built the first gristmill in the village. At 1 m. on Brookfield Rd. can be seen (L) below the highway the long sloping roof and a side of the Salt-Box House (private), built in 1750.

2. Left from Fiskdale on Holland Rd. is the Shumway House (private), 1.7 m., known also as the old Palmer Place. The house itself is in poor condition. The paneling from the old parlor, a corner cupboard with cloverleaf shelves, and several paneled doors have been taken to furnish the Fiskdale Room of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

Between Sturbridge and Brimfield, US 20 crosses rolling farm country.

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High Roads and Low Roads

On both sides of the road the fields slope gradually to the base of the distant hills.

At 30.7 m. is the junction with a road in EAST BRIMFIELD.

Right on this dirt road is Little Alum Pond, 1.3 m. (picnic grove, refreshment stand, boating, bathing, and fishing).

At 5.1 m. is the Birthplace of Thaddeus Fairbanks (private), inventor of the plat- form scale.

At 33 m. is the junction with an improved road.

Left on this road is Holland Pond (picnicking, boating, fishing).

HOLLAND, 4.1 m. (town, alt. 700, pop. 201, sett. 1725, incorp. 1835), was settled by Joseph Blodgett and named in honor of Lord Holland, the father of Charles James Fox. Destruction of a textile mill by lightning in 1851 ended a brief period of manufacture, and agriculture resumed its importance.

At 5.4 m. is the causeway across the Holland Reservoir (bathing, fishing, boating), formerly called Lake Massaconnet, a name made by combining abbreviations of Massachusetts and Connecticut.

At 34 m. is BRIMFIELD, (town, alt. 660, pop. 892, sett. about 1706, incorp. 1731). The village, with its white Colonial church overlooking the village Green, and street lined with closely planted elms, is on the old stagecoach route. Its few industries did not survive the introduction of mass production.

I. Left from Brimfield, State 19 follows Wales Brook, skirting the southern part of the Brimfield State Forest, with the summits of Mt. Pisgah and Mt. Hitchcock visible to the west.

WALES, 4.4 m. (town, alt. 890, pop. 382, sett. about 1726, incorp. 1775), is sur- rounded by woodlands, market-gardens, and dairy farms. Originally incorporated as South Brimfield, the town in 1828 was renamed for James Lawrence Wales, in acknowledgment of a $2000 legacy. A number of cloth mills and sawmills used the small streams for water-power in the early days. The only manufacturing plant at the present time is a small textile mill.

Dominating the village is an old-fashioned New England hotel with a wide porch extending across its breadth, on which a row of inviting chairs offers a vantage- point for observing the leisurely goings and comings of the townsfolk.

Left from Lake George (Wales Pond) (fishing, hunting, picnicking), south of the Center, a dirt road crosses Veineke Brook at 1 m. This brook flows south 0.5 m. into Veineke Pond. On its shores (inaccessible by car) are the Cellar Holes of an old Hessian village established by Veineke, one of the Hessian soldiers taken prisoner at the surrender of Burgoyne's army in 1777.

2. Right from Brimfield on Warren Rd. (see marker) at 2 m. is the junction with a mountain road; left on this mountain road (25¢ toll) is Steerage Rock, a huge boulder used as a landmark by Indians and travelers on the Bay Path during the coloniza- tion of the Connecticut Valley. It was said to be a favorite camping-place for King Philip; from here he could watch the villages in the valley below.

At 39.7 m. is the junction with West Warren Rd.

Right on this road is WEST BRIMFIELD, 3 m. (Town of Brimfield). Here is the Captain Nicholas House (private), an old brick building used for quarters by the Hes- sian soldiers who marched from Saratoga to Boston in 1777.

At 41.1 m. is the junction (L) with State 32 (see Tour 23A).

PALMER, 42.2 m. (town, alt. 332, pop. 9437, sett. 1716, incorp. 1775, was known as the Elbow Tract until its incorporation, when it was named for

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From Boston to New York State Line

Chief Justice Palmer. It has developed industries producing cotton piece-goods, wire, wire cables, screen cloth, pinion rod and pinion wire, culverts, paper boxes, hotel service wagons, casters for tables, and hospital screens.

At Palmer is the junction (R) with State 32 (see Tour 23A).

At 43.4 m. US 20 crosses the Quaboag River. A pile of stones (L) in the middle of the river is the Remains of Scott's Bridge, built in Colonial days and used by General Washington on his way to Boston in 1775.

At 47.2 m. is a junction with a side road.

Right on this road 0.2 m. is an Old Covered Bridge spanning the Chicopee River. Built in 1852, this bridge is the last of its kind in Hampden County.

NORTH WILBRAHAM, 47.4 m. (town, alt. 240, pop. 2969, sett. 1730, incorp. 1763), is a trading-village and the political center of Wilbraham. The first settlement, made by Nathaniel Hitchcock, was farther south in a section called Outward Commons. In 1741 the region was set aside as the Fourth Precinct of Springfield.

The Public Library (open) in the Town Hall has an exhibit of Indian relics.

Left from North Wilbraham on a hard-surfaced road is WILBRAHAM, 2.1 m., (alt. 285) the geographical center of the township.

Wilbraham Academy, founded in 1817 as Wesleyan Academy in Newmarket, N.H., was moved eight years later to Wilbraham, and occupies the group of brick build- ings on the hill (and L). In 1911 it became a college preparatory school for boys after having been a co-educational institution for 94 years. The school is on the site of the first settlement of the town. Near the academy is the brownstone Methodist Church, and beyond is a frame dwelling (private), the Original Church building. The gable end toward the street, the unusually large windows on the first floor, and the Gothic arched moldings over the windows on the second floor are reminders of the original use of the building.

On Dipping Hole Rd. is ' Peggy's Dipping Hole,' so-called because on a certain win- ter Sabbath morning one 'Miss Peggy,' who was riding to church on horseback, broke through the ice and was 'dipped' in the freezing water.

I. Left from Wilbraham is a mountain road to the Lookout Tower, 1 m., on the sum- mit of Wilbraham Mountain, affording a view of the Connecticut River Valley and the Mt. Holyoke Range.

2. Straight ahead from Wilbraham at 0.5 m. is the junction with an improved road; right on this road at 1 m. is the State Game Farm (open), established in 1912. This 160-acre farm raised 8200 ring-neck pheasants in 1935, and in recent years has spe- cialized in the propagation of pheasants for stocking natural coverts throughout the State.

At 51.1 m., in the Indian Orchard section of Springfield, is the junction with State 21.

Right on State 21, at 0.9 m. the Chicopee River is crossed. The Ludlow Manufac- turing Associates (private) have one of the largest jute-manufacturing plants in the world, stretching along the north bank of the Chicopee River at the bridge. Local industries have centered about this group of manufacturers. In an early decade of the 19th century the Boston Flax Mills were purchased and brought to Ludlow. Between 1889 and 1906 ten new mills, a power house, and machine shops were erected. Since 1920, however, there has been some decrease in business owing

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High Roads and Low Roads

to the removal of industry to southern towns. In 1935 so many buildings were unoc- cupied that several were razed.

LUDLOW, 1.2 m. (town, alt. 239, pop. 8569, sett. about 1751, incorp. 1775), orig- inally known as Stony Hill, a district of Springfield, was separately incorporated because of the difficulty of crossing the Chicopee River, dividing the two communi- ties. Water-power encouraged the establishment of sawmills, for a time an impor- tant industry.

The Hubbard Memorial Library (open) has a small exhibit of local relics.

At 1.6 m. is the junction with Joy St .; left to the end of Joy St., where an unmarked street (L) leads to a path between the last two houses (R). This path affords the best approach to Indian Leap, a high rocky cliff on the bank of the Chicopee River. During King Philip's War, Roaring Thunder and a band of his warriors leaped from the cliff to escape pursuit. Roaring Thunder waited until the last of his men had plunged into the river, to escape or perish; then he followed.

At 2.6 m. State 21 passes Haviland Pond (bathing and fishing).

LUDLOW CENTER, 4.1 m. (Town of Ludlow), is the geographical center of a town that once included a prosperous glass works and chair factory.

Between Wilbraham and Springfield, US 20 passes a group of ponds that provide various recreational facilities, then traverses a thickly populated section, and at 57.8 m. reaches SPRINGFIELD (see SPRINGFIELD).

The junction of State and Columbus Sts. in the heart of the city is the junction of US 20 and US 5 (see Tour 15) and State 116 (see Tour 15B).

Sec. c. SPRINGFIELD to JUNCTION WITH US 7, US 20, 51.8 m. Between Springfield and the junction of US 7, US 20, the Jacob's Ladder Trail, crosses the beautiful lower Berkshire Hills.

At 0.3 m. US 20 crosses the Connecticut River on the Hampden County Memorial Bridge.

WEST SPRINGFIELD, 2 m. (town, alt. 103, pop. 17,118, sett. about 1660, incorp. 1774), has a subsidiary of one of the oil corporations, a large paper manufacturing plant, a glazed paper establishment, the Boston and Albany Railroad repair shops, and chemical, machine, and other fac- tories. Large market-gardens flourish in Riverdale, and some dairying is carried on west of the town.

The Common was the camp site of three Revolutionary War armies under the respective commands of Generals Amherst, Burgoyne, and Riedesel, the latter in charge of the German mercenaries. Later it was the drill ground of Captain Luke Day's insurgents during Shays's Rebellion.

The First Congregational Church (1800) on Orthodox Hill, now the Ma- sonic Temple, is designed in the manner of Christopher Wren, with less modification than is usual in New England.

The Day House (open Tues., Thurs., Sat .; adm. 10g), north of the Common, built in 1754, is a historical museum maintained by the Ramapogue Historical Society. It is a two-story brick building with a lean-to at the rear. Furnishings of an early period are to be found in the rooms, each of which has an enormous fireplace.

At the Center is the junction with State 5A (see Tour 15D).

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From Boston to New York State Line

At 3.9 m. is the junction with Churchill Rd. (L), the entrance to Mit- tineague Park (athletic fields; picnicking).

At 5 m. the country is more open, with nurseries and tobacco fields occupying most of the land between the scattered houses. At 5.4 m. the road enters a cut through trap rock, an extension of Mt. Tom Range.

At 7.5 m. US 20 crosses the Westfield River, tributary of the Connecticut, furnishing water-power for many industries.

At 8.5 m. US 20 crosses the Little River; just north of this point the first settlers built a fort. The last Indian raid in this region occurred in 1820.

At 9.4 m. is WESTFIELD (city, alt. 154, pop. 18,788, sett. about 1660, incorp. town 1669, city 1920). The first road was cut through in 1668 and travel increased so rapidly that four years later Captain Aaron Cook opened a tavern here.

The Westfield Athenaeum (open weekdays, 9-9; Sun. 2-6), corner of Elm and Court Sts., overlooking the Green, is an attractive brick building with limestone trim, housing the library. On the upper floor is the Edwin Smith Historical Museum, which consists of a large hall divided into two parts, the one containing a well-furnished Colonial kitchen brought from Connecticut, and the other a living-room of a typical New England home of the late 18th century; among the exhibits in the latter are women's costumes and a number of dolls. The Jasper Rand Art Museum, in an adjoining room, holds continuous exhibitions of the works of well-known American artists.

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Massachusetts : a guide to its places and people, Part 53

Author: Publication date: 1937 Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company Number of Pages: 802

Author:
Publication date: 1937
Publisher: Boston : Houghton Mifflin Company
Number of Pages: 802