USA > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Picturesque Hampshire : a supplement to the quarter-centennial-journal > Part 14
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land of Clark Wright, and is well worth a day's journey to see. In early spring it must be a mad, roar- ing torrent, apparently proceeding out of the skies, when viewed from a few rods below the verge, (the patch of sky just shows to the left of the center of the view taken by our artist). It drains a large water- shed on Middlefield hill directly into the Westfield river, quite a distance below. Here are the ruins of an old mill on the west bank and a small grass plot suitable for picnic parties on the other.
In going from Middlefield to Hunt- ington we descend into the valley again and the view "on the road " was obtained going down hill into Chester. We regret that our bird's eye view of Huntington was so far away as to give us rather an indis- tinct idea of the place. It is a thriv- ing, enterprising village, about six miles from Norwich ponds, the lat- ter pictured in conjunction with Westhampton views, and between which two villages (Norwich and Huntington) were obtained the character sketches which follow the bird's-eye view. One would hardly suppose the two villages were in the same town, and the "nutting party," the "well-sweep" scenes, etc., might all have been observed en route between them, if any one had
been along with our artist last fall. But the cause of the differ- ence in appearance of the two villages is the railroad and its accompanying thrift, at the southern end of the town.
There is yet a little section of the county on the west side of the Connecticut river, which we have not visited, and we may as well enter it by turning back and " going in " at Swift River, which is a part of the town of Cummington, about three miles from the east village. Here two branches of the West- field river unite, and one traveling up the river, towards Cum- mington center, is sometimes surprised to find the stream flow- ing in the opposite direction from which it was coming a few moment's before. At Swift River village there is a very pretty water effect at and about the dam, and as we proceed on the road toward Goshen there is a striking view of pros-
BISHOP HUNTINGTON'S SUMMER HOME,
perous farm-houses across the gorge and the river, and high on the hill above it. Our pen and ink sketch on Goshen hill was made looking back, on the road to Wil- liamsburg. The Goshen character sketches which follow will be appreciated by lovers of artistie effects. Summer visitors seem to like Goshen pretty well, as the Highland house is always well filled in warm weather and some private houses are occupied. The reservoir pond here is said to furnish good fishing and pure air is free as that ether can be. Pretty well down the hillside, on the road to Williamsburg
Clifton Johnigen
ON THE EDGE OF THE WOODS-A BIRD'S SONG,
66
PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE.
NORTH PLEASANT STREET.
is a wild place called the "Devil's Den," but in the limits of the town of Goshen. The cascades are a beautiful fall of water over windings
Leaving Northampton by the bridge over the Con- neetient river, we find our- selves rolling across the fertile Hadley meadows, and in a few minutes we enter one of the fair- est and certainly the most quaint of Hampshire towns, old Hadley. The view on West street needs no description of ours. It has been many times sketched and written about. The Russell church and Elmwood house are on this street. The First church is on East street and is rarely beautiful among those of the kind built in its time. The grace- ful symmetry of its spire, surmounted by a rooster,
MAIN STREET, LOOKING EAST
AMHERST, FROM THE EAST
of a rocky mountain brook, and the place is visited by many every summer. Williamsburg was the first town devastated by the terrible Mill river flood of May, 1874, but it is now entirely rebuilt and a thriving, prosperous village, as is Haydenville, farther on, which was similarly visited. The "residences" photographed show a little of the grandeur of the old village, and now the visi- tor looks down from the hill upon a more enterprising community than then. Mountain street boasts a hamlet of prosperous farmers and is a road much used by wheelmen on their way to Ashfield and Whately. Who has not observed
always attracts notice and wins admiration. The like of it is hard to find. That of the First Baptist church in Providence resembles but does not equal it. This house
THE FIRST TRAIN ON THE " CENTRAL."
just such sunlight and shadow scenes as those pictured in the fields on a rainy day ? Who does not sympathize with the homely lot of the "hired man," with a boy to watch him, and how glad we are to see. these children ont with good dog " Rover," for a holiday.
Now we will return home to the county-seat, by way of this beauti -: fully winding road along the banks of Mill river, once strewn with the marks of devastation and ruin from the 1874 flood, but now re-laid and hardened for a pleasant carriage-drive for all who come this way. So we have viewed all the principal objects of interest on the west side of the Connecticut river.
We have yet to visit the east side of the county, and as our space for descrip- tion is growing more and more scant, owing to the profuseness of illustration, we shall be obliged to make a hasty trip of it and leave our companions to take it more leisurely, by themselves, some time.
AGRICULTURAI COLLEGE BUILDINGS.
was built by the town of Hadley in 1 808. Hop- kins academy is on the same street and is the pride of the town. The temporary bridge over Fort river was used for a long time after the one washed away by the floods.
We are inclined to think that the first en- graving on the 64th page needs no explanation. The subject is a veritable son of old Hadley too. The Fort Meadow road looks familiar and a little to the leftof it is the scene of Kingsley's
THE PLACE WHERE NOAH WEBSTER LIVED.
67
PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE.
frontispiece. The old Fort river bridge in the meadow is about a mile farther on.
Did you never see an old fashioned chimney, naked and stripped of house timbers, from the hearth up? Well, here it is. Did you ever try "working up" an old apple-tree stump? If not, then you don't know what patience
A SUMMER MORNING-OPENING THE HAY.
WASHING-DAY.
is. The children are out for a day of it with father. North Hadley is one of the most attractive sections of the old town and here is the charming view of the pond and dam which leads the illustrations on page 65. Before reaching the place portrayed in this picture, however, we shall pass on the right and left Mount Warner and the summer residence of Bishop F. D. Huntington.
Pres. Timothy Dwight of Yale college, more than seventy years ago, wrote as follows concerning this locality :
" Among the interesting objects in the neighborhood, the farm of Charles Phelps, Esq., [grandfather of Bishop Hunting- ton] about two miles north of this town, deserves the notice of a traveler. This estate lies on the eastern bank of the Connecticut river, and contains about 600 acres, of which about 150 are inter- val, annually manured by the slime of the river. The rest consists partly of a rich plain and partly of the sides and summit of Mt. Warner, a beautiful hill in the neighborhood."
The pretty sketches at the foot of page 65 tell their own story, and what a refreshing one it is.
Amherst, the town of colleges, is but six miles away, and a pleasant drive. Amherst is really, in point of residence architecture, far ahead of any other town
in the county and its public buildings are more elaborate and beau- tiful. The college build- ings are not so new, with the exception of those on the agricultural in- stitution grounds, and as they have been so often pictured we give the space they might oc- cupy to illustrations of points less familiar. The street views will be readily recognized, and our view of the town was obtained at a point east of the rising ground, the old college buildings and Wal- ker hall showing on the extreme left. The agricul- tural buldings, including the Durfee plant-house, etc., make an interesting group. The house where Noah Webster lived, on North Prospect street, is shown
AN AMHERST FARM-HOUSE.
THE GRIST MILL AT MILL VALLEY.
MT. PLEASANT SCHOOL FOR BOYS.
WHITE BIRCH WOODS.
with pride by citizens to those who inquire for the domicile of the man who wrote the dictionary. Who does not remember the joy inspired at sight of the first . train on the "Central?"
The Mt. Pleasant school for boys was taken as a pic- turesque view, without any reference to its owners advertising, as they do elsewhere. The view from this place is a superb one. "An Amherst Farm-house" and
THE DEVIL'S GARDEN.
"The Grist Mill" are Amherst scenes which may be readily identified by those who have seen them, and the "Devil's Garden " is a hard looking piece of ground in the mountain notch, between Amherst and Granby. The sketches on the same page represent very common works of usefulness of both sexes in the country. The villages of North and South Amherst are a considerable distance apart, but both are neat and well kept commu- nities. The sketches on the same page with these views are characteristic of the vicinity.
From Amherst to Pelham is a natural transition, but
68
PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE.
SOUTH AMHERST.
a hilly one, and hill climbing to match that on the west side of the county is close at hand. The mill pictured by the roadside will be noticed near the residence of C. O. Parmenter, shortly after hill-climbing is begun. The drive to Mt. Lincoln is in this direction, and has become a very popular one during the last two summers. We make a divergence from the main road at West Pelham and bear to the south, and directions for further driving can easily be obtained of dwellers along the route. Near Mt. Lincoln will be seen the house in the engraving, though the view given is seen in returning, and opposite this house is a family cemetery, mournfully suggestive, as there are none of the original inhabitants of this vicinity left here. Driving up a moderate ascent, but over a stony road, which turns off to the left, just beyond the house, we have only a mile to ride to the tower on the mountain, and Reuben Allen's house is very near it. The dog and cow in a farm yard not far away,
field has a tax rate of only 85 on $1000, and her people, mostly a farming community, are happy and prosperous.
Ware is the most thriving town in the county, and its manufactures are the main cause of its prosperity. The scenes sketched and photograph- ed here by our artist are all easily identified and "The Lover's Leap" is a place near the center of the town where a young man, made tem- porarily insane by love, threw himself, over the rock into the water, but was rescued from
SOUTH AMHERST CENTER.
death. Especially worthy of mention is Ware's cemetery. It is justly the pride of her people and the handsomest in the county. The streams in and below the town, as pictured, are sylvan bits of beauty and the big elm is pointed out to strangers. Ware boasts several fine public buildings. For obvious reasons we have not pic- tured these modern structures ; they are not in the line of picturesqueness particu- larly, but we feel Ware should be given credit for progressiveness aud enterprise, which are important points of commendation for a New England town.
Any one who has seen Denman Thompson in his play of the "Old Homestead " will recall the old fireplace pictured on page 76. It was found for Mr. Thompson in an old house in Belchertown, by C. W. Eddy, a now famous artist-printer and photographer of Ware, to whom we in turn are indebted for the pietnre and many other favors in our investigations in this direction.
Belchertown is another place situated on a hill and is becoming a favorite summer
LOOKING TOWARD NORTH AMHERST.
as pictured on page 69, bid fair to get acquainted after a while. Turning back to West Pelham, is a suggestive scene reca ling the lines, "Over the hills and far away," etc. The long, weary, hill road seems to stretch interminably along yonder hill, at the top of which may be found a private fish pond, a startling luxury for this quiet country. The famous Shay's or old Conkey tavern was much farther on and in a southerly direction, and was destroyed by fire not long ago. From Pelham to Prescott means down hill and up hill again. We go down into a lonesome looking valley and then settle down for a steady half-hour climb. It seems a relief when you get most at the top of Prescott hill, but like the one who "wondered what he was begun for if he was so soon to be done for," we groan to think we have climbed so far only to go down hill again, as we must, to reach Greenwich village, before reaching which we may observe the place of but not the boiling cider scene sketched by our artist. Before coming to Greenwich village we shall cross the Athol and Springfield division of the Boston & Albany railroad, and here, as on the west side of the county, we
THE PUMP IN THE VARD.
NORTH AMHERST CENTER.
find a "Swift" river and " Mt. Pomeroy." The "Village" is a neat, thriving little place, and has a most enterprising citizen, who has given it a free thought chapel and by his example generally incited to useful and honorable living all of this small but model little community. Greenwich proper looks rather lonesome, farther on, but it too is a well-kept thongh apparently quieter village.
Enfield is really a very pretty place, with marks of antiquity about it. There is but one street in the center of the town, which lies on the bank of the swift-rushing river, and there is one mill here making faney cassimeres and em- ploying a hundred hands. Our view of the place was made from the hill a short distance from the village, where Rev. R. M. Woods of Hat- field has a summer residence. En-
AT THE HEN HOUSE.
69
PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE.
MILL STREAM, NEAR ROAD TO PELHAM.
resort, as there are excellent hotels here and the air is fine. It is, withal, a pretty place. The town common is a long grass plot running the entire length of the village street, and on it are held the annual cattle-shows, which are a unique feature, like no other shows in the county, for no admission fee is charged, the agricultural society relying for support solely upon fees paid by peddlers and other occupants of the tents and stands on the common.
A FAMILY CEMETERY NEAR MT. LINCOLN.
The town has a handsome library and a soldiers' monu- ment, with the usual complement of churches. This was the birthplace of Josiah Gilbert Holland, the au- thor of "Kathrina," etc., and our portrait of the author was obtained from a wood carving on the mantel-piece in the room occupied by Ralph Watson Gilder, editor of the Century Magazine. Myron P. Walker, the drummer boy of the old "Tenth" regiment, now resides in Belchertown.
The town of Granby lies between Belchertown and South Hadley, and is a prosperous inland New England village. The place has a handsome new school building and a finely proportioned old church spire may be seen here. On the road to South Hadley one will find pros- perous looking farms all the way. Granby farmers evidently thrive by their calling.
The water and dam of the Holyoke water power
TOWER ON MT. LINCOLN.
Titan's pier, a beautiful roek formation which rises in places seventy to eighty feet perpendicularly above the Connecticut river. Here are obtained the views shown on our 80th page, and we shall probably linger long over them ere we drive on to the " long, lazy hamlet, Hockanum," where another charming succession of rustic scenes greet us. The old tavern is a thing of the past, and we can close this series of drives over the county in no better way, perhaps, than by ascending Mt. Holyoke and taking therefrom a last look
NEAR MT. LINCOLN.
over the valley we have seen so much of. With this view we bid our readers Adieu! If they have enjoyed the review of these scenes as much as we have, we are sure they have much more pleasure in store for them when they come to them again in actual visitation.
MOUNT WARNER.
Mt. Warner, standing in the centre of the valley above the Holyoke, range, commands an extensive view, at a distance well adapted for revealing those varied tones of color which distinguish a cultivated landscape. Rich fields stretch from the edge of the Connecticut back to the line of wooded hills on the east and west, and, farther beyond, golden uplands ride to the horizon. The grand traceries of ancient elms mark the streets of two villages, from which white spires point heavenward. Peaceful homesteads, with groups of farm buildings and rows of maple trees, stand along the highways, or nestle among rocky pastures and slopes thick with chestnut and pine.
The river, which in past ages parted, with its torrent, the mountains north and south, now flows serenely through the fertile meadows, wearing soft the red sandstone rocks and
company are always an interesting study at South Hadley Falls. The old dam was perpen- dicular, but being carried away, the builders learned caution and put up the present structure, which has needed comparatively few repairs. The "Falls village is indebted for its existence largely to the great manufacturing enterprises f the Glasgow, Carew and Hampshire paper companies. At the upper village there is a very different appearance. Here the quiet and sober- ness of a young ladies' seminary reigns. Mt. Holyoke "college" is located here, and is the outcome of Mary Lyon's work. Bachelor's brook is a pretty stream which flows through the town and empties into the Connecticut. Like Granby, South Hadley is the home of prosperous farmers and market-gardeners, who find an abundant de- mand for their products at Holyoke. "Pearl City " is the name of a section of the town.
Returning from South Hadley, towards North- ampton, we come to the Holyoke range of moun- tains again, and go through the " pass of Ther- mopylæ," so called by the college girls, and just beyond, on the left, are the picnic grounds at
UNCLE REUBEN ALLEN'S HOME ON MT. LINCOLN.
GETTING ACQUAINTED.
70
PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE.
washing alluvial richness on its banks. One may trace its fringe of willows from the little village around the mill pond to the great bend which touches each end of Old Hadley street at a mile's breadth, and encircles with a broad sweep acres of tilled and fruitful soil. Thence it reappears once more in a silver gleam among the green plains at the foot of Mt. Holyoke, whose abrupt barrier guards the valley on one side of that narrow entrance which Mt. Tom defends on the other.
The turrets of two collegiate towns, Amherst and Northampton, sig- nal to each other across the fair interval from opposite slopes. On a fine plateau are seen the spacious buildings of the Agricultural college and beyond them the Pelham hills, and Mt. Tom closes the view to the east and north. The white churches of half a dozen hamlets may be distin- guished, and far up the valley appear glimpses of the Green mountains
VIEW ON PELHAM HILL.
in misty distance, while a nearer range traces with its bold outline the curves of the Deerfield river. Mount Warner was so named by Amherst college students after Prof. Aaron Warner, one of the faculty.
A FEW INTERESTING HISTORICAL FACTSABOUT PELHAM.
A TOWN WHICH SAW BURROUGHS, THE BOGUS CLERGYMAN AND COUNTER. FEITER AND SHAY'S REBELLION.
It is one hundred and fifty-two years since the " Articles of Agreement " were drawn up between Robert Peabols, blacksmith, and John Thornton, yeoman; sturdy Scotch Presbyterians, representing a colony of sixty men of their faith,
most of whom were then liv- ing in Worces- ter, and Col. John Stoddard of Northamp- ton. for the tract of; land covering the two ridges of land afterward known as Pel- ham east and west hills, and the deep val- ley between them, through which the west branch of the Swift river runs, and at that time known as Stod- dard town, 7300 pounds in bills
RHODES' FISH POND IN PELHAM.
BOILING DOWN CIDER.
of credit, "old tenor" was the price agreed upon. The history of this town has been often
written, but a
casual reference should be made here to the prin- cipal men and events which distinguish it.
"OVER THE HILL AND FAR AWAY " (PELHAM).
Among those
who served his country by raising a company for the Continental army, fighting at Bunker Hill, at the storming at Stony Point and against Burgoyne at Saratoga and who carried an honorable battle scar was a citizen of Pelham, who, after the war was ended, lived half way up the west slope of Pelham east hill, and who became so far the leading spirit in the rebellion against state government in 1786-7, that the insur- gent outbreak has ever since been called Shay's rebellion.
Capt. Daniel Shays drilled and led the rebellious hosts from this section and the Old Conkey tav-
THE OLD CONKEY TAVERN.
ern in the hollow, a half mile down the hill from his home, was his headquarters. The first stanza of a ballad popular years ago as the "Confession of Capt. Shays" we quote:
" In former days my name was Shays, In Pelham I did well, sir; But now I'm forced to leave that place, Because I did rebel, sir."
The old tavern was near by, and though it was situated in a lonely valley shut in by the high hills, Landlord Conkey was hospitable and cheery; the fire blazed high in his wide stone fire-place, and he kept a good line of wet goods in the original package and otherwise that undoubtedly served to stimulate Shays and his followers to rebellious acts,-as the following bill substantially proves. With the debts of the war way up, and the ability to pay way down, and good liquor cheap and plenty what could be easier than starting a rebellion among the grumbling yeoman in 1786; certainly much easier at that time than skipping to
Canada to escape
debts or to enjoy stealings.
ingen
NEARLY AT THE TOP OF PRESCOTT HILL.
BOSTON, Oct. 31, 1772. £6.0.0.
MR. WILLIAM CONKEY. Bought of JOHANNET & SEAVER:
2 bbis. rum (321/4-3034 ) 63 galls. at 12 shillings
37
16 0
32 galls. West India rum at 228. 6d. .36 00 0
13 6
1 galls, annas seed 17s, keg 13s. 90 . ... 4
3
G
6 galls. clove at 178. 6d., keg at 15s. 6 0 0
334 galls. orange at 178. 6d., keg 13s. Gd ..
3 19 2
1 10 0
1 gal. wine at 30s
- -
100 2 2
BOSTON, Oct. 31, 1772.
Received of Wm. Conkey six pounds in law-
ful money on account. € s. d.
JOHANNET & SEAVER. BOSTON, February 11, 1773. Received the within to balance in full. JOHANNET & SEAVER.
The attack of the Shays insurgents np- on the arsenal at Springfield as described in the ballad already referred to is as follows:
4 galls. brandy, 30s., keg 13s. 6d .... 10
71
PICTURESQUE HAMPSHIRE.
GREENWICH MEADOWS-MT POMEROY IN THE DISTANCE.
SCENE IN GREENWICH VILLAGE.
"On mountain steed we did proceed, Our federal stores to plunder; But there we met with a back set. From Shepherd's warlike thunder.
They killed four; they wounded more; The rest they run like witches; Roswell Merrick Jost his drum,
And Curtis split his breeches."
This attack was on Jan. 25, 1787, and three days later Capt. Shays with 1100 men came skurrying back to Pelham with Gen. Lincoln and the state militia close in his rear. Shays hurried on through Amherst, taking the Pelham road and very fortunate- ly for him and his men eleven sleigh- loads of provisions from the western part of the state stopped at Landlord Clapp's tavern in East Amherst soon after, the driver's intending to feed their horses, but Clapp hurried them off, after the skedaddling rebels, for fear Gen. Lincoln would gob- ble them up. These loads of provisions were what helped the captain to main- tain his defeated troops for four days upon the snow covered Pelham hills, while he kept his messen- gers running back and
GREENWICH VILLAGE FROM THE WEST.
( litt cm ) schon son
LOOKING TOWARD GREENWICH.
forth between the old Conkey tavern and Gen. Lin- coln's headquarters at Hadley, seeking a cessation of hostilities until the united prayers of the rebels for mercy could be heard by the General Court and an answer received.
Captain Shays didn't wait for the conclusion of negotiations, but marched his men away from Pelham on the 3rd of February to Petersham, where he was overtaken by Gen. Lincoln's forces the next forenoon, after an all night march from Hadley in a blinding snowstorm. Gen. Lincoln attacked the rebels at once and there was a general scattering of the insurgents, some to their homes, others into New Hampshire.
Nearly every town has had experience with the hypocritical religious cheat at some time or other, and ministerial wolves in sheep's clothing, are not as rare as they ought to be, not as uncommon as they were a hundred years and more ago, when on a Tuesday
afternoon in April or May, 1784, a bright, active young man of nineteen rode into Pelham from Palmer on horseback. He wore a light gray coat with silver plated buttons, green vest, and red velvet knee breeches. Seeking out Dea. Gray, he introduced himself as Rev. Mr. Davis, a clergyman in search of employment, at
A GREENWICH ROADWAY.
POND NEAR ENFIELD.
the same time stating that he had preached at Ludlow the Sunday previous. He also presented a letter of recommendation written by Rev. Mr. Baldwin of Pal- mer. Such was the entrance of Stephen Burroughs, the famous counterfeiter, to the town. Dea. Gray care- fully read Mr. Baldwin's letter, which was doubtless couched in the regulation phrases of endorsement not uncommon in such documents now; then the good deacon consulted with other prominent members of the church and the result of the consultation was the engagement of the well recommended bogus minister with only ten of his father's old sermons in his saddle bags, as "supplyer " for four weeks, at five dollars per Sunday, besides board and housekeeping; and at the expiration of the time a further engagement for four
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