Part 10

The return from Holyoke (36.2) by way of Easthampton leaves Federal Highway 5 and rises westward across a ridge of Granby tuff. Several small lakes (36.7) occupy basins on the friable "second" sandstone between the "second" lava and Granby tuff, which lie immediately to the east, and the Holyoke lava, which lies below and to the west. The sandstone is very thin, and the road shortly begins to climb up the dip slope of the Holyoke lava sheet. Sandstone crops out below the sheet at the west base of a low cliff (38.1) which continues northward to the south face of Mount Tom. The Christopher Clark road through the Mount Tom Reservation enters from the north at the summit (38.5); it follows a scenic route under the west cliffs of the Range to its north end at Mount Nonotuck, where it drops abruptly in a series of hairpin curves to Mount Tom Junction on Federal Highway 5.

At the junction of the Easthampton and Christopher Clark roads, a turn-out offers an opportunity to view the Western Upland, within which, as it makes its way from Goshen and Williamsburg to Northampton, the Mill River has cut an impressive valley. On the long descent to the base of the mountain (39.5), the Easthampton road is cut out of coarse arkosic sandstones, but then it levels off abruptly on the flat plain of glacial Lake Hadley. The lake sediments continue into the center of Easthampton (41.3), broken only by the shallow valley of the Manhan River. From Easthampton the route utilizes the College Highway (State Highway 10) to Northampton; and its position on the lake beds affords good views of the Range and of the abnormally broad floodplain of the meandering Connecticut River in the vicinity of the Oxbow. Just north and east of the New Haven Railroad's underpass, the river has cut away the terrace followed by the road, and this low stretch, like the rest of the floodplain, is subject to frequent inundations.

The road enters Northampton east of the Smith College campus (45.5) and joins the Berkshire Trail. A right turn at the traffic light leads to the Court House corner (45.7).

Northampton, Hadley, Sunderland, Hatfield

This tour also leaves Northampton by the Coolidge Memorial Bridge, but at Hadley (3.0) it turns north on State Highway 63 and follows the river to Sunderland. Here the route recrosses the river, joining Federal Highway 5 at South Deerfield, and from this point south to Northampton the road lies almost literally in the shadow of the western upland.

In Hadley (3.0) the road turns north along Center Street and then swings right at the curve in the Connecticut (3.5). The river bank is lined with riprap to resist the current and to prevent the river from washing away a substantial section of the town. Across the stream in Hatfield the Connecticut very nearly achieved the type of destruction which the residents of Hadley are trying to escape, and the flood-channel, or "washout," which was gouged by the swollen stream in the spring of 1936, may be seen (4.3) on the way to North Hadley. The road approaches Mount Warner, whose crystalline rocks appear at the south end of a long, low spur (4.8) on the edge of the river floodplain. Elsewhere along the base of the eminence, which scarcely merits the name "Mount," the crystalline rocks are hidden by a terrace, but they crop out on the higher slopes. The younger red Triassic sandstones are present, too, and they may be seen dipping steeply westward in the brook bed between the bridge (5.9) and the dam (6.1) at North Hadley.

Sand dunes appear near the river on the outskirts of North Hadley (6.3) and extend north beyond Mount Warner (7.0) to the point where the road drops from the terrace to the floodplain (8.2). Here the former bed of the river is occupied by a puny brook, which enters the mainstream on the left. The terrace marking the edge of the floodplain lies close to the east side of the road for a long distance (8.2 to 9.8) and then swings a half mile eastward. The road follows a high area between two abandoned channels formerly used by the river (11.3), until it joins the Amherst-Sunderland road (11.8) at the southern edge of Sunderland. The route turns left in the center of town (12.4), crossing the river beneath Mount Sugarloaf, and it continues on to Federal Highway 5 at the traffic light in South Deerfield (14.2).

On the trip south from the junction, sand dunes appear east of the railroad between the Boston & Maine (14.6) and the New Haven crossings (14.9). The highway is situated on the flat bed of Lake Hadley from this point to Hatfield. The road to Whately, which turns west at 16.7, offers some attractions. It forks two miles beyond Whately, and the right branch leads to the Northampton reservoir and to Haydenville (see p. 89). The left branch follows West Fork Brook and comes back to Federal Highway 5 at North Hatfield (19.1). Either route provides a scenic drive over little-frequented gravel roads.

From the main highway the delta built by West Fork Brook into glacial Lake Hadley appears as a flat terrace along the western highland (18.2). The rolling fields (19.7) east of the railroad are dunes which were once raised by the wind along the old Connecticut channel. Mill River, which rises near Conway, parallels the highway for 6.1 miles and crosses it here to enter the Connecticut (20.3). The road approaches the massive gray rocks of the western upland (20.5), and the Hatfield lead vein (see p. 64) outcrops in a bluff on the right (20.9). The view south (22.3) shows the water gap between the Mount Holyoke and Mount Tom ranges. At the State Police barracks (23.4) the Hatfield road turns left, and a short distance beyond (23.9), on the west side of the road, is the abandoned City Quarry. The granite exposed in the quarry contains a black, radio-active mineral called allanite, and each glistening black crystal is surrounded by a reddish halo caused by bombardment of the feldspar by alpha particles.

A road to Florence branches right (24.5) near the railroad crossing, and one to the Coolidge Bridge turns left across the Boston & Maine tracks (24.7). A by-pass to the Berkshire Trail (25.6) goes west, and the tour returns to the Court House corner (26.1).

Northampton, Cummington, Plainfield, and South Deerfield

This tour includes a representative section of the Connecticut Lowland, traverses rugged valleys on the western margin of the lowland, and crosses a wide remnant of the New England upland. The trip is 58.6 miles long, and all of it except the last twelve miles moves through rapidly changing scenery.

The route leaves the Court House corner on State Highway 9, the Berkshire Trail, following Main and Elm Streets past Smith College. At the Cooley Dickinson Hospital the road rises from the bed of glacial Lake Hadley to the Mill River delta, which, despite some dissection, maintains the same general level through Florence (2.6) to Look Park (3.4), where a ridge dotted with glacial erratics rises through it. The road follows the delta margin past the Veteran's Hospital and shortly (4.3) climbs to the land of erratics and stone fences. The road from Whately (see p. 88) enters from the right in Haydenville (7.1), and the Trail continues up Mill River to Williamsburg (8.1). Not far beyond the center of Williamsburg the road forks left for Chesterfield and right for Cummington.

The right hand route climbs a long wooded hill with a deep valley on the right and occasional cliffs of schist intruded by reinforcing granite dikes on the left. The view back near the hilltop (12.5) offers, through a frame of trees, a panorama of the Mount Holyoke and Mount Tom Ranges surmounting the Connecticut Lowland. The New England upland begins at the hilltop (13.1) in Goshen. Just past Goshen Pond (13.6), a road continues straight ahead to Ashfield, and the hard surface of the Berkshire Trail curves left. Ledges of flaggy Goshen schist outcrop from Goshen to Swift River (18.4); the banding of the ledges is almost horizontal at one place (14.6) and makes excellent flagging for garden walks. The west-flowing Swift River tumbles into the deeply entrenched, east-flowing Westfield River at Swift River village, and the combined streams flow due south through a "door" in a vertical wall of Goshen schist so narrow and inconspicuous that the water appears to run downhill and then up again. The Berkshire Trail follows up the north bank of the Westfield River as far as the lower bridge (19.5), at Cummington, where a road to Chesterfield turns left (19.6).

The Plainfield road branches off to the right across the river at the center of Cummington (20.5), and it climbs almost continuously from the Westfield valley to the summit of the New England upland at the Plainfield corner (24.5). Here the broad, gently rolling expanse of country offers no suggestion of the deep valley only three miles away.

The tour takes the road right (Route 116) to Ashfield (33.0), Conway (40.2), and South Deerfield (46.6), where it turns south on Federal Highway 5, returning to Northampton (58.6) over ground that is covered in another tour (see pp. 87-88). The twenty-two miles of country between Plainfield and South Deerfield contain a succession of highland views, glimpses into youthfully incised valleys, and a final sweep of Connecticut lowland that defy description. Nearly everywhere the glaciers of the Ice Age have scraped away the soil and have exposed the underlying metamorphosed sediments. Their high structures and their metamorphism show that they are merely the roots of an ancient range that once rose majestically to summits which, were they restored, would dwarf the planed upland of today. Rugged as some of the topography may seem, prolonged erosion has greatly softened and tamed it. (For more details of the features which can be seen along this route, see pp. 94 -95.)

Trips from Greenfield

The most popular drive from Greenfield is westward over the Mohawk Trail, but the eastward continuation of this highway to Orange, combined with the Daniel Shays Highway to Pelham, offers almost equal attractions and should not be missed.

Mohawk Trail, Adams, Plainfield, and South Deerfield

The Mohawk Trail (State Highway 2) heads west from the center of Greenfield and crosses the Green River (0.6) before climbing out of the valley. A lookout (2.1) affords an excellent view of the north end of the Connecticut Lowland, and the observation tower on Shelburne Summit (3.2), situated on a shelf cut out of black Ordovician slate (see pp. 35 -37), provides a broader sweep of central New England scenery. Beyond, the upland is gently rolling, trenched by one deep valley at Shelburne Center (6.8). The descent into this valley (5.6) offers a glimpse to the south across the Deerfield River gorge, but the road soon rises again, hovering 300 feet above the sharply incised stream. The Sweetheart Teahouse (9.9) makes use of one of the ideal sites overlooking the gorge and river. The highway to Colrain (10.2) continues straight ahead, but the Trail turns left across the Deerfield River (10.6) and then right in Shelburne Falls. The road left leads to Conway and South Deerfield.

Thick, almost horizontal bands of gray granite gneiss are exposed in the road cuts (11.6) along the south bank of the Deerfield River, but the entrenched stream has left so little room for the highway that the latter soon crosses to the relatively low and more hospitable north bank (11.9). For many miles the road follows the stream so closely that spring floods occasionally cover its surface with ice cakes. The drive along this stretch to the next bridge (21.0) contains the most restful scenery on the trip, though the flat open valley is hemmed in by abrupt slopes which rise for 800 feet. Nor does the flatness of the valley harmonize with the mountain-structure of the platy Goshen schist, which stands on edge all along the roadside. Davis Brook (18.7) crosses the route, and the road beside it leads up to the Davis Mine, which once did a thriving business extracting iron pyrites for the manufacture of sulphuric acid.

Once more the highway crosses the Deerfield River (21.0) and enters Mohawk Park, which invites the motorist to linger. A mile farther on (22.0) the road leaves the Deerfield River (22.0) and follows the narrow gorge of Cold River, which seems scarcely wide enough to accommodate it. A shady picnic ground and auto camp (23.6) lie just below the narrowest and deepest part of the gorge (24.5), where the crowding summits seem to tower high above the puny cars.

The road crosses to the north bank of Cold River (25.8) and climbs a shelf cut into green volcanic schists (25.8 to 27.6). Leaving the gorge (26.6), it ascends to the upland (29.0), while in view below is the laborious route of the Boston and Maine Railroad along the Deerfield and thence through the east portal of the Hoosac Tunnel near Zoar.

A lookout (29.4) affords a memorable view of the sharp V-shaped gorge of the Deerfield River cut deep into the highland surface, which stretches unbroken to the horizon, with only a few divides rising to greater elevations in the west and northeast. A set of broad rock benches, about 200 feet lower than the upland, forms a strath terrace (see pp. 46-47) which closely follows the river's course. Great landslide scars, caused by the heavy rains accompanying the 1938 hurricane, mar the valley walls far to the north and again eastward from Zoar.

The road to Zoar (30.2) turns right a short distance east of the Whitcomb Summit (30.6), where lookout towers at an elevation of 2,240 feet enhance the excellence of the view westward across other straths to Mount Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts. From these same vantage points, one may survey the deceptively smooth slope of the New England upland eastward down the course of the Deerfield towards the Atlantic coast.

The high level flat to the extreme right and extreme left is the New England peneplain. The terrace bordering the steep walls of the gorge is a strath.]

The road crosses a series of strath heads, which drain into the Cold River, and ascends to the west summit (33.2). At first it seems possible to throw a stone into North Adams, so abrupt is the western slope. The city lies deep in a limestone valley, and beyond it the Taconic ranges rise steeply west of Williamstown, over six miles away.

On the long descent into the valley, the roadway is cut into albite-biotite schists with horizontal cleavage. Above and below the sharp hairpin turn (35.2), there is a beautiful view to the south along the strike of the limestone trench and along the route (State Highway 8) which is to be followed from North Adams (37.8) to Adams. Not far south of North Adams the road passes the west portal of the Hoosac Tunnel (39.4). Boulders on the mountainside east of the highway are glacial erratics which were left above the level of the valley trains and above the surface of glacial Lake Bascom. The limestone which outcrops on the slopes of Mount Greylock west of the road is used for lime (41.6), and the quarries provide ideal exposures for a study of the rock. The burning plant (42.2) is at the roadside. The road branches in the center of Adams (43.6), one route (State Highway 116) continuing ahead to Savoy and Plainfield, the other veering right to Mount Greylock, Dalton, and Pittsfield.