Northampton makes an excellent base for many drives that will gratify
the lover of scenery, of rocks, or of minerals. The drives range from
ten to one hundred miles in length, and any one of them may be extended
or shortened at the whim of the driver. To the east the hard surface of
Route 9 leads through Amherst, Pelham, and Belchertown; and to the west,
as the Berkshire Trail, it rises to the western upland via Williamsburg
and Goshen. Side roads go to Ashfield and Conway, and permit a return by
way of South Deerfield; or, via Cummington and West Chesterfield, one
may come back by way of Huntington and Westhampton. Federal Highway 5
follows the Valley north to Greenfield, whence optional return routes
are available through Shelburne Falls, Conway and South Deerfield in the
western upland; or through Orange, Pelham and Amherst in the eastern
upland. Each of these routes offers arresting views of the broad
Connecticut Valley, the picturesque gorges along its margins, and the
even-crested highlands with distant peaks of greater elevation. Indeed,
the choice of attractive drives is bewildering, even for those who are
hesitant about wandering off the surfaced highways.
In the following pages only a few of the possibilities which are
available to the motorist are described. And for each one chosen, the
striking views and the significant geological features are indicated, in
the hope and belief that the traveler may turn explorer and, in
following other byways, may reconstruct for himself many additional
details of the region's geologic past.
_Northampton, Amherst, Pelham_
The route leaves from the Court House corner on Highway 5 and the
excursion follows Route 9 eastward across the Coolidge Memorial Bridge
(1.3),[1] where a panorama of the floodplain with its many channel scars
and terrace levels is spread out below (see pp. 1-3). Beyond Hadley
(3.0) the road tops the highest river floodplain at a conspicuous
terrace (4.9) and rolls gently over the ancient bed of Lake Hadley. The
shore line of this glacial lake appears as a broad flat between Orchard
Street and Lincoln Avenue in Amherst (6-9). (See pp. 5-7.)
The route turns left at the traffic intersection (7.2) and continues to
the north end of the common (7.4), where it turns right on the Pelham
road. This road crosses the lake bottom from the Central Vermont
Railroad tracks (7.9) to the Orient (9.9), where the delta of glacial
Orient Brook made a conspicuous gravel terrace at the farthest limit of
the lake. Stone fences make their appearance (see pp. 8-9); rocky ledges
and erratics abound at higher elevations, but perched shore lines of
ice-margin lakes occur at many levels up Pelham Hill. The road to Mount
Lincoln (see pp. 51-52) turns right (11.2) just west of the Amherst
reservoir (11.4). As the road approaches the hilltop (12.9), an opening
westward through the trees reveals an unusual view of the Holyoke Range;
and the broad lowland valley from Mount Tom in the south to Mount
Sugarloaf in the north spreads out below. On the hilltop (13.3) the road
enters the Daniel Shays Highway (13.9). Mount Wachusett (see p. 15) lies
straight ahead and projects above the great expanse of the New England
upland (see p. 46); Mount Monadnock rises even higher in the northeast,
and everywhere, deep valleys furrow the highland and break its otherwise
monotonous surface.
The Daniel Shays Highway runs north to Athol, where it joins the Mohawk
Trail; but on this trip we shall turn to the right, or south, at Pelham
and follow Federal Highway 202 along the valleys in the Quabbin
reservoir watershed. Pelham gneiss is the most abundant rock along the
highway, outcropping west of the road (14.1) in a series of
eastward-dipping layers that resemble sandstone. Mount Lincoln's fire
tower stands high above the skyline directly west from the power line
crossing (16.1). The country has a gently rolling form, which was
imposed upon it by the ice sheet (see p. 9), and the miles of stone
fences represent glacial debris piled up by the early settlers in an
effort to bring agricultural order out of geological chaos. Blossoms on
the wild cherry trees along these fences and the flowering dogwood make
this a particularly attractive drive in the spring. A ledge of gneiss
with large eye-shaped crystals of reddish feldspar lies east of the
highway at 16.3 miles. As the road begins to descend (18.1), a panorama
of the broad lowland between Belchertown and Palmer spreads out below.
View succeeds view as the road drops to lower levels: At one place it is
Holyoke and Springfield; at another it is Belchertown; and finally the
highway comes to the corners (21.1) where routes lead right to Amherst,
left to Worcester, and straight ahead through Belchertown to Palmer,
Springfield and Holyoke.
The Granby-Holyoke road (Federal Highway 202) turns right at the south
end of the Belchertown common (22.0). After crossing the railroad
(22.4), it passes out upon the plain of glacial Lake Springfield (25.3)
where the stone fences cease to line the roads, because the lake
deposits cover the glacial boulders. Rocky islands in glacial Lake
Springfield surmount the flat lacustrine plain (26.9). Granby is
situated on a long rolling point (28 to 31.6) that is underlain
principally by flat-lying arkosic conglomerate, but more ancient
crystalline rocks appear just a little farther east. In this section the
lake plain is very narrow, and the drop to the Connecticut River Valley
begins at 32.3 miles and continues to the junction with the South Hadley
road (33.2), where varved clay (see pp. 4-7) makes its appearance in the
pits to the right of the highway.
The itinerary of this excursion continues on Federal Highway 202 through
Holyoke in preference to the alternate routes through South Hadley and
thence either by way of Hockanum (p. 85) or via Amherst (pp. 83-84) to
Northampton. The Holyoke road crosses the Connecticut River (33.8 to
34.1) where the Longmeadow or youngest Triassic sandstone appears in a
series of serrate ledges between the bridge and the dam at the right.
Mud-cracks on some layers and ripple marks on others tell of wet and dry
seasons at the time they were formed. The route turns right just south
of the Holyoke post office (34.6) and right again into Federal Highway 5
(36.2), which parallels the river.
The road has been built on a terrace which was once the flat bottom of
glacial Lake Springfield (37.8), but at the north end of the city it
descends towards the Connecticut River, utilizing the contact between
the red layers of Longmeadow sandstone and the massive, dark green
Granby tuff with large volcanic bombs that are visible from the road.
The twin entrances to Mountain Park (38 and 38.2) may tempt the motorist
to indulge in an attractive side trip, but there is enough to occupy him
on the main highway. Nearer the river (38.5), a ledge slopes from the
roadway to the railroad tracks and to a series of riffles in the stream.
This is the Smith's Ferry footprint locality (pp. 66-67), and the
widened highway and the entrance to the ledges offer an invitation which
cannot be declined (38.6).
North of the dinosaur tracks, road, railroad and river run parallel.
Lateral roads are few, but there is a gateway (40.2) into the Mount Tom
Reservation. The Granby tuff, which has outcropped persistently on the
west side of the road, rises to a high bluff and then passes eastward
beneath the river (40.6). The underlying second lava replaces it in the
road cuts and is especially conspicuous along the railroad (40.9). The
next dark gray bluff west of the road (41.4 to 41.6) is part of the
Holyoke flow which caps the Mount Tom and Mount Holyoke ranges (see pp.
26-27). Soon it, too, crosses the river to Titan's Pier (pp. 60-61), and
old residents say that a ledge of it outcropped in the river bed at low
water before the Holyoke dam raised the water level. Directly ahead,
southward-dipping beds of conglomerate outcrop on either side of the
road (41.0); these beds underlie the lava forming the gentle southern
slopes of the ranges, and their position beneath the trap can be seen
plainly on the steep northern slopes.
The road through the Mount Tom Reservation rejoins the highway (42.2)
just south of the outlet from the Oxbow Lake (42.3), the upper end of
which also loops 'round and abuts against the highway (42.7). (See
p. 3.) Annual floods inundate most of this section, and even the
banked-up road and railroad periodically go under the swirling waters of
the swollen river. A sign (43.5) announces that the roadway was 13.5
feet below water at the height of the 1936 flood, but it is hoped that
the new dike at the southern limit of Northampton will hereafter turn
the floods away from the lower sections of the city. Federal Highway 5
bears right (44.0), and the road ahead continues into the Berkshire
Trail. Of passing interest is the fact that a well drilled near this
junction penetrated 3,700 feet of Triassic arkose without reaching the
crystalline rock floor. The road crosses the unused bed of Mill River
(44.2) and comes once again to the Court House corner in Northampton
(44.6).
_Belchertown, Amherst, and Northampton_
In our first tour we noted that a road (Route 9) turns right to Amherst
at the south end of the Daniel Shays Highway (21.1), and if we will
return to this junction, it will be worth our while to make the Amherst
run. Just beyond the intersection the highway traverses the level gravel
plain of a nice margin lake (see p. 7) before it descends (22.0) toward
the Lake Hadley plain. Erratic boulders and stone fences are abundant on
the slope, and the bedrock is part of the pre-Triassic complex. One very
interesting pegmatite contains inclusions of contorted schist (23.2).
The road soon leaves the rocky slopes for the gravel plain of Lake
Hadley, but only a short distance northward and westward lie the
Belchertown Ponds, which seem to occupy a large and deep kettle hole
area (see pp. 7-8).
The road winds through pine-clad kame terraces, left on the margin of
the ice which filled the Lake Hadley basin; and where it emerges from
the woods (24.4), the line of hills making the Holyoke Range may be seen
stretching westward in a series of sharp points. These are the
projecting edges of the Holyoke lava flow which resisted erosion after
all the softer sediment and volcanic debris flanking it were removed.
The road to Mount Lincoln turns right at Pansy Park (24.9), and north of
this point the Amherst road follows a kame terrace between the Pelham
Hills on the right, and the former ice-filled bed of glacial Lake Hadley
on the left. Ultimately (27.1) the highway leaves the terrace and drops
to a delta which was deposited in Lake Hadley. The view northward shows
Mount Toby and Mount Sugarloaf outlined sharply, and to the east near
the Orient, the sharp V-shaped notch of the north fork of Fort River
cuts one of the kame terraces. The delta deposit (27.5 to 27.7) shows
excellent fore-set beds in the gravel pit (27.7), and its entire surface
is dotted with ponds which occupy irregular kettle holes (see pp. 7-8).
The highway continues down the delta slope and crosses the Fort River
(28.4). This river established a meandering course upon the bed of Lake
Hadley, but its floodplain is now excavated below the level of the lake
deposits, which form a terrace above the stream. The road passes through
Amherst (30.2) and returns to Northampton (37.4) by the outbound route.
_South Hadley, Amherst, Northampton_
The route 116 north from the road junction at South Hadley Falls (33.2)
also has its points of interest. After it passes over the deeply
dissected deposits in Lake Springfield, it rises above the old lake
level at the Mount Holyoke campus (35.1) and continues at this higher
elevation beyond the Hockanum-Amherst fork (35.9) in the center of South
Hadley. Along the right fork (State Highway 116), which leads to
Amherst, horizontal Longmeadow sandstone outcrops west of the road
(37.1) where the slope to the valley of Bachelor Brook begins. The flat
lake plain extends from Moody's Corner (37.4) to the base of the Holyoke
Range. A gravel road turns right from the highway (38.2) and crosses the
brook one mile east, and from this locality were excavated many of the
excellent dinosaur footprints in the Amherst College collection.
The lake plain ends at ledges of Granby tuff and agglomerate (38.5). The
outcrops east of the road are grooved with glacial striations, and the
fragmental nature of the rock is clearly revealed in the smooth surface.
Lava lies on the tuff west of the road (38.7) and also at the bottom of
the volcanic series at the Aldrich Lake road (39.0). Coarse
conglomerates make recurrent ridges as far as the base of the Range
(39.5), where the road follows a shelf cut into the Holyoke lava flow
just west of the Notch fault. The conglomerate east of this fault was
displaced downward; and as it disintegrates easily, a depression has
been cut into the Range east of the road. The quarry situated at the top
of the Range (39.8) just north of the Amherst town line, has brought to
light many fault fractures that have served the mineral collector well
for almost a century. The Range trail (see pp. 73-75) westward leaves
the highway at the town line marker, and the path eastward follows the
old trolley line northeastward from the scales house.
The route begins its descent (40.2) through a cut in conglomerate, and
the entire northern valley is spread out below: Sugarloaf and Toby close
the eastern side of the view, and hills far up in Vermont form the
background in the northwest. The road quickly reaches the flat plain of
Lake Hadley (40.7), with apple orchards stretching along its gravel
shore line. The Bay Road crosses the highway (41.1) and parallels the
Range from end to end.
The lake deposits fail to conceal many earlier features. Two drumlins
(see p. 9) rise to the east of the road (41.8) near South Amherst. South
Amherst (42.7) is on an island in the old lake; erratic boulders cover
the hilltop, and bare rocks mark the old wave-washed shore. The highway
crosses Fort (or Freshman) River (43.8), and at the railroad tracks
(44.6) it rises to the old lake beach, which is continued in the flat
land on the south side of the Amherst College campus. The route turns
left at Northampton Road (Route 9) and continues to Northampton (52.2).
The Hockanum Road (State Highway 63), which follows the left fork at
South Hadley (33.2), crosses the Lake Springfield sand plain (34.1) and
rises above the lake level beyond Bachelor Brook (34.3), staying at this
higher altitude beyond the junction with the Moody's Corner road (35.3).
The hills directly ahead are tuff, agglomerate and lava, and are
products of the last volcanic episode in this region. Dry Brook (35.6)
flows on the sandstone overlying the Holyoke lava sheet, and the latter
outcrops in the road cuts (35.8) and to the left in Titan's Pier (see
pp. 60-61). The road to the Mount Holyoke House and Titan's Piazza (see
p. 61) turns right (36.0) where the highway breaks through the last of
the lava mass.
The 1936 flood inundated this highway (36.5 to 37.2), and the old
watermark may still be identified by debris caught in the bushes and
left on pasture land. The view upstream from the floodplain (37.0) shows
where the Connecticut is cutting into its eastern bank and causing it to
recede (see pp. 1-2). Soon it will penetrate the valley of Fort River.
The road passes through a woodland on the dissected lake-shore deposits,
but it soon emerges upon the lake bottom and early river silts (38.6).
The Bay Road (39.8) enters from the east just south of the bridge over
Fort River (39.9). The road joins the outbound route at Hadley (41) and
returns to Northampton (44).
_Holyoke, Easthampton, Northampton_
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.)