Exploring Western Massachusetts

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Things To Do In Western Massachusetts

There is always something fun going on in Western Massachusetts! Use the handy index to find a specific activity or just scroll down the page and browse them all! ~ Updated July 10, 2013 ~

Index:

Amusement Parks
Arts & Culture

Distant Daytrip Destinations

Shopping

Sports

Zoos, etc.

Fairs and Festivals in Western Massachusetts, 2012:
http://explorewmass.blogspot.com/2010/08/fairs-and-festivals-in-western.html

A M U S E M E N T P A R K S

Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort & Adventure Park
37 Corey Road
Hancock, Massachusetts
(413) 738-5500

"Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort is the largest ski and snowboard resort in southern New England, summer home to Mountain Adventure Park and the only mountain resort in North America to generate its own energy using alternative wind power." ~ From the Jiminy Peak web site.

http://www.jiminypeak.com/accounts/69/homepage/
Six Flags New England
1623 Main Street
Agawam, Massachusetts 01001
(413) 786-9300

"From thrilling rides to world-class entertainment, Six Flags New England has it all." ~ From the Six Flags web site.

http://www.sixflags.com/newEngland/index.aspx

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A R T S & C U L T U R E

A R E N A S

MassMutual Center: Springfield
1277 Main Street
Springfield, Massachusetts 01103
(413) 787-6610

"When re-opened under the new name, the MassMutual Center (MMC) represents a major physical expansion and "elevation of services" of the original Springfield Civic Center building (SCC), which opened in 1972." ~ From the MMC web site.

http://www.massmutualcenter.com
Mullins Center at UMass-Amherst
200 Commonwealth Avenue
Amherst, Massachusetts 01003
(413) 545-3001

"The William D. Mullins Memorial Center sits on Commonwealth Avenue on the western edge of the UMass campus. Overlooking the outdoor playing fields and offering a wide vista of the Hadley Hills and the Holyoke Range..." ~ From the Mullins Center web site.

http://www.mullinscenter.com
Symphony Hall
34 Court Street
Springfield, Massachusetts
(413) 788-7033

"The 2,611-seat Symphony Hall is home to Broadway-style theatre, top-quality children’s programming, internationally-recognized speakers and numerous concerts and performances." ~ From the Symphony Hall web site.

http://www.symphonyhall.com

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C O M E D Y

Happier Valley Comedy Show
Arts Block Cafe
289 Main Street
Greenfield, Massachusetts
(413) 253-1399

"You need more laughter in your life. Don’t try to deny it. You know you do. So do I. We all do! Which is why the Happier Valley Comedy Show is not to be missed. On the second Saturday of every month at the Arts Block Cafe in Greenfield, we bring together incredible comedy talent to present hilarious, improvised shows in the Pioneer Valley! " ~ From the Ha-Ha Sisterhood web site.

http://www.thehahasisterhood.com/Site/Happier_Valley_Comedy_Show.html

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D A N C E

Jacob's Pillow
358 George Carter Road
Becket, Massachusetts 01223
(413) 243-9919

"The Pillow presents dance from all over the world in all forms, styles, and traditions, plus approximately 200 free events each season, including performances, lectures, tours, film showings, exhibits, and talks with artists, which result in around 83,000 visitor experiences each summer." ~ From the Pillow web site.

http://www.jacobspillow.org

G A L L E R I E S

Salmon Falls Artisans Showroom
Box 176 Ashfield Street
Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts 01370
(413) 625-9833

"Our unique setting is a restored post-and-beam grainery building called Salmon Falls Marketplace, set on a knoll overlooking the historic Bridge of Flowers and Glacial Potholes... Experience the museum-quality setting and see for yourself why everyone's excited!" ~ From the Salmon Falls web site.

http://www.joshsimpson.com/site/salmon-falls-gallery.html
The Wit Gallery
27 Church Street
Lenox, Massachusetts 01240
(413) 637-8808

"Since 1999 The Wit Gallery has been a showcase for joyful, musical, witty and thoughtful art in all media. An acronym for "Wonders In Time” The Wit Gallery focuses on art that brings a feeling of warmth and hospitality which transcends time. The Wit gallery strives to connect each individual collector to the art which will bring him/her pleasure for years to come" ~ From the Wit Gallery web site.

http://www.thewitgallery.com/

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M U S E U M S

Museums of Western Massachusetts
A list of nearly fifty local museums, including the Basketball Hall of Fame and the Mass. Museum of Contemporary Art, arranged by town.
http://explorewmass.blogspot.com/2007/03/museums-of-western-massachusetts.html

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M U S I C

Berkshire Choral Festival
Berkshire School
Route 41
Sheffield, Massachusetts 01257
(413) 229-1999 (Box Office)

"The Berkshire Choral Festival is a not-for-profit educational institution dedicated to enhancing the skills of choral singers while extending the knowledge and appreciation of choral singing and its tradition to singers and audiences." ~ From the Festival web site.

https://www.chorus.org/index.php
The Calvin Theatre and Performing Arts Center
19 King Street
Northampton, Massachusetts 01060
(413) 586-8686

http://www.iheg.com/calvin_theater_main.asp
Iron Horse Music Hall
20 Center Street
Northampton, Massachusetts 01060
(413) 584-0610

http://www.iheg.com/iron_horse_main.asp
Mohawk Trail Concerts
Federated Church
Route 2
Charlemont, Massachusetts
1-888-682-6873

"Concerts are held in the Federated Church at Charlemont, which has been fully restored and air conditioned. The Church is a warm, intimate setting with superb acoustics, located directly on the Mohawk Trail amidst beautiful countryside and a wealth of other cultural and artistic attractions." ~ From the MTC web site.

http://www.mohawktrailconcerts.org/
The Pines Theatre at Look Park
300 North Main Street
Florence, Massachusetts 01062

http://www.iheg.com/pines_theatre_main.asp
Springfield Symphony Orchestra
1350 Main Street
Springfield, Massachusetts 01103
(413) 733-2291

"The established mission of the SSO is to maintain and develop a professional symphony orchestra that produces musical performances of high artistic quality; to entertain and educate our audiences; to expand and develop our audiences; and to sponsor related programs and concerts that enhance the musical life of the region we serve." ~ From the SSO web site.

http://www.springfieldsymphony.org
Tanglewood
297 West Street
Lenox, Massachusetts 01240
(413) 637-1600

"The Boston Symphony Orchestra presents its annual Labor Day Weekend Tanglewood Jazz Festival...at the orchestra’s summer home in Lenox, Massachusetts." ~ From the Tanglewood web site.

http://www.bso.org/Performance/Listing?pageNo=0&perPage=10&brands=1182

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S U P P O R T E R S

Cultural Pittsfield
City of Pittsfield
70 Allen Street
Pittsfield, Massachusetts 01201

"Visit our Online Events Calendar for upcoming arts and cultural events." ~ From the City of Pittsfield web site.

http://www.pittsfield-ma.org/departments.asp?ID=239
In the Spotlight, Inc.

"Supporting the Arts in Western New England and Beyond." ~ From the Spotlight web site.

http://www.inthespotlightinc.org/
Northampton Center for the Arts
17 New South Street
Northampton, MA 01060
(413) 584-7327

"The Northampton Center for the Arts (NCFA) is a private, non-profit arts organization established in 1984 to promote the arts in the greater Northampton area. Located in downtown Northampton adjacent to the Academy of Music, NCFA provides low-cost exhibit and performance space for area artists and arts organizations in an elegant turn-of-the-century performance hall and two adjoining galleries. NCFA is dedicated to programming theater, music, art and dance that is culturally diverse." ~ From the NCFA web site.

http://www.nohoarts.org

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T H E A T R E

The Chester Theatre Company
15 Middlefield Road
Chester Town Hall
Chester, Massachusetts
(413) 354-7770

"The Chester Theatre Company was founded as The Miniature Theatre of Chester in 1990 by Vincent Dowling. In its early years, CTC earned a reputation for language-rich, thought-provoking plays and for new works. This tradition has blossomed under the artistic direction of Byam Stevens, an accomplished actor, director, teacher, and dramaturg. Productions originating at CTC have played Off Broadway, and have toured regionally, nationally, and internationally." ~ From the CTC web site.

http://www.chestertheatre.org/index.cfm
CityStage
1 Columbus Center
Springfield, Massachusetts 01103
(413) 788-7033

"Off-Broadway comedies, dramas and musicals are presented October through April in the intimate, 487-seat Blake Theatre; the 70-seat Winifred Arms Theatre is host to numerous community events, performances and meetings." ~ From the CityStage web site.

http://www.symphonyhall.com
Shakespeare & Company
70 Kemble Street
Lenox, Massachusetts 01240
(413) 637-3353 - Box Office
(413) 637-1199 - Main Office

"...[I]n the culturally-rich Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts in Lenox, Shakespeare & Company aspires to create a theatre of unprecedented excellence rooted in the classical ideals of inquiry, balance, and harmony; a company that performs as the Elizabethans did — in love with poetry, physical prowess, and the mysteries of the universe.." ~ From the Shakespeare & Company web site.

http://www.shakespeare.org/
Town Players of Pittsfield, Inc.
P.O. Box 765
Pittsfield, Massachusetts 01202-0765
(413) 443-9279

"Town Players was founded in 1921 and is the 2nd oldest community theater group in the country. We are dedicated to "Bring the Best of Broadway to the Berkshires". Town Players produces three major productions a season ( Fall, Winter, Spring ) and occasional Special TP Workshop Productions." ~ From the Town Players web site.

http://townplayers.org/

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D I S T A N T D A Y T R I P D E S T I N A T I O N S

C O N N E C T I C U T

Foxwoods Resort Casino
39 Norwich-Westerly Road
Ledyard, Connecticut 06339

"Foxwoods is the largest casino in the world, with 340,000 square feet of gaming space in a complex that covers 4.7 million square feet." ~ From the Foxwoods web site.

http://www.foxwoods.com/
Gillette Castle State Park
67 River Road
East Haddam, Connecticut 06423
(860) 526-2336

"It looks like a medieval fortress, but a step inside the stone castle reveals the built-in couches, table trackway, and woodcarvings that all point to the creative genius that was William Gillette." ~ From the Gillette Castle web site.

http://www.ct.gov/dep/cwp/view.asp?A=2716&Q=325204
Lake Compounce
822 Lake Avenue
Bristol, Connecticut 06010
(860)583-3300

"Welcome to Lake Compounce Family Theme Park, located in the heart of Connecticut, in nearby Bristol/Southington. We are your family's Daycation Destination! ...Check our operating schedule for hours of operation!" ~ From the Lake Compounce web site.

http://www.lakecompounce.com/
Mohegan Sun
1 Mohegan Sun Blvd
Uncasville, Connecticut 06382
(888) 226-7711

"A world at play and a world to its own, Mohegan Sun, created in 1996 by the Mohegan Tribe of Connecticut, is one of the world's most amazing destinations with some of New England's finest dining, hotel accommodations, retail shopping, live entertainment and sporting events. It is also host to the fabulous Kids Quest/Cyber Quest family entertainment facility, a luxurious day spa, convention center and meeting facility, as well as three major entertainment venues with seating from 300 to 10,000." ~ From the Mohegan Sun web site.

http://www.mohegansun.com
Mystic Aquarium & Institute for Exploration
55 Coogan Boulevard
Mystic, Connecticut 06355-1997
(860) 572-5955

"Mystic Aquarium, one of America’s leading aquariums, showcases the living collections, science and conservation work of Sea Research through exhibits, demonstrations and educational programs, emphasizing hands-on, interactive, live animal contact experiences for all ages. Hosting more than 750,000 visitors annually, the Aquarium is open year-round and is Connecticut’s largest non-casino attraction. Mystic Aquarium is one of the few in North America housing Beluga whales and other rare and remarkable sea creatures." ~ From the Mystic Aquarium web site.

http://www.mysticaquarium.org/
Old Newgate Prison & Coppermine
115 Newgate Road
East Granby, Connecticut 06026
(860) 653-3563
(Closed for restoration)

"The tunnels left behind by miners burrowing deep underground in search of copper ore became Connecticut's first prison in 1773." ~ From the New-Gate Prison web site.

http://www.ct.gov/cct/cwp/view.asp?a=2127&q=302258

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M A S S A C H U S E T T S

Battleship Cove
Five Water Street
PO Box 111
Fall River, Massachusetts 02722-0111
(800) 533-3194
(New England only) (508) 678-1100

"The world's largest collection of historic naval ships" ~ From the Battleship Cove web site.

http://www.battleshipcove.org
Southwick's Zoo
2 Southwick Street
Mendon, Massachusetts
(800) 258-9182

"The Brewer family and its staff are dedicated to the preservation and conservation of all animals. The Southwick team's mission: to provide an extensive zoological collection and educational facility for our visitors. We strive to promote an exciting environment for a positive family experience." ~ From the Southwick's Zoo web site.

http://www.southwickszoo.com/

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N E W Y O R K

Howe Caverns
255 Discovery Drive
Howes Cave, New York 12092
(518) 296-8900

"Howe Caverns offers guided cavern tours every day of the year except Thanksgiving and Christmas Days. Traditional Tours include a quarter-mile boat ride on the Underground Lake of Venus." ~ From the Howe Caverns web site.

http://www.howecaverns.com

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G U I D E S & P L A N N E R S

The Berkshire Visitors Bureau
Discover the Berkshires Visitor Center
3 Hoosac Street
Adams, Massachusetts 01220
(413) 743-4500 or 800-237-5747

http://www.berkshires.org
Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau
1441 Main Street
Springfield, Massachusetts 01103
(413) 787-1548 or 800-723-1548

"With everything from fantastic attractions to fascinating arts and entertainment, outstanding outdoor recreation and great shopping - the Pioneer Valley is the place to be!" ~ From the CVB web site.

http://www.valleyvisitor.com
Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism
10 Park Plaza Suite 4510
Boston, Massachusetts 02116
(617) 973-8500 or 800-227-MASS

http://massvacation.com
The Mohawk Trail Association
North Adams, Massachusetts 01247
info@mohawktrail.com

"Blaze the Highway of History and discover the wonderful world of adventure waiting for you in the four season vacation land along the Mohawk Trail." ~ From the Association web site.

http://www.mohawktrail.com

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H I S T O R I C V I L L A G E S

Hancock Shaker Village
1843 W. Housatonic St.
Pittsfield, Massachusetts 01201
(800) 817-1137

"This beautifully restored village, set amongst acres of farm, woodland and pasture, is home to the premier collection of Shaker buildings and artifacts. Graceful Shaker furniture, craft and household items are exhibited in 20 historic buildings, each an architectural gem. The Round Stone Barn, most famous of all Shaker buildings, is a testament to Shaker efficiency, innovation and design." ~ From the Hancock Shaker Village web site.

http://www.hancockshakervillage.org/
Historic Deerfield
80 Old Main Street
Deerfield, Massachusetts 01342
(413) 775-7214

"Historic Deerfield was incorporated in 1952 to sustain the work of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Flynt of Greenwich, Connecticut. In 1936, the Flynts enrolled their son at Deerfield Academy, a nationally-known college preparatory school founded in 1797, located in the center of Deerfield, Massachusetts. With the encouragement of Deerfield Academy’s headmaster, Frank Boyden, they began to purchase and restore the old houses along The Street to carefully restore them. Today, 11 historic houses and the Flynt Center of Early New England Life display collections of more than 25,000 objects made or used in America between 1650 and 1850." ~ From the Historic Deerfield web site.

http://www.historic-deerfield.org/
Old Sturbridge Village
1 Old Sturbridge Village Road
Sturbridge, Massachusetts 01566
(800) 733-1830

"Old Sturbridge Village is one of the country’s oldest and largest living history museums, depicting early New England life from 1790-1840 with historians in costume, antique buildings, water-powered mills, and a working farm. Visitors can view antiques, meet heritage breed animals, and enjoy hands-on crafts. The Village is open year-round, but hours change seasonally." ~ From the Old Sturbridge Village web site.

http://www.osv.org/
Storrowton Village
Eastern States Exposition Grounds
1305 Memorial Avenue
West Springfield, Massachusetts 01089
(413) 737-2443

"Storrowton Village Museum is an authentic, recreated village of nine 18th and 19th century buildings from Massachusetts and New Hampshire, assembled around a traditional town green. We offer living history programs and events to acquaint audiences of all ages to New England life in bygone days" ~ From the Storrowton Village web site.

http://www.thebige.com/sv/

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K I D S ' S T U F F

Big Adventures: The Family Fun Center
The Mill at Crane Pond
77 Mill Street
Westfield, Massachusetts 01085
(413) 562-6146
"We are a family-owned business providing a fun, safe place for kids and families to come and enjoy themselves." ~ From the Big Adventures web site.

http://www.bigfamilyadventure.com
Great Falls Discovery Center
2 Avenue A
Turners Falls, Massachusetts 01376
(413) 863-3221

"Visit the Great Falls Discovery Center and learn about the Connecticut River Watershed's rich natural, cultural and industrial history. The Center is fully accessible and is housed within a complex of old mill buildings and includes open habitat exhibits, fish tanks, and a multipurpose program room. The four-acre park that surrounds The Center has butterfly gardens, native plantings views of the canal and river as well as safe play areas. This park is linked to a railtrail that runs from Turners Falls to Deerfield, a walking tour through downtown Turners Falls, and the watchable wildlife areas of Barton's cove and along the canal." ~ From the Discovery Center's web site.

http://greatfallsdiscoverycenter.org/
The Holyoke Merry-Go-Round
Heritage State Park
221 Appleton Street
Holyoke, Massachusetts 01040
(413) 538-9838

"Welcome to the Holyoke Merry-Go-Round, located in historic Holyoke, Massachusetts, alongside the Heritage Park Visitor's Center, Children's Museum and Volleyball Hall of Fame. Our 1929 merry-go-round and pavilion is the perfect place for family fun, whether you're planning a birthday party, a business social or even dreaming of a special place to get married." ~ From the Holyoke Merry-Go-Round web site.

http://www.holyokemerrygoround.org/
Westfield-Southwick Macaroni Kid
"Macaroni Kid and its family of Publisher Moms are dedicated to delivering the scoop on all the family-friendly events and activities happening in their communities each week." ~ From the Macaroni Kid website.

http://www.westfieldsouthwick.macaronikid.com/

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O U T D O O R S

A D V E N T U R E

Berkshire East Canopy Tours
66 Thunder Mountain Road
Charlemont. Massachusetts 01339
(413) 339-6617

"Berkshire East Canopy Tours are Western Massachusetts best new summer activity. Race your friends down the mountain top of Berkshire East Ski Area and prepare yourself to fly down 850 feet of 1/2" cable, 150 feet in the air at speeds up to thirty miles an hour." ~ From the Berkshire East web site.

http://www.berkshireeast.com/
Crabapple Whitewater Rafting
2056 Mohawk Trail
Charlemont, Massachusetts 01339
(800) 553-7238

"In the northern Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, Crab Apple Whitewater is pleased to bring you five different white water rafting adventures. River rafting trips range from mild to WILD, full or half-day. From beginners to more experienced rafters, our family will enjoy taking your family, group or organization down these beautiful rivers. Come see us this season!" ~ From the Crabapple web site.

http://www.crabapplewhitewater.com/massachusetts
Deerfield Valley Canopy Tours
7 Main Street (Office)
Charlemont, Massachusetts 01339
(800) 532-7483

"Try Zoar Outdoor’s newest adventure on a Deerfield Valley Canopy Tour in Charlemont Massachusetts. Our 3-hour-long zip line canopy tour leads adventurers on an aerial trek through the woods by means of zip lines and sky bridges suspended in the trees in the northern Berkshires and connected through platforms that sit high above the forest floor." ~ From the Canopy Tours web site.

http://deerfieldzipline.com
Moxie Outdoor Adventures
1 Thunder Road
Charlemont, Massachusetts 01339
(800) 866-6943

"Enjoy White water rafting in Massachusetts on the Deerfield River as it flows through the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains in western Massachusetts." ~ From the Moxie Outdoor Adventures web site.

http://moxierafting.com
Zoar Outdoor River Rafting
7 Main Street
Charlemont, Massachusetts 01339
(800) 532-7483

"We create experiences that enhance the lives of our guests, our staff and our community through exposing people to the best human-powered outdoor adventures available. We strive to be leaders in the field of outdoor adventure through constantly rethinking and improving our programs." ~ From the Zoar Outdoor web site.

http://www.zoaroutdoor.com/drguide.htm

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D I N O S A U R T R A C K S

Dinosaur Footprints - Holyoke
Route 5
Holyoke, Massachusetts
(413) 684-0148

"Dinosaur footprints, fossilized plants, and delicate ripple marks of a prehistoric pool are preserved in stone at this reservation near the west bank of the Connecticut River." ~ The Trustees of Reservations.

http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to-visit/pioneer-valley/dinosaur-footprints.html
Nash Dinosaur Track Quarry and Rock Shop
Route 116 - Amherst Road
South Hadley, Massachusetts 01075
(413) 467-9566

"Located just one mile from where the very first dinosaur track was found, Nash Dinosaur Track Quarry and Rock Shop has been welcoming visitors since 1939." ~ From the Nash Dinosaur Track Quarry web site.

http://nashdinosaurtracks.com/index.html

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F A R M S

Agri-Tourism Farms
Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources
251 Causeway Street, Suite 500
Boston, Massachusetts 02114
(617) 626-1700

"Whether you are driving past beautiful vistas throughout Massachusetts or enjoying day at our majestic seacoast, be sure your itinerary includes a stop at one of the many agri-tourism destinations along the way. We are very proud of the over 250 farm attractions open to the public offering interesting and educational activities that will create memorable experiences." ~ From the MDAR web site.

http://www.mass.gov/agr/massgrown/agritourism_farms.htm
Ioka Valley Farm
Route 43
P. O. Box 1045
Hancock, Massachusetts 01237
(413) 738-5915

"Welcome to Ioka Valley Farm home to natural, hormone free beef, outstanding sweet strawberries, perfect pumpkins & squash, fragrant, real Christmas trees, contented farm animals, pure maple syrup, and specialty maple products. Ioka Valley Farm is a diversified, family owned and operated working farm dedicated to providing high quality locally grown products as well as enjoyment for all ages." ~ From the Ioka Valley Farm web site.

http://iokavalleyfarm.com/
Massachusetts Maple Producers Association
(413) 628-3912

"...visit...members' sugar houses. All welcome visitors when they are boiling and offer pure maple syrup for sale." ~ From the MMPA web site.

http://www.massmaple.org
Mike's Maze at Warner Farm

http://www.mikesmaze.com/index.html

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G A R D E N S

The Botanic Garden of Smith College
15 College Lane

Northampton, MA 01063
(413) 585-2740

"Today, the Botanic Garden includes thousands of plants, of course, and not just those grown under glass in the Lyman Conservatory or outdoors in various not-so-secret gardens. After all, Smith's 150-acre campus--our landscape for learning--is an arboretum, in other words, a living museum of plants. There is also a collection of dried plants. There are 60,000 pressed specimens available for research in the Herbarium." ~ From the Smith Botanic Garden web site.

http://www.smith.edu/garden/home.html
The Bridge of Flowers
Village Information Center
75 Bridge Street
Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts
"Every year visitors from around the world stroll across the Bridge of Flowers and enjoy the beauty of this unusual garden - the only one of its kind in the world." ~ From the Shelburne Falls web site.

http://www.shelburnefalls.com/
Grandmothers' Garden
Smith Avenue
The Friends of Grandmothers’ Garden
PO Box 1432
Westfield, Massachusetts 01086

"A beautiful experience" ~ From the Grandmothers' Garden web site.

http://www.grandmothersgarden.org/

L O C A L P A R K S

Forest Park
Sumner Avenue
Springfield, Massachusetts

Forest Park Zoo

http://www.forestparkzoo.com

Bright Nights at Forest Park
http://www.brightnights.org

Other Springfield Parks...

http://www.springfieldcityhall.com/Park
Housatonic River Walk
Great Barrington Land Conservancy
P. O. Box 1018
Great Barrington, Massachusetts 01230
Contact Rachel Fletcher (413) 528-3391

"River Walk is a greenway trail along the Housatonic River in the downtown center of Great Barrington, Massachusetts, where 2200 citizen volunteers are working to reclaim the beauty of a 'working river' abused by years of industrial waste and neglect." ~ From the River Walk web site.

http://www.gbriverwalk.org/
Look Memorial Park
300 North Main Street
Florence, Massachusetts 01062
(413) 584-5457

"Look Park is located on the Berkshire Trail (Route 9) in the Florence section of Northampton, Massachusetts, in the heart of the Pioneer Valley." ~ From the park web site.

http://www.lookpark.org
Stanley Park
400 Western Avenue
Westfield, Massachusetts 01085
(413) 568-9312

"Stanley Park is pleased to offer, free to the public, numerous educational, cultural and entertainment venues. Stanley Park also provides boundless access to both passive and active recreational opportunities." ~ From the park web site.

http://www.stanleypark.org

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S T A T E P A R K S

Natural Bridge State Park
McCauley Road, off Rte. 8
P.O. Box 1757
North Adams, Massachusetts 01247
(413) 663-6392 (413)
663-8469 (off-season)

"Discover a geologic wonder at this 48 acre park. Examine the only naturally formed white marble arch and man-made white marble dam in North America, and tour an abandoned marble quarry." ~ From the DCR web site.

http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/western/nbdg.htm
State Parks in Western Mass.
Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR)
251 Causeway Street, Suite 600
Boston, Massachusetts 02114-2104
(617) 626-1250

http://www.mass.gov/dcr/recreate/hiking.htm
Trail Maps of State Parks

"The Department of Conservation and Recreation is steward of one of the largest state parks systems in the country. Its 450,000 acres is made up of forests, parks, greenways, historic sites and landscapes, seashores, lakes, ponds, reservoirs and watersheds." ~ From the DCR web site.

http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/trails.htm

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R A I L T R A I L S

Ashuwillticook Rail Trail
Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR)
Lanesborough, Cheshire, Adams, Massachusetts
(413) 442-8928 (Western Reg. HQ)

"The Ashuwillticook Rail Trail is a former railroad corridor converted into a 10-foot wide paved, universally accessible, passive recreation path. The Ashuwillticook runs parallel to Route 8 through the towns of Cheshire, Lanesborough and Adams." ~ From the DCR web site.

http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/western/asrt.htm
Norwottock Rail Trail
Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR)
Damon Rd., Northampton
(413) 586-8706 ext. 12

"The Norwottock Rail Trail is an 8.5 mile path linking Northampton, Hadley, and Amherst along the former Boston & Main Railroad right-of-way. The path's level terrain provides safe passage for pedestrians, wheelchairs, joggers, skaters, bicyclists, and cross-country skier of all ages and abilities." ~ From the DCR web site.

http://www.mass.gov/dcr/parks/central/nwrt.htm

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O T H E R F U N T H I N G S

Lady Bea River Cruises
Brunelle's Marina
1 Alvord Street
South Hadley, Massachusetts 01075
(413) 315-6342

"From Spring through the Fall, the Lady Bea departs daily for 75-minute narrated cruises at 1:00, 4:00 & 7:00 PM. These daily cruises meander up the Connecticut River from Brunelles Marina to Northampton. The pristine waters, unspoiled views, sandy beaches and unmatched history will be a truly enjoyable experience for all." ~ From the Lady Bea web site.

http://www.brunelles.com/lady-bea-river-cruise-boat/
Massachusetts Swimming Holes

"SwimmingHoles.info focuses on moving, fresh water spots - like creeks, rivers, springs and waterfalls." ~ From the Swimming Holes web site.

http://www.swimmingholes.org/ma.html
Northfield Drive-in Movie Theatre
981 Northfield Road, Route 63
Hinsdale, New Hampshire 03451
(603) 239-4054

"Join us for some good old-fashioned family fun." ~ From the Northfield Drive-in web site.

http://www.northfielddrivein.com/

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S H O P P I N G

M A L L S

Berkshire Mall
Old State Road & Route 8
Lanesborough Massachusetts 01237
(413) 445-4400

"Strategically located between US Route 7 and Route 8 in Lanesborough, Massachusetts, Berkshire Mall is the only enclosed shopping center in the county." ~ From the Mall web site.

http://www.theberkshiremall.com
Eastfield Mall
1655 Boston Road
Springfield, Massachusetts 01129
(413) 543-8000

"75 retailers...International food court...16-screen cinemas...2 full-service restaurants... Registry of Motor Vehicles...Do it all at Eastfield Mall!" ~ From the Mall web site.

http://www.eastfieldmall.com
Hampshire Mall
367 Russell Street
Hadley, Massachusetts 01035
(413) 586-5700

"Situated in the heart of one of the highest concentrations of student populations in the Northeast, Hampshire Mall draws visitors from all parts of Western Massachusetts and Western New England, including the "knowledge corridor" of Springfield and Hartford." ~ From the Mall web site.

http://www.hampshiremall.com
Holyoke Mall at Ingleside
50 Holyoke Street
Holyoke, Massachusetts 01040
(413) 536-1440

"At Holyoke Mall you'll find an impressive selection of retail stores, services and restaurants to make your shopping experience a truly exceptional one!" ~ From the Mall web site.

http://www.holyokemall.com

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O U T L E T S

Prime Outlets - Lee
50 Water Street, Route 20
East Lee , Massachusetts 01238
(413) 243-8186

"Prime Outlets - Lee is located in the heart of the Berkshires...Many tourists find that Lee is a perfect place to stop and shop." ~ From the Prime Outlets web site.

http://www.primeoutlets.com

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R E T A I L A T T R A C T I O N S

Granville Country Store
Jct. Routes 57 & 189
Granville, Massachusetts
(413) 357 - 8555 (orders)

"Home of Cellar Aged Cheddar Cheese." ~ From the Country Store web site.

http://granville.stores.yahoo.net/index.html
Williamsburg General Store
12 Main Street
Williamsburg, Massachusetts 01096-0757
(413) 268-3036

"...an incredible collection of gifts and accessories. We think you'll enjoy the experience and come away with a little piece of olde New England." ~ From the General Store web site.

http://www.wgstore.com/
Yankee Candle Village
25 Greenfield Road
South Deerfield, Massachusetts 01373
(877) 636-7707

"Discover an unbelievable mix of shopping, entertainment and dining. And every visit is an exciting adventure because there's always something new!" ~ From the Yankee Candle web site.

http://www.yankeecandle.com

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S P O R T S

L O C A L T E A M S

Holyoke Blue Sox Baseball
500 Beech Street
Holyoke, Massachusetts 01040-2202

http://www.holyokesox.com/site/
Springfield Armor - NBA Development League
The MassMutual Center: Official Site of Springfield Armor Home Games
1277 Main Street
Springfield, MA 01103-1901

http://www.nba.com/dleague/springfield/
Springfield Falcons Hockey (AHL)
45 Falcons Way
Springfield, Massachusetts 01103
(413) 739-3344

"Black and blue hockey since 1936" ~ From the Falcons web site.

http://www.falconsahl.com/
Westfield Wheelmen Vintage Base Ball Club
Westfield, Massachusetts
dl.genovese@verizon.net

"2008 Western Division Champions New England Vintage Base Ball League." ~ From the WWVBBC web site.

http://wwvbbc.tripod.com/index.html

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P A R T I C I P A T O R Y

The Blandford Club - Golf & Tennis
North Street
Blandford, Massachusetts
(413) 848-2443

"Founded 100 years ago, this historic golf and tennis club is perfectly right for today's active families." ~ From the Blandford Club's web site.

http://massgolftennis.com/

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R A C I N G

Southwick Motocross 338
46 Powder Mill Road (American Legion Post 338)
Southwick, Massachusetts 01077
(413) 569-6801

"'The Southwick Motocross 338 track is approx. 1 1⁄4 mile in length on 28 acres owned by the American Legion Post 338.' '...Motocross since 1972.'" ~ From the Motocross 338 web site.

http://www.motocross338.org/home

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Z O O S, E T C.

Lupazoo
545 West Street
Ludlow, Massachusetts 01056
(413) 589-9883

"Lupazoo is a conservation and education institution demonstrating the value, beauty and interdependence of all living things." ~ From the Lupazoo web site.

http://www.lupazoo.org
Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory & Gardens
281 Greenfield Road
South Deerfield, Massachusetts 01373
(413) 665-2805

"Magic Wings Butterfly Conservatory & Gardens, opened in October of 2000, consists of an 18,400-square foot facility that includes a 8,000-sq. ft. glass conservatory filled with butterflies, moths and tropical vegetation." ~ From the Magic Wings web site.

http://www.magicwings.com/index.php
The Zoo in Forest Park
Sumner Avenue
Springfield, Massachusetts 01138

"The Zoo in Forest Park is a non-profit organization governed by the Forest Park Zoological Society. Situated in Forest Park, a 735 acre woodland park in Springfield, the Zoo features exotic and indigenous animals representing a large variety of species found throughout the world and in North America." ~ From the Zoo web site.

http://www.forestparkzoo.org/index.asp

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Saturday, June 9, 2007

Photos: Western Mass. Sky

Dawn in the Valley

Beauty Soars

Holiday Sky

Squirrelhouette

Clouds, Color & Coolness

Illumination

Monday, May 28, 2007

A-10s from the 104th Fighter Wing joined Westfield's Memorial Day commemoration, swooping in low over the city several times during this morning's parade, to the enjoyment of the proud townspeople, who have hosted the Air National Guard base near Barnes Airport for decades. The F-15 jet will more than likely be the flyover bird of choice next year, as plans fall into place for it to replace the A-10s,which are expected to be gone from the ANG base by October.

More at EWM: Photo: A-10s Over Springfield.

As always, thanks for stopping by and take care.

Photo: A-10s Over Springfield

A-10 Warthogs soaring over Springfield, Massachusetts.

More from EWM: Photos: A-10s Over Westfield

My Cousin Billy

In my parents' house, in the den, there was a box of photographs unsorted.

Big families with cameras always have one.

I loved the smell of the old images. Now I know that the smell is actually a sign that the chemicals in the pictures are becoming unstable and breaking down.

Literally fading away.

One image that will never fade for me is of my cousin Billy.

He will always be a fresh-faced blond kid of 9 or 10 smiling back at the camera to me from the wallet-sized school photo in the box.

I was looking through the pictures one day with one of my older brothers when we came across the picture of cousin Billy. We were at the age of giggles, when everything was funny first and figured out later.

Younger than Billy was in the picture.

But his ears. What kid wouldn't have laughed? Heck, they were big.

Of course, in those days of crew cuts, which all boys had, all of our ears looked big. We just didn't know it.

So we laughed.

We were still laughing when we found our father to ask him who the kid with the big ears was.

I handed him the picture and he changed color. From white to gray to red.

"That's your cousin Billy. He died in Vietnam. Don't ever laugh at him again."

We knew what Vietnam was. All kids did.

It was war. And we wanted to go when we were old enough.

And here was our cousin Billy, a kid in a picture who looked an awful lot like us, gone to war alive like us and come back dead like something we couldn't comprehend yet.

We had no basis to judge death. This was our first taste.

And we had laughed.

There was no way to take it back. I remember hoping cousin Billy wasn't mad at us in heaven.

Surely he had seen.

The photo got tucked back in the box and the box put away in its spot and that was the end of looking through the photographs for that day.

But the image and incident were burned into my mind.

To me, my cousin Billy was and still is a hero. A bona fide war hero in my very own family.

And I had betrayed my unworthiness of his sacrifice with my quick laughter and the ease with which I had judged him by his appearance: "Look at the goofy kid."

It sounds silly, but I feel guilty for laughing to this day.

I was not alone, though.

In March of 1970, when Billy died, many Americans who should have known better were betraying their unworthiness here in the States while our men and women in uniform were dying far away in places like Thua Thien.

In the name of peace, anti-war activists assaulted returning GIs physically and verbally. Some, like Jane Fonda, became out and out Communist sympathizers and tools.

Most of those who served in Vietnam were drafted. They didn't run. They did what was right and what was honorable, which is to answer the country's call to service.

Like my cousin Billy.

And those who came home walking and those who came home as a memory deserved a hell of a lot more from America than they were ever given.

They still do.

When my boys were growing up, they learned about Billy. And my aunt Mary Lou, who served courageously as a nurse in Vietnam during the Tet offensive. And their grandpa Paul, a Marine who fought in the Korean conflict.

I told them about their great-uncle Bill, Billy's father, who brought the Alamed name into World War II with his answer to the call to duty. And their great-grandpas Ray and Thurber, also World War II veterans.

And my boys learned to respect those men and women of honor who choose to promise our safety and security.

My youngest son, Nathaniel, went to Washington, D.C. on a field trip in junior-high school.

It was important for him to go to the Wall, the Vietnam Memorial, to see Billy's name.

Row 102, Panel 13 West. William Robert Alamed, Jr.

When he came home, he had a difficult time talking about it.

We had seen the 'Moving Wall' exhibit in Springfield, Mass., which is a smaller re-creation of the permanent memorial. But this was different, he said.

Nathaniel joined the Navy midway through his senior year of high school. He shipped out a month after he graduated.

He didn't tell me he was going to sign up. He just did.

He had to.

Poem: In Flanders Fields

In Flanders Fields
By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

IN FLANDERS FIELDS the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Sunday, May 27, 2007

Poem: 'Morning Meditation'

Morning Meditation

I treasure the early mornings I spend alone,
Family abed, I listen quietly
To the sound of their slumber:
One stirs, another coughs.

Outside, city birds sing
Inside concrete valleys, atop aluminum trees.
My dawn thoughts wander aimlessly,
No rush or commotion, commitments or appointments.

Comfortable, snail's paced images and ideas
Stroll through my rested attic.
I sip my coffee and think how lucky I am
To have a family that sleeps late

And a mind that rises early.

--MTA

'Springfield Present and Prospective, The Visible Charm, As It Was, Is, and May Be' (Pond & Campbell, 1905)

Title/contents page

I. Looking Backward

1. Nature's Legacy

Some cities are born beautiful, like Naples, some achieve beauty, like Washington, and some have beauty thrust upon them, like St. Petersburg, which would have been a great dismal swamp today but for the stubborn will of the first great autocrat of Russia.

If Springfield is not already one of the most beautiful cities in America, it is not for lack of noble birth, for it was beautifully born. Conceived in sunshine and brought forth in verdure, the little old house on the west side of the river, which two and a half centuries ago was the germ of the present city, a helpless, solitary infant, resting on the bare but nourishing bosom of mother Earth and rocked in the cradle of the fertile valley, was even then surrounded by rare and wonderful charms.

Sweeping and swinging between bluffs and forests, the clear water of the river mirrored brilliant pictures of the clouds above, of the graceful elms along its banks, and likewise of Indians, squaws and little papooses who had never heard of 'civic centers of municipal art' nor of scientific public sanitation, but by unerring instinct, selected for their mundane hunting grounds the spots where the grass was the greenest, the water the purest, the trees the most stately and sturdy. Then as now there were mountains round about, which gave a sense of permanency and solemn grandeur without which it is almost impossible to be deeply conscious of a well-established local habitation. We need these lofty barriers, not to mark the visual line that girts us round as the world's extreme and shut us in from the outer universe like Rasselas in his Happy Valley, but as our dwellings must have solid walls and sheltering roofs to localize and intensify the love of home. Domestic life even in frozen, barren Scandinavia is far superior to that of the fleeting Arabs on their level plains.

Here the sun sends down his morning salutation from over the Wilbraham hills and we lift our eyes for his evening benediction to the Green mountain peaks that have tumbled out of Vermont across Berkshire and Western Hampden; while at the north, craggy, crumbling Mount Tom, gray and hoary, but capped by giddy games and crowned with gilded coronet, like a too complaisant Cyclops, still lies between us and the wintry winds that rend his northern side but lose their sharpest sting before descending the southern slope.

Whether we climb to the top of the four-square arsenal tower, grim type and reminder of the 'power that fills the world with terror,' or seek the lofty but narrow point of view that for nearly a century has crowned Mount Orthodox across the river, steadfast, heaven-pointing emblem of the divine gospel of peace, our first emotion is that of surprise; our first impression that a veritable miracle has been wrought and, not all the kingdoms of the earth, indeed, but a measureless map of marvelous beauty has been suddenly unrolled at our feet. Seen from the streets of our city, from the bluffs on either side or from the cars that bind us to the rest of the world, neither the arsenal tower nor the spire of the West Springfield church appears to rise conspicuously above the surrounding landscape, but standing on or near their summits we seem to be lifted above the earth into the regions of the upper air.

After the first surprise at the extent and beauty of the view, the next thought is of wonder and self-reproach, that all our lives, perhaps, we, dullards that we are, have been living and moving in the midst of this delightful environment, oblivious or indifferent to the rarest charms of Nature, the richest combination of river and sky, bluffs and meadows, forests and mountains, too grand and gracious to be permanently defaced even by our clumsiest mistakes. Beyond question it was a goodly heritage, and Springfield must be counted among the cities that were born beautiful.

But these unadorned natural charms like those of infancy and childhood were doomed to suffer changes. The experimental and erratic methods of civilization soon compelled our eager ancestors to assail this perfect picture of Nature's faultless fashioning, and into the midst of her irreproachable work, where use and beauty are never at a variance, to introduce their own bald utilities with little thought beyond the stern necessities of each day and generation. There must be graded roads in place of the blazed and winding trails; bridges above the treacherous fords. Simple cottages and stately mansions with gardens and cultivated fields established themselves where wigwams and huts had hidden in the forest glades. The silent canoe disappeared before the screech of the locomotive, the flashing trolley and the puffing steamer. There must be room for public squares and parks; monuments and statues for our heroes, jails and gallows yards for our criminals. The thick black breath of chimneys darkens the sky which the thin smoke of the aboriginal domestic altars never reached. Huge factories and business blocks make narrow canyons of the old forest aisles. There are churches and saloons, police courts and labor unions, trusts and telephones, armories and schools. All of these with innumerable additions and variations determine and display the external life, the outside picture of the City of Springfield. And each and every one of these features, large and small, forms a thread, dark or light, a band of color, a conspicuous and beautiful decoration, or an uncouth disfigurement on the web we have woven and shall keep weaving as successive generations rise and fall, while the city which never grows old, but, humanly speaking, lives forever, becomes larger and more beautiful every year.

2. From Center to Circumference

Doubtless the most conspicuous element of natural beauty in Springfield is the river; while the most essential and permanent characteristic of the city's material development is the manner in which its growth has been adapted to the almost faultless site. Unlike St. Petersburg, many a western town and some nearer home, it has not been necessary to remove mountains of rock or sand, either by faith or dynamite; to fill up marshes and bogs that Nature evidently intended for saurians and other croakers; nor to build dykes to keep out the aggressive ocean - not to any great extent. Almost from the first, the streets and thoroughfares, whether for residence or business, have followed the lines of the least resistance. Not the traditional meandering cattle paths of Boston, but the slightly and gracefully devious ways which an ardent lover or a guest sure of his welcome would naturally follow to reach the end of his journey, in the good old days when safe and swift arrival was not the only charm of travel.

The intersection of two main lines of travel, virtually at right angles, gave from the first an advantage not only in convenience of traffic and travel, but in the way of aesthetic possibilities which could hardly have existed under other conditions. One of these lines loosely paralleled the river, as in so many old New England towns and villages, and constituted in its earlier years the main axis and substance of the settlement, with farms and holdings on the west side, running back to the river which formed their rear boundary. The other thoroughfare gradually evolved from the eastward trail, encountered Main street near State and crossed it in a somewhat irregular fashion, proceeding over the river and the old West Springfield common. Eastward and westward these lines of travel stretched out across the country over bluffs and plains into the narrow, crooked valleys through which the smaller tributaries find their way to the large river. It hardly need be said that in this discussion of Springfield, both sides of the river are included and whatever we choose to claim toward the north and south.

A city by the sea unless it encircles the head of the bay is one-sided, and the same is true of those that are confined to either side of a large river, or barricaded at the back by inaccessible mountains. Like men of genius such cities command the greatest admiration for their preeminent merit - for instance, nothing can be finer than the magnificent setting of Holyoke against the southern side of Mount Tom - but they lack the broader and far more enduring charms of all-round excellence. This latter quality Springfield possesses in a marked and literal degree. Whether we take the wings of the morning and fly to Indian Orchard, Chicopee Falls and Ludlow, or dwell in the uttermost parts of Tatham, we can walk beside still waters and lie down in green pastures, as well as in fertile meadows and cornfields. Everywhere there are pleasant walks, and the state roads are good for man, beast, and automobile. If all our suburban highways and so-called roads were perfect, there would be nothing for future generations to accomplish, or give to the present generation that wholesome dissatisfaction which is the necessary precursor and incentive to improvement.

It seems to have followed naturally from the conditions of the birth and subsequent growth of the city, that the obvious civic center has scarcely changed its geographical location. The centrifugal forces have been almost equally strong in every direction. Ward One, Forest Park, the Hill, and West Springfield - north, south, east and west - who shall say which is the most delightful suburb?

As in the old New England towns, almost without exception, the first church erected was the point from which all things emanated, toward which all things tended, and around which everything revolved. It not only dominated the green turf in front, and the sometimes dreary burial ground behind, or at one side, but it set the pace for all other local affairs, social, political and educational as well as religious. It has not always happened, however, as here, that this ethical and business center has remained the visible aesthetic center. And although but a comparatively small part of our best architectural growth has been adjacent to Court square, and other churches have shared the burdens and responsibilities of directing our temporal as well as spiritual concerns, the characteristic, though by no means ornate, or altogether graceful, spire of the First church remains, as regards locality, the civic center of gravity. A skeleton map of the situation as it is today is fairly represented by the foregoing sketch.

It is obvious at a single glance how much greater are the opportunities for a beautiful city with such a ground plan than if it were helplessly constrained to the lines and the squares of a chess board. By filling the spaces between these variously curved diverging streets with small parallelograms a very complete map of the city would be produced, and it is easy to see that if all the main thoroughfares were straight and intersected each other at right angles, the chief charm of the plan would be lost. The natural point for minor public squares and open spaces is at the junction of these larger avenues, and many such already exist, so that from whatever quarter or direction we approach the center of the city, we encounter these ornamental oases.

The general picturesqueness is still farther enhanced by the uneven surface of the site which, of course, does not appear on the map. There are constant surprises in the way of charming vistas, either looking down across the valley or up toward the woody heights of the bluffs, that are not found in cities where all things are doomed to remain on the dead level. It is no wonder that the ancient Egyptians found their greatest enjoyment in building pyramids, and the Babylonians hung their gardens high in the air. We all like something to look up to and to look down upon.

Whether the attractiveness of the city's plan is thought to be due to happy chance, to the foresight of those who accidentally, or otherwise, determined the course of the principal highways of travel and trade, or to that overruling Providence which compels men to build better than they know, it is evident that the result is most excellent. So excellent, in fact, that we may seriously question whether the larger matters of business traffic and actual convenience, as well as of ultimate landscape architectural effect, could have been more wisely arranged if the genius of L'Enfant himself, instead of the domestic, commercial and social needs of our ancestors, had determined the first outline sketch of the city and its environment. By this irregular plan, small parks and open spaces are easily established without large outlay or sacrifice of public convenience. Trees, turf and flowers give an almost rural appearance even close to the very center, and render possible that dignified and sympathetic union of landscape and structural architecture which constitutes the most refined and exalted expression of civic aesthetics. Beauty in buildings alone is cold and costly; landscape without architectural embellishment belongs to rural life. The wise combination of the two - the color and grace of tree and shrub, of leaf and flower, the music of falling water and the silver light on river and fountain, all allied and inseparably blended with the artificial structures that minister to the needs of men and accompany human activities - is and always has been the constant aim and, when achieved, the crowning glory of the noblest civic art.

II. Plan of the Ground Floor

1. The Inner Circle

Thus far the heritage and natural endowment of Springfield and the general conditions of its earlier and unstudied growth have been briefly sketched. A more detailed study of what has been done that is of lasting value and worthy to remain as an essential part of the great and beautiful city that is to be, is also interesting and impressive. A fairly comprehensive showing in the way of park and boulevard achievement is given in the accompanying maps of the parks, large and small, that already exist, with the streets, actual and possible, that join them.

Starting from Court square (in one of the perfected electric automobiles that make no noise, never kill people or frighten horses, and leave no unpleasant reminder of their progress, but are not yet on the market because the demand is so much greater than the supply), it is necessary, in the absence of the river-bank improvement, to proceed northward through what is now the most important business portion of Main street, as far as Bridge, where we may turn to the right for a moment in order to get a glimpse of St. Gauden's tortoises, beside the globe instead of under the elephants that held it in place until Columbus discovered America. Nothing could be finer than the spirit of this sometimes unappreciated public square. Maintaining itself in the business heart of the city merely as an open breathing space, it is something to be devoutly thankful for. It also affords the most obvious opportunity, even superior to Court square, for the harmonious combination of beauty and business; an opportunity that can not long remain unimproved.

Back upon Main street, and going northward, we soon arrive at the arch, a utilitarian work of great dignity and beauty, the latter not always recognized because of its simplicity. If it were in an old city of France or Italy, Baedeker would give it double stars and American tourists would love to talk of it to their friends at home. A few blocks beyond the arch we find the southern entrance to Hampden park by way of Clinton street. When we reflect that more than one-third of the population in Springfield, not to mention Chicopee and the greater part of West Springfield, lives north of the Boston and Albany railroad, the exceeding value of Hampden park as a public playground is apparent. In its way no greater calamity to the entire city could happen than for the whole of this tract of land to be given up to railroad or other business purposes. Comparing its actual with its ideal condition, it is still in what may be called a chrysalid state. Everything in and about it is crude, coarse and rough, but its form and location are such that there is hardly a limit to its capacity for furnishing rest and recreation for the thousands of people who already live within easy walking distance of it, and the tens of thousands who find it easily accessible. Tracks for races, rings for circuses, grounds for baseball and tennis, room for Fourth of July celebrations, Sunday-school picnics, wheel tournaments, river-bank promenades, lovers' walks and fireworks; canoe wharfs, yacht landings and bath-houses - for all these and more there is room on Hampden park; and the importance to the city of this plot of ground, or a considerable portion of it, for these and kindred purposes, increases every year more rapidly than the city's growth.

Directly at the north of the park and on the bank of the river is a triangular piece of land, happily belonging to the city, of which much may be expected in the future. At present it is not even in the chrysalid state, but wholly chaotic - just a bare dumping ground. Even this is by no means unsatisfactory. The conversion of a worthless piece of land, by gradual means and without cost to the city, into a beauty spot is far more to be commended than the strenuous creation of a gorgeous garden by extravagant and hurried methods.

Here, looking westward, we see the sweet fields of West Springfield beyond the swelling floods that roll under the North-end bridge. But that is a side line, and in following the inner line of the chain, of which but few links are missing, we must turn eastward by Wason avenue where, after crossing Main street, we face the wooded bluffs of Rockrimmon. This large tract belonging to the Atwater estate has been virtually an open natural park for nearly half a century. It is wholly unadorned, some portions of it primeval, in fact, and thereby all the more delightful. There is no other spot within many miles of the city where, to judge from the natural conditions, the wild fox would be more likely to dig his hole unscared, where the deep forest song birds find themselves so much at home and where, not the real copper-colored flesh-and-blood aborigines, but their pathetic ghosts, would be more likely to revisit the glimpses of the moon.

This entire tract, keeping close to the Chicopee line, is full of picturesque revelations in the immediate surroundings and in the frequent views across and up and down the valley where the broad river gleams and glistens. When the roads passing through this tract are definitely located and perfected, as they are sure to be in the future, there will be no more charming suburban drive than through this part of the encircling boulevard.

After leaving the constantly varying bluffs and deep ravines of the Rockrimmon region and turning toward the south, we pass through and across the source of the city's first great public waterworks - great at the time they were undertaken - the Van Horn reservoir, as safely as Moses and his tribe passed through the Red Sea, and in far less time, unless we stop to admire the western view across the water or to walk around the borders of the upper portions. This is , in truth, one of the rare products which seem to have been fore-ordained for other purposes than those which ostensibly called them into existence. Primarily constructed as ponds to hold water to keep the people of the city from dying of thirst - than which no purpose could commend itself more highly to the most prosaic and utilitarian citizen - if the sole object had been to find a spot for a charming park of grass and trees and shimmering water, this could not have been surpassed. What the contour of the original ponds may have been I do not know, but as soon as the water was called upon to fulfill a high and holy mission - giving drink to those who were athirst - it immediately assumed all the airs and graces of a miniature Lake Winnepesaukee. Even the islands are not wanting, and a road winding around its bank - a thoroughly good road, such as are only found in really civilized countries - would be a thing of beauty and joy forever. But this road, like the next war, is not yet "fit." The drive along Armory street passes at the corner of Carew and Armory a five-acre park with its brook, trees and deep dingle, which has been wisely acquired by the park commission for the future use of the city. Half a mile farther we traverse the viaduct across the railroad and approach the ancient and beautiful thoroughfare of State street.

Fifty years ago Springfield people were fond of telling their friends of the enthusiastic praise bestowed by Thackeray on the view from the arsenal tower and this portion of the Connecticut valley. The view is the same; the arsenal grounds are undoubtedly more beautiful and impressive now than then, and if another distinguished foreign prophet, whom we should delight to honor, could be enticed to the top of the tower, he would surely revive our forgotten local pride. These broad and well-cared-for grounds belonging to the Federal government have always been a potent factor in establishing the claims of Springfield to a special external attractiveness. As the years go by, the worth of this national park will relatively increase, and more and more will State street become famous among the beautiful avenues of large cities.

Proceeding still farther southward, we reach the Watershops pond, another link in the circumscribing boulevard, although its complete exploration involves a wide diversion from the direct line to Forest park.

The residential portions of the Forest park region and the park itself remind us of the traditional ocean views, where sea and sky blend so imperceptibly that we can scarcely tell where the one begins and the other ends. There is a similar illusion here. The greater portion of this entire suburb has a park-like appearance in its private grounds, and we constantly find parklets and "terraces" at the junctions and in the center of the wider avenues. The park itself, extending more than a mile from east to west, is every year adding to Nature's legacy of beauty, and from the real bear's den at one end to the counterfeit presentment of McKinley at the other, music itself is not more redundant of charms for all moods and fancies.

Doubtless the home run from Forest park to Court square ought to be along the river bank; but the railroad at present has the right of way and we must take the inside track until the South-end boulevard, so well begun, is completed.

This general scheme, as shown by the first of these two maps, or something closely resembling it, is almost an accomplished fact. It has been the dream of the men who have done the most for local improvement, and can only fail of complete fulfillment through a fatal attack of sinister politics on the part of the city officials, or of grievous parsimony and Philistinism on the part of the citizens. It involves no large or sudden outlay, only the gradual working toward a definite goal, and each succeeding step in the progress, if wisely taken, would unquestionably pay for itself from the purely financial point of view in the enhanced value of the real estate along the route.

2. Broader Outlooks

To pass around the circle once more, not in the electric chariot that clings to earth, but in one of the dirigible air ships that exist chiefly in the eye of faith, we shall see that the route just described is not merely a succession of arboreal and flowering parks diversified by water views and distant landscape, but an inner-urban highway much of the way, in fact a greater part of it, passing among the thickly planted and abundantly occupied homes which have given to the city its sentimental name; homes where the signs of good taste and good cheer are in constant evidence and which should be a pleasure to heart and eye even if there were not countless small parks and terraces converging wherever streets come together and where sufficient width has been taken to form parks or terraces through the center.

On this elevated excursion we can see and trace what may be called the side lines of the grand tour.

While waiting for the new bridge that will supplant the century-old wooden structure, the North-end bridge furnishes the first point of departure from the main line. When this was built it was thought to be a work of great extravagance, wholly exceeding all possible requirements and declared to be of sufficient size and strength to sustain the entire population of Hampden county - which was probably true. Indeed, it may have done so many times over, though not all at once, for it is a great thoroughfare, constituting our principal highway, not only to our beloved maiden sister across the river, but to our more distant friends and family relatives, Westfield, Tatham and Holyoke.

The nearest west-side charms, after crossing the bridge, are the old West Springfield street with its over-arching elms and verdant turf, dewy and damp even at mid-day, Shad Lane, the old common, several rods wider than Court square and originally extending from the Connecticut river on the east to the wharfs at Agawam on the west, and nobody can remember how much farther. The wharfs have disappeared, the length of the common has been curtailed, but its width remains. The "Shad Laner's Meetin' road" is also the oldest and perhaps the most beautiful river-bank drive in Hampden county, besides being the fit approach to the commanding site of the home of the Country club.

Leaving the main road again at Glenwood where the Rockrimmon tract joins the Armory road, Springfield street beguiles us through the pleasant scenery of upper Chicopee, which would be literally under the shadow of Mt. Tom if the sun should happen to rise in the north, and thence, if we choose, swerving around to the right across to Chicopee Falls and the romantic country beyond.

Still swinging eastward we find the Watershops pond, whose picturesque northern shore is already accessible and which in the future will move slowly into the midst of the metropolitan district. Sometimes there may be viaducts across the upper part of this lake, but in this imaginary flight it is easy to cross without bridges, looking down upon Forest park and sailing over the lily ponds whose incomparable beauty and gracious perfume haunt us until we reach the classic shades and bucolic charms of Longmeadow.

Whether we depend upon the time-honored but now obsolescent modes of conveyance that require the combined service of horses and wagons, saddles and bridles, oats, stables and hostlers, or move swiftly and simply by means of scientific, up-to-date locomotive mechanism, the inter-urban boulevard in its actual condition, as shown by the first map or in the completed form of the second, will be a journey of at least a dozen miles and all quite within the thickly populated limits of the city. Extending the trip through the various side lines would of course add to its extent indefinitely.

What has been said of the residential portions of the Forest park region is generally true of other parts of the city. Across the river, at the "north end," in Brightwood, in other parts of Ward One and throughout what is commonly known as the "Hill region," carefully-kept lawns, ornamental shrubbery, and small decorative parks are frequently encountered, some of them, notably Calhoun and Merrick, already possessing marked and varied beauty.

To refer very briefly to what is perhaps the most important feature of the city, the one that indicates with most emphasis the degree of intelligence and public spirit prevailing, it may be said that the construction and final finish of our streets will probably continue to be, as it always has been, a matter for controversy and experiment. Considering the relatively large area of Springfield and the rapid extension of the suburbs in all directions impartially, our streets and sidewalks are usually well graded and paved, though by no means faultless. We are, moreover, in the most hopeful and fortunate condition possible for ignorant and erring mortals; we are aware of our sins, suitably ashamed of them, and honestly trying to outgrow them. Many of the streets are models of excellence, and the public demand for clean, well-paved thoroughfares ensures a constant improvement in this respect, for whatever value we may attach to the ornamental features of a house, a home or a friend, we know that "Thou shalt not be unclean" is one of the fundamental commandments.

Washington has been called the "Parlor City" because of its chronic state of preparation for ornamental social functions. Other cities, whose names may be guessed from their supposed tastes, might be considered dining-room cities; certain others, in the opinion of their neighbors, ought to be laundries; in the great national domicile, "Library cities" are happily numerous. For Springfield, which is and always has been industrious, democratic and cosmopolitan, no better designation, derived from domestic associations, can be given than "The Living Room" - the apartment which in the steady evolution of homes combines in itself the essential and happiest qualities of the more highly specialized and exclusive apartments. Bright, cheerful and sunny, free to all well-behaved comers, unhampered by troublesome conventionalities, with room and opportunity for industry, study, recreation and social enjoyment - what the generous living-room with its hospitable hearth and ready welcome is to the private dwelling, Springfield is in the larger home of the grand old Commonwealth.

III. Architectural Garments

1. The Personal Equation in Houses

Given a well-born child, properly nourished, wisely trained, still more wisely untrained, and the odds are a great many to one that the resulting boy - or girl, as the case may be - will be strong, cheerful and intelligent, of good temper, wholesome tastes, fair to look upon, and eager to increase in size and influence. It is the same way with a city. In its earlier years it asks only for healthy nourishment and plenty of standing room. Quantity is desired rather than quality; strength ranks above skill, might above right, and license seems more admirable than law. To both child and city there comes a time when the childish order is reversed. Conventions, rules and regulations, implements of work and warfare, personal appearances, comforts and other assets enter into the problem of existence. What clothes are to a well-made man or woman, architecture, as manifested in building, is to a city; something essential to its comfort, largely indicative of its wealth and intelligence.

In a rough classification of the architecture with which we are all familiar, there may be counted domestic, commercial, municipal or public and semi-public, ecclesiastical, monumental and, perhaps, industrial, as among the conspicuous and easily distinguished varieties. They are more or less interlocking, but such a general grouping simplifies their discussion.

Real orthodox architecture in house building is rare. Most of the houses intended as homes for those who built them are far more likely each one to express the varying tastes and needs of the owner and his wife - especially of his wife, although he may not be aware of that fact or willing to acknowledge it - than to illustrate any recognized, or unrecognized, principles of the noblest of all arts. This is by no means a deplorable circumstance. What if the peculiar shapes that are chosen for the outside clothing of our homes are as varied and inconsequent as the amazing shape of feminine headgear, provided each one shelters a well-ordered domestic unit? What if they sometimes lack that sober dignity and fail to give that assurance of self-poise which ought to characterize a family whose days are expected to be long in the land? They distinctly declare that there are multitudes of good and prosperous who have the courage of their convictions and are willing to assert themselves by conspicuous and often expensive declarations of independence.

One especially fortunate condition that has saved us from much architectural barrenness in this class is the diversity and generally high character of our industrial and business activities; because owing to these we are free from great aggregations of factory boardinghouses and the monotonously bare "homes of operatives," so called, that are inevitable in towns and cities where large numbers of comparatively unskilled and often migratory laborers are employed in the manufacture of the great staples. Neither do huge blocks of expressionless tenements of the same pattern, and the Babel of towering, undomestic apartment houses overmuch abound in the "City of Homes," - thanks to the salubrious and easily-accessible suburbs. These are some of the more obvious causes that have led to the heterogeneous character of our domestic architecture.

I was about to say that the real lessons of the homes of Springfield can only be discovered by reading between the lines. Unfortunately there is little room for reading lessons or anything else between the houses - an almost universal misfortune in suburban districts everywhere. It is one of the incomprehensible and, apparently, incurable human follies that, notwithstanding enormous advantages in the way of obtaining greater space for their domiciles, men are still willing to submit to the privations and inconvenience of small lots and of uncomfortable proximity to neighbors (even good neighbors may be too near our dining-room windows) merely for the sake of saving a few minutes' time in the journey between home and business. This strange perversity can not be the result of deliberate choice, but evidently belongs to the conservatism that ignores the achievements of modern science, the inexpressibly wonderful inventions of the last half-century, and clings to the hereditary customs as monkeys cling to their tails and sheep follow their bellwether over a precipice. Forty acres and a mule may not be a practicable allowance in this part of the Connecticut valley, but viewed from a standpoint of common sense, and in the light of this electric age, it is a perilous lapse toward barbarism and, contrariwise, a lamentable encouragement of race suicide, for a man to undertake to found a family and bring up his wife and children in the way they should go, on a bit of land scarcely large enough for a cemetery lot.

But we can hardly help outgrowing these minor faults. In every direction we have attractive open country within a twenty-minute's circuit, and are not forced to imitate the less favored cities where those whose business is in one half of the city must cross the other half in order to reach their outside homes. There is improvement, too, in what we are pleased to call our domestic architecture; less of the far fetched and fanciful on one hand, less affectation of humility and rusticicity on the other, and more of self-respecting dignity. When we find that fire-proof buildings cost no more than droll freaks and ostentatious shams in wood, we shall take another step in the direction of worthy domestic architecture.

2. Commercial and Municipal

Perhaps there is no better illustration of the evolution of business architecture in the older parts of this country than in the main commercial avenue of an old New England city like Springfield. Beginning with a corner grocery, detached stores and shops gradually extended along either side of the street, with a sprinkling of dwelling-houses, the latter being sooner or later given over to business and the vacant lots filled in until the principal street presented a continuous wall of buildings, each with its own proprietor and line of business. Before the days of elevators, buildings were commonly two or three, rarely four, stories in height, and after fire ordinances prohibited the use of wood for external walls, red brick, with a mild peppering of granite or brownstone, were the most available and useful materials. These earlier business blocks might almost be classified as factories, so simple were they in design, so strictly utilitarian in character. As business prosperity increased there was a larger outlay for more expensive material and skillful workmanship without essential departure from the simpler forms. These quiet, serviceable structures making no claim to architectural display, still produce the most pleasing effect. They have something of the aristocratic dignity of old families; they are at peace with one another; naked and not ashamed.

Really fine, scholarly examples of commercial architecture are so few and far between that they tend to exaggerate by contrast the homeliness of the earlier structures, while the fantastic and sometimes frantic efforts at ornament and variety, of what may be called the transition period, where each building is indifferent, if not openly hostile, to its neighbor, only produce architectural confusion and discord. Probably merchants and architects will need to be born again several times over before either will voluntarily sacrifice contemporary popular applause and a chance for vociferous advertising, in order to educate the public taste.

As might be expected from the conditions of business prosperity and freedom from political graft, and from the general culture of the citizens, our municipal buildings are usually well adapted to their various uses, of good style and quality. Indulgence in monumental features for the sake of impressive architecture is rare. The prevailing and apparently irremovable handicap in all public work is the constant change of executive. Sometimes this occurs during the progress of important undertakings, men of different tastes, divergent judgment and, perhaps, opposite ideas as to public economy and utility, are called upon to complete work begun by others whose taste and intentions they do not approve.

Inasmuch as the average sentiment of those to whom the members of a city government feel responsible and look for their official support is never in favor of that which is absolutely the best, it follows that the highest excellence is rarely attained in municipal work. Sometime we may arrive at the dignity of a permanent board of public works that shall also be a competent board of censors. We shall also learn that temporizing for the sake of present saving is culpable waste, and that thorough, high-class, fire-proof building is the only true economy.

3. Churches, Monuments and Chimneys

Local ecclesiastical architecture is easily disposed of. There are plenty of cities in the world infested by eager tourists, sung by enamored poets, and coveted by military heroes, whose fame rests almost solely on the marvelous beauty and impressive grandeur of their churches and cathedrals. Even the buildings of state, erected by the rulers of great nations with apparent utter recklessness as to cost, are less notable on the whole than those which have been inspired by religious sentiment and devoted to its expression. It will hardly be considered unkind to say that Springfield is in no immediate danger of being ravaged by rapacious generals, preserved in ponderous poetry, or tormented by tourists, solely on account of the magnificence of her churches. Leaving out the venerable and hoary First church, which by reason of its halo of historic sentiment and hallowed associations can hardly enter the race on its architectural merits, there are four or five others that are justly entitled to admiration for their beauty; although in two or three of these it would appear that the lamp of sacrifice flickered and went out before they were completed. Aside from these, of the various buildings used for religious purposes, none rise above the commonplace. If any one of them should be destroyed, it is doubtful if it would be rebuilt in its present form solely for the sake of its architectural excellence.

Monumental architecture belongs either to some of the dead and gone golden ages, renowned for a precocious development of physical courage and intellectual refinement, or else to the tyrannical reigns of great autocrats, able to compel the unlimited resources of a kingdom, including the unrequited toil of their subjects. We have escaped the latter condition and have not yet attained the former. In our commercial age, the successful production and accumulation of material wealth makes it inevitable that the finer intellectual, aesthetic and moral qualities are often submerged under waves of financial success and business ambition. We have no time nor inclination for "Art for Art's sake;" there must also be money in it.

In combination with other structures, spires and towers are somewhat monumental in purpose, though these were originally intended for use, either as campaniles or as observatories when enemies were expected, and for hurling hot pitch and Greek fire on their heads as soon as they arrived. When to the strength and magnitude of defensive towers, grace of form and beauty of detail were added, they came to be recognized as among the most impressive examples of the builder's art, the most effective of decorative features. Seen from a distance, the simplest of strictly utilitarian structures, be-smoked and be-sooted steam chimneys, greatly improve the landscape of a city. If beauty is ever recognized as an essential element in all the work of our hands, as it will be when we are sufficiently civilized - say, for instance, as highly civilized in this direction as the Japanese - so obvious an opportunity for combining the two as exists in these great organs of respiration, will not be neglected, and every steam chimney, like every urban park and church spire, will be beautiful not only to the stockholders and the employees but to all good people in sight of it. Of course, long before that time the "smoke nuisance" will be not merely "abated" but abolished, and there will be no stain on the escutcheons, or the chimneys, of the great corporations.

From monumental to industrial architecture, by way of the chimney tops, is an easy step and highly suggestive of the close relation between the useful and the beautiful. If industrial architecture is given a shelf by itself, there are few cities that would make a more creditable showing than this city of homes and industry. The venerable buildings of the United States Armory are models of simplicity and agreeable proportions. It is undoubtedly through their silent influence that many of the more important factories in the city exhibit a thoughtful regard for careful, harmonious design.

It appears, therefore, that in modification of Nature's perfect legacy by means of architectural garments, we have not gone far astray. There is health and hope and vigor in us, and while much remains to be done, there is comparatively little that needs to be undone.

IV. Looking Forward

1. Bed Rock

In this age of science and certainty one takes large risks who ventures any other vaticination than cautious reasoning from cause to effect. "Don't never prophesy unless you know" is excellent advice, yet every man whose mind is not comatose will sometimes yield to temptation and try to describe his air castles, not always providing for them a visible means of support.

Already Springfield has a foundation whereon to rear the temple of a goodly city whose extent and abiding wealth will be limited only by the intelligence, industry and unity of its citizens. Let intelligence stand first. He would be a poor student of history and human nature who failed to see that the nobler qualities that raise one community above another are intimately related to physical beauty and the cultivated appreciation of it; who does not know that if our material work gives lasting pleasure it is because of its being the expression of high intellectual and moral qualities which it, in turn, develops and sustains. We can not be too often or too forcibly reminded that it is a crime to inflict upon a city any conspicuous work that does not embody the highest skill at our command.

Every man's house is his castle, and in the absence of a king he is at liberty to make it as appallingly ugly as he pleases - provided he has no aesthetic consciousness, or conscience, - but everything for which the city is responsible - and its responsibility should be largely extended - ought to be of such a character as to excite the admiration and respect of the intelligent citizens who help pay for it and of succeeding generations who must gaze on it indefinitely, or pay for its destruction. Surely this will require intelligence of the highest order in public officials. But the fountain does not rise higher than its source, and we cannot expect our representatives to hold loftier ideals than our own.

After intelligence there must be industry in its broadest sense; that is enterprise, public spirit, executive ability. Whether hands or heads are given the highest place, either without the other is a one-armed soldier. We may chase the devil around the stump in an endless argument only to reach the same conclusion, which is that tireless enterprise and dauntless valor are wasted unless wisdom stands at the helm; and, conversely, that the highest intelligence is like the wind that bloweth where it listeth until it has taken form in doughty deeds.

What organization is to an army, a pilot to a ship on a rock-bound coast, a goal to a race, unity of purpose is in the effort to improve a city. This implies a well-considered, generally-approved, comprehensive plan, far-reaching, disinterested as to localities, and at the same time elastic and adaptable. Without this, chaos and confusion, aesthetically speaking, will persist to the end; Springfield will not surpass but fall behind other cities, and really noble results can be reached only at long intervals and by costly sacrifice. The one great overwhelming idea of the present age, the chief outcome of all that has been accomplished in the way of human civilization since the world began, is the unity of mankind and its corollary, the obligation and necessity for concerted action. This appears in all affairs, large and small. In families, in business and educational organizations, in municipalities and in nations. We can not afford to elevate one corner of the edifice and leave the others to sink in the quicksand; no class must be lifted at the expense of another; no portion of a city be raised to the summit of luxury while the slums are still gasping in the depths of filth and unsanitary degradation.

2. What the River Asks and Gives

If an earthquake should suddenly convert Enfield dam into a second Mount Tom, reaching from Wilbraham mountains to Blandford, the river at Springfield might possibly appear to be lost in an inland sea; but barring such an interesting cataclysm it will be safe to predict that the river will always be one of our permanent assets, as it always has been our most attractive physical feature. Whatever happens to our railroads, our streets, our merchandise and our morals, the river will never cease to run through the city. It is ours to cross, ours to embellish, ours to cleanse and navigate.

As to the crossing, the days for temporizing are over. We are too rich and too wise to build bridges that must be removed, re-built, or strengthened and enlarged during the next one or two centuries. Bridges over large streams should be among the most permanent of all artificial constructions. Established thoroughfares are supremely conservative institutions. The Appian Way, which has existed for two thousand years and more, the Bay Path, and a thousand more, indicate that nothing is more tenacious of life than a public highway. When these great viaducts, in sublime defiance of Nature's primeval arrangements, turn water into dry land, paradoxically closing a gap in the surface of the earth that never can be closed, their construction becomes a performance worthy of solemn consecration, and the thing itself a fit object for pious adoration.

In most emphatic terms, a noble bridge declares the courage and skill of its builders, and there is no grander illustration of the beauty of utility than a bridge of scientific construction and scholarly design. In no other artificial construction is there so little occasion for questionable compromise between grace and convenience, between economy and strength, between daily drudgery and perennial delight. Is it likely that Springfield will neglect an opportunity that has been a century in coming? Is it likely that the county, of which Springfield is the capital, will fail to recognize the benefit sure to follow the closer union and more intimate relationship of the parts of which the county is composed?

To say that a bridge should be built across the Connecticut river in this city in the form of a broad avenue, uniting the east and west shores as closely as Main street unites State to the streets and avenues a thousand feet to the north and south, is not a fantastic speculation, a day dream - it is the plainest common sense of the equine variety. To propose anything inadequate in breadth and strength for the multitudinous traffic sure to occupy it twenty-five years hence - fifty years - a century, - is to forget the lesson of the North-end bridge and waste the public funds by temporizing. To affirm that dignity and stateliness, graceful proportions and beauty of detail are necessarily more difficult to attain than their opposites, is to betray disqualifying ignorance. Certainly the river is ours to cross. It is also ours to cleanse and embellish.

If Adam and Eve had been left in their original state of innocence and happiness, nobody appears to know exactly what would have happened to the rest of us, miserable sinners that we are - in nothing more miserable than in our occasionally graceless fashion of introducing modern improvements, and setting up the standards of half-civilized civilization on the ruins of semi-barbarous barbarism. In spoiling the heathen we have too often spoiled our own heritage. 'Squire Pynchon and Deacon Chapin, of blessed memory, found the water of the great river as sweet and clean as that of the streams that fed and feed it still - Jabish brook and Little river, the branches of the Westfield, Ware and Chicopee. Could it possibly have occurred to those shrewd and far-seeing pioneers that their enlightened descendants in this adorable valley would be obliged to spend, for drinking water alone, money enough to have bought the whole of the royal grant from Nova Scotia to New Amsterdam, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, all on account of their own short-sighted perversity? Those pioneers may be pardoned for thinking - if they thought of it at all - that the broad, flowing river would no more be damaged by the impurities that escaped from their scattered settlements than is the sea by the wrecks that are rotting in its depths. We know better. We know that we have deliberately and selfishly polluted the noble stream; that its impurity is increasing every year; that it will go on increasing until in sheer self-preservation we shall begin the reform that ought to have been begun a generation ago, and which will cost more and more every year it is delayed. To cure the evil immediately would be as impossible as to eradicate catarrhal ragweed and malarial mosquitoes in a single season; but that fact does not exonerate us if we leave it unchecked. It does not justify us in bequeathing an unclean legacy to our unborn heirs.

Neither is this an idle speculation. In many cities of our own and other countries, sewage and rivers are not invited to occupy the same bed to the utter waste of one and the hopeless ruin of the other, and so long as we continue this offensive habit we deserve to be written down as among those who strain at gnats and swallow camels.

Cleansing naturally precedes embellishment; but if each waits for the other in this case, it is to be feared that we shall remain ragged and dirty for many years. We leave the river in its filth because the banks are filthy; we leave the leprosy of the banks undisturbed because the river is unclean. Under wise business management the salvation of neither would wait for the other.

The reclamation and embellishment of the river bank will not require its exclusive use for park purposes; quite the contrary. Its embellishment should be like that of a dining-table when it is loaded with an abundance of wholesome food; of a workshop decorated with the finest tools and machinery; of a fertile farm ornamented by flocks and herds and bountiful crops. The most beautiful effects will not be produced by treating the banks as ornamental pleasure grounds. The city can not afford such an occupation, nor would it be suitable for land so central and valuable for commercial purposes. We may have plenty of serpents, but it would cost too much to make a Garden of Eden between Main street and the river. Court square and its proper treatment will be a sufficiently expensive luxury in the business section. There is plenty of room for riparian parks between Springfield and Holyoke, between Springfield and Thompsonville. This land is also too valuable for railroad uses, for steam railroads not only spoil all the land they occupy, but they depreciate the value of property for a considerable distance on either side.

Doubtless this happy marriage of use and beauty would mean, except where wharves are necessary, an esplanade with the open river on one side and business buildings fronting it on the other. The expense of constructing heavy buildings at water's edge would be great, but a protected embankment suitable for walks and drives would be simple, affording ample opportunity for decorative features next the water without loss of room valuable for building.

Inseparably connected with the development of the river bank is the question of navigation. In navigation itself, rocks are objectionable, but they make good standing ground in forecasting the future of this subject. Among these bed rocks is the stubborn fact that heavy freight can be more economically transported by floating it in water than by any known contrivance of wheels on land, or wings in the air. Another fact is well established: commercial science abhors waste as Nature abhors a vacuum. Therefore when it can be shown that moving the freight, taken to and from Holyoke and Springfield, by water instead of land will effect an annual saving equal to a profitable percentage on the cost of making the river navigable for steam or other tugs and their trailing lines of barges, then the river will be made navigable to Springfield and Holyoke. Business common sense will not long neglect so plain an opportunity to save and make money, which is just as much a duty - provided it is done honestly - as eating. So in our treatment of the river and its banks, we must anticipate wharves on both sides with suitable approaches and conveniences for the attendant work. They may not come this year, nor this decade, or generation, but we can not help thinking they are sure to come. "The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceedingly small," and they keep on grinding.

Part 3. Other Goals to Be Gained

Giving the river the first place in considering the future, there is much to be done in the way of perfecting the minor parks and increasing their number. In this department the first step, as in making a rabbit pie, is capturing the principal ingredient - first get the land. It would be a wild undertaking for the city to attempt to build at once river walls from Pecowsic to Chicopee, construct big wharves, complete the glories of Court square, build a new bridge, and fill up the waste and vacant places throughout the city with fountains and flowers, trees and statues; it would be the wisdom of Solomon himself to secure land that will sometime be available for both business and pleasure, while it is of little actual value.

It can hardly be hoped that the whole of Hampden park will be acquired for the sole use and occupancy of the public; it is not unreasonable to expect that a river-bank margin of suitable width may become part of our park system. The land north of Hampden park has been mentioned; a similar piece across West street, north of the bridge on the river bank, if skillfully treated in connection with the causeway leading up to the bridge, would make a dignified approach to this connecting link with West Springfield, and would be no more than a "retort courteous" to the charming approach from the other side. Beyond this the river bank further north might be secured while it is still unoccupied.

Leaving the river, there is much unimproved land in the Atwater estate, some of which is apparently impossible of utilization except for parks or pasturage, either at present or in the future, and this should not be omitted in plans for future development.

The land surrounding the Van Horn reservoir has been suggested as easily convertible into a pleasant pleasure ground. Whether these ponds are permanently retained as a part of our water supply or not, there would be great advantage in making them a part of our park system. And, again, the shores of the Watershops pond; it is not conceivable that any other practicable treatment of the land along this lovely body of water could add more to its commercial value than the reservation by the city for park purposes of a belt including the road , giving to building lots fronting the lake an outlook across the intervening park and water toward the east. In fact, the number and extent of the suburban parks and drives that may easily be established in the future round about Springfield is limited only by the taste and enterprise of the citizens.

Passing from these more or less ornamental features to just plain streets, one of the obvious improvements, easy enough now but growing more difficult every year, is the widening of certain portions of some of the narrower thoroughfares. Most of the buildings on minor streets, and many of those on the principal avenues, have, at most, but a few years to live, and should not be allowed to cause a permanent defect in the city. The best time to make the crooked straight is before petrifaction or ossification takes place; the next best is any time before the cost of straightening becomes prohibitive. Still more foolish is the sparing of an old tree. We have the best authority for hewing down the trees that cumber the ground, which is exactly what every tree does that stands in the way of something better.

Of still greater importance in the scientific evolution of the city's ground plan, is the extension of certain avenues which came to untimely ends before they had finished their course. We may not expect a Baron Haussman or "Boss" Shepard to drive their civic battering rams through palaces and warehouses, slums and railway stations, for the greater glory of the city, but we indulge a reasonable hope that some time a strenuous city government backed by an enlightened public sentiment will accomplish the same ends more economically though more slowly.

Fulton and Water streets, in their present divorced condition, can never fulfill their appointed mission; Dwight, that should be a broad avenue at least a mile and a half long, is incontinently barricaded by the misplaced union station; the convenience and business value of Chestnut street are seriously impaired by its steep descent into State; and for all of Ward one lying east of the Boston and Maine railroad, northward to the Chicopee line, there is no public highway to the North-end bridge above the Memorial church.

In regard to the future architecture of the city, we may be sure that its improvement will depend upon the cultivation of popular taste. Good architecture grows as slowly as fundamental Christianity, and, to continue the comparison, its shallow, obtrusive expression often attracts more attention, is more sure of admiration and imitation than the genuine article. Gradually examples of the best in architecture will find place in conspicuous portions of the city, and their quiet, persistent influence will lift us above the meretricious and commonplace. The significance of color, of harmony on a large scale, of proportion, which in architecture is like the lost chord in music, will be profoundly felt if never fully understood. The intersections of streets and the approaches to parks and bridges will be emphasized by monumental features; spires, towers and domes will exemplify the abounding resources and activity. As in the elder days of Rome, "to be a Roman was greater than to be a king," so the citizens of Springfield can be nobly proud of their lofty ambitions and worthy achievements.

--Eugene C. Gardner

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It would be impossible to mention all the public-spirited citizens who, by their generosity and wise foresight, have helped to make Springfield a beautiful city. Among these in recent years, but who have passed away, Tilly Haynes occupies a conspicuous position, not only because of his large bequest, but because of the generous spirit which prompted him to leave it without restrictions that might impair its usefulness. The extension of Court square was always a cherished purpose of his, - it would not be fair to call it a dream, because it was too explicit, too obviously practicable. In the selection of the site for a new court house a generation ago, it was anticipated that sometime in the future the extension of the square would give this notable building a worthy setting. All of that Mr. Haynes foresaw, realizing full well that the inevitable future growth of the city would require an enlargement of the central public plaza. His bequest and the courageous spirit that prompted it has been like a beacon light, encouraging and leading others to join the ranks and keeping alive the thought and purpose of a beautiful city.

Grateful memory is also due to O. H. Greenleaf for his liberal gift of land in Forest park, land which might have been sold advantageously to the owner without direct benefit to the city, and which men of more selfish character or narrower vision would have been sure to hold for private profit. His interest in this, as in all matters of public welfare, was maintained and practically manifested as long as he lived.

Another who during his life did much, very much to increase the visible beauty of the city, was Justin Sackett. He had an innate love of natural beauty and rare skill, not in attempting to create, or rival what Nature alone can achieve, but in preserving the natural beauty that only needs loving care and appreciation to become more and more lovely with the passing years. Springfield abounds with evidences of his keen insight and unselfish and well-directed efforts to preserve and develop what a bountiful Providence has provided.

No one needs to be reminded of the long, disinterested and, happily, still active service of Daniel J. Marsh. It may almost be said that without his constant personal effort, we should have had no Forest park in its present shape; that what is growing every year to be reckoned one of our brightest civic jewels - in fact a whole case of jewelry - would not have existed, or would have been at least of little note, liable at any time to be sacrificed to private interest. Surely this is something compelling our gratitude, a direct refutation of the cynical words of the hypocritical Anthony, that the evil men do lives after them, while the good is oft interred with their bones. The reverse is true; such good deeds as these live on with increasing influence from generation to generation.

Neither can we hear of this great public pleasure ground and recreation field with its simple natural charms and the rare beauties of the southern portion without remembering how much we owe to E. H. Barney, whose untiring zeal and noble generosity have done so much to enhance and make permanent the rare charms of Forest park.

Not to complete the list even approximately, but to mention one of the younger citizens who has dome much in the way of laying broad foundations for the lasting beauty of this city, Nathan D. Bill should be remembered. With the liberal devotion of his own time and energy to public interests, with his broad conceptions and quick perception of practical values, we can not help looking to him for further achievement and leadership.

These men are not mentioned as being the only ones whose unselfish devotion has been manifested in the improvement of our city, or with the idea of giving even the smallest account of what each one has done - that would make a very long story; and the most valuable part of their work is not in the actual accomplishment, excellent as these have been - it is in the example and in the incentive which they have given and are still giving to their contemporaries and successors. They have not been merely thinking and talking, they have been doing, and by what has been done they have shown the still nobler possibilities of the future.

--E. C. G.