Trips from Northampton
Northampton makes an excellent base for many drives that will gratify the lover of scenery, of rocks, or of minerals. The drives range from ten to one hundred miles in length, and any one of them may be extended or shortened at the whim of the driver. To the east the hard surface of Route 9 leads through Amherst, Pelham, and Belchertown; and to the west, as the Berkshire Trail, it rises to the western upland via Williamsburg and Goshen. Side roads go to Ashfield and Conway, and permit a return by way of South Deerfield; or, via Cummington and West Chesterfield, one may come back by way of Huntington and Westhampton. Federal Highway 5 follows the Valley north to Greenfield, whence optional return routes are available through Shelburne Falls, Conway and South Deerfield in the western upland; or through Orange, Pelham and Amherst in the eastern upland. Each of these routes offers arresting views of the broad Connecticut Valley, the picturesque gorges along its margins, and the even-crested highlands with distant peaks of greater elevation. Indeed, the choice of attractive drives is bewildering, even for those who are hesitant about wandering off the surfaced highways.
In the following pages only a few of the possibilities which are available to the motorist are described. And for each one chosen, the striking views and the significant geological features are indicated, in the hope and belief that the traveler may turn explorer and, in following other byways, may reconstruct for himself many additional details of the region’s geologic past.
Northampton, Amherst, Pelham
The route leaves from the Court House corner on Highway 5 and the excursion follows Route 9 eastward across the Coolidge Memorial Bridge (1.3),[1] where a panorama of the floodplain with its many channel scars and terrace levels is spread out below (see pp. [1]-3). Beyond Hadley (3.0) the road tops the highest river floodplain at a conspicuous terrace (4.9) and rolls gently over the ancient bed of Lake Hadley. The shore line of this glacial lake appears as a broad flat between Orchard Street and Lincoln Avenue in Amherst (6-9). (See pp. [5]-7.)
The route turns left at the traffic intersection (7.2) and continues to the north end of the common (7.4), where it turns right on the Pelham road. This road crosses the lake bottom from the Central Vermont Railroad tracks (7.9) to the Orient (9.9), where the delta of glacial Orient Brook made a conspicuous gravel terrace at the farthest limit of the lake. Stone fences make their appearance (see pp. [8]-9); rocky ledges and erratics abound at higher elevations, but perched shore lines of ice-margin lakes occur at many levels up Pelham Hill. The road to Mount Lincoln (see pp. [51]-52) turns right (11.2) just west of the Amherst reservoir (11.4). As the road approaches the hilltop (12.9), an opening westward through the trees reveals an unusual view of the Holyoke Range; and the broad lowland valley from Mount Tom in the south to Mount Sugarloaf in the north spreads out below. On the hilltop (13.3) the road enters the Daniel Shays Highway (13.9). Mount Wachusett (see [p. 15]) lies straight ahead and projects above the great expanse of the New England upland (see [p. 46]); Mount Monadnock rises even higher in the northeast, and everywhere, deep valleys furrow the highland and break its otherwise monotonous surface.
The Daniel Shays Highway runs north to Athol, where it joins the Mohawk Trail; but on this trip we shall turn to the right, or south, at Pelham and follow Federal Highway 202 along the valleys in the Quabbin reservoir watershed. Pelham gneiss is the most abundant rock along the highway, outcropping west of the road (14.1) in a series of eastward-dipping layers that resemble sandstone. Mount Lincoln’s fire tower stands high above the skyline directly west from the power line crossing (16.1). The country has a gently rolling form, which was imposed upon it by the ice sheet (see [p. 9]), and the miles of stone fences represent glacial debris piled up by the early settlers in an effort to bring agricultural order out of geological chaos. Blossoms on the wild cherry trees along these fences and the flowering dogwood make this a particularly attractive drive in the spring. A ledge of gneiss with large eye-shaped crystals of reddish feldspar lies east of the highway at 16.3 miles. As the road begins to descend (18.1), a panorama of the broad lowland between Belchertown and Palmer spreads out below. View succeeds view as the road drops to lower levels: At one place it is Holyoke and Springfield; at another it is Belchertown; and finally the highway comes to the corners (21.1) where routes lead right to Amherst, left to Worcester, and straight ahead through Belchertown to Palmer, Springfield and Holyoke.
The Granby-Holyoke road (Federal Highway 202) turns right at the south end of the Belchertown common (22.0). After crossing the railroad (22.4), it passes out upon the plain of glacial Lake Springfield (25.3) where the stone fences cease to line the roads, because the lake deposits cover the glacial boulders. Rocky islands in glacial Lake Springfield surmount the flat lacustrine plain (26.9). Granby is situated on a long rolling point (28 to 31.6) that is underlain principally by flat-lying arkosic conglomerate, but more ancient crystalline rocks appear just a little farther east. In this section the lake plain is very narrow, and the drop to the Connecticut River Valley begins at 32.3 miles and continues to the junction with the South Hadley road (33.2), where varved clay (see pp. [4]-7) makes its appearance in the pits to the right of the highway.
The itinerary of this excursion continues on Federal Highway 202 through Holyoke in preference to the alternate routes through South Hadley and thence either by way of Hockanum ([p. 85]) or via Amherst (pp. [83]-84) to Northampton. The Holyoke road crosses the Connecticut River (33.8 to 34.1) where the Longmeadow or youngest Triassic sandstone appears in a series of serrate ledges between the bridge and the dam at the right. Mud-cracks on some layers and ripple marks on others tell of wet and dry seasons at the time they were formed. The route turns right just south of the Holyoke post office (34.6) and right again into Federal Highway 5 (36.2), which parallels the river.
The road has been built on a terrace which was once the flat bottom of glacial Lake Springfield (37.8), but at the north end of the city it descends towards the Connecticut River, utilizing the contact between the red layers of Longmeadow sandstone and the massive, dark green Granby tuff with large volcanic bombs that are visible from the road. The twin entrances to Mountain Park (38 and 38.2) may tempt the motorist to indulge in an attractive side trip, but there is enough to occupy him on the main highway. Nearer the river (38.5), a ledge slopes from the roadway to the railroad tracks and to a series of riffles in the stream. This is the Smith’s Ferry footprint locality (pp. [66]-67), and the widened highway and the entrance to the ledges offer an invitation which cannot be declined (38.6).
North of the dinosaur tracks, road, railroad and river run parallel. Lateral roads are few, but there is a gateway (40.2) into the Mount Tom Reservation. The Granby tuff, which has outcropped persistently on the west side of the road, rises to a high bluff and then passes eastward beneath the river (40.6). The underlying second lava replaces it in the road cuts and is especially conspicuous along the railroad (40.9). The next dark gray bluff west of the road (41.4 to 41.6) is part of the Holyoke flow which caps the Mount Tom and Mount Holyoke ranges (see pp. [26]-27). Soon it, too, crosses the river to Titan’s Pier (pp. [60]-61), and old residents say that a ledge of it outcropped in the river bed at low water before the Holyoke dam raised the water level. Directly ahead, southward-dipping beds of conglomerate outcrop on either side of the road (41.0); these beds underlie the lava forming the gentle southern slopes of the ranges, and their position beneath the trap can be seen plainly on the steep northern slopes.
The road through the Mount Tom Reservation rejoins the highway (42.2) just south of the outlet from the Oxbow Lake (42.3), the upper end of which also loops ’round and abuts against the highway (42.7). (See [p. 3].) Annual floods inundate most of this section, and even the banked-up road and railroad periodically go under the swirling waters of the swollen river. A sign (43.5) announces that the roadway was 13.5 feet below water at the height of the 1936 flood, but it is hoped that the new dike at the southern limit of Northampton will hereafter turn the floods away from the lower sections of the city. Federal Highway 5 bears right (44.0), and the road ahead continues into the Berkshire Trail. Of passing interest is the fact that a well drilled near this junction penetrated 3,700 feet of Triassic arkose without reaching the crystalline rock floor. The road crosses the unused bed of Mill River (44.2) and comes once again to the Court House corner in Northampton (44.6).
Belchertown, Amherst, and Northampton
In our first tour we noted that a road (Route 9) turns right to Amherst at the south end of the Daniel Shays Highway (21.1), and if we will return to this junction, it will be worth our while to make the Amherst run. Just beyond the intersection the highway traverses the level gravel plain of a nice margin lake (see [p. 7]) before it descends (22.0) toward the Lake Hadley plain. Erratic boulders and stone fences are abundant on the slope, and the bedrock is part of the pre-Triassic complex. One very interesting pegmatite contains inclusions of contorted schist (23.2). The road soon leaves the rocky slopes for the gravel plain of Lake Hadley, but only a short distance northward and westward lie the Belchertown Ponds, which seem to occupy a large and deep kettle hole area (see pp. [7]-8).
The road winds through pine-clad kame terraces, left on the margin of the ice which filled the Lake Hadley basin; and where it emerges from the woods (24.4), the line of hills making the Holyoke Range may be seen stretching westward in a series of sharp points. These are the projecting edges of the Holyoke lava flow which resisted erosion after all the softer sediment and volcanic debris flanking it were removed.
The road to Mount Lincoln turns right at Pansy Park (24.9), and north of this point the Amherst road follows a kame terrace between the Pelham Hills on the right, and the former ice-filled bed of glacial Lake Hadley on the left. Ultimately (27.1) the highway leaves the terrace and drops to a delta which was deposited in Lake Hadley. The view northward shows Mount Toby and Mount Sugarloaf outlined sharply, and to the east near the Orient, the sharp V-shaped notch of the north fork of Fort River cuts one of the kame terraces. The delta deposit (27.5 to 27.7) shows excellent fore-set beds in the gravel pit (27.7), and its entire surface is dotted with ponds which occupy irregular kettle holes (see pp. [7]-8).
The highway continues down the delta slope and crosses the Fort River (28.4). This river established a meandering course upon the bed of Lake Hadley, but its floodplain is now excavated below the level of the lake deposits, which form a terrace above the stream. The road passes through Amherst (30.2) and returns to Northampton (37.4) by the outbound route.
South Hadley, Amherst, Northampton
The route 116 north from the road junction at South Hadley Falls (33.2) also has its points of interest. After it passes over the deeply dissected deposits in Lake Springfield, it rises above the old lake level at the Mount Holyoke campus (35.1) and continues at this higher elevation beyond the Hockanum-Amherst fork (35.9) in the center of South Hadley. Along the right fork (State Highway 116), which leads to Amherst, horizontal Longmeadow sandstone outcrops west of the road (37.1) where the slope to the valley of Bachelor Brook begins. The flat lake plain extends from Moody’s Corner (37.4) to the base of the Holyoke Range. A gravel road turns right from the highway (38.2) and crosses the brook one mile east, and from this locality were excavated many of the excellent dinosaur footprints in the Amherst College collection.
The lake plain ends at ledges of Granby tuff and agglomerate (38.5). The outcrops east of the road are grooved with glacial striations, and the fragmental nature of the rock is clearly revealed in the smooth surface. Lava lies on the tuff west of the road (38.7) and also at the bottom of the volcanic series at the Aldrich Lake road (39.0). Coarse conglomerates make recurrent ridges as far as the base of the Range (39.5), where the road follows a shelf cut into the Holyoke lava flow just west of the Notch fault. The conglomerate east of this fault was displaced downward; and as it disintegrates easily, a depression has been cut into the Range east of the road. The quarry situated at the top of the Range (39.8) just north of the Amherst town line, has brought to light many fault fractures that have served the mineral collector well for almost a century. The Range trail (see pp. [73]-75) westward leaves the highway at the town line marker, and the path eastward follows the old trolley line northeastward from the scales house.
The route begins its descent (40.2) through a cut in conglomerate, and the entire northern valley is spread out below: Sugarloaf and Toby close the eastern side of the view, and hills far up in Vermont form the background in the northwest. The road quickly reaches the flat plain of Lake Hadley (40.7), with apple orchards stretching along its gravel shore line. The Bay Road crosses the highway (41.1) and parallels the Range from end to end.
The lake deposits fail to conceal many earlier features. Two drumlins (see [p. 9]) rise to the east of the road (41.8) near South Amherst. South Amherst (42.7) is on an island in the old lake; erratic boulders cover the hilltop, and bare rocks mark the old wave-washed shore. The highway crosses Fort (or Freshman) River (43.8), and at the railroad tracks (44.6) it rises to the old lake beach, which is continued in the flat land on the south side of the Amherst College campus. The route turns left at Northampton Road (Route 9) and continues to Northampton (52.2).
The Hockanum Road (State Highway 63), which follows the left fork at South Hadley (33.2), crosses the Lake Springfield sand plain (34.1) and rises above the lake level beyond Bachelor Brook (34.3), staying at this higher altitude beyond the junction with the Moody’s Corner road (35.3). The hills directly ahead are tuff, agglomerate and lava, and are products of the last volcanic episode in this region. Dry Brook (35.6) flows on the sandstone overlying the Holyoke lava sheet, and the latter outcrops in the road cuts (35.8) and to the left in Titan’s Pier (see pp. [60]-61). The road to the Mount Holyoke House and Titan’s Piazza (see [p. 61]) turns right (36.0) where the highway breaks through the last of the lava mass.
The 1936 flood inundated this highway (36.5 to 37.2), and the old watermark may still be identified by debris caught in the bushes and left on pasture land. The view upstream from the floodplain (37.0) shows where the Connecticut is cutting into its eastern bank and causing it to recede (see pp. [1]-2). Soon it will penetrate the valley of Fort River. The road passes through a woodland on the dissected lake-shore deposits, but it soon emerges upon the lake bottom and early river silts (38.6). The Bay Road (39.8) enters from the east just south of the bridge over Fort River (39.9). The road joins the outbound route at Hadley (41) and returns to Northampton (44).
Holyoke, Easthampton, Northampton
The return from Holyoke (36.2) by way of Easthampton leaves Federal Highway 5 and rises westward across a ridge of Granby tuff. Several small lakes (36.7) occupy basins on the friable “second” sandstone between the “second” lava and Granby tuff, which lie immediately to the east, and the Holyoke lava, which lies below and to the west. The sandstone is very thin, and the road shortly begins to climb up the dip slope of the Holyoke lava sheet. Sandstone crops out below the sheet at the west base of a low cliff (38.1) which continues northward to the south face of Mount Tom. The Christopher Clark road through the Mount Tom Reservation enters from the north at the summit (38.5); it follows a scenic route under the west cliffs of the Range to its north end at Mount Nonotuck, where it drops abruptly in a series of hairpin curves to Mount Tom Junction on Federal Highway 5.
At the junction of the Easthampton and Christopher Clark roads, a turn-out offers an opportunity to view the Western Upland, within which, as it makes its way from Goshen and Williamsburg to Northampton, the Mill River has cut an impressive valley. On the long descent to the base of the mountain (39.5), the Easthampton road is cut out of coarse arkosic sandstones, but then it levels off abruptly on the flat plain of glacial Lake Hadley. The lake sediments continue into the center of Easthampton (41.3), broken only by the shallow valley of the Manhan River. From Easthampton the route utilizes the College Highway (State Highway 10) to Northampton; and its position on the lake beds affords good views of the Range and of the abnormally broad floodplain of the meandering Connecticut River in the vicinity of the Oxbow. Just north and east of the New Haven Railroad’s underpass, the river has cut away the terrace followed by the road, and this low stretch, like the rest of the floodplain, is subject to frequent inundations.
The road enters Northampton east of the Smith College campus (45.5) and joins the Berkshire Trail. A right turn at the traffic light leads to the Court House corner (45.7).
Northampton, Hadley, Sunderland, Hatfield
This tour also leaves Northampton by the Coolidge Memorial Bridge, but at Hadley (3.0) it turns north on State Highway 63 and follows the river to Sunderland. Here the route recrosses the river, joining Federal Highway 5 at South Deerfield, and from this point south to Northampton the road lies almost literally in the shadow of the western upland.
In Hadley (3.0) the road turns north along Center Street and then swings right at the curve in the Connecticut (3.5). The river bank is lined with riprap to resist the current and to prevent the river from washing away a substantial section of the town. Across the stream in Hatfield the Connecticut very nearly achieved the type of destruction which the residents of Hadley are trying to escape, and the flood-channel, or “washout,” which was gouged by the swollen stream in the spring of 1936, may be seen (4.3) on the way to North Hadley. The road approaches Mount Warner, whose crystalline rocks appear at the south end of a long, low spur (4.8) on the edge of the river floodplain. Elsewhere along the base of the eminence, which scarcely merits the name “Mount,” the crystalline rocks are hidden by a terrace, but they crop out on the higher slopes. The younger red Triassic sandstones are present, too, and they may be seen dipping steeply westward in the brook bed between the bridge (5.9) and the dam (6.1) at North Hadley.
Sand dunes appear near the river on the outskirts of North Hadley (6.3) and extend north beyond Mount Warner (7.0) to the point where the road drops from the terrace to the floodplain (8.2). Here the former bed of the river is occupied by a puny brook, which enters the mainstream on the left. The terrace marking the edge of the floodplain lies close to the east side of the road for a long distance (8.2 to 9.8) and then swings a half mile eastward. The road follows a high area between two abandoned channels formerly used by the river (11.3), until it joins the Amherst-Sunderland road (11.8) at the southern edge of Sunderland. The route turns left in the center of town (12.4), crossing the river beneath Mount Sugarloaf, and it continues on to Federal Highway 5 at the traffic light in South Deerfield (14.2).
On the trip south from the junction, sand dunes appear east of the railroad between the Boston & Maine (14.6) and the New Haven crossings (14.9). The highway is situated on the flat bed of Lake Hadley from this point to Hatfield. The road to Whately, which turns west at 16.7, offers some attractions. It forks two miles beyond Whately, and the right branch leads to the Northampton reservoir and to Haydenville (see [p. 89]). The left branch follows West Fork Brook and comes back to Federal Highway 5 at North Hatfield (19.1). Either route provides a scenic drive over little-frequented gravel roads.
From the main highway the delta built by West Fork Brook into glacial Lake Hadley appears as a flat terrace along the western highland (18.2). The rolling fields (19.7) east of the railroad are dunes which were once raised by the wind along the old Connecticut channel. Mill River, which rises near Conway, parallels the highway for 6.1 miles and crosses it here to enter the Connecticut (20.3). The road approaches the massive gray rocks of the western upland (20.5), and the Hatfield lead vein (see [p. 64]) outcrops in a bluff on the right (20.9). The view south (22.3) shows the water gap between the Mount Holyoke and Mount Tom ranges. At the State Police barracks (23.4) the Hatfield road turns left, and a short distance beyond (23.9), on the west side of the road, is the abandoned City Quarry. The granite exposed in the quarry contains a black, radio-active mineral called allanite, and each glistening black crystal is surrounded by a reddish halo caused by bombardment of the feldspar by alpha particles.
A road to Florence branches right (24.5) near the railroad crossing, and one to the Coolidge Bridge turns left across the Boston & Maine tracks (24.7). A by-pass to the Berkshire Trail (25.6) goes west, and the tour returns to the Court House corner (26.1).
Northampton, Cummington, Plainfield, and South Deerfield
This tour includes a representative section of the Connecticut Lowland, traverses rugged valleys on the western margin of the lowland, and crosses a wide remnant of the New England upland. The trip is 58.6 miles long, and all of it except the last twelve miles moves through rapidly changing scenery.
The route leaves the Court House corner on State Highway 9, the Berkshire Trail, following Main and Elm Streets past Smith College. At the Cooley Dickinson Hospital the road rises from the bed of glacial Lake Hadley to the Mill River delta, which, despite some dissection, maintains the same general level through Florence (2.6) to Look Park (3.4), where a ridge dotted with glacial erratics rises through it. The road follows the delta margin past the Veteran’s Hospital and shortly (4.3) climbs to the land of erratics and stone fences. The road from Whately (see [p. 88]) enters from the right in Haydenville (7.1), and the Trail continues up Mill River to Williamsburg (8.1). Not far beyond the center of Williamsburg the road forks left for Chesterfield and right for Cummington.
The right hand route climbs a long wooded hill with a deep valley on the right and occasional cliffs of schist intruded by reinforcing granite dikes on the left. The view back near the hilltop (12.5) offers, through a frame of trees, a panorama of the Mount Holyoke and Mount Tom Ranges surmounting the Connecticut Lowland. The New England upland begins at the hilltop (13.1) in Goshen. Just past Goshen Pond (13.6), a road continues straight ahead to Ashfield, and the hard surface of the Berkshire Trail curves left. Ledges of flaggy Goshen schist outcrop from Goshen to Swift River (18.4); the banding of the ledges is almost horizontal at one place (14.6) and makes excellent flagging for garden walks. The west-flowing Swift River tumbles into the deeply entrenched, east-flowing Westfield River at Swift River village, and the combined streams flow due south through a “door” in a vertical wall of Goshen schist so narrow and inconspicuous that the water appears to run downhill and then up again. The Berkshire Trail follows up the north bank of the Westfield River as far as the lower bridge (19.5), at Cummington, where a road to Chesterfield turns left (19.6).
The Plainfield road branches off to the right across the river at the center of Cummington (20.5), and it climbs almost continuously from the Westfield valley to the summit of the New England upland at the Plainfield corner (24.5). Here the broad, gently rolling expanse of country offers no suggestion of the deep valley only three miles away.
The tour takes the road right (Route 116) to Ashfield (33.0), Conway (40.2), and South Deerfield (46.6), where it turns south on Federal Highway 5, returning to Northampton (58.6) over ground that is covered in another tour (see pp. [87]-88). The twenty-two miles of country between Plainfield and South Deerfield contain a succession of highland views, glimpses into youthfully incised valleys, and a final sweep of Connecticut lowland that defy description. Nearly everywhere the glaciers of the Ice Age have scraped away the soil and have exposed the underlying metamorphosed sediments. Their high structures and their metamorphism show that they are merely the roots of an ancient range that once rose majestically to summits which, were they restored, would dwarf the planed upland of today. Rugged as some of the topography may seem, prolonged erosion has greatly softened and tamed it. (For more details of the features which can be seen along this route, see pp. [94]-95.)