We headed north on 202, through Belchertown and detoured into the back roads of the Pelham and Shutesbury hills.
We found a cool beaver pond that actually rose higher than the road next to it, the water held back with a narrow strip of earth and buttressed with an old stone wall.
The caretakers' lodge rises up in the middle.
We punched in the Pelham town center on the GPS and were directed to a small assembly of historic old buildings.
The museum was unfortunately closed, and it looked like the museumy items have been stashed away for the winter.
We'll have to get a better look next year...
Next to a loose pumpkin, there's a small free standing kiosk with some history and pictures to look at.
One face is devoted to Daniel Shays of rebellion fame; possibly Pelham's most famous son.
(the picture of the man has small print underneath, advising that it was drawn well over a hundred years after his time, and thus is probably not accurate...)
There's an extensive, very old graveyard in the back; and many of the gravestones are just that, stones, marking the sites. The majority of the other, carved stones are so old and weather-worn as to be unreadable...
From there we continued on through Leverett, stopping for yet another photo of their classic sawmill...
It was onward and downward, as we left the hills and came back down into the flatter floodplains of the valley, in search of pumpkins...
We made the best of the cloudy day, and Kelly was reasonably satisfied with the 'falliness' of the ride. But we had one more 'fally' stop to make; UMass was hosting New Hamphire, and the whole melee was right on our route...
It was a raucus game, and our home team victorious; a fine ending to our 'Fally' ride...
5 comments:
Ten years ago I moved to Cape Cod from Northampton (a bit down the street from the Miss Flo Diner). Before that I lived in Amherst, before that South Hadley... so even though it's been a decade, and even though Cape Cod is incredibly lovely and this town is my home... well, I still get homesick for the incomparable Pioneer Valley and its college towns.
Don't remember exactly how I found your blog (or if I've already made this comment on an earlier post, in which case, d'oh!, but I've subscribed -- thanks for having it.
Thanks for checking out the site, Sandy.
I get occasional emails from transplanted Pioneer Valley-ites all around the continent who feel the same way; confirming my suspicion that we do in fact live in a pretty special place..!
Love that loose pumpkin!
Very good stuff! It looks be, indeed, a "fally" outing. Do love autumn in the Valley.
Mary, wait until you see her Nanook bear hat; brace yourself..!
Emily, personally I prefer the spring, but yes, fall certainly has it's qualities, doesn't it...
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