The center of Dwight is in the northwestern region of Belchertown, defined as the intersection of Federal and Goodell Streets. Village boundaries have historically formed a square, approximately 10 mi.² or about 3.2 linear miles east to west and 3.2 linear miles north to south. Pelham is to the north, Amherst and the Lawrence Swamp on the west, Lake Arcadia on the south and Jabish Brook and Pelham on the east.[5]
The center of Dwight lies about 4.8 road-miles northwest from Belchertown Common (by State Route 9); 4.2 miles southwest from West Pelham; 4.2 miles southeast from East Amherst Common; and 3.5 miles east from the South Amherst Common. It is 2.5 miles from the extinct village in South Amherst called Nuttingville.[6] The southwestern boundary of Dwight is the northwestern corner of Granby, about 1.5 linear miles from the center of Dwight.
The village was developed in the mid to late eighteenth century by third and fourth generation colonists around the intersection of three named brooks: Montague Brook, Scarborough Brook, Hop Brook. Jabish Brook forms on its eastern border.
The Town of Pelham annexed a square mile section on its southern border that incorporated part of North Belchertown and included the village of Packardsville in 1786. Belchertown‘s historical central eastern and northeastern boundary once extended to the Swift River, until 1816, when Enfield was formed. This section later became part of the Quabbin Reservoir.
Dwight encompasses many unnamed historical ponds and several lakes:[7] its present named bodies of water are Lake Holland, about 1 linear mile south of the center of the village, Lake Arcadia, about 1.3 linear miles south, Scarborough (Scarboro) Ponds, about 1.7 linear miles northeast of the center, Two Ponds (seasonal) and Knight's Pond (which includes Gold's Pond), which is 2.4 linear miles northeast of the center.
The peak of West Hill, a region of colonial settlement in Dwight known for its panoramic view of the Holyoke Range and the Connecticut River Valley, is 1.6 linear miles northeast of the center, and measures 1,070 feet above sea level.
An unnamed peak to the southeast of West Hill, or immediately south of the Munsell Cemetery, is 1,075 feet, and Juckett Hill, once called “East Hill,” in far northeastern Belchertown, stands at 1,070 feet.[9]
Dwight’s boundary encompasses what were once called the Bridgman Ponds: Lake Holland, or Holland Pond, named for J.G. Holland, and Arcadia Lake.
Lake Metacomet begins what was called the Pond Hill area and is immediately south of Dwight. The Tri-Lakes Watershed Association, or Friends of the Tri-Lakes, is a nonprofit organization that formed in 1988 to help maintain the health of the three lakes.
Early Belchertown settlement occurred in the Pond Hill region along the Old Bay Road that ran from Boston to Albany, with brothers Samuel and Benjamin Stebbins and Mary Ashley in 1727, and Ebenezer Bridgman and Mary Strong in 1732. Elijah Coleman Bridgeman and Ethan Smith were born in this region. The Lake Vale Cemetery was established here in 1766, with the first interment as early as 1730.[10] It is 1.8 linear miles south from Dwight Center.
A flag stop on what was then called the Amherst & Belchertown Railroad was erected after 1853, known as the “Federal Street” stop, which was near today’s intersection of Bay Road and the New England Central Railroad tracks.
The center of Dwight is 2.8 linear miles southwest from Mount Lincoln, a 1,240 feet (380m) high point on the Pelham Dome or Pelham Hills, an upland plateau overlooking the Connecticut River Valley in Pelham, Massachusetts (near Amherst, Massachusetts). It is taller than the more widely known Mount Norwottuck and Mount Holyoke.
The Robert Frost Trail transverses Dwight, following Warren Wright Road across Hop Brook.
Holland Glen
Holland Glen is a 290-acre conservation forest southeast of the center of Dwight that features hiking trails, waterfalls, small pools and “a deep, narrow chasm with steep sides covered thickly with a growth of pine and hemlock."[11] It was named for Josiah Gilbert Holland and is accessible from State Route 9.
Above the Glen are springs that form the Hop Brook. It flows in a westerly direction and enters the Lawrence Swamp in South Amherst, and empties into the Fort River.
Scarborough Brook begins on the West Hill, north of Holland Glen and the Hop Brook. It runs west and the southerly and created the narrow ravine of Gulf Road. Its mouth is at the Hop Brook, to the west of Federal Street near the Daigle Well.
Montague Brook begins in south Pelham, in a spring-field near the Mountain Goat Loop hiking trail, flowing in a southwesterly direction through Dwight, and enters the Hop Brook in the Lawrence Swamp.
A fourth unnamed brook begins in the unnamed wetland south of North Street and east of Federal Street and empties into the Hop Brook in the Topping Farm Conservation Area, 220 acres that nearly connects Lawrence Swamp and the Mount Holyoke Range.
Lawrence Swamp
To the immediate west of Dwight in South Amherst is the Lawrence Swamp, a thousand acres of forested wetland, scrub-shrub floodplain, and open meadow and habitat for rare species of birds and wildlife. It contains numerous hiking trails and several wells that produce drinking water for Amherst. Its watershed encompasses most of the Dwight area.
The Swamp is most accessible at the Norwottuck Branch Rail Trail entrance on Station Road in South Amherst, which becomes North Street in Dwight.
Geology
Dwight is located in a valley that was covered in water some 15,000 years ago and formed the far eastern shore of the ancient glacial Lake Hitchcock. Lawrence Swamp, to the immediate east of Dwight, is a vestige of this lake.[12][13] Glaciers deposited sediment-dammed lakes in the Jabish Brook and Broad Brook valleys and an ice-dammed glacial lake in the Knights Pond valley, and coarse- and fine-grained sand deposits along State Route 9, Warren Wright Road, the Lawrence Swamp, and near the Dwight Cemetery.[14]
A prominent fault, the Triassic Border Fault, passes through Dwight, forming the boundary between the Pelham Hills and the Holyoke Mountain Range.
The center of Dwight, at Federal and Goodell Streets, is today at an elevation of 267 feet, which would have been slightly underwater at the time. The lowest elevation, 170 feet, is east Warren Wright Road as it crosses the Hop Brook through the Topping Farm Conservation Area.
The area's glacial history is also seen in numerous ponds and wetlands and, most notably, in the three kettle-hole lakes – Metacomet, Arcadia, and Holland – immediately south of Dwight. The largest and deepest of these is Lake Metacomet, at 65 acres and about 15 feet deep.[15]
Deglaciation of Belchertown probably occurred in a span of about 100 years between 12,000 and 12,500 years ago.[16]
Water
The Daigle Well is located west of Federal Street near the Hop Brook and the mouth of the Scarborough Brook. The well provides public drinking water for Belchertown, with an approved yield of 1.3 million gallons per day. It utilizes water from a confined sand and gravel aquifer, a bedrock valley that was deepened by advancing glaciers and later filled with sand and gravel overlain by silt and clay from glacial Lake Hitchcock and Lake Lawrence.[17]
There is no Aquifer Protection District for the Daigle Well.[18] The Lashway Property is conservation area set aside for aquifer protection by Belchertown in the Lawrence Swamp.
Most all land in North Belchertown and Dwight is part of the Lawrence Swamp Watershed Protection Zone that supplies the Town of Amherst with drinking water.[19]
The Town of Amherst draws water from an aquifer on Belchertown land that is in Dwight, north of the Daigle Well, between Warren Wright Road and Federal Street, south of North Road, near the Montague Brook.
History
As part of Belchertown, the village is a crossroads of Native trails in the Connecticut River Valley in Western Massachusetts that indigenous people traveled, including the Pocumtuc, Nipmuc and Norwottuck, or Nonotuck and Nolwotogg, among others.[20] Artifacts found in the early 20th century just south of Dwight, near Lake Metacomet, suggest, "evidence of Native American occupations" that began some 7,000 years ago.[21] It is about six miles due east of the bend in the Connecticut River at the former Native American settlement where the Towns of Hadley and Northampton are located today.
The village has been known historically by various names given by colonists including Log Town, Logg-town, Logtown, Union District, Hopetown, Dwight's, Dwight's Station, Dwight Station, Pansy Park and Dwight. It was named for the Dwight family.
Benjamin Stebbins (1674–1778) and Mary Ashley (1682–1736) came from Northampton in 1727. They were "said to have been the first … to make a permanent residence" and "received from Governor Belcher, five hundred acres of land, as an inducement … to settle [Belchertown].[22] The land bordered the southwest corner of Dwight, near today's Stebbins Street.
The first non-indigenous landowner at what would become the center of Dwight is believed to have been Capt. Nathaniel Dwight Jr. (1712–1784), a surveyor who was deeded one square mile in 1734.[4] He was among the first to settle to the south of Dwight, with Hannah Lyman (1708-1792), in 1731, at what would become Cold Spring, then Belcher's Town, and owned most of the land that today comprises the Common. He led local men on the Crown Point Expedition during the Seven Years' War and served in the American Revolution.
John Ward (1716–1800) and Abigail Heath (1731–1813) settled along the Jabish Brook, near the Pelham boundary, in 1749, perhaps becoming the first colonial settlers within the boundaries of what today is called Dwight. Others followed including Elisha Munsell (1728–1810) and Dorothy Redington (1727–1807), newlyweds who settled on the Great Hill by at least 1759, east of the center of Dwight, where a cemetery bears the family name. Among the earliest burials in that cemetery is Capt. David Pratt (1742-1806), who came from Ware, Mass., with Lucy Coolidge (1753-1844), settling on the Great Hill along the Jabish Brook in about 1769. They had 16 children.
Among the first structures erected near what would become the center of Dwight was the homestead of Nathaniel Goodell (1740-1814) and Abigail Chaffee (1737-1811), in about 1765.[23] It was torn down about 1875. Today, the Dwight Station Mini Mart stands about where the structure once stood.[24]
Capt. Justus Dwight (1739-1824), Sarah Lamb (1737-1832) and their two children—Elihu and Clarissa—settled in Fall 1769 at what would become the center of Dwight.[25] Their son Jonathan was born the following January though Sarah may have returned to their home on the Belchertown Common to give birth. Their son Nathaniel, born in 1772, was said to be the first non-indigenous child born at Dwight.[4] [Though John Ward, Jr., was born on the eastern edge of Dwight in about 1749.]
Justus was the third born son of Capt. Nathaniel Dwight Jr., and Hannah Lyman, of Northampton, Mass., mentioned previously. Their son Elijah—Justus' brother—was said to be the first non-Indigenous male child born in all of Belchertown in 1735.[26] [The Dwight family, among the so-called “River Gods” of the Connecticut River Valley, appear to capture much of the Town’s historical narrative.[27]] Justus became Nathaniel and Hannah's eldest surviving son in 1760 after which his father, in 1765, deeded Justus land in North Belchertown for "love and affection."[28]
Three schools existed historically in the region, including near the center (Union), in the northeast (West Hill) and in the southeast (Prospect). The Union School is today incorporated into a home near the intersection of Federal Street and Gulf Road. A fourth school, Lake Vale, was existent to the southeast at Pond Hill.
Josiah Gilbert Holland was born in Dwight near the intersection of Orchard Road and Federal Street in 1819.
Henry Ward Beecher gave his first sermon at the schoolhouse at Dwight in 1831.
Railroads
Dwight Station (right) & Water Tower (left) in North Belchertown (Dwight), Massachusetts. From an undated postcard. Erected by the railroad agent H. D. Dwight about 1857 on what became the Central Vermont Railroad, at Federal Street, immediately north of Goodell Street. A sawmill beyond the tower (on the Scarborough Brook) supplied wood for locomotives. W. M. Goodell was the agent from 1885 until 1933 when passenger service ceased. The structures were removed by the late 1940s. Dwight at MP 103.7; Belchertown at MP 108.4.
Harrison Dunbar Dwight, great-grandson of Capt. Nathaniel Dwight, was born here, the fourth generation of the family to be associated with the place. He became the first railroad agent on the Amherst & Belchertown Railroad, which began service in May 1853 and connected the region with the Atlantic Ocean seaport at New London, Connecticut, and markets in New York and further west.[29]
Harrison Dwight donated land upon which he erected the train station and water tower for the locomotives, and owned the adjacent sawmill on the Scarborough Brook where he made carriages as well. The village afterward became known as “Dwight's Station” in his honor and of the noted family. Dwight Chapel is said to be named for him. The tradition of mills supplying timbers for shipbuilding continued.[30]
Pansy Park
Lafayette Washington Goodell (1851–1920) began a flower seed business on his father's "rundown" farm at Dwight in 1868 with a $25 investment. He erected greenhouses and ponds for aquatic plants and called the place Pansy Park, which "drew summertime travelers intent on witnessing the gorgeous floral displays.” It featured a wide array of thousands of popular and exotic plants like pansies, petunias, pinks and asters.[31] These included Emperor William's blue corn-flower, and in the aquatic gardens on the site, the world's second largest water lily, the Victoria Regia, from the Amazon.[32][33] The original Goodell home at Pansy Park, erected in 1833, remains at Dwight, north of the Dwight Station Mini Mart. It was sold out of the family in 1928.[34]
Mount Holyoke, a traprock mountain, elevation 935 feet (285 m), is the westernmost peak of the Holyoke Range and part of the 100-mile (160 km) Metacomet Ridge. The mountain is located in the Connecticut River Valley of western Massachusetts, and is the namesake of nearby Mount Holyoke College. The mountain is located in the towns of Hadley and South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is known for its historic summit house, auto road, scenic vistas, and biodiversity. The mountain is crossed by the 110-mile (180 km) Metacomet-Monadnock Trail and numerous shorter trails. Mount Holyoke is the home of J.A. Skinner State Park which is accessible from Route 47 in Hadley, Massachusetts.
Shutesbury is a town in Franklin County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,717 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Belchertown is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 15,350 at the 2020 census. The town includes the census-designated place of Belchertown. Belchertown was formerly the home of the Belchertown State School. The land on which the school sat is, as of 2016, being redeveloped for mixed uses including residential, commercial and recreational. This includes the 385-acre (156 ha) Lampson Brook Farm, used for community and sustainable agriculture, outdoor recreation, and wildlife preservation.
Granby is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,110 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The census-designated place of Granby corresponds to the main village of Granby in the center of the town.
Metacomet, also known as Pometacom, Metacom, and by his adopted English name King Philip, was sachem to the Wampanoag people and the second son of the sachem Massasoit. His older brother Wamsutta briefly became sachem after their father's death in 1661. However, Wamsutta also died shortly thereafter and Metacom became sachem in 1662.
The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail is a 114-mile-long (183 km) hiking trail that traverses the Metacomet Ridge of the Pioneer Valley region of Massachusetts and the central uplands of Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire. Although less than 70 miles (110 km) from Boston and other large population centers, the trail is considered remarkably rural and scenic and includes many areas of unique ecologic, historic, and geologic interest. Notable features include waterfalls, dramatic cliff faces, exposed mountain summits, woodlands, swamps, lakes, river floodplain, farmland, significant historic sites, and the summits of Mount Monadnock, Mount Tom and Mount Holyoke. The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail is maintained largely through the efforts of the Western Massachusetts Chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC). Much of the trail is a portion of the New England National Scenic Trail.
The Norwottuck Branch Rail Trail, full name the Norwottuck Branch of the Mass Central Rail Trail, formerly the Norwottuck Rail Trail, is an 11-mile (18 km) combination bicycle/pedestrian paved rail trail running from Northampton, Massachusetts, through Hadley and Amherst, to Belchertown, Massachusetts. It opened in 1993, and is now part of the longer Mass Central Rail Trail.
Talcott Mountain of central Connecticut, with a high point of 950 feet (290 m), is a 13-mile (21 km) long trap rock mountain ridge located 6 miles (10 km) west of the city of Hartford. The ridge, a prominent landscape feature, forms a continuous line of exposed western cliffs visible across the Farmington River valley from Farmington to Simsbury. Talcott Mountain is part of the narrow, linear Metacomet Ridge that extends from Long Island Sound near New Haven, Connecticut, north through the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts to the Vermont border.
Mount Toby, 1,269 feet (387 m), is the highest summit of a sprawling collection of mostly wooded hills and knolls that rise from a distinct plateau-like upland in the towns of Sunderland and Leverett, Massachusetts, just east of the Connecticut River. This mountain mass, part of the Metacomet Ridge geology, is oval shaped and roughly three miles by two miles wide. Although three of the subordinate peaks have names of their own, none of them are noteworthy on their own, and the designation “Mount Toby” is most often used to describe the entire geologic mass. This article, therefore, describes the entire Mount Toby upland.
Mount Nonotuck, 827 feet (252 m), is the northernmost peak of the Mount Tom Range of traprock mountains located in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts and part of the larger Metacomet Ridge which stretches from Long Island Sound to nearly the Vermont border. Rugged and considered scenic, the peak rises steeply from the river valley 700 feet (210 m) below. It is located within the town of Holyoke.
The Metacomet Ridge, Metacomet Ridge Mountains, or Metacomet Range of southern New England is a narrow and steep fault-block mountain ridge known for its extensive cliff faces, scenic vistas, microclimate ecosystems, and rare or endangered plants. The ridge is an important recreation resource located within 10 miles (16 km) of more than 1.5 million people, offering four long-distance hiking trails and over a dozen parks and recreation areas, including several historic sites. It has been the focus of ongoing conservation efforts because of its natural, historic, and recreational value, involving municipal, state, and national agencies and nearly two dozen non-profit organizations.
The Holyoke Range or Mount Holyoke Range is a traprock mountain range located in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts. It is a subrange of the narrow, linear Metacomet Ridge that extends from Long Island Sound near New Haven, Connecticut, north through the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts to the Vermont border. It is also a subrange of the Appalachian Mountains. A popular hiking destination, the range is known for its anomalous east–west orientation, high ledges and its scenic character. It is also notable for its unique microclimate ecosystems and rare plant communities, as well as significant historic sites, such as the Mount Holyoke Summit House and the Horse Caves.
East Mountain is a traprock mountain ridge located in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts. It is part of the narrow, linear Metacomet Ridge that extends from Long Island Sound near New Haven, Connecticut, north through the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts to the Vermont border. East Mountain is known for its extensive scenic cliffs, unique microclimate ecosystems, and rare plant communities. It is traversed by the 110-mile (180 km) Metacomet-Monadnock Trail.
Mount Norwottuck or Mount Norwottock, 1,106 feet (337 m) above sea level, is the highest peak of the Holyoke Range of traprock mountains located in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts and part of the greater Metacomet Ridge which stretches from Long Island Sound to nearly the Vermont border. The peak rises steeply from the valley 1,000 feet (300 m) below and offers sweeping views of the surrounding countryside. It is located within the towns of Amherst and Granby, Massachusetts.
Bare Mountain, 1,014 feet (309 m) above sea level, is a prominent peak of the Holyoke Range of traprock mountains located in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts, and part of the greater Metacomet Ridge that stretches from Long Island Sound to nearly the Vermont border. The peak rises steeply from the river valley 1,000 feet (300 m) below; its bald summit offers sweeping views. Bare Mountain is located within the towns of Amherst and South Hadley, Massachusetts. Part of its northeastern flanks are in Hadley and part of its southern flanks are in Granby. It is traversed by the 110-mile (180 km) Metacomet-Monadnock Trail.
The New England National Scenic Trail (NET) is a National Scenic Trail in southern New England, which includes most of the three single trails Metacomet-Monadnock Trail, Mattabesett Trail and Metacomet Trail. After the Metacomet-Monadnock-Mattabesett trail system, the trail is sometimes called the Triple-M Trail. The 215-mile (346 km) route extends through 41 communities from Guilford, Connecticut, at Long Island Sound over the Metacomet Ridge, through the highlands of the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts, to the New Hampshire state border. (The remainder of the M-M Trail to the summit of Mount Monadnock in southern New Hampshire is not included in the designation.) This includes a now (2013) complete connector trail (the Menunkatuck Trail) from the southernmost location of the Mattabesett Trail (in northern Guilford, Connecticut) to the sea (Long Island Sound) and a deviation of the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail in Massachusetts, to lead the trail through state-owned land instead of largely unprotected land.
The Robert Frost Trail is a 47-mile (76 km) long footpath that passes through the eastern Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts. The trail runs from the Connecticut River in South Hadley, Massachusetts to Ruggles Pond in Wendell State Forest, through both Hampshire and Franklin County and includes a number of scenic features such as the Holyoke Range, Mount Orient, Puffer's Pond, and Mount Toby. The trail is named after the poet Robert Frost, who lived and taught in the area from 1916 to 1938.
Mount Orient, 955 feet, is a south-facing high point on an upland plateau overlooking the Connecticut River Valley in Pelham, Massachusetts. Although the summit is wooded, a lower, south-facing ledge of exfoliating metamorphic rock provides views of the Holyoke Range and the east-central Pioneer Valley. Both the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail and the Robert Frost Trail (Massachusetts) traverse Mount Orient. The ledge is a popular hiking destination among college students and residents of nearby Amherst. Easiest access is via the Amethyst Brook Conservation Area parking lot on Pelham Road in east Amherst.
Mount Lincoln, 1,240 feet (380 m), is a high point on the Pelham Dome or Pelham Hills, an upland plateau overlooking the Connecticut River Valley in Pelham, Massachusetts. The mountain is mostly wooded, but a fire tower located on the summit provides views of the Holyoke Range and the east-central Pioneer Valley. The summit, located within the University of Massachusetts Amherst's 1,200-acre (490 ha) Cadwell Memorial Forest, is traversed by the Metacomet-Monadnock Trail and is the home of the Five Colleges radio station beacon.
Round Mountain, 780 feet (238 m) above sea level, was a peak of the Holyoke Range of traprock mountains located in the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts, and part of the greater Metacomet Ridge that stretches from Long Island Sound nearly to the Vermont border. Round Mountain was located mostly within Granby but some land was within the towns of Amherst and South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was traversed by the 110-mile (180 km) Metacomet-Monadnock Trail, but no longer, since the trail has been moved at that point to the north to avoid the quarry.
↑ Jenks, Gladys M. (1958) Dwight Station History, Belchertown Historical Association, Stone House Museum, Belchertown, Massachusetts. Box 33, Folder 1.
↑ U.S. Geological Survey, 1890. Belchertown Quadrangle. United States. Geological Survey. U.S.G.S. Relief shown by 20 feet contour interval and spot heights. Triangulation by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic and Borden Surveys. Surveyed in 1885 and 1887. Available through Princeton University. https://maps.princeton.edu/catalog/princeton-4b29b772r
↑ Caggiano, J.A., Jr., 1978, Surficial and applied surficial geology of the Belchertown quadrangle, Massachusetts: Amherst, Mass., University of Massachusetts, Ph.D. dissertation, 238 p.
↑ Brooks, Lisa. Our Beloved Kin: A New History of King Philip’s War. Yale University Press, 2018.
↑ T. Binzen, UMass Archaeological Services. "Native American Sites in Belchertown," cited in "A Conference on New England Archaeology," Newsletter, Vol. 22, April 2003.
↑ Greenlee, Ralph Stebbins, and Greenlee, Robert Lemuel. The Stebbins Genealogy. United States, Priv. Print. [M.A. Donohue], 1904.
↑ Photograph in collection, held by the Belchertown Historical Association, Stone House Museum, Belchertown MA
↑ Maps of Belchertown for the years 1854, 1856, 1860 and 1873. Letters of Ira Goodell, Jones Library Collection, Amherst, Mass.
↑ Autobiography of Justus Dwight. Belchertown Historical Association, Stone House Museum, Belchertown MA
↑ Sweeney, Kevin. "River Gods in the Making: the Williamses of Western MA." Dublin Seminar Series: Bay and the River. Boston, Boston University, 1981.
↑ Hampshire County Deeds [in Hampden County], 6:11, image 20, online at FamilySearch.org. The “Equivalent Lands” comprised Pelham, Belchertown, and parts of Enfield and Ware, called “equivalent” in relation to the four towns which Massachusetts lost in 1713 to Connecticut. Also: Hampshire County Deeds [in Hampden County], 6:13, image 21.
↑ Rand, Frank Prentice. The village of Amherst, a landmark of light (1958) The Amherst Historical Society. “Those early trains were miraculous but primitive. They used to stop at Dwight to “wood up,” as the saying went. A passenger who missed the train, back in the 1850’s, overtook it by running across the Dickinson pasture. “The cars were wholly of wood, heated by stoves, and poorly lighted with kerosene lamps. The brakeman would go through the train with drinking water . . . in what looked like a large teakettle with two small glasses in sockets in front.””
↑ Atkins, William H. (1973). Leave the light burning; South Amherst, Massachusetts. UMass Amherst Libraries. McFarland, Wis.: Printed by Community Publications. "We have authentic information, that, after the Amherst-Belchertown Railroad was built in 1853, oak timbers for ship building were loaded on the cars and transported to the New London shipyards. We would assume that these timbers were sawed at this log sawing mill as Dwight just noted, which was situated close by the R.R. Here large piles of wood were sawed and furnished to the R.R. trains with which to stoke their wood burning furnaces for the steam power engine. Here, water was taken from a large tank which was supplied from the brook for refilling of the boiler of the engine. With all of this data at hand, it is easy to understand why this district was called “Log Town”."
↑ Dickinson, Doris M., and McCarthy, Cliff. Belchertown. United States, Arcadia Pub (SC), 1998.
↑ Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Massachusetts Horticultural Society, W.D. Ticknor, 1892.
↑ Famous Pansy Park at Amherst Sold: L.W. Goodell Of There Cultivated Flowers for Seeds—Raised Many Strange Plants. The Springfield Sunday Union and Republican Sunday, October 7, 1928.
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