Days 55-61: Heading to Westfield, Massachusetts

This week I practiced 11 hours, so that takes me through Springfield to a town just west of the city, appropriately named Westfield, where I'll stop at a Family Dollar there at 51 Franklin Street.

Springfield to Westfield

I had to jump back on I-291 to get out of Springfield, but as I was traveling through the heart of the city, I thought I'd make note of some of the places that were not too far off that path. One place that caught my eye is Franklin Supermarket, at 412 Franklin Street in Springfield. I thought that was an interesting name for a grocery store, and thought it must be a neighborhood store. I was right on that score, but soon learned that Franklin Supermarket is central to its Puerto Rican neighborhood, catering to its customers' needs. It gets very good reviews on Google, and is no doubt even more important to its neighborhood now, with the pandemic making life difficult for its customers.

Franklin Supermarket outside

Franklin Supermarket inside

Doing some additional research, I soon learned that Springfield has a large and growing Latino-American community, comprised mainly of migrants from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and other island nations. A local community college, Springfield Technical Community College, has an interesting website that discusses this population and the diversity of residents in Springfield: Our Plural History.

Another interesting-looking place that can be seen from the interstate is Sacred Heart Catholic Church.
It's an imposing structure, with a beautiful interior--but it gives the impression of humility as well. Below are photos of the outside and inside.

As I travel along, I leave Interstate 291, splitting off onto US-20, where I cross a major US waterway, the Connecticut River, the longest river in New England, flowing 410 miles from the Quebec-New Hampshire border to Long Island Sound. It's named after the Pequot word, quinetucket, or long tidal river, anglicized to Connecticut.

Connecticut River
by Cathy Mumford

There are many interesting facts about the river which can be found at the Connecticut River Conservancy website. One interesting historical fact: it was the site of an attack in 1676. Here is a brief summary of that event:

[The river] witnessed the tragic engagement known as the Turners Falls Fight, or Turners Falls Massacre, in May of 1676, where several hundred Nipmuck, Pocumtuck, Wampanoag and Narragansett Indians (mainly women, children, and old men) were set upon in wigwams and slain by 150 colonial militiamen near the roaring falls, then known as Peskeomscutt, the “great falls.”

I am now in West Springfield, home of the Big E, or the Eastern States Exhibition, a major fair that happens every year; it has been ongoing since 1916. It is a regional event, encompassing six New England states. You can read about its history here: Big E History.

From BigE website

Also in West Springfield is the Josiah Day House Museum, which I pass just after crossing the Connecticut River, on US-20, at 70 Park Street. The house is reputedly the oldest brick saltbox house in the United States. It was built in 1746 and was owned and lived in by successive generations of Days until 1902, when the last descendant died and it was sold to the Ramapogue Historical Society. They preserved it as is and now it's a museum you can visit. You can read about the house here: Josiah Day House. As you can see from the below photo, it's right on US-20, and down the street from a pizzeria.

Traveling a few more miles, US-20 takes me to the next little town on my route, Westfield, down Main Street, right through the heart of an attractive downtown. Then it takes a left, goes north a couple of streets and turns left onto Franklin Street, where the Family Dollar is and where I'm stopping for now. See you next time!

51 Franklin St, West Springfield, MA

Days 46-52: Arriving at the Big City of Springfield, MA

Well, another nine miles down the road and I've finally arrived at Springfield, Massachusetts, one of the biggest cities in the state.

Wilbraham to Springfield, MA

For part of the journey, US-20 hitches a ride on I-291 for a few miles. Since I couldn't stop on the interstate, I had to get off at the nine-mile mark, where there's a gas station and quick-stop called Racing Mart, at 475 St. James Avenue. (I don't plan to stay long here, though, since it got kind of bad reviews for customer service.)

Along the way, there are some items of interest. The Wikipedia article for Springfield points to a number of interesting features of the city. Below are a few:

Founded in 1636 as the first Springfield in the New World, during the American Revolution, George Washington designated it as the site of the Springfield Armory for its central location, subsequently the site of Shays' Rebellion. The city would also play a pivotal role in the Civil War, as a stop on the Underground Railroad and home of abolitionist John Brown, widely known for his raid on Harpers Ferry,[15] and for the Armory's manufacture of the famed 'Springfield rifles' used ubiquitously by Union troops. 

The article has a great deal of information about the city, including a long and wide-ranging list of prominent citizens who hailed from Springfield, among them the aforementioned John Brown, as well as Timothy Leary, Dr. Suess, the artist Whistler, and Kurt Russell.

I'm always curious about what manufacturing goes on in the towns and cities I pass through, and it seems there is always a little factory or plant (or sometimes a big factory) along US-20 that I can investigate. One place I happened to notice on my latest trek is Norpin Manufacturing, at 2342 Boston Road in Wilbraham. It's a family-owned factory, in business since 1956, specializing in making what are called deep drawn enclosures. This was something I'd never heard of so I was intrigued. Well, if you've ever seen an object made of any kind of metal that is shaped in such a way that it would enclose something, you're looking at a deep drawn enclosure. They call it deep drawn because a metal sheet is drawn or pushed through a mold or die, usually by way of a punch, making it deeper than it is wide. Below is a diagram of this process.

Taken from Mech4Study

As you can imagine, all kinds of products that we use every day are made in this way. I thought immediately of napkin holders of the kind diners have on their tables. In fact, they have some like that in the Fabulous 50s Diner!

Fabulous 50's Diner Inside

But other types of metal containers, such as the cylinders used for automotive oil filters, or beverage cans, or electrical switch receptacles, are also made with this process. Norpin Manufacturing makes a variety of small enclosures, as they describe on their website. But they also produced this cute video, "A Day in the Life of a Deep Drawn Enclosure," which you can see here: Norpin. It's fun to watch with its lively music and speeded-up action. No explanations, but you can figure it out. I wanted to know what enclosure's "life" was being documented in the film, so I wrote them and they kindly replied that they were making a transformer housing for an amplifier. I watched another video from a German company (Geertz) that also makes deep-drawn enclosures; it was much more polished, with jazzier music and sexier visuals, but not nearly as much fun.

Arriving at Springfield, US-20 takes a sharp right turn away from the Boston Road and passes by a small lake known as Five-Mile Pond. Below is a satellite photo of the feature.

This body of water, according to the city's Open Space Plan, is 39 acres in surface area, has a maximum depth of 36 feet, and averages 15 feet in depth. Its origin is what's called a glacial kettle hole. The National Park Service has a little discussion about that geological feature. Below is a diagram of the process nature goes through to make a glacial kettle hole.

Taken from Glacial Massachusetts 

Well, I guess that's enough sight-seeing for this segment of my trip. I've arrived at my destination, the Racing Mart, where I'll take a break. Next week I'll be just a little further down the road.

Days 39-45: Heading to Wilbraham, Massachusetts

This week I practiced for nine hours, so that takes me nine more miles down US 20, heading west. Starting at house on the corner of US 20 and Dunhamtown Rd in Monson, MA, I end at a cute little diner in Wilbraham, Massachusetts, called The Fabulous Fifties Diner, at 2650 Boston Road (US 20) where I'll take a break.

Meanwhile, however, there are some interesting sights along the route. Palmer is the first town I encounter on my trek, and I very quickly cross the Quaboag River, a 26-mile long river that flows from Brookfield to Three Rivers, MA. Below is a pic and some historical information, taken from Wikipedia. 

"The river receives its name from Quaboag Pond, an Indian name meaning "red-water" (place or pond). At one time, this pond was called Podunk Pond. Early industry started along the Quaboag River downstream from West Brookfield, where the river started a 300-foot (91 m) change in elevation, providing significant waterpower. Major heavy industry was located in Warren, Massachusetts, because of the available waterpower from the river. Many of the dams on the river, used to provide waterpower, were destroyed during floods and not repaired or replaced. Parts of them remain, providing a hint of the river’s industrial past."

These days, the river is known as a good place for kayak paddling and fly fishing. This fun video, Quaboag River at 4 Ft, shows the videographer enjoying some paddling when the water was low, with some nice jazz music accompanying.

Palmer was first settled in 1716 by a man named John King, who came from England. He settled on the banks of the Quaboag River. Throughout the 18th century Palmer's name changed a few times, for a while being called Kingsfield after the town's first resident. The name Palmer came from a Chief Justice. The town was incorporated in 1775. It had a population of 12,140 in 2010, according to the census of that year. One of Palmer's claims to fame is its railroad depot, Union Station, designed by a famous architect, Henry Hobson Richardson, and its grounds were designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, who designed Central Park.

Passing through Palmer, I pass a number of businesses familiar along US highways: gas stations, taverns, strip malls, cafes, fast-food restaurants, retailers of various kinds, and industrial parks. One such park in Palmer is the Mapletree Industrial Center. Two businesses there are somewhat interesting; one is Iberia Foods, which distributes ethnic foods of various kinds to wholesalers and independent retailers throughout the US. The other is Australian Natural Soap, which imports and distributes fancy soaps from Australia.

Moving along, I come at last to Wilbraham, a town that was named after a couple of very old towns in England. It was first settled in 1740, but before that was a part of a tract purchased in 1636 from the Nipmuc by William Pynchon, who founded Springfield, of which Wilbraham is now considered a suburb. More information about the town can be found in this Wikipedia article: Wilbraham. We are obviously in the Appalachian foothills. Below is a topographical map that shows the elevation of the Wilbraham Mountains, a group of hills of varying heights surrounding US 20 at about the center of town. The red dot marks the location of the Taproom Bar and Grill, a bar and eatery on US 20. To the northeast you can see I-90 angling through, roughly paralleling the highway.

Taken from TopoZone

Well, I'm about at my destination now, so I'll stop and take a break. The Fabulous 50s Diner is not open for dine-in service right now because of Covid-19, but I can order take-out and enjoy it sitting on the little stone wall in front.

Fabulous Fifties Diner in Wilbraham, MA

 See you next week!

Days 32-38: Heading to 2 Dunhamtown Rd, Monson, MA

Well, it's been a while since I recorded my progress, so I decided that instead of trying to catch up, I'll just start from where I left off in February and go from there. This week I achieved several goals. so I get to "walk" 11.05 miles down Hwy 20. That takes me to a house at 2 Dunhamtown Rd in Monson, Massachusetts.

Sturbridge Coffee House to Monson, MA

Very soon after leaving Sturbridge I cross a lake/reservoir, East Brimfield Lake, in Fiskdale. This lake, created by a dammed river, is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. One of its recreational features is the Quinebaug River Canoe Trail, which is a flat water canoe route with lots of scenic beauty and wildlife to view.

Quinebaug River Canoe Trail

Further along, I soon come to Brimfield, a town just west of East Brimfield and Fiskdale. Brimfield is nicely set up for tourists, it seems, especially those who like outdoor recreation. Plus they have a very nice old house, built around 1800, that currently serves as a bed and breakfast, the Elias Carter House Bed and Breakfast, with quite reasonable rates. They also have many antique shops and an annual antiques festival that brings lots of people into town.

Heading out of Brimfield for the next town west, Palmer, we are now getting into some serious hills. Take a look at the terrain map to get an idea of what I mean.

There are the usual businesses I've been seeing along this highway, but once in a while one catches my eye. For instance, in the town of Brimfield at 197 Palmer Road is Bryan's Pellet Stove Service, which advertises cleaning and repair of pellet stoves and furnaces, something one doesn't see too much outside of New England. Because there is less natural gas heating available in this region, people sometimes opt for more economical alternatives to heating oil--one of which is wood pellets.

The town of Monson, MA has the Quaboag River as its northern border, including a snippet that crosses US 20 where I end my trek for this week. The center of the town lies about 3.5 miles SW as the crow flies. Monson was settled briefly in 1657, but was abandoned due to Indian attacks and then permanently settled in 1715 as part of Brimfield; it became its own town in 1775. They were known for woolen mills and granite quarries. One claim to fame that the town has is that it suffered a tornado in 2011 that did some damage and killed three people. Very unusual for New England!

Well, I've reached my destination, so I guess I'll see if the folks in this residence will let me sit on their porch for a while and drink some water, eat a granola bar, and ponder the age of this house, built in 1825. As I've said before, Massachusetts seems pretty blase about their elderly houses. I guess 1825 is new to them, despite its being almost 200 years old!

Intersection of Dunhamtown Rd and US 20, Monson, MA