Frog Hollow & the old RR

Long LONG ago the railroad in Crescent Mills, Russell, came southward and crossed the Westfield River to it's west side. Hugging the base of Turtle Bend Mountain and eventually traveling down the route now occupied by Frog Hollow Road. I believe by 1860 that railroad route was left on the River's east side. A group of Hilltown Hikers covered this area which also plays host to part of Unkamit's Path. Evidence of a possible river crossing (such as abutments) was scant.

Later on, back more towards the center of Russell, we looked of a definite abutment leftover from the old trolley route through town.

Old Times in Middlefield

On a Sunday afternoon with a short amount of daylight to exploit. a small group of the Hikers descended upon Middlefield. This was near the southern end of where a succession of several reservoirs once existed for the benefit of factories in the nearby area. We rooted bout several old cellar holes the mill owners once occupied, one being 'modern' enough to have remnants of an ancient electrical system. We explored the nearby woods which itself was once the bottom of a reservoir!.

Just downstream from this area was an old CCC project that was going to resurrect a big reservoir for recreational purposes. Although that never came to be, one can see an old stone quarry, partial dam remains and a handful of drill bits left curiously standing in the ground. Out on the main road nearby were several foundations of the old mills.

Curious Geologic Offerings

Returning more to my 'roots' of a geologic theme, a trip into an area reported to have potholes of a possible unusual nature. Unusual they were! Where your everyday pothole is usually a vertical formation down into the rocks, these were formed along a horizontal axis and of a very large size. Right now their exact nature remains a mystery. One appears to be your traditional vertical pothole. But it is of an enormous size with partial collapse in areas around its circumference. Further study will be in the offering!

On the return to our cars, a chance to visit the first cemetery for this remote little Berkshire town.

The Mountain House and Old Mill sites

In the rural confines of the Town of Montgomery, once existed the Moore Mountain House (due note Mountain House Road). Atwater Moore had operated a whip shop along nearby Moose Meadow Brook. Establishment of the Westfield Reservoir eliminated the whip shop as well as other mills along Moose Meadow. On this day we covered all those sites, locating foundations, well sites, mill sluices and eventually following Moose Meadow Brook down to the Westfield Reservoir. After partially circumnavigating the Reservoir on a pretty indistinct trail, we were fed back out onto a woods road that would eventually take one down into Tekoa Mountain. However, our course lay back to the north towards our point of origin. Branching off into the woods a couple of times, a few old fountains were located. One (a probable school house) had an assortment of buried pottery and other artifacts.

Giving Thanks at Tekoa Park.

A beautiful late fall Thanksgiving morning brought me to the the borders of Westfield and Russell. Here lay Tekoa Park, an under used tract of public land I had seen marked on maps for many years. Thanks to our friends at the Hilltown Hikers, a blazed trail that followed much of a lot older trail can be used for access. A steep - but short - climb up a ridge will eventually take you to Hosmer Lookout. Several metal remnants remain, anchors to a tower that once existed. Sans foliage, there is an impressive view of majestic Tekoa Mountain across the Westfield River. Geologically, a possible old quarry site in the summit area and an old stone quarry site near the trailhead where one first enters the Park.

Chester. Oh, Chester!

Out in the wilds of Chester MA once again, is a lost burial site. A couple of previous attempts to find it by Hilltown Hikers had proved fruitless. With a larger group - and hopefully a bit more information - we descended near Chester Center The original center for the town pre railroad days.

A large tract of land was covered that constituted a pretty thorough search. But again, we left empty handed with three graves still hiding somewhere out there. As we parted ways with our noble hike leader Liz, several us us took off on our own exploring. Nearby was Hiram's Tomb so that was next on our agenda. We finished this trip with a visit to a quartz quarry right in Chester Center followed by the Center's cemetery. Here, one can find the parents of Hiram Smith (of Hiram's Tomb fame) resting away in a more conventional fashion.

School House Trail - Washington

Meeting once again with a small band of WMHH - or just the "Hilltown Hikers", as they like to use nowadays - we met on a back road in the sleepy little town of Washington. It was not far from our meet/hike on October 7th. We took the Schoolhouse Trail in a ways, seeing a town boundary marker and an old mill site. We were squeezed somewhat a bit for time this day, so a return was made via our route we had entered upon