Taking advantage of both some unusual winter weather (particularly lack of snow cover), AND some solid leads, it was off to the Connecticut River Valley!
First stop was in an area of Northampton, which has its own bit of history: Laurel Park. http://www.laurelparkarts.org/historical-laurel-park/ I've visited here on one previous occasion to search out another old postcard of Boulder Knoll. Today's trip brought me in search of Sunset Rock. Surprisingly, only a small amount of effort was needed to locate the boulder(s) which were found in the undeveloped woods. In reality, this is a split rock formation with a very clean, smooth cleavage. Not terribly big, but the postcard is the work of postcard maker Eddy Make, who operated out of Ware MA during the early 1900s.
A short drive to the north, landed me just over the Connecticut River and in the midst of a long time, but mostly dormant, project. Dormant yes - but not dead! An influx of antique stereoviews, from Amherst's renown photographer John Lovell, has found its way to me! So once again picking up where past investigations left off, identification was commenced on the unorthodox geologic formations. Among the long forgotten sites confirmed were Russell Rock, Titan's Quarry, Tripe Lichen Ledge, and Myra's Retreat. Updated information was obtained on Castle End, Rock Roof, and Kittie's Nook.
In the end, today was only a small part to setting the stage for a much larger expansion on this project come spring time. In all, 10 'new' images would come to me. Some sites (like Kittie's Nook) were previously identified from written records. It only remained to see exactly what the photographic eye of John Lovell captured on his trips through the wilds.
