...And Back Roads Of Massachusetts

WITH the advent of autumn, thousands of Northeasterners who haven't given a hoot about trees all year head for the hills to partake of New England's annual color spectacular. For most motorists from the New York metropolitan area, the Berkshires in the westernmost part of Massachusetts have long been a favorite fall foliage destination—with predictable results: bumper‐to‐bumper traffic along U.S. 7 in and out of Great Barrington, Stockbridge and other major towns. But for those who would avoid the Berkshire crowds, there is a pleasant alternative, 30 miles to the east. In the Pioneer Valley, made up of the three Massachusetts counties — Hampden, Hampshire and Franklin—split by the Connecticut River on its north‐south course, the leafer will find a pleasing scenic mix of forests and farmland and small New England villages, with a varied collection of sites worth visiting. What the valley may lack in Berkshire chic, it makes up in travel ease.

Not that traffic is totally lacking in the Pioneer Valley. The major northsouth artery, Interstate 91, is one of the best‐looking superhighways anywhere, smoothly bisecting hills and farms and showing only a minimum of the industrial eyesores that mar so many highways. Yet on early October weekends 1.91 is best avoided; ditto the Massachusetts Turnpike and State Route 2, the Mohawk Trail. Too many leafers. But the Pioneer Valley has plenty of secondary routes—state and county roads that show as narrower or fainter lines on road maps.

The side roads, no less than the highways, are tree‐lined corridors that burst into color when the time is right. Instead of a succession of exit signs and motels, the traveler is more apt to see a boy and his dog looking after a flock of chickens, or a small herd of dairy cows lazing about the pasture, and in the background a curtain of fiery red maple and yellow birch. The shunpiker who sticks to these roads—State Routes 112, 116, 47, 63 and others—stands a good chance of having a comfortable scenic drive.

Herewith a smattering of reasons—major and minor—to pause In the Pioneer Valley. Places mentioned proceed roughly from south to north along the east side of the Connecticut River, then from north to south back down the west side.

Laughing Brook—Half a mile from the center of Hampden, at 789 Main Street, is an 84‐acre wildlife sanctuary centered on the former home and studio of Thornton W. Burgess, the author of thousands of children's nature tales. About 50 native New England animals are exhibited in trailside constructions that simulate their natural habitats. Peter Rabbit is there, and so are Bobby Coon, Jimmy Skunk. Lightfoot the Deer, Reddy Fox and other inhabitants of Burgess's Green Meadows and Green Forest. During foliage season, the more ambitious should hike over the hilly Green Forest trail to see the blazing colors close up. The less hardy can follow the Crooked Little Path, a flat quarter‐mile trail that runs along bubbly Laughing Brook and doubles as a touch‐see trail with a guide rope and Braille signs for the blind. Open Tuesday through Saturday 10 A.M. to 5 P.M., Sunday 1 to 5 P.M. Admission is $1 for adults, 50 cents for children under 12. In keeping with Burgess's habit of peppering his tales with amusing but moralistic rhyming couplets and quatrains, a sign is posted on the grounds:

If you with litter will disgrace And spoil the beauty of this place—May indigestion rack your chest And ants invade your pants and vest.

Mount Holyoke College—South Hadley is a storybook college town. At the center. Mount Holyoke College buildings line Route 116. Women students cycle by the old brick buildings, broad lawns and stately trees. Bells sound from the old tower. It's easy for a visitor to fit right into the scene by browsing among the remainder books and paperbacks in the well‐stocked Odyssey Book Mop or by going next door to the College Inn for lunch ($1.95 to $3.25) or a beer and pizza with the students.

Dinosaurs—No dinosaurs in western Massachusetts these days, but they did leave plenty of footprints behind in layers of shale. At least two local entrepreneurs are busy peeling the prints out of quarries, displaying some and selling others. Not big scientific news, but fun for young dinofreaks. Nash Dinoland (adults 50 cents, children 25 cents) is three miles north of South Hadley on Route 116; the Granby Dinosaur Museum (adults $1, children 50 cents) is off West State Street in nearby Granby.

The View from Mount Holyoke —The entrance to Joseph Allen Skinner State Park is on Route 47 north of South Hadley. The road is wide, with a canopy of overhanging trees and graceJust 30 miles east of the Berkshires and their bumper‐to‐bumper traffic, the author says, leafers will find “a pleasing mix of forests and farmland and small New England villages with a varied collection of sites worth visiting” along the Connecticut River's Pioneer Valley. ful white birches in rows on both sides. At the top, 1,000 feet up, there's a free picnic area and a fine view.

Hadley Farm Museum — On Route 9 just east of Route 47 in Hadley. Open only through Oct. 12—from 10 A.M. to 4:30 P.M. Tuesday through Saturday, 1 to 4:30 P.M. on Sunday. The museum is contained in a 1782 barn with a new outside but pretty much the original interior: huge, handhewn beams and rough floorboards of chestnut and oak. Four flights (including a loft and a basement) are jammed with so many old farm implements and home utensils that the place looks like a huge storage closet that lay unopened for about a century. There's a hand lawnmower that resembles a huge eggbeater, an 1885 side‐cutting mower, a dog treadmill, a bunch of old rough wood kitchen tools and a rare 15‐passenger stagecoach once used on the Boston‐to‐Albany run. No charge, and there's a curator, Bob Saunders, who knows his stuff. Around the corner, Route 47 is called Middle Street. It's a typical old‐style New England village main drag, with big front lawns and hills visible beyond the beckyards; worth a stroll.

Atkins Farm—Route 116, south of Amherst. One of the better known of the dozens of produce stands in this farm territory. The Atkins place is really a fruit and vegetable supermarket, with bins and bins of apples and other local crops available right up to frost: melons, squash, cucumbers, corn.

Amherst Auction Galleries—Route 63 at Route 116 in North Amherst. Big Ray Murphy and Bill Hubbard, estate liquidators, put antique furniture, books and assorted miscellany on the block every Saturday starting at 10 A.M. Previews the day before. Their philosophy: “Everything goes. We'll sell it for 50 cents rather than hold it over for next week.”

Captain Kidd's Island—Northfield is one of those pleasant Massachusetts towns with a long history—back to the 1600's, in fact. In the late 1600's, bold pirates frequented the area. A few miles south of town on Route 63, diagonally across the highway from the highway from the tiny white Community Bible Church, is a clearing from which can be seen a tree‐covered island in the Connecticut River. Legend has it that Captain Kidd himself buried a treasure chest there, and belief in the legend is so strong, according to a member of the Northfield Historical Society, that everyone who has ever lived in the area “has gone over by boat at one time or another and dug the place up.” No loot has ever been found.

Colrain‐Shelburne Road—Only a few miles west of Greenfield off Route 2, this scenic unnumbered road passes a couple of hilltop apple orchards and leads to the quiet old'town of Colrain, site of the first school to fly the United States flag. Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 3 to 8 P.M., the village library is open; a visit just to mosey around and chat with the librarian can give a good feeling for tiny‐town New England.

Old Deerfield—This collection of restored Colonial building is just off U.S. 5 in Deerfield. Most of the old houses are along the mile‐long Village Street. For each house there is a separate entrance fee, ranging from 50 cents to $1.50, and there is a caretaker/guide who privately escorts visitors from room to room. (A ticket holder who arrives at a house while another visitor is being shown around simply waits outside.) There are several old homesteads, a tavern, a fabric hall, a silver shop and a printing house—all furnished with gems of the 1700's. Antique lovers and Colonial history buffs may spend all day here and not get enough; children, though, may tire easily. Open seven days a week (on Sundays, afternoons only). The 91‐year‐old Deerfield Inn, at the center of the street, serves lunch ($2.25 to $3.25), including an unusual dessert menu with such offerings as Indian pudding and grasshopper pie (50 cents to $1 extra). There is also a clean and spacious snack bar.

The View from Mount Sugarloaf—East of South Deerfield on Route 116. Look down on the Connecticut River as it winds through the fertile valley. The summit can be reached by any driver with a good low gear and a strong stomach. The road up is paved and shady but narrow and winding. A 360‐degree panorama awaits.

Burkeville Bridge—Route 116, west of Conway. An 1873 covered bridge, 107 feet long, over the South River. It survived the floods of 1878 and the killer hurricane of 1938; the townfolk spruced it up in 1967 for Conway's bicentennial.

Whale Inn— Route 9 in Goshen. Widely known and favored in these parts, a good lunch and supper spot. The menu features fresh seafood from the Massachusetts coast, and the breads and pastries are baked on the premises. Full lunches run from $3.95 to $5.95, dinners from $5.95 to $9.95. The inn is a restored 1799 farmhouse, with the original fireplace and plenty of antiques. The dining room is huge, but for safety, note this number for reservations: 413‐268‐7246.

Moore Hill— The best high‐altitude view in the Goshen area can be seen by climbing a few flights of the outside staircase on the fire lower atop Moore Hill at the 1,000‐acre Daughters of the American Revolution State Forest. Enter off State Route 112 (Cape Street), just north of the center of Goshen. A sea of color when visibility is good.

Chesterfield Gorge—Off Route 143 in West Chesterfield (turn at the Yankee Trader). Set in the deep woods outside a rural community where lumbering and farming are the main businesses, this is a breathtaking 30‐foot‐deep canyon carved out of sheer granite walls by glacial ice and centuries of rushing water. The area now is preserved for fishing, hiking, white‐water canoeing, picnicking and just plain gazing in wonderment. Sure‐footed visitors can tread gingerly along the edge of the chasm, clasping the guard fence. The vertiginous point at which the fence ends would make a perfect spot to film a murder scene, complete with the dominating sound of the rushing water below. The parking charge is officially $1 on weekends and holidays, 25 cents on weekdays, but, depending on traffic, there may be no one to collect it.

Williamsburg— Just east of the intersection of Routes 9 and 143. Williamsburg was settled in 1735 by a refugee family from Northampton, eight miles to the south. It has a simple, broad Main Street (Route 9) and an area known as Petticoat Hill—ostensibly because it was once the home of a family with seven girls, each of whom wore five petticoats at a time. The Williamsburg General Store, on Main Street, is more than 100 years old and carries items such as toys, clothing and jewelry made by 80 or so area craftsmen. There are also jars of candy, a checkerboard, a peanut butter machine and talkative, bearded owner.

Rheena's Cave—The second left after Route 143 going west on Route 9, is Hyde Hill Road; the firs't driveway to the left on Hyde Hill leads to Gere Hilt Road, which used to be a town road and is now reduced to a path through a farm. The people who live in the two old houses at the entrance to the path don't mind if visitors park and trespass a little in search of Rheena's Cave, which few tourists and not that many residents have seen. Several hundred yards across the pasture and to the right just inside the woods is the cave, a mass of rock with several openings and plenty of living space inside. Local legend has it that Rheena (or Rena) Meekins, a young lady of dubious mental stability who lived with her parents on the south slope of Gere Hill, feuded with her ma and pa over a man and escaped to live here. It must have been peaceful.

Log Cabin Restaurant—Route 141, between Holyoke and Easthampton. Skiers and smart diners from the region have for years considered this one of the best restaurants around. A good Yankee kitchen, heavy on prime ribs and shrimp; popovers and assorted relishes at every table; pleasz‐nt service and prices ranging from $2.75 to $6.50 for a complete lunch and $4.75 to $12 for, dinner. And the setting is appropriate for autumn dining: smack in the mountains, overlooking a valley. It's smart to call ahead on weekends: 413‐536‐7700.

The Ultimate View—For $5 sightseers can buy a half‐hour foliage flight in a 30‐seat DC‐3 from Orange Municipal Airport (off U.S. 202 south of Orange). Or, for what must be the ultimate leafing experience, Parachutes Inc. offers a three‐hour novice course at the airport, followed by a jump from 2,500 feet on the same day, all for $70. Beginning parachutists use a static line, so there's no fuss, no worry, no ripcord to pull. Just relax and enjoy the foliage.