Some tourist attractions can be easily experienced by taking in a scenic view or driving down a famous byway. But other places must be explored to be appreciated, with layers revealed as you go. That’s how it is in Western Massachusetts, with sites like the Emily Dickinson Museum, the Quabbin Reservoir’s “accidental wilderness” and many other treasures — from great restaurants to unusual bookstores — waiting to be discovered. Of course there are Walmarts, Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts here, just like everywhere else. But you can also tune into the region’s bucolic, historic side by driving for miles along winding roads past small farms, town squares, and communities founded in the 17th and 18th centuries. One of the region’s nicknames, the Pioneer Valley, was a promotional name dreamed up by businessmen in the early 1900s harking back to those early settlements.
As you roam around, you’ll see that each town has a unique claim to fame. Deerfield is famous as the site of an attack in 1704 by Indians and their French allies in which more than 40 villagers were killed and over 100 taken captive. South Deerfield is home to the Yankee Candle flagship store, where Santa’s elves are always hard at work and it snows indoors every four minutes. In Shelburne Falls, blooms change by the season on the Bridge of Flowers. Tulips were big in early May, vibrant pink peonies will flower soon.
Another side of the area’s personality comes through in a different nickname — the Happy Valley, which suits the counterculture vibe that’s perhaps inevitable with so many college campuses nearby (Amherst College, Mount Holyoke, Hampshire, Smith and UMass-Amherst among others), along with generations of alumni who never left. The happy hippie theme is evident in stores like Food for Thought in Amherst, described as a “workers’ collective bookstore” and A Child’s Garden in Northampton, a place that advertises itself as welcoming “babywearing and cloth diapering.”
For a unique outdoor experience, visit the area surrounding the Quabbin Reservoir, which was created in the 1930s when four towns were moved to make way for a 39-square-mile reservoir fed by local rivers. The watershed area consists of 120,000 acres of forests and meadows cleared of human habitation to keep the waters pristine. The reservoir supplies water to more than 2 million people in 51 communities, and the landscape is an unusual mix of engineering, human history and open space.
“The term accidental wilderness captures the essence of it,” said Clif Read, supervisor of Quabbin’s interpretive services. “It was not designed as a wilderness area or wildlife sanctuary or state park, but because of the protection of the area around the drinking water, it has become wild.”
