| Hadley Massachusetts
is a growing residential community with a strong agricultural base. This
scenic community is bordered on the west by the Connecticut River and on
the south by the Mount Holyoke Range.
One of the oldest settlements in
the Commonwealth, Hadley was founded by English colonists in 1659 and grew
into an active farming and trading center which today has the most acreage
of farmland of any Pioneer Valley town. Hadley has two village centers;
North Hadley, a picturesque New England settlement, and Hadley Center,
with its notable historic homes.
The Porter Phelps-Huntington House
Museum, built in 1752, hosts folk music concerts and storytelling. Hadley
became the birthplace of broom-making in 1797 and an important cultivator
of broom corn thereafter. The Hadley Farm Museum houses a large collection
of early New England farm machinery which illustrates the area's early
way of life.
The town center, with its old stately
colonial homes clustered around the large village green is a contrast to
the economically vital commercial strip along Route 9. The Joseph Skinner
State Park, on the Mount Holyoke Range, boasts a spectacular view from
its 930 feet summit and from Summit House, which was originally built in
1851.
Hadley Massachusetts is located in
West central Massachusetts, bordered by Sunderland on the north, Amherst
on the east, South Hadley and Holyoke on the south, and Northampton and
Hatfield on the west. Hadley is about 22 miles north of Springfield, 90
miles west of Boston. |