Destination:
The Five College Area / Pioneer Valley
of Western Massachusetts

English farmers settled Deerfield in 1669, but in 1704, the French and their Indian henchmen promptly unsettled things with a ruthless raid that forever tore families apart. Many of the town's adults were slaughtered, and many of their children were marched through the bitter winter to Quebec as captives.

This tragic chapter of New England history gave birth to Historic Deerfield, an outdoor museum that will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2002. The museum comprises 13 carefully preserved 18th- and 19th-century homes which house textiles, furniture, china, and silver for public display. The museum's principal structure is the Flynt Center for Early New England Life, a 27,000-square-foot curatorial building where academics meet to pore over the town's history within the context of America's formative years.

The entire town of Deerfield is recognized as a national historic landmark, and Historic Deerfield facilitates the surrounding town's rich history through workshops, lecture series, antique forums, archaeological excavations, guided museum tours, and educational programs for all ages.

This is where the bear, fox, mink, and wood ducks roam, thanks to the 700-plus acre Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, a forested floodplain with meadowland and marshes providing for a most diverse ecosystem. Arcadia currently provides life support to the endangered leopard frog and wedgemussel as well to the diminishing species such as the bobolink and Cooper's hawk.

So environmentally friendly is Easthampton that there's even a pond that sits in the downtown area. Built in 1847 by industrialist Samuel Williston to power his manufacturing mills, Nashawannuck Pond is the centerpiece for future development of the business district, with plans for fishing as well as canoe and kayak rental.

Like the pond, Easthampton's original town common has also become devoted to recreation-only use. Attracting townspeople and visitors alike for picnics and even weddings, the one-time town common was the site of Easthampton's first meetinghouse, the Congregational Church. The downtown park was named Pulaski Park in 1985 for Casimir Pulaski, a general in the American Revolutionary War who helped the American cause.