South Hadley & Holyoke (city). April 28, 2024

Day/Date:  SUNDAY – 4/28/24
Towns visited: South Hadley & Holyoke (city)
Had we ever been to this town before?  No
Drive to town:   7 miles from Hadley to S. Hadley   Time spent in town:   9 hours

What did we do in the town/area?  
SOUTH HADLEY:
We woke up in Hadley and headed just a few miles down the road to explore South Hadley. The drive alone, along Rte. 47 from was very rural and beautiful.
Our first stop (for coffee of course!) was The Thirsty Mind Cafe across the street from the Mount Holyoke College campus, where we enjoyed our beverages and even read a poem from one of the many bookshelves inside the cafe. Kathryn Irene Glascock and Emily Dickinson are just a couple of well known poets who attended Mt Holyoke.

Daylight 
Peace was in the falling rain-
 The monotony of pain
 Had a fit accompaniment.
 And the night seemed kindly sent,
 With quietude where nothing mars
 The comfort of the ancient stars
 That see the griefs of all men end.
 Rain or night is the best friend
 For sorrow–but, waking now,
 I seem to have no knowledge how
 I can discover me a way
 To face the bright intolerable day.
–by Kathryn Irene Glascock (1922 graduate of Mt Holyoke College)

Next, we enjoyed a beautiful and quiet walk around the campus early Sunday morning (while most of the students were still sleeping). Mount Holyoke College was  founded in 1837 and was one of the first women’s colleges in the country.  It is the oldest of the “Seven Sisters” colleges in the Northeast.  This group of women’s colleges includes Barnard, Bryn Mawr, Smith, Wellesley, Vassar, and Radcliffe.  Mount Holyoke was founded in 1837 as Mount Holyoke Female Seminary by Mary Lyon. Mount Holyoke is also part of the Five College Consortium (along with Hampshire College, Smith College, UMass Amherst, Amherst College).  This consortium allows students to take courses that may not be offered at their college at one of the other colleges and provides transportation between the schools.  

After a full walkabout of the picturesque campus, we wandered into the Williston Library where we were wowed by the glass sculpture by Dale Chihuly in the entryway.  We also loved the large reading room.  On the wooden beams in the library were angels or cherubs, all reading books!

We also checked out a few local shops nearby including Odyssey Bookshop, where we were on the hunt for a Massachusetts-shaped sticker from the region.  Alas, we did not find one, but did find a cute one of the symbolic archway of Mount Holyoke.  We also really liked exploring the beautifully curated  gift shop, Arts Unlimited.

Then, we drove to the town hall and another section of South Hadley.  This area had a very different feel then the area near Mount Holyoke College.  The area near the college felt a bit more swanky compared to this more modest section of the town.  We snapped some pictures of town hall and the library and noted a few painted tiger sculptures out front of a few buildings.  The purpose of this community art project is to unify the town and highlight different features of the town through painting these fiberglass tigers.  There are 14 tigers in all and the tiger is their high school mascot.   

And, do you remember from our Hadley post that we hiked to the top of Mount Holyoke?  Well, we found a boundary marker at the top that proved that we were in Hadley AND South Hadley on that hike! (if you look close enough on that last pic you can see a few of the tall towers of the Mt. Holyoke College library!)  And, we learned that the college was named for this beautiful mountain, the westernmost peak of the Holyoke Range.

_{Center Church- South Hadley}

_{Thirsty Mind Coffee & Wine Bar}

_{Thirsty Mind Coffee & Wine Bar}

_{reading poetry at The Thirsty Mind}

_{entering Mount Holyoke College campus}

_{Mount Holyoke Campus}

_{Williston Library at Mt. Holyoke}

_{The Chihuly glass sculpture}

_{Mt. Holyoke Library}

_{Mount Holyoke Campus}

_{Mount Holyoke Campus}

_{Mount Holyoke Campus}

_{shops near campus}

_{Arts Unlimited}

_{South Hadley tiger pride}

_{South Hadley Town Hall}

_{the South Hadley Marker at the summit}

 HOLYOKE
As we entered the city of  Holyoke, we crossed two bridges: one over the Connecticut River and the other over the Water Street canal by the old Valley Paper Company. Holyoke used to be known as “Paper City” for the many paper mills that once operated there. There were also silk mills and woolen mills in Holyoke as well, as they capitalized on the hydroelectric power that the Connecticut River provides.

We noticed many murals in this city. One that really stood out to us  was “Father and Baby Moose” by the artist Bordalo II. It is located at the corner of Clemente and Spring Streets. We read that he built this mural in five days using seven tons of plastic trash! Way to recycle, man!

Holyoke’s current claim to fame is that they are known as “The Birthplace of Volleyball,” so we made sure to visit the International Volleyball Hall of Fame, where we enjoyed learning about how much the sport has changed throughout the years and how difficult it is to get into their hall of fame. Dennis, who worked at the Hall of Fame, shared with us that volleyball was invented by the Holyoke YMCA director, William Morgan in 1895. At the time it was called “mintonette” and was designed to be an indoor sport, less rough than basketball, for older members of the YMCA.  (Basketball was invented 4 years earlier at the YMCA in Springfield, MA, just 10 miles down the road).

Located near the museum was the Holyoke Heritage State Park, located on the site of the old Skinner Silk Mill.  The park includes a canalside walkway, a flywheel from the old mill, and a beautiful enclosed carousel that used to be part of Mountain Park. Mountain Park was an entire amusement park located a few miles out of town and was operational from 1897 to the 1980s. It included a dance hall, open air restaurant, theater, casino, and rides throughout its almost 100 year operation.  The carousel has been preserved and is still operating for any of you out there wanting a ride on a painted horse!

Next, we grabbed lunch at the Dam Cafe and then headed to see the Dinosaur Footprints near the Connecticut River- yes, we said dinosaur footprints!  The shape of these footprints is “Eubrontes” and have been found in many parts of the world.  Scientists don’t 100% know what genus of dinosaurs made these footprints, but these footprints in the Connecticut River Valley were the first known non-avian dinosaur tracks discovered in North America in the early 1800’s.  The prints were formed during the early Jurassic period about 200 million years ago!!!

From volleyball and amazing art, to dinosaur footprints and a refurbished carousel, Holyoke was a unique Hampden County city and made for a great visit!

_{Holyoke, MA}

_{Willimansett Bridge- Holyoke}

_{Canal in Holyoke, MA}

_{“Father & Baby Moose”- Bordalo II}

_{HOLYOKE CITY HALL}

_{carousel house}

_{old mtn park carousel}

_flywheel

_{paper city exhibit}

_{Jenny & Dennis at IVHF}

_{International Volleyball Hall of Fame}

_{yup, Dino prints!}

_{Dam Cafe- Holyoke}

_{inside Dam Cafe}

_{this is our “Dam” food !}

Indigenous/ Native land info for this region: Nipmuc, Pocumtuc

_{Additional poem by Virginia Hamilton Adair (1933 graduate of Mt Holyoke College)}

Ants on the Melon
Once when our blacktop city
was still a topsoil town
we carried to Formicopolis
a cantaloupe rind to share
and stooped to plop it down
in their populous Times Square
at the subway of the ants
and saw that hemisphere
blacken and rise and dance
with antmen out of hand
wild for their melon toddies
just like our world next year
no place to step or stand
except on bodies