Day/Date: FRIDAY – 4/26/24 (& part of 3-8-24)
Town visited: Hadley
Had we ever been to this town before? No
Drive to town: 99 miles Time spent in town: many hours
What did we do in the town/area?
Because we planned to visit a few areas in Hampshire County this weekend, we booked an Air B&B in Hadley. Little did we know at the time of booking that we would be staying quite literally across the street from the Connecticut River (by the Alexandra Dawson Conservation Area) and on the oldest street in HADLEY, MA (West St). Our Air B&B home was a historic house known as the Captain Locke house circa 1797. The room was large and comfortable and we could see the river from our window. It was pretty cool!
Our very first stop in Hadley was at the Esselon Cafe. This cafe and coffee roaster is pretty awesome. They have a very nice menu for food and their coffee is just fantastic. Lucky for us, Esselon was just up the street from where we were staying, and we found ourselves returning several times during our weekend in the Pioneer Valley.
There is another coffee roaster, Rao’s, that’s also located in Hadley. We stopped at their facility along Rte 9, but they were closed on weekends. That’s too bad because we learned that you can order online and pick up there if you are local. But alas, later, we found their coffee at a local shop in Hadley, so we were happy about that.
During our town center exploration, we checked out the town hall and the farm museum building, which sadly didn’t open until the first weekend in May, so we didn’t have the chance to see inside. We popped into the Hadley library, where Jo was excited to put her hands on the 900+ page book she had just finished listening to—’ My Name is Barbra’—to see the pictures! The library was pretty nice and there was a lot of local art currently being displayed inside.
Hadley is definitely the land of farms! There are almost 100 farms in this Hampshire County town, and just driving around seeing all the farmland is a lovely experience.
Our drive took us to our next destination- Skinner State Park, where we went for a hike. We could see an old hotel at the top of Mt. Holyoke (known as the Summit House) from the foot of the mountain along our drive. The hike was steep at points but well worth it, as the reward was a 360-degree view of the Connecticut River valley at the top. We could see so many of the local towns, and the views spanned as far as Hartford, CT!
Not far from Skinner State Park is a Dairy Farm Store that someone told us about called Barstow’s. Barstow’s has a longstanding farm town known as Longview Farm, which has been around for more than 200 years. The store is awesome, and we got some fresh meat to take home and a few treats to sustain us. The store didn’t have any local asparagus out yet but, luckily for us, just a third of a mile down the road, we saw a sign on the side of the road that said “Asparagus- $5”- so we immediately pulled over and got ourselves some. Did you know Hadley is considered the “asparagus capital of the world”? The climate and soils are ideal in this area, so much so that the locals simply call it Hadley grass.
After a bit of rest, we headed out for dinner at Wildwood Barbecue, where we shared a hearty and tasty meal.
Then, around dusk, we explored the Sylvio O. Conte National Wildlife Refuge where, amidst a colorful sky, Jo spotted an eagle flying from tree to tree. Plus we learned about a screech owl that lives there from a knowledgeable local woman!
(see the white summit house?)
A note about these last few pictures: In March of 2024, we stopped at the North Hadley Sugar Shack (on our way to another town) during MA Maple Sugar Weekend because we just had to taste their maple syrup and see their operation during maple sugaring season! We saw their restaurant and store and tasted some of their super fresh maple syrup!
Thanks, Hadley- land of farms, asparagus, good coffee, and maple syrup!
Indigenous/ Native land info for this region: Nipmuc, Pocumtuc, Nonotuck
Massachusetts 351 