Fantastic Franklin County

Deerfield River from the Buckland side.

Once we decided to undertake this quest, I needed to find out how many actual counties there were in Massachusetts.  A quick Google search led me to the answer -- 14.  The surprising fact was that Western Massachusetts has four counties -- Hampshire, Hampden, Berkshire, and Franklin.  I had never heard of Franklin, but little did I know by the end of the next two weeks, I would travel to Franklin County twice and love each visit.  For our first trip, we decided to head west on Route 2 out to Shelburne Falls.  We had passed the signs for "The Bridge of Flowers" while on trips out to Williams College, but had never stopped there before.  So on yet another hot July Saturday, we started our trek in the late afternoon, arriving in Shelburne Falls around 4:30 p.m.  Driving off of Route 2 down into the town, I was quickly mesmerized by the funkiness of Shelburne Falls.  Shelburne Falls is basically the town green area of Shelburne and Buckland.The business section of town consisted of flowers and brightly colored shops.  I was eager to explore this area.  We parked our car on the other side of the bridge, which is technically Buckland (the river splits the two towns) and walked back across the bridge into Shelburne.    My husband, searching out a cup of coffee, pointed out the Fox Town Coffee Shoppe.  Entering the restaurant, there was an old fashioned counter, that we sat at.  We decided to try a piece of pie and it was delicious.  After our snack, we ventured out to the bookshop, which had great outdoor seating, and then looked at the other stores in town.  We stopped in front of a small bistro, when the owner came out and announced that she had no seats left tonight, a sign to me that the area was surviving the recession okay.

Glacier Pot Hole

Next up was a stroll down to the Glacier Potholes.  What you may ask is a glacier pothole?  Well, a glacier pothole is formed by the action of water swirling rocks along the ground during the glacier age.  These potholes were extremely unique.  I guess in the past, they let people swim in these, but today, there was a large fence prohibiting anyone from going down there.  Beautiful waterfalls were also present at this site adding to the natural beauty.  On Deerfield Avenue, where the potholes were located was the Mole Hollow Candle Factory, a great art gallery store with lots of great items, and a yoga studio, complete with Buddha gracing the outdoor grounds.  There was certainly a mystic feel to this town.

Deerfield River

Entrance to the Bridge of Flowers

We then made our way to the Bridge of Flowers, the most interesting flower garden I have ever seen.  Instead of tearing down an old bridge, instead, what started as a war memorial is now a bridge of the most beautiful flowers.  It is only open to foot traffic and on this hot summer's afternoon, there were many people admiring the beautiful flowers.  Looking northward up the Deerfield River was also quite scenic.  After admiring the 300 plus types of flowers, we stopped at the general store to pick up some water.  The town had a very friendly feel to it as we left and headed more into Buckland.  We decided to "wing it" without our GPS Lucy and see where the road would lead us.  Beautiful lush green rolling hills surrounded us as we entered the small town of Ashfield.  I believe this area is sometimes called "Hilltowns" or "The Hidden Hills." We traveled route 112 into Route 116, where we landed in the town of Conway.  Another beautiful little town, complete with a really unique library structure which I later found out was called the Marshall Field Memorial Library after Marshall Field, who grew up in Conway and later founded Marshall Field's department store in Chicago.  We finally came to Route 91 and headed back north towards Route 2 East.  However, we were hungry and from our guide book The Berkshire Hills and Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts,  we decided to stop in Turner's Falls to find a bite to eat.  Turner's Falls is the home to the "Great Falls" which are one of the first waterfalls in the country that was circumvented by a transportation canal in the early 1800's.  This town had a lot of interesting architecture, and I could tell that it must have been quite the place at one time.  We found Shady Glen, another old-fashioned diner where you could order a variety of foods. On our way out, we saw an old picture of the owner and the late Senator Ted Kennedy.  We asked the gentleman behind the counter if that was him, and he nodded proudly that it was.  Heading back eastward on Route 2, we stopped at an ice cream stand and then headed over to Barton's Cove in Gill.  The sun was starting to set as boaters pulled their boats out of the water.  It had been a really fun time discovering all that Franklin County had to offer on this hot Saturday.

The view from Hamilton Orchards

The following Saturday, we were heading towards Hampshire County from Route 2 west to Route 202 South.  As we have a son who attends Amherst College, we had traveled this road many times.  The towns go from Shutesbury to New Salem back to Shutesbury to New Salem again.  Checking my website on what towns are in what counties, I found out that these towns were also in Franklin County.  We've always passed signs for pies, sandwiches, cider, but never ventured up the road to check it out.  Since again, we needed to eat, we decided to take that right and head up to Hamilton Orchards in New Salem.  We were not disappointed at all,  The Apple Barn was on the left and had a magnificent view of the rolling hills.  In the barn, there was a section where you could buy fresh fruit and baked goods, and then there was a small restaurant.  We each ordered a delicious pulled pork sandwich, and we also each ate a wonderful cider donut.  You could eat inside and also have a wonderful view, but we elected to head outside to enjoy the scenery.  Some apples were already starting to turn red, and the orchard does offer pick your own apples in the fall.  We will definitely stop there again on our many treks to Amherst in the fall.


Franklin County -- friendly people, lots of beautiful scenery and unique things to see and do.  A hidden treasure in Massachusetts for sure!