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West Whately Historic District

Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in MassachusettsNRHP infobox with nocatNational Register of Historic Places in Franklin County, MassachusettsUse mdy dates from August 2023
West Whately Chapel
West Whately Chapel

The West Whately Historic District is a historic district encompassing over 700 acres (280 ha) of western Whately, Massachusetts. The area, located in the foothills of The Berkshires above the Connecticut River, has a long agricultural history, but also experienced a surge of industrial activity in the 19th century, of which only fragments remain. The district, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003, is focused on the areas surrounding West Brook and the areas where there was once industrial activity. From the late 18th century into the early 20th, there were some 16 mill complexes in the area, of which only one still has a surviving structure. The principal elements that survive of this industrial past are foundations and evidence of water works such as dams and millraces. There are only two institutional buildings in the district: the West Whately Chapel, built in the Queen Anne style in 1896, and a schoolhouse that has since been converted to a residence.The oldest documented mill privilege on West Brook was granted about 1765 to Edward Brown, who operated a sawmill with his sons. This mill site was active into the 1920s, and was probably one of the longest-lived industrial sites. Privileges granted in the 1780s include one that was initially used for an oil mill, and another that included both grist and saw mills. At the mid-19th century, the area was that of the largest non-agricultural employment in the town, and also had several shops. The water-powered industries suffered due to reduced waterflows after the Northampton Reservoir was built in 1901, and most of the buildings were gone by the 1920s.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article West Whately Historic District (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

West Whately Historic District
Conway Road,

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Latitude Longitude
N 42.438333333333 ° E -72.681944444444 °
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Conway Road 148
01098
Massachusetts, United States
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West Whately Chapel
West Whately Chapel
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Whately Center Historic District
Whately Center Historic District

The Whately Center Historic District encompasses the historic rural village center of Whately, Massachusetts. Located in the hills west of the Connecticut River and north of Northampton, the district consists of a stretch of Chestnut Plain Road, the main north-south route through the village, and a short stretch of Haydenville Road, which is roughly at the center of the district. There are many fine homes from the Federal period, although they often have embellishments from later periods. Greek Revival architecture is also a major presence, with numerous houses, as well as the town's civic centerpieces, the town hall (c. 1844) and Second Congregational Church (c. 1843), showing that style. There are only a modest number of 20th century structures in the district bounds. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.The area that is now Whately was Native American land until its purchase by English colonists from Hatfield in the late 17th century. Some farming took place then, but settlement was delayed by King Philip's War (1675–78). A land division in 1684 included provision for what is now Chestnut Plain Road, but settlement remained slow, with many early homes surrounded by wooden palisades. The archaeological remains of one such palisaded homestead remain in Whately Center. The town was separately incorporated in 1771, the date the center cemetery and its surviving animal pound were established. Only one house, the c. 1760 Morton House at 207 Chestnut Plain Road, predates the town's incorporation.

Haydenville Historic District
Haydenville Historic District

The Haydenville Historic District is a historic district encompassing the traditional village of Haydenville in Williamsburg, Massachusetts. It includes properties on Main and High Streets, and Kingsley Avenue. Its most prominent feature is the former Haydenville Manufacturing Company premises, built in 1875 after a flood washed away the previous factory in 1874. This building located on Main Street (Massachusetts Route 9), is now known as the Brass Works, and features elaborate Italianate and Victorian styling. Overlooking the factory across Main Street are two high-style Greek Revival houses, each with four-column Greek temple porticos, built for the brothers Joel and Josiah Hayden, for whose family the village is named.The Haydens were the primary civic and economic force in the village. David and Daniel Hayden, uncles to Joel and Josiah, first entered into business here in 1808, manufacturing power looms and a variety of small metal objects. The latter came to dominate their business under Joel and Josiah, who established a business that survived until 1950. The Hayden family's influence in the village is visible in the 1852 Haydenville Congregational Church, and the 1900 library, both built with family funds, and in the row of high-quality worker housing lining High Street. The Haydenville Cemetery, also located on High Street, was established by the brothers in 1847 after their father died, and is where the family plot is located.The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Conway School of Landscape Design
Conway School of Landscape Design

The Conway School (Conway) is a graduate program for sustainable landscape design and planning. It was founded in 1972 in a rural 24.5-acre (99,000 m2) campus in Conway, Massachusetts, and in 2015 opened a new campus in a renovated mill in Easthampton, Massachusetts. In 2018, the school moved to a renovated historic Coach House building in the Village Hill neighborhood of Northampton, Massachusetts. The graduate school offers a unique Master of Science degree in Ecological Design. The school accepts about twenty students each year into its 10-month program. The mission of the Conway School is to explore, develop, practice, and teach design that is ecologically and socially sustainable. The program puts particular emphasis on communication skills and community building. Students work on real projects with real clients at varying scales, from residential landscaping to urban planning and management of entire watersheds and food system. The curriculum and projects are designed to provide graduates with the basic knowledge and skills necessary to practice the planning, design, and management of the land that respects nature as well as humanity; develop ecological awareness, understanding, respect, and accommodation in the school's students and project clients; and produce projects that fit human use to natural conditions. Conway's founder, landscape architect and planner Walter Cudnohofsky, served as director from 1972 to 1992. Donald Walker, alum of the class of 1978, was the director from 1992 to 2005. Landscape architect Paul Cawood Hellmund served as director from 2006 to 2015. In 2016, the school adopted a shared leadership model. Currently, alum and former board member Bruce Stedman '78 is executive director, Ken Byrne is academic director and alum Priscilla Novitt is administrative director.