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Pioneer Valley

Geography of Springfield, MassachusettsLandforms of Franklin County, MassachusettsLandforms of Hampden County, MassachusettsLandforms of Hampshire County, MassachusettsPages incorrectly using the Blockquote template
Regions of MassachusettsValleys of Massachusetts
Pioneer Valley South From Mt. Sugarloaf
Pioneer Valley South From Mt. Sugarloaf

The Pioneer Valley is the colloquial and promotional name for the portion of the Connecticut River Valley that is in Massachusetts in the United States. It is generally taken to comprise the three counties of Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin. The lower Pioneer Valley corresponds to the Springfield, Massachusetts metropolitan area, the region's urban center, and the seat of Hampden County. The upper Pioneer Valley region includes the smaller cities of Northampton and Greenfield, the county seats of Hampshire and Franklin counties, respectively. Historically the northern part of the Valley was an agricultural region, known for growing Connecticut shade tobacco and other specialty crops like Hadley asparagus; however, since the late 19th century its economy has become increasingly a knowledge economy, due to the prominence of the Five Colleges in Hampshire County. Similarly the Springfield-Chicopee-Holyoke economies transformed from volume producers of goods such as paper and armaments, into a combination of specialized manufacturing and distribution services for Boston and New York. Many of the cities and towns include areas of forests, and Springfield itself, which in the early twentieth century was nicknamed "The City in a Forest," features nature within its city limits and over 12% parkland. The Pioneer Valley is known for its scenery and as a vacation destination. The Holyoke Range, Mount Tom Range, and numerous rolling hills, bluffs, and meadows feature extravagant homes from the Gilded Age, many of which surround New England's longest and largest river, the Connecticut River, which flows through the region.The name Pioneer Valley originates in the 20th century with travel writers using it in the 1920s and 1930s to designate the region. In 1939 the Pioneer Valley Association was formed to promote the region using that name.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Pioneer Valley (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Pioneer Valley
Hockanum Road,

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Wikipedia: Pioneer ValleyContinue reading on Wikipedia

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 42.3 ° E -72.6 °
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Address

Hockanum Road 130
01035
Massachusetts, United States
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Pioneer Valley South From Mt. Sugarloaf
Pioneer Valley South From Mt. Sugarloaf
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Nearby Places

Hockanum Rural Historic District
Hockanum Rural Historic District

Hockanum Rural Historic District is a rural historic district along the Connecticut River in Hadley, Massachusetts. The district includes much of the area in Hadley west of Mount Holyoke and east of the river. Its formal boundaries run from Hockanum Cemetery in the southwest, following the river and the summit ridge of Mount Holyoke to the northeast corner of J.A. Skinner State Park. It includes the summit area of Mount Holyoke, including the Summit House, Halfway House, and other historic structures within the park, along with the agricultural lands of the valley below.The views of the Connecticut River valley from Mount Holyoke were popularized in the early 19th century by the writing of Timothy Dwight, a Northampton native and president of Yale College. The summit area was a tourist destination, and artists such as Thomas Cole immortalized the views in art. In the late 19th century tourism waned, but saw a brief resurgence in the 1910s and 1920s due to the activities of Joseph Skinner, a local industrialist and philanthropist. He purchased and rehabilitated the mountaintop facilities and modernized the road to the summit. His success was brief, hurt by the Great Depression and the effects of the 1938 New England hurricane, which nearly destroyed the Summit House. He donated his holdings to the state to form the core of Skinner State Park.The agricultural lands in the valley have undergone only relatively modest changes, and farming continues to be a dominant activity in the area. Most of the structures in the valley are related to agricultural activities. There is no church, but the community has historically been focused around taverns that were in the area, and more recently around the Hockanum School, a small brick schoolhouse built c. 1853.The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.