Holland, Massachusetts

Quinebaug Woods is a 36-acre (15 ha) open space preserve located in Holland, Massachusetts. The property, acquired in 2001 by the land conservation non-profit organization The Trustees of Reservations, is named for the Quinebaug River, which runs through the reservation.The reservation is located off Dug Hill Road in northeast Holland and offers 1.1 miles (1.8 km) of hiking trails, woodlands, river frontage, a scenic vista, and the remains of a 1930s cabin atop the hogback Blake Hill. The reservation is open to hiking, picnicking, horseback riding, fishing, and cross country skiing. Quinebaug Woods is part of a contiguous area of protected open space including the United States Army Corps of Engineers' East Brimfield Dam/Holland Pond Flood Control and Recreation Area.

Holland is a census-designated place (CDP) in the town of Holland in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States, comprising the town center and other populated areas in the eastern part of the town. The population was 1,464 at the 2010 census, out of a total 2,481 people in the town. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Leadmine Wildlife Management Area is a 640-acre (260 ha) wildlife conservation area located in Holland and Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The conservation area abuts the Tantiusques reservation and its satellite Crowd Site, owned by The Trustees of Reservations. It is managed by the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. Hunting (in season), hiking, and other outdoor recreational pursuits are enjoyed on the property. The conservation area is named after the nearby colonial-era graphite mining industry at Tantiusques. Note that the Leadmine WMA pond depicted on this page may no longer exist in the same form (or even as a pond anymore) as in 2017 the dams were removed from the three adjacent ponds (Upper Pond, Middle Pond and Lower Pond) which were then linked in series by Hamant Brook.

Tantiusques ("Tant-E-oos-kwiss") is a 57-acre (230,000 m2) open space reservation and historic site registered with the National Register of Historic Places. The reservation is located in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and is owned and managed by The Trustees of Reservations; it is notable for its historic, defunct graphite mines. This is a rural area with much of the adjacent and surrounding area undeveloped and forested. The reservation is entirely forested with oak-hickory forest and red maple in the wet areas and mountain laurel abundant throughout the understory. The name Tantiusques comes from a Nipmuc word meaning “the place between two low hills." The Nipmuc used the graphite to make ceremonial paints. The property also contains the ruins of a 19th-century period house that belonged to a mine worker of mixed African American and Native American ancestry.

The United Colonies of New England, commonly known as the New England Confederation, was a confederal alliance of the New England colonies of Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Saybrook (Connecticut), and New Haven formed in May 1643. Its primary purpose was to unite the Puritan colonies in support of the church, and for defense against the American Indians and the Dutch colony of New Netherland. It was the first milestone on the long road to colonial unity and was established as a direct result of a war that started between the Mohegan and Narragansett Indian tribes. Its charter provided for the return of fugitive criminals and indentured servants, and served as a forum for resolving inter-colonial disputes. In practice, none of the goals were accomplished.The confederation was weakened in 1654 after Massachusetts Bay refused to join an expedition against New Netherland during the First Anglo-Dutch War, although it regained importance during King Philip's War in 1675. It was dissolved after numerous colonial charters were revoked in the early 1680s. John Quincy Adams remarked at a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society on the 200th anniversary of the Confederation's founding: The New England confederacy was destined to a life of less than forty years' duration. Its history, like that of other confederacies, presents a record of incessant discord-of encroachments by the most powerful party upon the weaker members, and of disregard, by all the separate members, of the conclusions adopted by the whole body. Still the main purpose of the union was accomplished.

Nipmuck State Forest is a Connecticut state forest. Its 9,000 acres (3,600 ha) surround Bigelow Hollow State Park in the town of Union and include parcels in Stafford, Ashford, and other towns. The forest is part of a larger network of forest lands making up some 40,000 acres (16,000 ha) in all.

Mashapaug Lake is a 297-acre (1.20 km2) lake surrounded by Bigelow Hollow State Park and Nipmuck State Forest in the town of Union in northeastern Connecticut. The lake has a maximum depth of 39.5 feet (12.0 meters), and an average depth of 15 feet (4.6 meters). Its normal surface elevation is 706 feet (215 m). The lake is very popular with fishermen and boaters from the area, and can also be used for swimming.

The East Brimfield Dam is located on the Quinebaug River in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, approximately 20 miles (32 km) southwest of Worcester, Massachusetts. Designed and constructed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, this dam substantially reduces flooding along the Quinebaug and Thames rivers. Construction of the project began in 1958 with completion in 1960 at a cost of $6,580,000.The East Brimfield Reservoir, located in Sturbridge and Brimfield to its west, lies within the Quinebaug River Watershed and is part of the Thames River Basin. Access to the site is available from US Route 20.

Breakneck Pond is a 92-acre (0.37 km2) lake surrounded by the Nipmuck State Forest in Union, Connecticut. A small portion of the lake extends into Sturbridge, Massachusetts. The maximum depth of the lake is 12 feet (3.7 m). The entire lake shore is undeveloped and motorized vehicles and boats are prohibited. The lake is accessible through trails from Bigelow Hollow State Park and camping is permitted at three locations around the lake. It is also the northern terminus for the Nipmuck Trail.

Wales is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 1,838 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Bigelow Hollow State Park is public recreation area in the town of Union, Connecticut, in the Quinebaug Highlands. The state park's 516 acres (209 ha) border Nipmuck State Forest on the east and west and Mashapaug Lake on the north. The park and forest are located in a large hollow or depression approximately 700' below the surrounding ridgelines. They are managed by the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

The Quinebaug Highlands are a 172,000 acre region of mountains surrounding the Connecticut/Massachusetts border near Ashford, Eastford, Union, and Woodstock in Connecticut and Southbridge and Sturbridge in Massachusetts. It includes over 40,000 acres (160 km2) acres of protected forest. The highlands are the source for several rivers, including the Quinebaug River, and are part of the Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor.The highest elevation is 1,315 ft (401 m) Burley Hill in Union, CT.