Western Massachusetts Foliage Drive | Along the Great River

WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS FOLIAGE DRIVE

Distance: about 60 miles with summit detours From the source of Route 47 in South Hadley and on along quiet roads to Route 63 in Northfield, our journey is a sinuous, hypnotic drive, with the Connecticut River flashing in and out of the trees like a bright ribbon. It’s a day for farmstand hunting and lots of stops. Starting out, you’ll want to grab provisions at South Hadley’s Village Commons, from Tailgate Picnic or the Thirsty Mind coffeehouse, both across from the storied beauty of the Mount Hol­yoke College campus. Then launch yourself north on this sumptuously winding road.

In Hadley, pull over at Barstow’s Dairy Store & Bakery, which fronts Longview Farm, to watch cows grazing in the lower fields. Longview, designated a Massachusetts Century Farm, is actually a two-century farm, run by the same family since 1806, when Route 47 was a cart track. Drive through Skinner State Park to the summit of Mount Holyoke itself, where you’ll gaze upon the Oxbow of the Connecticut River as it winds through fertile fields and dense forests. The 19th-century Summit House hotel reminds you of those grand old society days at mountaintop resorts. You’ll pass many good farmstands through Hadley: Try Becky Sadlow­ski’s, at the corner of her family’s ancestral farm, Rooted Flowers, right next to a tobacco shed and corn crib. On Sundays, the Olde Hadley Flea Market offers the most breathtaking backdrop of fields and mountains of any open-air shopping venue on the planet. A side tour on East Street will bring you to Hadley Common, where once villagers baited a witch, and where every fall they still hold a firemen’s muster. Pull over to allow yourself a close-up of the curve of the Connecticut from the Hadley Dike. In season till mid-October, the Porter–Phelps–Huntington House Museum’s warm, aromatic corn barn and the fish pond in its sunken garden are sights to behold, and the North Hadley Sugar Shack is a must for maple gifts for family and friends. There’s one breathtaking view after another as you drive on through Sunderland; then detour left onto Route 116 to curve on up to the top of Mount Sugarloaf in South Deerfield, which ancient indigenous peoples said was the body of a giant beaver slain by a sky god. From the lookout tower, you can see the entire Holyoke Range in the distance, the silver flow of the Connecticut River, and the way the Pioneer Valley is held by the bowl of the surrounding mountains. Now backtrack to Route 47 to an old burying ground, Riverside Cemetery, just past a cornfield in Sunderland, whose old slate gravestones display soul effigies and epitaphs in archaic letterforms—a peaceful resting place since 1714. About six miles farther along, stop at the Montague Bookmill to inhale the scent of nearly 30,000 used tomes, and refresh yourself with lunch at the mill’s café alongside a tributary of the Connecticut. Continue north to Turners Falls—home of the historic Shea Theater, funky stores, street gardens, and fish-shaped bike racks—a fine town to stretch your legs in; be sure to stop in for a drink at The Rendezvous or a snack at 2nd Street Baking Co. (which is actually on 4th Street). At the Great Falls Discovery Center, you can witness the churning energy of the old mill canal and learn more about this historic river you’re following.

Cross the river and Route 2, and head up Main Road into Gill; about a mile above the center you’ll see North Cemetery on a little ridge on your left, flanked by open, grassy fields, calling you in past an ancient red-maple sentry to visit graves so old that some of them are coated in lichen, their inscriptions all but worn away. The light should be getting long by now, and you might need a jacket. Head right, over the river; then left on Route 63, ending your ride seven or eight miles north at the historic Northfield Drive-In (just over the line into Winchester, New Hampshire), its old car-radio pillars authentic testimony to its longevity. It closes after Labor Day, so there’s one more great reason to visit the Valley again come summer. SEE MORE:Western Massachusetts Foliage Drive | Photographs

WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS FOLIAGE DRIVE | FEATURED SPOTS

The Village Commons. 17 College St., South Hadley. 413-532-3600; thevillagecommons.comTailgate Picnic. 7 College St., South Hadley. 413-532-7597; tailgatepicnic.comThirsty Mind Coffee & Wine Bar. 23 College St., South Hadley. 413-538-9309; thirstymindcoffeeshop.comMount Holyoke College. 50 College St., South Hadley. 413-538-2000; mtholyoke.eduBarstow’s Dairy Store & Bakery, 172 Hockanum Road (Route 47), Hadley. 413-586-2142; barstowslongviewfarm.com/dairy-store-and-bakeryLongview Farm. 172 Hockanum Road (Route 47), Hadley. 413-586-2142; barstowslongviewfarm.comJ. A. Skinner State Park. Old Mountain Road/Skinner State Park Road (off Route 47), Hadley. 413-586-0350 Summit House. mass.gov/locations/skinner-state-parkRooted Flowers. 78 Lawrence Plain Road (Route 47), Hadley. 413-586-5651; www.rootedflowers.comOlde Hadley Flea Market. 45 Lawrence Plain Road (Route 47),Hadley. 413-586-0352 Connecticut River Dike. West St., Hadley. valleykidstuff.blogspot.com/2009/04/connecticut-river-dike-hadley-ma.htmlPorter–Phelps–Huntington Museum. 130 River Drive (Route 47),Hadley. 413-584-4699; pphmuseum.orgNorth Hadley Sugar Shack. 181 River Drive (Route 47), Hadley. 413-585-8820; www.northhadleysugarshack.comMount Sugarloaf State Reservation. 300 Sugarloaf St. (off Route 116), South Deerfield.413-665-2928 Riverside Cemetery. Cemetery Road (off Route 47), Sunderland. Montague Bookmill. 440 Greenfield Road, Montague.413-367-9206; montaguebookmill.comShea Theater. 71 Avenue A, Turners Falls. 413-863-2281; sheatheater.orgThe Rendezvous. 78 Third St., Turners Falls.413-863-2866; rendezvoustfma.com2nd Street Baking Co. 104 Fourth St., Turners Falls. 413-863-4455; 2ndstreetbakingco.comGreat Falls Discovery Center. 2 Avenue A, Turners Falls.413-863-3221; greatfallsdiscoverycenter.orgNorth Cemetery. 441 Main Road, Gill. Northfield Drive-In. 981 Northfield Road (Route 63), Hinsdale, NH.603-239-4054; northfielddrivein.comEditor’s Note: This post was updated September 16, 2016.