University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects 2007 Hadley West Street Common and Great Meadow: a cultural landscape study Patricia Laurice Ellsworth Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/larp_ms_projects Part of the Landscape Architecture Commons Ellsworth, Patricia Laurice, "Hadley West Street Common and Great Meadow: a cultural landscape study" (2007). Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects. 44. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.umass.edu/larp_ms_projects/44 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. HADLEY WEST STREET COMMON AND GREAT MEADOW: A CULTURAL LANDSCAPE STUDY A MASTERS OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PROJECT BY PATRICIA LAURICE ELLSWORTH ApPROVED AS TO STYLE AND CONTENT BY: PROFESSOR ETHAN CARR, Commitfee Chair ment Head, Committee Member RN, Department DEPAR ENT OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE AND REGIONAL PLANNING HADLEY WEST STREET COMMON AND GREAT MEADOW: A CULTURAL LANDSCAPE STUDY A MASTERS OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE PROJECT BY PATRICIA LAURICE ELLSWORTH This project is dedicated to the memory of Homer Smith Ellsworth, because trees are the answer. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................................ 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................... 7 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 8 Methodology ............................................................................................................................ 10 PART 1: Contextual History and Landscape Descriptions ...................................................... 13 1659-1713: Settlement ............................................................................................................. 18 Historical Overview .............................................................................................................. 18 Landscape Features and Characteristics, 1659 - 1713 ......................................................... 22 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 30 1713-1790: Divisions and Expansion .. ................................................................................... 30 Historical overview ............................................................................................................... 30 Landscape Features and Characteristics, 1713 - 1790 ......................................................... 31 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 35 1790-1841: A Shifting Town Center ...................................................................................... 35 Historical Overview .............................................................................................................. 35 Landscape Features and Characteristics, 1790 - 1841 ......................................................... 37 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 40 1841-1904: Modernization ...................................................................................................... 40 Historical overview ............................................................................................................... 40 Landscape Features and Characteristics, 1841 - 1904 ......................................................... 44 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 48 1904-1954: Commemoration and Removal .......................................................................... 49 Historical Overview .............................................................................................................. 49 Landscape Features and Characteristics, 1904 - 1954 ......................................................... 52 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 53 1954-2003: Present .................................................................................................................. 54 Historical Overview .............................................................................................................. 54 Landscape Features and Characteristics, 1954 - 2003 ......................................................... 57 Summary ............................................................................................................................... 61 PART 2: Analysis and Evaluation ............................................................................................... 62 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 62 Period of Significance ............................................................................................................. 62 Site Analysis ......................................................... :................................................................... 63 Analysis by Landscape Features and Characteristics ........................................................... 63 Analysis of the Great Meadow ............................................................................................. 69 Comparative Analysis ............................................................................................................. 72 Wethersfield, Connecticut (1634) ......................................................................................... 73 Hatfield, Massachusetts (1661) ............................................................................................. 74 Deerfield, Massachusetts (1671) ........................................................................................... 76 Northfield, Massachusetts (1672) ......................................................................................... 78 Sunderland, Massachusetts (1674) ........................................................................................ 80 Suffield, Connecticut (1674) ................................................................................................. 81 Enfield, Connecticut (1680) .................................................................................................. 83 Analysis ................................................................................................................................. 85 3 Significance of the Hadley Common and Great Meadow ................................................... 86 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................ 87 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................. 88 ENDNOTES ..................................................................................................................................... 92 4 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Location of study site within southern New England. Figure 2: Current Hadley Center National Historic District boundary. Figure 3: Hadley West Street Common and Great Meadow Cultural Landscape Study area boundary. Figure 4: Map of English town showing common, furlongs and strips. Figure 5: Map of the historic counties of England and Wales. Figure 6: Map of the Hadley Common in 1663. Figure 7: Named areas of the Great Meadow. Figure 8: Allotments in the Great Meadow, 1659 - 1713. Figure.9: Spatial organization of the Common, 1659 - 1713. Figure 10: Sketch map of the Hadley Common ca. 1680. Figure 11: Land use in Hadley, 1659 - 1713. Figure 12: Circulation in Hadley, 1659 - 1713. Figure 13: Deerfield meetinghouse, constructed in 1675. Figure 14: Buildings and structures in Hadley, 1659 - 1713. Figure 15: Major vegetation in Hadley, 1659 - 1713. Figure 16: Hadley in 1736. Figure 17: Hadley in 1795. Figure 18: The Hadley ferry. Figure 19: The Samuel Porter house. Figure 20: Detail of the 1736 - 1739 map of Hadley. Figure 21: The Hadley Common in 1850. Figure 22: Hadley in 1830. Figure 23: Crossing the Common. /// Figure 24: The Hadley stagecoach. Figure 25: View from the south end of the Common. Figure 26: A view of the developing Connecticut River Valley, 1878. Figure 27: Proposed river defenses, 1846. Figure 28: Reinforcement of river bank with riprap, 1888. Figure 29: Train crossing the Common. Figure 30: Telephone poles and wires along the Common. Figure 31: The Hadley Common, 1851. Figure 32: Electric trolley bridge over the Connecticut River, 1905. Figure 33: Russell Street (Route 9) prior to macadam. Figure 34: Hadley and Amherst electric trolley. Figure 35: Russell Congregational Society church,