The Lower East Side-Under the Pike

   Today the plan was to hit the rest of the towns on the southeast side of the area-primarily under the Mass Pike. Since we started off from Easthampton, it was practical to hit the town of Holyoke along the way. The first stop was at the station on Homestead Ave, just down the road from Holyoke Community College.

   

           The firehouse also has a pretty cool display in the garden as well as a stone on the left hand side of the firehouse dedicated to what I can only assume to be one of their own members.
 

          The next stop in Holyoke was just down past the Ingleside Mall, on the way towards town on Whiting Farms Road. It had to be a quick stop here as there is no parking available nearby, unless I wanted to walk down the busy road from the nearby shopping plaza. So we broke the law-shhh!- and double parked so I could get a shot of the firehouse.

   With two stations down and two more to go in Holyoke, the next stop was at the firehouse on Northampton Street, which the locals know simply as Route 5. I had some considerate drivers who waited just before the intersection at the light until I was done shooting so that I could photograph it and get a clear shot. Thanks to whoever you all were!

   The last stop in Holyoke was at the newer fire station headquarters on High Street. The building is pretty large, so it was tough to photograph, and due to construction I wasn't able to shoot the side of the building, so this is what you get unfortunately.

     After the city of Holyoke, it was time to go over the river to Chicopee. I spotted one firehouse as we were driving by the darned thing, and wasn't expecting it. (insert sounds of brakes slamming on here please) According to all the research and information I had from the state, there were only two firehouses in this town, and one of them is located at Westover Air Base. I knew I couldn't do the base today, as I am waiting on permission still to go there, so we were just heading to the other location today. Well, all the information I had was wrong as there are actually THREE firehouses total in town. Apparently I have a list of resources to scream at via email now,(SEE END OF POST FOR UPDATE) but moving on, below is the firehouse on Grattan Street, Station No.7.

       We continued on to our original destination in town, the firehouse on Church Street. The firehouse is located in a large sprawling building which also includes the town police station as well. I didn't have a camera with a wide enough lens to get the entire building, so I just photographed it from the firehouse side. 

       

       The firehouse also has a bell out front, with a 

      plaque below it dedicated to deceased members of the 

      department. 

     After leaving Chicopee, it was a bit of a detour around the northern part of Springfield(see previous blog entry) to head towards Wilbraham. The firehouse here is located on Boston Road and I think it is a beautiful building. 

   On a side note, if you park at the store directly across the street from the firehouse, look on the right hand side(from the street) and you will find  about 15 feet of wild black raspberry bushes along the side. Just my luck though, it will be about another week before they are all fully ripe. So with an empty and starting to growl tummy, it was on to the town of Monson.

The firehouse here is located just off the center of the main street in town, right behind a pretty cool looking church. There is an older building that has been repurposed into a business almost across the street from the church, and I wondered if it used to be an old firehouse, certainly looked like it, but I didn't think at the time to get a photo of that one as well. Sorry!

Monson Gate-Hillside Cemetery 

Just down the road from the firehouse is 

a pretty cool looking entrance to Hillside Cemetery, and I want to return to go wander among the old headstones sometime. 

Looks pretty interesting hmm?

   The next stop on the list was to the town of Brimfield, where this visit was deliberately timed to avoid the traffic and crush of the upcoming Brimfield Antique show. One week from now, it will be nothing but long lines of cars in the surrounding area, and many tents were already being set up along the roadside as we drove by. The firehouse in Brimfield looks small from the front, but is a long L-shaped building, with more bays on the backside of the firehouse for the rest of the town's departments on Wales Road. 

   After leaving Brimfield, it was time to head further south to the town of Holland. It is a nice drive down roads lined with woods and fields, and it was incredible to see even now a few years after the devastation from the tornado that went through this area. There were acres of woodlands on both sides of the roads that had been decimated, and had many forlorn trees that looked as if they will never recover from the event.

   

       

 I had to laugh at myself at the time it took me 

 to really "get" this photo. Get it? 

A house that is also a windmill?

In the town of Holland, Ma?

To my embarrassment, it took me about 5 minutes to think 

about this after we had passed it by.

Terrible, I know. The house is currently up for sale if anyone is interested in it.

   Holland has a no-frills simple firehouse, which also shares a building lot with other town departments on Sturbridge Road.

After Holland, it was off to the town of Wales, back by the windmill house and down some twisty winding roads with some beautiful properties in the woods to Hegan Road.

     My first truck of the day was outside, so this made the small firehouse even better to visit.

    We then headed west towards the town of Hampden and the last firehouse on the east side of Interstate 91 that we had to visit on this trip. The firehouse in Hampden is located on North Road, and I loved it, I think mostly because of the cool weathervane on the top of the building.

   

I also got lucky here with a truck outside on the side of the firehouse. Yes it is a pickup but hey- it is still a truck!

    

After Hampden, we headed further west to the town of East Longmeadow. There was a lot to look at here in front of the firehouse,  as it had quite a few memorials out in front. I love the round turret in the middle of the firehouse here especially. 

    

A wonderful tribute on this stone
pictured on the left







          Below- a tribute to a former firefighter

A smaller stone for the events on 9/11










           One for the Chief

The next stop was to the town of Longmeadow

 

Longmeadow Firehouse

With the lower east side done, it was back over the interstate to do one more add-on of the day, in the town of West Springfield. It is still "under the pike" so it counts. There is a second firehouse located in the Eastern States Exposition area, but I think it is only manned during events at that area. Will update this entry more at some point when I go the the expos in August. (See second notation at end of this post)The main firehouse in West Springfield is located on Van Deene Avenue, and I was happy to see the bay doors open on this visit so I could do some closeup shots of the trucks.

     

There is also a memorial on the left side of the building as well at this location, along with a bell.

     The bell is to "remember past and present fire dept. members", and was dedicated to the department in 2000

    

        I loved the stone memorial here as well.

     With the town of West Springfield, this firehouse run was completed for the week. The planned next post will cover the rest of the eastern portion of the area of Western Mass.

7/14/13 UPDATE: After my visit to Westover, Asst Chief Wood was very helpful in letting me know that there are indeed more firehouses in Chicopee other than the three I referenced above (Thanks!). I went out this morning to shoot the other four. 

Cabot Street Firehouse

Burnet Road Firehouse

James Street Firehouse

The firehouse here on James Street has a little garden
off to the left side.

Chicopee Street Firehouse

Now the town of Chicopee is finally done! 


UPDATE: 9/8/14 

I was able to get to the Eastern States Expo grounds in West Springfield at mid August, and until today had forgotten to post the photos of that firehouse as promised earlier. So without further ado, here is the firehouse that you can visit and tour during the time of the Expo in the first few weeks of September. They are also well known for cooking great breakfasts to the early morning crowds at the Expo by the way- I can attest from experience!

There are some great details to this station as well, below is a close up of the memorial they have in the front of the firehouse.

Can't forget to mention the cute dalmatian patterned fire hydrant out in front of the firehouse as well!

Finishing up the Northeast quadrant

     It was a beautiful day to finish up visiting the Northeast section of the map, and we headed out early in the morning in the hopes of being done before the rain that was predicted for late afternoon. The first stop was in the town of Leverett, where the firehouse is located on Montague Road. This is an "on-call" firehouse, and the firehouse also shares space with the town police department.

Leverett Safety Complex

           

 

                

   The next stop was the town of Shutesbury. We spotted this random sculpture of an arrow along the way. I am sure there is a great story behind this, if anyone happens to know about it, let me know what it is please!

                                                        

       The Shutesbury firehouse is located on Leverett Road, and is also mostly a volunteer fire department. It has a great tower in the rear of the building as well.

Shutesbury Fire Station

     

  After leaving Shutesbury, it was time to head for one of my favorite parts of this area of Franklin County, where recreation and relaxation go hand in hand. Lake Wyola is one of those places, and the water was beautiful today. I wanted to grab the boat and head out on the lake, but that wasn't on the agenda for today unfortunately. Next time.

                               

Lake Wyola from Wendell dockside

     The town of Wendell, where this side of the dock is located, has a firehouse that shares space with the town highway department and let me just say, Google Maps totally has the location wrong. After not finding it on the Google directions, we tried the town hall, which had the doors unlocked but the building was dark and empty. The police station next door was also locked, and the little store near the hall was also closed at 10am. Finally we headed across the street to the town's "free library" which I think was larger than the town hall, and where the resident dog comes to greet you when you walk inside. We got the proper directions, and headed down the main road about another half mile to reach the building. A quick couple of shots and we were off to the next location.

You wouldn't know the fire department was even here except for the fire safety sign between the two left bay doors

     The town of New Salem was next on the list, and is located on South Main Street. It is a paid call volunteer department, and is considered to be in the North Quabbin area of the state. 

    I was able to get the first shot of the day of a memorial as well

        

On the side of the firehouse was an added bonus, a fire safety house 

Heading north of New Salem, the town of Orange was next on the list. I would also like to point out that the word orange does not rhyme with anything. Along the way, we were treated to two pretty great looking totems along the side of the road near the center of town.

The detail work on this was amazing

      About a quarter of a mile past this totem, we were greeted with a second one.

Over the bridge we went and turned right to the firehouse which is located overlooking the river appropriately on Water Street. I absolutely loved this firehouse, it fit in perfectly with the surrounding buildings.

Orange Firehouse Memorial

     

Millers River in Orange

     After leaving the town of Orange, it was time to head west along part of Route 2A to the town of Warwick. The firehouse in Warwick is located off Orange Road, and I still can't think of anything that rhymes with orange.

     The firehouse is also a volunteer station, and currently has a staff of about 16. There was a great old truck on the back side of the firehouse, which I was thrilled to see. 

You can't possibly go through town and not stop without checking out the antique signpost at the intersection of Athol and Hotel road telling you where you are in relation to the towns around you

With only two towns left to go on the route, it was time to head west on Route 2 and reach the town of Erving. Erving has two firehouses, located on East Main Street and Moore Street. Across from the East Main Street location is the Freight House Antiques store and restaurant. All I am going to say about that is that it is overpriced-I'm talking about almost $8 for a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich here. Even then, I would recommend you go instead to the Box Car next door if you want better food and happier waitstaff that won't make you wait fifteen minutes to even take your order when they aren't busy. But please do go eat at the Freight House if you like your food cooked with the staff using their bare hands and handling cash in between.  Dare I even mention that they seem to take one order at a time, cook and serve it before they go on to the next customer? But enough of that rant, below are the Erving firehouse photos. 

East Main Street firehouse

Moore Street Firehouse

After leaving Erving with hungry stomachs, we headed to the last stop of the day in the town of Gill. The firehouse, which is also a volunteer staion,  is located on Main Road, and I now know without a doubt that there definitely is poison ivy on the ground on the opposite side of the road from the firehouse.

It was a relief to finally finish the upper Northeast portion of the map. Calamine lotion is offering even more relief on my ankles.