We started out heading east on the Mass Turnpike, with the first stop in the town of Ludlow. The firehouse here is on the corner of a busy intersection, on Center Street.
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| Ludlow firehouse |
I was happy to see that some of the trucks were outside during our visit as well. I just couldn't resist getting closeup shots of them of course.
The firehouse also has a wonderful memorial for 9/11 out on the corner near the intersection with one of the pieces of steel from the World Trade Center. It is one of the largest that I have seen in a firehouse in my travels to this point. Quite impressive.
The plaque below the steel piece-great detail in the engraving
After Ludlow, it was time to get back on the turnpike and continue heading east to the town of Palmer. The main firehouse here is located on Walnut Street and can be located by heading right off the interstate.
I love the round rotunda in the front of the building especially here.
We weren't done in the town of Palmer yet however, the next stop was to Bondsville, a village in what is technically in the town of Palmer, and an often mispronounced name-we had a fun argument in the car as to whether it was called Bondsville? or Bondville?
As you can see in the photo below, I won. Sorry Bill!
That argument being settled, it was time to head north to the town of Ware. Where everyone asks "Where is Ware?" Ware is another one of those towns in Western Mass where everyone always has to make a joke about the name. However, when we arrived, we both said "uh -oh" as there were so many details to try to photograph in this new safety complex on West Street.
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| Flagpole base |
Besides having a great brick inlay around the flagpole
in front of the building there were a couple of memorials to also take a look at while at this location.
The second piece of steel seen in our travels from the Trade Center is located here at the Ware firehouse.
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| Dedication of the complex |
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| Love the firehouse dalmatian engraving |
The firehouse is also larger than it looks just from the front of the complex, behind the building on a separate driveway below are the bays for the vehicles, which like many large stations we have seen so far, open on both sides of the building. Makes it much easier to drive in and out during emergencies.
As of this writing, I am still not sure if the previous firehouse on East Main Street is still being used due to the new firehouse complex, regardless, we paid it a visit anyway. On the left side of the firehouse is a cornerstone with the date of 1939, as well as wrought iron letters with the date on the side of the building.
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| East Main Street Firehouse in Ware |
Heading back westward on Route 9, it was time for a little break in driving. What better place to stop on the way but at the Quabbin Reservoir? It was a beautiful July day after all, and only a bit breezy. You can access the public areas of the Quabbin via Route 9 and the Eastern Gate. You can't go everywhere in the area however, as it is the main source of water for the eastern part of the state. (To the Bostonians who tend to forget that the western side of the state exists for most of the time-"You're Welcome")
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| View from below the Visitor Center |
I climbed this observation tower at the now nonexistent town of Enfield, Mass. The view from the top of the Quabbin is incredible. You can see north towards the state of New Hampshire, and as far west as the highest point in Massachusetts, that of Mount Greylock. Due to the continued scratching of graffiti in the plexiglass windows, photography is useless for these amazing views unfortunately. However, worth the climb up the stairs to see-even though you will be short of breath when you reach the top of the tower.
Continuing on traveling the winding roads around the southern end of the Quabbin, it was time to continue on with the rest of the route for the day. Continuing on Route 9, the next stop was in the town of Belchertown.
The firehouse here is located on North Main Street, and has a great mailbox, similar to the one in the town of Williamsburg(see Hilltowns blog post)
After leaving Belchertown, it was off to the town of Granby, where as usual, it was more back roads along the way to the firehouse-and some pretty bumpy ones I might add.
The firehouse here is located in a large safety complex, which also houses other town departments. It was nearly impossible to photograph the entire building in one shot, so I focused primarily on the firehouse side.
To the left of the complex, is a flagpole with a memorial bench, for previous members of the town fire and police department.
It was time for the last two firehouses on the list, both in the town of South Hadley. The first firehouse on the list was the Woodbridge Street firehouse, located just a little bit north of the center of town and the campus of Mount Holyoke College.
Before finishing the last firehouse of the day, a second detour was in order, which turned out to be a good thing, for both our firehouse "to do" list, and also our growing hunger pains. We headed north towards the southern part of Amherst, to the famous Atkins Farms. If you are ever in the area, you will thank me if you try their apple cider donuts. Of course, those were purchased to take home, while we were there we had to sample other items in their bakery, apple turnover for me and a donut for Bill. YUM!
Just before we reached Atkins though, we spotted a road sign denoting that a fire station was in the area, unknown to us previously on our trek through Amherst. After doing some quick research online-thank goodness for smart phones!-we determined it was indeed a fire station, but not a "town" firehouse as you can see below.
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| Still counts as a firehouse to me though! |
Back to South Hadley we went, to the Newton Street firehouse location and the last stop of the day.
The visit wouldn't have been complete without a closeup of the firehouse bell.
With this run completed, we were both happy that we had completed the eastern side of the 91 corridor on this sunny Saturday.
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