Poet’s Seat Tower and the Pumping Station Bridge - September 7, 2019 @goldenoakfarm
We’d left the Fair earlier than planned and had a couple hours to spend before we went to the Thai Blue Ginger restaurant for dinner. So we decided to check out some local landmarks we hadn’t been to in a while.
“The first, Poet’s Seat Tower, is in town, up on the hill that divides Greenfield from Turners Falls. It is a 1912 sandstone observation tower, located in Greenfield, Massachusetts. An earlier wooden tower was erected at the site on June 3, 1879.”
“The local poet Frederick Goddard Tuckerman referred to it as "Poet's Seat" in an 1850 surviving herbarium entry for November 10th of that year.”
“In 1847, he moved to Greenfield, in western Massachusetts due to his love of nature and began a living a life of relative seclusion and retirement, which was considered strange for a man in his middle twenties.”
Looking north up the valley
According to N. Scott Momaday, “"Tuckerman was a man who made herbariums. He had an eye for the minutest aspects of the world. When he wished to focus upon the veins of a leaf, or to find a metaphor for the appearance of an evergreen spine, he could do so with extraordinary skill. His poems are remarkable, point-blank descriptions of nature; they are filled with small, precise, and whole things: purring bees and vervain spikes, shives and amaryllis, wind flowers and stramony.”
Tuckerman died May 9, 1873, in Greenfield.
Looking south down the valley
“Poet’s Seat Tower sits on a 190 million year old (early Jurassic period) 150 foot thick basalt lava flow overlooking the Franklin County shire town of Greenfield and the Connecticut, Deerfield, and Green River valleys.”
It was pretty windy up on the hill and cloudy, so we didn’t stay very long. The views were lovely though.
Looking due west, below the hill is Beacon Field and just beyond it is the Franklin County (now Baystate) Hospital on the right center, and the Middle School on the left center back.
From there we headed to the Pumping Station. When we were teenagers, this was a favorite place to swim. My husband used to dive off the bridge.
“The bridge was built in 1870 and destroyed by fire in 1969. In 1972 a group of townspeople raised funds and volunteered time and materials to rebuild. It is a 95’ span over the Green River.”
“During Hurricane Irene a dam retaining wall broke apart flooding the road and much of the surrounding area near the bridge in this Aug. 29, 2011 photo.”
“Greenfield's Pumping Station Bridge on Eunice Williams Road in Greenfield was left without an access road following Hurricane Irene.”
“The bridge was rebuilt and reopened Nov. 12, 2014.”
There is no access to the pumping station anymore. Due to vandalism and littering, the entire area is closed off.
North side
It is patrolled regularly and you aren’t even allowed to park along the road.
South side
Pumping Station dam
Green River below the bridge, where we used to swim
We weren’t able to spend much time here, for fear of being told to move along. So I got the photos and we moved along, off to our dinner at Thai Blue Ginger.
Source: Poet’s Seat Tower: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poet%27s_Seat_Tower
https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/05/13/highest-point-city-poets-seat-tower-built-1912-homage-local-poet-fredrick-goddard-tuckerman/
Pumping Station Bridge:
https://www.masslive.com/opinion/2014/11/rebuilding_greenfields_pumping.html
https://franklincc.org/play/attractions?highlight=WyJwdW1waW5nIiwic3RhdGlvbiIsInB1bXBpbmcgc3RhdGlvbiJd
http://gctv.org/node/386
https://www.hippostcard.com/listing/greenfield-mapumping-station-covered-bridge-real-photo-postcard-1940-50s/19482630
https://www.flickr.com/photos/7279921@N03/3892192383/
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You could put this on https://www.steemitworldmap.com/ This is one I think the travel community would enjoy.
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I have never done it. Do I make a separate post?
You can just edit to add the code at the end. The code doesn't even show up on the actual post.
To get the code, click on the "code" button on the map, select the place where it's located on the map (I usually find the location ready) and add a little description, like the title of your post. Click the code that appears to copy it, then paste at the end of your post. There are probably better instructions if you find the how-to post at @steemitworldmap. The link for that is usually in any of their posts.
You could also tag #travel and #travelfeed on posts like these.
PS: it's simpler than I'm probably making it sound. 😆
Actually, you made it sound pretty easy. I'll try to remember to do this in future. :))
i love the history of covered bridges. i lived in VT for a number of years, and had the opportunity to explore a number of older bridges, each unique in their own way.. a lovely reminder of that time :)
please consider using the #creativecoin tag on your photo posts! our curators are actively looking for and promoting creativity in all of its many aspects!
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I was fortunate to grow up near enough to this bridge to see and use it frequently, when it was in service.
Thanks for the info on the tag! I've added it to my other tags list. :))
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