Off Prospecting

Last week I took off, well at least from blogging, since my mother came down and we shared Clam Chowder made from the clams I dug a few weeks back. Other than the fact I burned the pork it turned out pretty good, or at least that is what my Grandma, my mom’s friend, my mom and later my dad assured me. A few days later however I was standing at the top of Mt. Holyoke in Hadley, Massachusetts at Skinner State Park for one of my jobs. The summit building was built in the early 1800s when people were starting to become fascinated with prospecting. No not gold searching but view searching.

Looking down over the Connecticut River Valley 

As for prospecting it gave quite the view. It was a tourist idea, to get people out and when you reached the top the mountain, you would be provided with drinks of water. This summit house grew over the years, a tram was added, and for 25 cents you could ride to the view. This gave easier access to even the handicap who couldn't see the view before. The business grew and then additions were added, a hotel and today it is part of the D.C.R (Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation). Looking out over the view I was a little homesick as I saw the mountain I grew up with off shadowing in the distance. It is amazing to think that the River that wound around in quite snake like fashion. I would love to have seen how it looked throughout the years from when the Natives wondered the land, to the building and expansion of the summit house.

I would love to build a house right here

We often think of vacationing as such a modern idea but even the Kings and Queens in England were known to go on little journeys and travels to second homes to “get away”. By the 19^th Century, especially with the invention of the train, it became a bit more available for the Middleclass. By the mid-1800s with the Transcendentalist movement which was not only led by but inspired by writers like Henry David Thoreau (who was a known visitor to the Summit house), the idea of spending life communing with nature was being seen as a grand idea. I would like to point out only 200 years before the Natives had been doing just that in these areas. They of course walked it. By the time the 1800s though trains were not only made travel easier but quicker this allowed people to get out and see parts otherwise unseen to the average person. By the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s this expands to not only all over the United States but for the wealthy the word. Just as soon as Horses were forgotten for far off travelers, trains were over looked by the automobile. In the 1920s trailers became available so you could live in comfort with out depending on hotels. This idea of prospecting for knowledge and connections is nothing new. It is something that connects us all.

I clearly need a vacation now though since I have decided to write a blog on vacations.