THE PIONEER VALLEY

We’re standing on an 1889 iron bridge (long closed to cars) across the narrow run of the Millers River just before it enters the main event near French King Gorge. On this spectacularly beautiful early October day, downstream and some 200 feet above us soars one of the most imposing sights on the entire Connecticut River: the graceful 800foot span of the French King Bridge, linking the towns of Erving and Gill in western Massachusetts. Next door is Cabot Camp, purportedly the site of a rollicking tavern that served log drivers, stagecoach drivers, and river rats of all stripes nearly two centuries ago. However did we find this place?

Kicking off our 40-mile jaunt through the lush Pioneer Valley earlier that morning on Route 63, we’d boarded the Quinnetukut II at Northfield Mountain (p. 102) for a don’t-miss river excursion. Later, back on shore, we discovered by chance a hidden dirt road hugging the water, leading to Cabot Camp, where we stopped for a picnic and a poke around the ruins of that old-time watering hole, Durkee’s. Cabot Camp, like Durkee’s before it, has long since beaten a retreat back to nature.

Pushing on west and then south on U.S. Route 5, a few miles’ trek brings travelers to an ideal overnight base, the gracious Deerfield Inn (p. 104), just steps from the colonial houses of Historic Deerfield (p. 104). While here in the valley, be sure to take a detour up the access road to Mount Sugarloaf State Reservation. From the top, you’ll be treated to wide-open vistas of the river, the Holyoke and Mount Tom ranges, and the entire Pioneer Valley.

Head east over the river on Route 116 to Sunderland; pick up Route 47 to follow the river though the valley’s most fertile farmland. Nothing says fall more than a New England farm stand, and they appear one after the other: Warner on your right, then Riverland; on your left, Millstone, Smiarowski’s, and finally North Hadley Market & Sugar Shack.

Make time to visit the Porter–Phelps–Huntington House Museum in Hadley, too. This historic “River God” home dates from 1752, on land laid out in 1659. No structural changes have been made since 1799; its collections of original furnishings, quilts, and paintings rival any in New England.

South of Hadley, we reach the end of this leg. But we’ve saved the best for last: views of the valley from Skinner State Park, home of Mount Holyoke and its fabled Summit House. From the secondfloor porch, look west to the dramatic curve of artist Thomas Cole’s Oxbow, a horseshoe-shaped pond that was once a 360-degree bend in the river before floodwaters in 1840 cut a new channel— still today an arresting sight.

On The Water

Quinnetukut II

If one could travel only seven miles of the river’s 410, our vote would go here, to this stretch between Northfield Mountain and Barton Cove in Gill. The compact Quinnetukut II takes you on a narrated, 90-minute cruise; in the fall, the foliagerich banks on either side of the water are aglow in shades of red and gold.

Captain Scott Brennan is a genial sort and a born yarn spinner; first mate Kim Noyes is a learned naturalist. You’ll be riveted by their true-life tales: of the Squakheag people, here when the first Europeans came (Quinnetukut means “long tidal river”); of 19th-century log drivers, ferry captains, stagecoach drivers, and flatboatmen (who probably delivered rum to Durkee’s Tavern); of the river’s rich wildlife, including bald eagles; of geological formations like French King Rock, the “Horserace,” the Dinosaur Track Quarry, and “King Philip’s Abyss,” the deepest spot on the entire river and home to unique underwater invertebrate habitats.

In Hadley, Massachusetts, hang glider Scott Burke takes flight from Mount Holyoke, riding the thermals and soaring over the Connecticut River. TOP LEFT : On the porch at Skinner State Park’s Summit House, formerly a hotel opened in 1851 atop Mount Holyoke. Skinner connects seamlessly with Mount Holyoke Range State Park to the east; combined, their trails traverse the entire Holyoke Range, offering prime opportunities for hawk watching during the fall migration. MIDDLE : Whimsical pumpkins greet visitors on a side road off scenic Route 47 in Hadley. RIGHT : The “Bishop’s Study” at Hadley’s Porter–Phelps–Huntington House, “Forty Acres,” on the east bank of the Connecticut.The home remained within the same family from 1752 to 1949 (six generations).

In Hadley, Massachusetts, hang glider Scott Burke takes flight from Mount Holyoke, riding the thermals and soaring over the Connecticut River. TOP LEFT : On the porch at Skinner State Park’s Summit House, formerly a hotel opened in 1851 atop Mount Holyoke. Skinner connects seamlessly with Mount Holyoke Range State Park to the east; combined, their trails traverse the entire Range, offering prime opportunities for hawk watching during the fall migration. MIDDLE : Whimsical pumpkins greet visitors on a side road off scenic Route 47 in Hadley. RIGHT : The “Bishop’s Study” at Hadley’s Porter–Phelps–Huntington House, “Forty Acres,” on the east bank of the Connecticut.The home remained within the same family from 1752 to 1949 (six generations).

Historic Deerfield

What distinguishes Historic Deerfield from other “museum villages” is that this one is part of a real village: 12 museum houses interspersed among private homes along Old Main Street, where the 18th century blends seamlessly with the 21st. An admission fee lets you tour the interiors—but there’s no charge if you want to just walk around and take in the surrounding farmland and meadows the way they might have looked 250 years ago.

This now-serene place, first settled as a frontier town in 1669, was once witness to decisive events in New England’s battle-scarred colonial history: Native attacks in 1675 during King Philip’s War; the bloody reprisal by Colonials the next year at a Native refugee camp near the Great Falls (where the river forms the Turners Falls/Gill border today); and the infamous 1704 “Raid on Deerfield,” when the French and their Indian allies killed 47 settlers and kidnapped 112, marching them 300 miles to Canada. Visit the Old Burying Ground at the end of Albany Road, where those who perished lie together in a mass grave, today a gentle grass-covered mound of earth.

If you’re into artifacts and antiques, the museum’s Flynt Center of Early New England Life features thousands of objects, many of which are housed in a transparent storage area, making the “Museum’s Attic” visible to all. Historic Deerfield engages with many communities, from those of New England’s earliest ancestors to the people who live right here, right now, in this timeless corner of the Connecticut River Valley: Fall programs include open-hearth cooking and historic-trades demonstrations; the ADA/Historic New England Antiques Show; and Archaeology Day.

HOME AWAY FROM HOME The Deerfield Inn

Of all the tributaries in this watershed, the Deerfield River may be the most scenic, descending southeast for some 75 miles from Vermont’s Green Mountains through the Berkshires to join the Connecticut where the towns of Deerfield and Greenfield meet—just a few miles from where we’re sitting now, out on the porch of the 132-year-old Deerfield Inn.

Innkeeper Jane Howard calls it “our own made-in-America Brigadoon”— but then, she’s British. (The inn, fittingly, has a “Beehive Parlor,” a warmly enveloping space done up in buttery hues, where afternoon tea, with honey and cookies—Jane would call them “biscuits”—are served daily.) It sits at the midpoint of mile-long Old Main Street, surrounded by a phalanx of Colonial-era houses, including the carefully preserved homes of Historic Deerfield; Pocumtuck Valley’s Memorial Hall, another outstanding regional history musem; old churches; the iconic campus of Deerfield Academy; and majestic trees lining this road the way many Main Streets were a century ago.

There are 24 guest rooms, 11 in the main building and 13 in the adjoining carriage house. Homemade breakfast comes from local sources; the same philosophy informs the menu at the inn’s restaurant, Champney’s, when you head down for lunch or dinner. Inn guests also receive discounts at Historic Deerfield and its gift shop.

Most important of all, when you ask about reservations and specials, tell them “Jack” sent you. This sweet-faced black Lab is the inn’s “marketing manager.” He’s often off somewhere else with his posse of other rescued pups, but when in residence he’ll give away the whole place for a few tummy rubs and a well-placed pat on the head.

The Tidelands

Fifteen miles below Hartford, Connecticut, the river turns sharply at Middletown before its final, tidewater run southeast to Long Island Sound at Saybrook Point. From our base in the town of Deep River (p. 107), we’re chasing the water along lovely Route 154 down to Essex, a gemlike inland seaport with a downtown so compact you can walk its entirety in less than an hour. Take in the sailboats in the harbor, bobbing up and down next to the Connecticut River Museum (p. 107). Or board an antique railcar and a Mississippi-style riverboat for an escape into the past (p. 107). Later, head to the 240-year-old Griswold Inn and choose one of the “historic rooms” as your dining spot while perusing bookshelves, antique weaponry, or maritime artworks. Visit the Tap Room with its lively music, or try the elegant Wine Bar— but after a glass or two, don’t stare too long at the full-width riverboat mural behind the bar—it moves like the real thing and you might just turn “a whiter shade of pale.”

Our final 10-mile stretch leads to Saybrook Point and the mouth of the Connecticut. From the boardwalk, far in front of us across a cove sit two historic structures: lovely Lynde Point Light (a.k.a. Saybrook Inner Light) and the iconic Saybrook Breakwater Light out on its stone jetty. And so, the Connecticut’s 410-mile journey ends here. Look up, out, and around: You’re at the very place where the mighty river empties into Long Island Sound. And what an awesome sight it is: this big, wide, magnificent water, the lifeblood of New England, rolling on into the infinite sea.

ON THE WATER Essex Steam Train & Riverboat

For our final expedition, we first boarded an antique Pullman car, pulled by a vintage locomotive out of historic Essex Station, heading north to Deep River through rich marshland. Valley Railroad president Kevin Dodd and chief mechanical officer J. David Conrad between them have worked every job up and down the line during their careers, and their passion and knowledge ensure an unforgettable experience for visitors.

In Deep River, our train met up with the triple-deck Becky Thatcher riverboat. From here Captain Paul Costello took us on a 75-minute narrated cruise upriver to view sights that you just can’t experience from the land in quite the same way. One showstopper is Gillette Castle, looming from its clifftop perch over the river at East Haddam, the legacy of famed early-20th-century stage actor William Gillette, the wildly popular embodiment of the storied Sherlock Holmes. In retirement, he designed a 24-room fieldstone replica of a medieval castle, with trails, walkways, and even a narrow-gauge railroad with tunnels, trestles, and a station. Now part of its own state park, this huge stone construction is open to the public. From the water, it looks like an impossible illusion, sure to disappear if you blink in the shimmering sunlight.

Local Secret

Connecticut River Museum

If you were to simply walk up the threestory staircase on one side of the building and then down the staircase on the other side, your trip to the Connecticut River Museum in Essex would be a thoroughly enjoyable, informative experience. Although, of course, there’s a lot more to it than that.

On your right as you ascend the steps inside this expansive 1878 white clapboard building, artist Russell Buckingham has created a colorful, whimsical, three-story vertical mural depicting the entire length of the Connecticut River from south to north. Then, upon your return journey—down the stairway at left—you encounter the same scenes and sites, north to south, in the form of striking aerial photos by Tom Walsh.

Inside, enthralling exhibits beckon. The coolest for kids is an interactive model of America’s first submarine, the Revolutionary War Turtle. Outside, moored at the CRV wharf is the sleek 1906 schooner Mary E , aboard which the museum schedules daily cruises into October. Plus, a “Paddle Explorations” program offers staff-led tours and classes and self-guided canoe and kayak trips. The guided Swallow Paddle (September 15 this year) is the hit of the early-fall season—letting you witness the aerial ballet of tens of thousands of tree swallows soaring and swirling high above in their premigration choreography.

This is a fun and amazing place—and by visiting it you’re helping to protect New England’s most cherished common resource: its “Great River.” As executive director Chris Dobbs notes, “The river [is] a unifying force. It symbolizes our past, our present, and our future.”

Home Away From Home

The Riverwind Inn

Riverwind, with seven beautiful guest rooms, has been in Elaine and Leo Klevens’ care since 2005. It seems that Elaine had acquired so large a collection of beloved antiques beforehand that she “simply had to open a B&B, with so many things and no place to put them!”

The front half of the house, including a lovely dining room with fireplace and front guest rooms upstairs, dates to 1854. The back half is a more recent addition, but so tastefully done—using original foundation stones for the fireplace and local antique timber for ceilings and corner posts—that we thought it was the older part of the house. Elaine’s delicate stenciling graces the guest rooms and staircase, enhancing the home’s Early American spirit.

We rose early and headed for coffee in the upstairs sitting room. En route, with no one else astir, we were mesmerized by both the enchanting aroma of fragrant spices and the subtle twinkling of tiny white lights throughout the house. The effect was magical. Then Elaine served a filling breakfast of homemade rolls and sizzling herbed frittatas: a delicious start to our final day following the Great River, at home in the heart of the valley’s historic Tidelands.

Explore the valley! Road trips, resources, more sightseeing, and additional photos at: NewEngland.com/CTRiverValley when the great working horses who clear our land, plow our fields, and pull our carriages in city parks grow old, their future can be bleak— unless they find themselves at a special farm in western massachusetts.

BY SUZANNE STREMPEK SHEA

photographs by CHERYLE ST. ONGE