81 - 86 Clinton, Springfield, Westfield, West Springfield, Ashland, Holliston

Clinton - Started in 1897 and finished in 1908, the Clinton Dam harnessed the South Nashua River, creating a reservoir capacity of 63,068,000,000 gallons of water (give or take a couple billion). It is part of the greater Boston municipal water system. Walking across the top of the dam has been restricted to only a handful of opportunities during the year (usually holiday weekends).

Springfield - Springfield is the birthplace of author THEODOR GEISEL, better known as Dr. Seuss. The Dr Seuss Sculpture Garden is a whimsical place to visit and it’s free. Theodor is the official children's author and illustrator of the Commonwealth.

Westfield - AKA ‘Whip City’ for its dominance in the Buggy Whip market, Westfield has a population of 41K. We visited and walked the campus of Westfield State University, home of the Owls 🦉. Of course, we had to scope out their field 🥎 which was very nice.

Stone’s Public House (1832) is reportedly haunted. A ten year old girl was said to be struck by a train in front of the building. Employees and passers by have claimed to see the apparition of a young girl in a dress looking out of the upstairs windows 👻. Unfortunately for us, she was elsewhere on this day.

Holliston has the Arch Street trestle which is the smallest stone railroad bridge in the US. Through the underpass is the “Mudville” neighborhood of Holliston ( check out the sign on the right). The author of Casey at Bat (Ernest Thayer) grew up in nearby Worcester and his parents owned a wood mill less than a mile from Mudville’s baseball field.

West Springfield - The Josiah Day House, built c. 1754, it is believed to be the oldest saltbox house made of brick in the United States. West Springfield is also known for being the birthplace of the Morgan Horse. Lots of through traffic was mostly what we noticed.