Deerfield, Massachusetts
Franklin county. At the junction of Connecticut and Deerfield rivers, on the west side of the former and on both sides of the latter. The Pocumtuck of the Indians. It is 95 miles W. by N. from Boston, 4 S. from Greenfield, and 17 N. from Northampton. First settled, 1668. Incorporated, 1682. Population, in 1837, 1,952. A very pleasant town, and a place of considerable commerce. The manufactures of this place, for one year, amounted to $147,190. They consisted of leather, boots, shoes, cutlery, ($100,000) chairs, cabinet ware, palm-leaf hats, lead pipe, hair cloth and beds, wagons and carriages, pocket books, wallets, and corn-brooms. The value of wool grown, the same year, (1836) was $2,708. From the mountains in this vicinity, delightful views are obtained. Deerfield Mountain is 700 feet above the plain. Sugar Loaf Mountain rears its conical peak of red sandstone 500 feet above the river, and overlooks the ground of many sanguinary battles between the whites and Indians. This is a place of great interest. While the traveller lingers here, enjoying the beautiful scenery and hospitality of the people of this quiet town, he cannot fail of contrasting the present scenes with those of former years; particularly with that at Bloody Brook, in 1675, when a company of 90 young men from the county of Essex were slain by ruthless savages. A monument, commemorating this event, was erected in 1838.
