Destination:
The Five College Area
/ Pioneer Valley
of Western Massachusetts

Even Goshen's name bespeaks of religion. It is borrowed from the Bible, which claims Goshen to be the best part of Egypt. Likewise, the founding fathers of Goshen, Massachusetts considered their spread of land to represent the best part of what was then the original Chesterfield. So these brazen men and their supporters petitioned to have their section of Chesterfield incorporated into a new town, and thus Goshen was born.

The town's religious underpinnings are further reflected on Main Street, where six homes were built as parsonages and one still functions as such. The Goshen Museum is located in what was originally The Advent Chapel, which was built in 1878.

Folks refer to Granby as the daughter town of South Hadley and the granddaughter town of Hadley.

Most of what now makes up Granby was purchased from three Indian chiefs in 1683, but friction with the Indians kept the area from actually being settled until about 1727. The town was incorporated in 1768 by former settlers of what are now the towns of Hadley and South Hadley. The governor of colonial Massachusetts named the new town in deference to John Manners, a British cabinet member who served as the the Marquis of Granby and distinguished himself with decorum during the French and Indian War.

Settlement of the Greenfield area commenced during the 1680's when grants of 20 acres each along the Green River were made to settlers by the town of Deerfield. The majority of settlers were Deerfield men and women. These were stout-hearted, valiant people who endured great hardships, attacks by Indians and a terrible massacre in 1704 during the French and Indian War.

The territory was known as the Green River district and was part of Deerfield until 1753. In that year, it was incorporated as the separate town of Greenfield. In 1811, when Franklin County was formed from the northern part of Hampshire County, Greenfield was designated as the county seat. The town was well known in the 1800s for its thriving tool and cutlery industry. In 1962, Greenfield became home to Greenfield Community College, which moved to its current site in 1974 and has more than 3,000 students.