Northampton, Massachusetts - Points of Interest

Points of Interest

• First Church, located on Main Street, was the home church of Jonathan Edwards, 18th century theologian, philosopher, and leader of the First Great Awakening.
• Smith College, founded in 1871, is a women's college (one of the Seven Sisters). It is also one of the Five Colleges.
• Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech (formerly the Clarke School for the Deaf) specializes in oral education (speech and lip-reading, as opposed to signing) and holds an annual summer camp, the theme varying from summer to summer. Clarke is also the oldest oral school for the deaf in the country, established in 1867 on Round Hill Road overlooking the Connecticut River Valley.
• The Elm Street Historic District runs from the commencement of Elm at State Street almost one mile westerly to Woodlawn Avenue. A local historic district, it includes a range residential architectural styles including 18th century Colonial, Queen Anne, Italianate, Second Empire and Colonial Revival.
• The Connecticut River and The Oxbow are popular areas for boaters.
• 21% of Northampton is protected open space; this includes Broad Brook/Fitzgerald Lake Conservation Area, Connecticut River Greenway (Elwell and Rainbow Beach), Mill River Greenway, Mineral Hills Conservation Area, and Saw Mill Hills/Roberts Hill Conservation Area.
• Look Park is a 150+ acre recreational park founded in 1930. The park is free for visitors arriving by foot or bicycle, consistent with the will of Frank Newhall Look, who left the property to the city and requested that the park would always have free admission for the public. A day-use fee or annual membership fee provides for parking. Musicians such as Bob Dylan have played at the park's amphitheater.
• Childs Park is a serene 40-acre city park near Cooley Dickinson Hospital. It features two ponds, formal gardens and rose gardens, and an Italian-style garden house.
• The Botanic Garden of Smith College is a diverse, outdoor collection of trees, shrubs, and plants as well as a fine collection of plant conservatories for the tropics, semitropics, and desert regions. It also includes an indoor greenhouse.
• The Mill River Greenway is a walking path on Smith College and adjacent land along the Mill River in the Bay State Village neighborhood of Northampton. The path is sometimes also called the Paradise Pond Trail based on a misleadingly named portion of the river near Smith College's boathouse and pier.
• Northampton is a rail trail hub. Currently, the Norwottuck Rail Trail extends 18 miles (29 km) from Leeds, Florence, and the downtown sections of Northampton to Amherst and Belchertown. The Manhan Rail Trail extends 8 miles (13 km) from the Norwottuck Rail Trail through Northampton and Easthampton to Southampton. Four other rail trail extensions are in the planning process.
• The Three County Fair is the "longest consecutive running agricultural fair in the country", having been established and incorporated in 1818.
• The Calvin Theater, Iron Horse Music Hall, and Pearl Street Nightclub are among the many venues that play host to Northampton's music scene.
• The Academy of Music, built in 1890 by Edward H. R. Lyman, is the only municipally owned theater in the United States and is the first to be so owned. Boris Karloff and Harry Houdini (who installed a trap door in the stage) performed there. Today it serves as a music venue, cinema, and performance space.
• The Northampton Independent Film Festival (NIFF) is held each fall. Founded as the Northampton Film Festival in 1995 by Howard Polonsky and Dee DeGeiso, it has continued to grow under a variety of directors. It is now one of the largest in New England.
• Forbes Library, built in 1894, is Northampton's public library. The second floor houses the Calvin Coolidge presidential library.
• Mirage Studios, creators of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise. In the TMNT series, the turtles and Casey Jones visit Casey Jones's grandmother's farm in Northampton, Massachusetts.
• Students from the Northampton Community Music Center (NCMC) fill the streets with music each May.
• LGBT Pride, on the first Saturday of May, is an annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride March & Rally, with a colorful parade down Main Street that ends with an all-day, family-friendly festival at a designated location in town.
• Thornes Marketplace in downtown Northampton contains many shops and eateries.
• Northampton State Hospital was a massive mental asylum, constructed in 1856. Several abandoned buildings remain, but much of the site has been redeveloped.
• On a small hill overlooking the city, near the site of the former Northampton State Hospital, a simple stone monument marks the spot of the hangings of Domenic Daley and James Halligan, two Irishmen wrongfully convicted of murder in 1806.
• Northampton Fire Department building is frequently cited as the tallest fire-fighting-related building.
• Pioneer Valley Roller Derby, the first co-ed flat track roller derby league, trains in the village of Florence, Massachusetts.