You don't know how many times I've driven by this guy off Exit 6 of the Massachusetts Turnpike in Chicopee and not taken his picture. Finally, I had good light and wasn't in a hurry. He has been welcoming travelers to the Plantation Inn "Southern Hospitality in New England" for about ten years. Before that he worked at a Ford dealership in Springfield for thirty years.
Let's take a trip on the wayback machine! To clear up space on my MacBook I've been burning photos to CDs (they're already backed-up to an external hard drive) and deleting them. In doing so I was reminded of a whole bunch of photos from a trip I took to Vermont and Massachusetts in August 2006.
The Bridge of Flowers is located in Shelburne Falls, MA. The bridge was built in 1908 to carry a trolley across the Deerfield River. The trolley shut down 20 years later. Since the town's water main ran across it, the town quickly bought the bridge. Private money was raised by the next year to plant the 400 ft. span with flowers. The Bridge of Flowers is mostly maintained by volunteers. I doubt it looks all that great in late-November, but it sure was pretty in August.
Beneath the falls there is an excellent example of glacial potholes, where rocks embedded at the bottom of a glacier grind out holes in the bedrock. Elsewhere in town is the only remaining trolley car (restored) from the bridge, a few really nice used bookstores, a great-looking old movie theater that I wanted to see a movie in but I was there at noon and couldn't stay 'til evening, and a deli/health food store where I bought a tasty chicken sandwich. There were also several art galleries and artsy-craftsy stores.
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