History of Sunderland, Massachusetts, USA

Sunderland, Massachusetts
Franklin county. This town lies on the east side of Connecticut river, 90 miles W. from Boston, and 9 S. by E. from Greenfield. It was taken from Hadley in 1718. Population, 1837, 729. The settlement in this town is principally on a street running parallel with the river. Between the street and the river is a tract of fertile meadow; on the other side of the village is a more elevated plain, and back of that, Mount Toby rears its lofty front. This mountain is composed of pudding stone, and the small stones within it are round and smooth as though washed by the ocean; they are of verious sizes, and of every color. On one side is a cavern 60 feet deep; and many other ruptures seem to indicate some great change in this mountain since its formation. This village is very pleasant, and the scenery around it is of a fascinating character. The people here are good farmers, and are noted for their good schools and philanthropic disposition.

This town was once a part of Hadley, and contained a part of Montague and the whole of Leverett.

Sunderland lies on the eastern bank of the Connecticut, over which is a bridge eight hundred and fifty-eight feet long.
East of the village, and partly in Leverett, is Mount Toby, an elevation remarkable for its geological structure. The scenery of the town is generally very picturesque.

Corn-brooms, to a considerable amount, are made here, but the inhabitants are chiefly farmers.

Distance from Greenfield, 10 miles ; from Boston, 85.

This town was originally a part of Hadley. It was incorporated as a town in 1718, and the Rev. Josiah Willard was ordained the first minister the same year. Mr. Willard died in 1790, aged ninety years. The following ministers have succeeded him, viz. William Rand, who settled here in 1724; Joseph Ashley, in 1747; Asa Lyon, in 1792; David H. Williston, in 1804; James Taylor, in 1807; Henry B. Holmes, in 1833.

The central village of Sunderland is pleasantly situated on a fine interval of land on the east bank of Connecticut river. It coonsists of about fifty dwelling houses and a Congregational church. The village street is about three fourths of a mile in extent. The North village is about three miles from the center, and contains about fifteen or twenty dwellings, and a Baptist church. Plum Tree village is three miles south, and is about the size of the north village. At the central village there is a bridge over the Connecticut, 858 feet in length; it was built in 1832, at an...

Sunderland, a post-village in Franklin co., Massachusetts, on the E. side of Connecticut river, 82 miles W. by N. from Boston. A bridge crosses the river at this place. Population of the township, 792.

which should have at least two good grapevines planted on each homestead, has been won by Sunderland, Mass., and a second premium of $100 by Vineland, N. J.

Sunderland, is a pleasant rural town of 700 inhabitants on the east bank of the Connecticut River, and in the southern part of Franklin County, about 107 miles west of Boston. It is bounded on the north by Montague, east by Leverett, south by Amherst and Hadley, and west by Deerfield.

Its length is 6 miles and width 3 miles; the assessed area being 8,184 acres. The inhabited portions are the southwest and a small area in the north. In the last, near the Connecticut, is the village of North Sunderland; while Sunderland (centre), which is the post-office, lies on the river midway of the town. An iron bridge 900 feet in length connects it with South Deerfield, on the Connecticut River Railroad. The New London and Northern Railroad crosses the northeast angle of the town, having stations in Leverett, Amherst and Montague; connecting in the latter with the Fitchburg Railroad.

The formative rock is lower sandstone and dolerite. From the rich intervale along the margin of the river the ...