Western Mass Hilltown HikersHike the HilltownsSmithy Road in Chester

Smithy Road in Chester

Let’s go back to 1857 in Chester, high up on Round Top Hill the settlers were farming and a bit later, mining. On Smithies Road, William Smithies homestead and barn remains can be found complete with an enormous entact trough for his animals. The barbed wire fencing, so old its found through the middle of the ancient hardwoods. His neighbor William Parks Knox lived at the corner, as the road was called Parks Knox Road. Present day Park Knox Road is discontinued and was the main road from here to Blandford as the Schoolhouse was located accross from the Wright Memorial Cemetery. Knox, an original settler part of the long Knox family history lineage that came to America from Northern Ireland. His brothers Adam and John settled in Blandford, just down the road.