Old Ryan Road from Washington. Most interesting was the mailbox in front of the old cellar hole!

West Road in Middlefield, hidden hilltown history here on old Ryan Road once part of the network of early colonial roads expanding travel and settlement from Becket, Washington to Middlefield. Old Ryan Road once crossed Coles Brook as seen by the stone abutments. One of the first settlers here was William Taylor, he came to Middlefield with his father in about 1773. In 1781 he purchased for his farm lot 13, 1 Div. W. Prescott Grant, which is located on the West Hill just north of the south road to Becket. He was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. This large section of land is now conserved by Orenda Land Trust called the Fowler-Earnes Sanctuary. In total 1,481 acres of land. The farmsteads are long gone and the forest has grown in but the stone walls and fruit trees still stand.

#hikethehilltownhistory
#hikethehilltowns with the #westernmasshilltownhikers #discoverthehilltowns #visitthehills #hilltownhistory #flashhike #intheberkshires #nature #adventure #history #hiking #outdooradventures #visittheberkshires #mylocalMA #visitma #hilltownhikers #westernmass
Visit our blog for all of our adventures! We are on Instagram TikTok Pinterest Twitter YouTube Meetup @hilltownhikers want to come along on these hikes?
become a member at www.hilltownhikers.com and get notified of all the hikes every Friday, Saturday and Sunday year round!
A 501c3 Massachusetts Non-Profit Organization