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Show QUAINT OLD HADLE Y j AMERICAN TOWN TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY YEARS OLD. Massachusetts Ranks Place as One of the Chief Points of Historic Interest In the New England Eng-land State. Two hundred arid fifty years Is a long tlmo In American history. Few communities outside tho Immediate seaboard of tho earliest colonies enn boast ho grent nn age. Tho towns In New Knglnnd 280 years old may almost al-most be counted off-hand, and New England la richest In old towns of any of the early colonies, not excepting Virginia. Those thoughts present themselves to the traveler who visits Hadley, In central Massachusetts, which noxt year will celebrate tho two hundred nnd fiftieth anniversary of Its found-datlon. found-datlon. Tho history of Hadley roflcctH all the conditions of early colonial llfo. tho best traditions of tho making of the commonwealth, and a degroo of romance found In few town histories in Now England. From Hadley has gone out somo of the best blood of tho country to people peo-ple nnd give strength to othor communings. com-munings. Descendants of tho sttlcrs of Hadley, numbering matfy thousands, thou-sands, nro found In all parts of the land, strong In tholr American lineage line-age nnd proud of tho history of Uio llttlo llt-tlo vlllngo in the valloy of tho Connecticut Con-necticut that gave birth and charoctor to their ancestors In ninny generations. genera-tions. Tho visitor to Hadley looks nbout for landmarks of tho old tlmo without at first finding them, No houses stand of nn earlier dnto than 1713. The Elcnzer Porter houso, built In that year by n great-grandson of Snmuel Portor, n first settlor, still stands, in a fair stato of repair, on tho east sldo of tho wide street. Somo of the original orig-inal hown timbers of tho house of Samuel nro Incorporated In its frame. Its front door, with curious ornnmcn-tatlon ornnmcn-tatlon of a high-boy scroll over It, at onca arrests the attention of tho passer. pass-er. Tho door Itself Is also of curious pattern. Tho south room on the right of tho hall still has Its original wnlnBCOt to tho celling, nnd n great ftroplaco, now unfortunately bricked up. This apartment apart-ment was at ono tlmo used as a courtroom. court-room. , A fow paces forthcr north Is a larger houso, built by a member of the snmo family, and somewhat more modern. Hero for many years up to a quarter century ago Miss Charlotte Porter had a boarding school for girls. A short way below the oldest houso Is tho slto of another nnclent house, that of Col. Kllshn Porter, In which Gen. llurgoyno wns entertnlned when, sick nnd dojecled, ho reached tho Connecticut Con-necticut on his wny to Boston from Saratoga. So kind was his treatment at the hands of a former enemy that on leaving leav-ing ho unbuckled tho linndBomo pros-entntlou pros-entntlou sword tbot ho had surrendered surren-dered at Saratoga, and had received back, nnd presented It to his host. This sword is now owned by Sam- poo a vw&sJ tie OldeJijUnjm. uel Smith nnd Miss Luoy Smith, descendants de-scendants of Col. Porter, and is kopt In their houso. Another Interesting old houso In Hndley is tho Ben Smith tavern, so called, on tho old post road between Boston and Albany, nt this point known ns tho Bay road. It stands at tho corner of this road and KnBt street. Horo In the stago coaching days ol tho eighteenth nnd early nineteenth centuries the conches drow up for refreshment re-freshment to man nnd beast. That the houso afforded moans for such refreshment Is without, question. It hns nbout 20 rooms, Including double parlors, ten bedrooms and. across the south end In tho second story, n danco hall. This room Is now used by tho Allen family, which has occupied tho houso about twenty years, as a storage place. Tho house has not been used as a tavern for more than sixty years. It Is ono ol tho best preserved of tho old-tlmo hos-telrlcs hos-telrlcs In New England. Thero nro two othor houses In Hadley Had-ley now used as private residences, tho Crane and tho Reynolds places. In which the nnclent dance hall reminder of u soclul Ufa departod Is still preserved. |