The Hampshire and Hampden Canal Company was chartered in Massachusetts in 1823, and the canal was constructed between 1826 to 1834. In 1836, it was reorganized as part of the New Haven and Northampton Canal Company and operated until its closure in 1845. The Hampshire and Hampden Canal is significant as it relates to early to mid-19th century engineering, transportation, commerce, and industry. There is currently no formal documentation within the Massachusetts Historical Commission’s (MHC) Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System (MACRIS) of the entire path of the Hampshire and Hampden Canal and there is minimal documentation of related resources.
The regional Hampshire and Hampden Canal documentation project involves properties located along the approximately 30-mile historic path of the Massachusetts portion of the former canal within the municipalities of Southwick, Westfield, Russell, Southampton, Easthampton, and Northampton. The canal path runs from a Southwick guard lock at the state line south of the Congamond Ponds to the Connecticut River in Northampton. It directly relates to the 56-mile-long Farmington Canal from Suffield to New Haven, Connecticut which was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. The Lockville Historic District in Southampton is the only Massachusetts portion of the canal area currently listed in the National Register.
Since early 2020, these six municipalities have been working with the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, canal historian Carl Walter, and other interested stakeholders, to plan for a regional project to pull together past research and to formally map and document what remains of the former canal. The project team is now working with the Amherst office of SWCA Environmental Consultants to map the canal route and perform reconnaissance work of archaeological and built resources along the canal’s historic path. It is anticipated that updated mapping and documentation of the remaining built and archaeological features of this significant and irreplaceable Western Massachusetts resource will be utilized as a valuable planning tool for municipalities and residents. Any formal documentation which meets the standards of the Massachusetts Historical Commission (MHC) will be available for public or approved archaeological use through the MACRIS database and mapping site. Property owners along the canal area have been notified about the project and given an opportunity to opt out of having the consultant perform walking reconnaissance on their land. Some property owners have also reached out and expressed their enthusiasm and support of this project.
It is important to note that in some areas there is still evidence of the Hampshire and Hampden Canal as well as those who know the history of the canal, but unfortunately those are both vanishing. The canal’s existing conditions and history need to be documented in a unified manner along the entire length of the canal, to inform future preservation of what remains, to acknowledge what has been lost, and to ensure that the story of this canal becomes a valuable and permanent part of Western Massachusetts history.
The documentation team will work with the MHC to determine if the Massachusetts portion of the former canal is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places, like the Farmington Canal.
Please visit the Massachusetts Historical Commission site for the publications, Effects and Benefits of Listing and There’s a Difference which provide more information about the National Register of Historic Places.
For questions or additional information, please contact Shannon Walsh, PVPC Historic Preservation Planner at swalsh@pvpc.org