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Where is the Pioneer Valley?
Where is the Pioneer Valley?
We're in Western Massachusetts, West of Worcester, East of the Berkshires. The Pioneer Valley includes 3 counties (from South to North) Hampden, Hampshire, and Franklin.
Various Views of the Pioneer Valley
Pioneer Valley?
Why is it called that?
Pioneer Valley?
Why is it called that?
According to the Springfield Republican, the name "Pioneer Valley" was adopted in the 1920s and 30s to lure new automobile owners on road trips through this scenic and historic region. It became part of regional tourism campaigns and has held on as a name for the region, despite the attempts at rebranding explained in the articles linked below.
The name is meant to capitalize on our colonial past, as a place where exiles from the Massachusetts Bay Colony, or entrepreneurial landowners like William Pynchon, moved and pioneered a new colonial society. This new society bore some resemblance to its Eastern counterpart, but which has always been a distinctly different place.
Read more about the Pioneer Valley here!
Pioneer Valley was Center of Region's Tourism
The WestMass Rebranding Debacle
Map Image credit & background:
Casey Williams Art - Local Maps
This activity is sponsored in part by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Eastern Region Program, coordinated by Waynesburg University.
This activity is sponsored in part by the Library of Congress Teaching with Primary Sources Eastern Region Program, coordinated by Waynesburg University.
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