Northfield Summer 2011

Located in Northwestern Massachusetts, It is a town of farmland, forested hills, streams, wetlands and wildlife; and it is the only town in Massachusetts situated on both sides of the Connecticut River. It has remained virtually unchanged for generations.Much of Northfield's development in the late nineteenth century was spurred by the work of evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody, a native of Northfield who established the Northfield Seminary for Girls in 1879 on a sweeping hillside in East Northfield.

The school was the site of Moody's religious conferences, which attracted thousands of visitors to Northfield each summer. The influx of visitors led to the development of the town as a summer resort, especially after the opening of the Northfield Hotel in 1887.

Francis Schell, a New York capitalist attracted by his interest in Moody's work at the Northfield Seminary, commissioned architect Bruce Price to design a summer home, which became known as the Northfield Chateau. Patterned after a French château but fanciful in style with prominent turrets and 99 rooms, the house fell into a state of disrepair following Schell's death, and it was demolished in 1967.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• educational
• tourism
• fishing
• river
• boating
• travel
• summer
• adventure