Land Use History of MacLeish

Smith College’s Ada and Archibald MacLeish Field Station is composed of 243 acres of land. It is located in Whately, Massachusetts, on top of a flat ridge known as Poplar Hill. The field station has a history that parallels the natural and cultural history of New England. This story map explores the cultural and natural history of MacLeish in the context of the cultural and natural history of New England.

We acknowledge that MacLeish Field Station resides on the land of the Norwottuck people. The Norwottuck, and many other Indigenous groups of the Kwinitekw River Valley, are the original stewards of this land. We'd also like to acknowledge the neighboring Indigenous nations: the Nimpuc and Wampanoag to the East, the Mohegan and Pequot to the South, the Mohican to the West, and the Abenaki to the North.

The original inhabitants of present-day Whately (the town where MacLeish is located) are the Norwottuck and Pocumtuc peoples. For millennia, the Norwottuck and Pocumtuc hunted, fished, and planted crops in the Whately area. While no archaeological evidence of Indigenous habitation has been uncovered yet at MacLeish, it is likely that the Norwottuck and Pocumtuc relied on Poplar Hill and the surrounding area as a preferred hunting ground. That is, an area of diverse forests with an abundance of deer, bear, and turkey and fast moving streams that provided water and fishing sites. 

Infrequent contact between European colonists and the Indigenous peoples of the Connecticut River Valley began in 1614. In 1635 a smallpox epidemic swept  throughout the Connecticut River Valley, killing 80-90% of the Native inhabitants. As disease decimated Indigenous populations, European colonists began to move onto land formerly occupied by Indigenous peoples or were able to force them off such land with greater ease. Native village sites, located in the floodplain, with fields already cleared for agriculture, were often the first to be occupied by European colonists. 

Contact between European colonists and Indigenous peoples increased dramatically in 1636 when William Pynchon established a fur-trading post in present-day Springfield. Beaver pelts were a major trade item between European colonists and Indigenous peoples. This trade spurred an increase in the trapping of beaver and other fur-bearing animals by Native peoples in the Connecticut River Valley.  Throughout New England, beaver pelts were an important trade good between Indigenous peoples and European colonists.  After 1660, beaver populations dropped dramatically, becoming regionally extinct by 1810. The loss of beaver as a trade good contributed to Indigenous peoples’ loss of land, but violence from European colonists and disease played much larger roles.

After fifty years of environmental degradation, failed diplomacy, and broken treaties, tensions between European colonists and Indigenous nations were high throughout New England. In Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, these tensions came to a head in 1675, the beginning of King Philip’s War. The following eighty years were marked by sporadic but nonetheless bloody conflict between colonists and the Indigenous nations of New England, culminating in the French and Indian War (1753-1760). These wars pushed many Indigenous peoples out of the area, and European colonial settlement throughout the Connecticut River Valley and New England expanded rapidly. 

However, it’s important to note that some Indigenous peoples chose to stay in the Connecticut River Valley and adapt to European colonial settlement. In Northampton, for example, several Indigenous families continued to live in the area. Many sold goods like baskets, brooms, and traditional medicine to European colonists. Others hired out as day laborers, and some families chose to assimilate to the lifestyles of European colonists.

The land that makes up MacLeish Field Station was not solely used for agriculture.

In 1870, two men bought the lot that makes up the northwestern part of the Field Station. They immediately leased the property for ‘mining and quarrying’ to another man. All three were hoping to mine the vein of lead galena that runs underneath the property. At the time, lead galena was a valuable mineral that was used to make tools, bullets, and pottery glazes. They dug several  shallow mine pits by hand around the property.  Only a year after the lease, the land was re-sold, suggesting that they were either unable to find lead galena, or that  the quantity and quality of the mineral was low enough  that a long-term mining operation would be unsustainable.

Aerial Photos of the fields from 1942 to 2019. Over the years you can see how the field gradually became smaller. Shrinkage of the fields were due to the lack of maintenance and forest regrowth.

In 1943, James and Blanche Cooney bought four tracts of land that make up the eastern portion of MacLeish, along with the land directly to the south on both sides of Poplar Hill Road. The Cooneys were a young, politically radical couple from New York, seeking a remote place to live, farm, and publish their literary journal The Phoenix. In her memoir, Blanche Cooney wrote: I

“With the maelstrom of war and dictatorship growing in the world around us, we decided we must get out of the path of the storm, gather in small agrarian communities in valleys or on hilltops, live in uncompromising pacifism, remote from authority.” 

The Cooneys farmed tobacco, raised cattle and chickens, and maintained vegetable gardens. While their house had electricity, they continued to use an ice box, and in the winters cut ice from the pond near the present-day parking lot. The Cooneys also boarded people in their home, including Smith professors. Beginning in the late 1940s, tobacco corporations began to buy up tobacco farms, pushing farmers like the Cooneys out of the market. The Cooneys began to look for work outside of their farm and a buyer for their land.

Around the same time, the Astronomy department at Smith was looking for a new location for their observatory. They wanted somewhere with minimal light pollution, making the Cooney’s property on Poplar Hill an ideal location. The Cooneys had connections to Smith, and chose to sell the tracts that make up the eastern portion of MacLeish to the college in 1962. In 1964, the observatory was completed. Finally, in 1974, Smith Astronomy Professor Milton Soffer purchased the two tracts that make up the western portion of MacLeish. He granted them to the college in 1975

Insects and fungus introduced from other parts of the world have had a dramatic impact on the forest composition of MacLeish and New England more broadly. 

Chestnut trees were once the most common tree in New England’s forests, but today mature trees are very rare. This is due to the chestnut blight, a fungus that was accidentally introduced to North America from Asia around the year 1904. Most chestnut trees die within a few years of infection. By 1920, over 90 percent of American chestnut trees had become infected with the chestnut blight. Chestnut wood is valued for its rot resistance, so many trees were logged before they died of the blight. Because chestnut is so rot resistant, stumps from trees cut around 1920 can still be seen today.  

Luckily, the blight did not kill all of the American chestnut trees. Just before they died, some adult trees produced nuts that could germinate. Other trees were able to grow around the fungus and survive. Nuts from these trees have been crossed with the Chinese chestnut tree, which is resistant to the blight, with the intention of creating a hybrid that is resistant to the blight.   By the early 20th century, white pines had come to dominate the pastures that European colonists had abandoned in the mid 19th century. These stands of white pine were logged intensively until the introduction of the white pine blister rust, another fungus native to Asia. Like the chestnut blight, the fungus is deadly to almost every tree it infects. By 1930, the spread of the blister rust brought the white pine logging industry in New England to a halt. Decades of effort to control the fungus rust have protected much of the region’s white pine, but the combination of logging and blister rust have impacted the present composition of the forests at MacLeish and across New England. 

The Woolly adelgid is an insect native to Asia, and was first observed in North America in the 1960s. The insect feeds on the sap of eastern hemlock trees. It attaches itself to the twigs that support the needles on hemlock branches, and stops the transfer of nutrients between the needles and the rest of the tree. Dense populations of woolly adelgid can weigh down tree branches and eventually cause the needles to fall off, killing the tree within a few years. 

The beech scale insect is native to Europe, and was introduced to North America in 1860. By 1960, it had expanded its range into Western Massachusetts. On their own, beech scale insects aren’t harmful to beech trees, but they often carry the fungus Nectria coccinea. Scale insects feed on beech sap, creating tiny wounds where fungal spores can enter and infect the tree. The fungus disrupts normal bark growth, causing characteristically smooth bark of beech trees to blister and crack. Damaged bark makes the tree susceptible to further infection by insects and other kinds of fungus. Most trees infected with the fungus die within 6 years of infection. 

Unfortunately, both woolly adelgid and beech scale insects are extremely resistant to cold. As the climate warms and extreme cold events become less common, it’s likely both insects' range will continue to expand. 

There are five different invasive species that are particularly concerning at MacLeish: autumn olive, Japanese barberry, multiflora rose, oriental bittersweet, and wild grape. Like most invasive species, they produce huge numbers of seeds and grow quickly. Because these invasive species have no natural predators, they are able to outcompete native species. Efforts to manage their spread are underway at MacLeish. 

By the mid 1990s, the observatory in West Whately had fallen out of use. In 2000, Smith College President Carol Christ encouraged faculty and staff to come up with new ideas to further the college’s mission of “educating women of promise for lives of distinction” in the new millennium. Several faculty and staff members suggested that the land in West Whately be used in new ways;  as an outdoor classroom, a center for outdoor recreation, or a nature preserve. Building on the momentum, the Picker Engineering Program built the atmospheric monitoring station and meteorological tower in 2007. Finally, in 2008, President Carol Christ dedicated the site as the Ada and Archibald MacLeish Field Station. The name was chosen to honor the close friends of former Smith President Jill Ker Conway, who she credited for introducing her to the natural areas around Northampton. 

In 2010, Smith College received a significant grant from the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation in order to support environmental education at MacLeish. In keeping with the field station’s dedication to environmental sustainability, the Center for the Environment, Ecological Design, and Sustainability, planned and constructed the building in accordance with the International Living Building Institute’s Living Building Challenge. The classroom building was completed in 2012, and received Living Building certification in 2014. 

MacLeish Field Station aims to be a true liberal arts field station, supportive of research in the arts, humanities, and natural sciences. The Arts Afield project supports both artists in residence and student artwork, as well as highlighting the cultural history of the land. The environmental classroom supports classes across many departments, from biology to dance to anthropology. Projects monitoring biodiversity, forest health, weather and climate, and even seismic activity dot the landscape. Beyond research, the field station is used for a wide variety of recreational activities. A network of trails, two campsites, fire pits, the challenge course, and archery range encourage Smith students and the local community to enjoy the natural beauty of the field station. Smith’s Outing Club and Outdoor Program make frequent use of the site.

To explore the field station's cultural landscape history using the trails around MacLeish, you can download our Printable Trail Map & Historical Guide or take a guided tour!