The Log Cabin Grove at Southwick Ponds was very popular as a day resort. The original structure was expanded before it burned down. It was rebuilt with sixteen rooms, 13 of which were guest rooms. It also had a ballroom and a dining room.  Guests could look forward to clambakes, dancing, live music, a "beautiful lawn, and grove … swings, steamboats, rowboats, fishing tackle, etc." (Roundtrip bus fare from Springfield to Southwick Ponds costs .50¢.) The Log Cabin Grove 1823: John Milton Hatheway is born in Suffield, Connecticut, on March 12.  1846: The Mexican-American War starts on April 25. 1847: During the Battle of Chapultepec (September 12-13), Lieutenant Hatheway picks up a dead sergeant's musket and fires several shots, effectively killing a Mexican sharpshooter who had picked off several men and was taking aim at him from up in a tree. (Author's Note: This is one of several heroic deeds done by Hatheway.) 1848: The Mexican-American War ends with the signing of

A. Waldron Miller 1895: A. Waldron Miller is born to Henry and Ida Miller in Suffield, Connecticut, on October 9. (Born Alvin "Allie" Waldron Miller). 1923: Henry Alvin Miller dies. (He was a charter member of Southwick Grange and had one of the finest collections of Indian relics in Connecticut.) c. 1924: A. Waldron Miller radically transforms his family's massive lakefront property into a popular tourist destination, Miller's Beach.  1926: Miller's Beach starts a new advertising campaign announcing the opening of their new water toboggan and bathing pavilion; the campaign also touts Miller's as the safest of all Congamond beaches. Florence Luke of Thompsonville, Connecticut, is struck when a rider in a toboggan behind her crashes into her while riding down the popular incline water coaster off Miller's Beach in August. (Luke obtains prominent lawyer Samuel Sisisky to represent her in her $10,000 suit against Miller's Beach, which accuses slide owner

1901: Harmon A. Smith is born in New Haven, Connecticut, on June 12.  1932: Miller's Beach encourages Connecticut swimmers to enter its aquatic meet being held on June 19. Participants should send entries to John Pollard or Harmon Smith, c/o Miller's Beach, or call Southwick 77 and reverse the call.  1935 Ad 1935: The Young Democratic Club of South Windsor, Connecticut, holds its July meeting at Smith's Beach in Southwick, Massachusetts.  1936: Harmon Smith, the athletic coach at Agawam High School, purchases Smith's Beach. He previously rented the property for several years, containing about 38 acres of land and 1,500 feet of lakefront. (Smith started coaching in Agawam in 1924. He worked at Miller's Beach in Southwick and at the pool at Riverside Park.) 1937: Seven-year-old Evelyn Fennelly sustains severe injuries after being struck by an automobile while at Smith's Beach on June 13. She is taken to Noble Hospital for emergency treatment before being transfe

Crane Bros. Mill Robert B. Crane of the Cane Bros. paper mill in Westfield starts buying land in the Hillside District of Southwick at the end of 1896. The land borders Mouse Hill at New Road.  He continued his buying spree well into 1897, paying $250 for 24 more acres and 42 rods, according to a deed dated March 8.  Crane accumulates hundreds of acres. Wasting no time, he contracts George W. Smith, a stone mason in Westfield, to excavate and lay the foundation for a large barn to be built at his newly named Sunnyside Ranch. Smith starts the project around the week of March 22.  In addition to crops, Crane’s enormous, state-of-the-art ranch specializes in sheep and other high-grade stock. The farm is known for producing superior products. Even with the passing of its visionary founder, Sunnyside’s reputation for quality remains shown when its lambs, unequaled for their excellence, are featured at W. O. Sheldon’s State Street market in Springfield in 1910.   Over the years, Sunnyside ha

(This article was originally part of the "From Today's Motorcycle Ride" series, the predecessor to the Southwick Time Machine.) We ride over to the Southwick Inn for lunch. As we enter the foyer, a beautifully enlarged, framed picture of the Southwick Inn from years past greets us. More old photos of this historic structure adorn the walls inside the restaurant/bar area. The Southwick Inn has been owned and run by various people. For a long time, it was named the "Southwick Hotel." Southwick Inn Chronology c. 1780: A tavern is built on the site of today's Southwick Inn. The property consists of several acres, a house, a barn, and other outbuildings. 1846: A fire breaks out in the Southwick Hotel's barn in November. People rush to remove the furniture from the house, which is saved with "great difficulty." However, the fire destroys the barn and 15-to-20 tons of hay. The losses sustained by proprietor S.B. Hodgett are estimated to be around $250