Adams, MA | Towns Along the Mohawk Trail

Adams was incorporated in 1778 and is located along the banks of the Hoosac River. To the east is the Hoosac Mountain Range and Mt. Greylock, the highest point in Massachusetts at 3,491 feet, stands proudly to the west. Adams is the birthplace of Susan B. Anthony who townspeople consider their famous daughter.

In the 18th century the Quakers settled in the Hoosac Valley and built a Meeting House in 1782 which still stands today. It is open for tour every Sunday between Memorial and Labor Day from 1pm to 4pm. An Annual Meeting of Society of Friends Descendants is held on the last Sunday of August.

Adams is a Victorian industrial town located on Route 8 in the valley between Mt. Greylock and the Hoosacs. Its streets are lined with the remainders of huge 19th century textile mills that brought prosperity to the town: the factories, smoke stacks, mill houses, pleasant neighborhoods, churches and their steeples. Downtown is the charming and old-fashioned Park Street which starts at a monument to William McKinley and ends with a monument to Susan B. Anthony. Summer Street on the east side of town is split in two. At one end is a National Register Historic District of 70 homes that are good examples of Victorian architecture. At the other end is the Summer Street Commercial District with its small shops and specialty stores.

Greylock can be reached from Adams by hiking the Cheshire Harbor trail that starts at the end of West Mt. Road. Each Columbus Day the Adams Chamber of Commerce sponsors the Mt. Greylock Ramble when about a thousand hikers young and old make an annual ascent up the mountain. The Chamber of Commerce also sponsors an annual summer festival called the Susan B. Anthony Days as well as several other events throughout the year. NOTE: All roads to the summit of Mount Greylock, the War Memorial Tower and Bascom Lodge are closed for road repairs until spring 2009. The Visitors Center in Lanesborough and hiking/mountain biking trails remain open, and campground is backpacking only (2.5 mile strenuous hike to campground).