Sycamores

History

The Sycamores was built in 1788 by Colonel Woodbridge. It was rented in 1915 and purchased in 1937 for student housing. A Better Chance used the building from 1973 to 1981. The most recent word I have heard is that the South Hadley Historical Society just bought the building and will renovate it for their use. I had no images of the Sycamores in my collection, so I took the above photo on September 7, 1998. Then I noticed a funny structure in its side yard, and took another photo of just that structure. What the heck is it??

Update, 2013: Sharon Chace Bail, MHC class of 1987, writes: "The Sycamores is undergoing restoration and there is a site called sycamoreshouse.org [no longer active] which has lots of information. Ken Williamson reports that the structure is believed to be a water tower used to pump water from the well to a tank on the third floor thereby providing running water to all of the house, although he says the system probably would not have worked in the winter!"

Update, 2020: My first postcard of the Sycamores!