This is one I have been wanting to do for a long time but I have put it off for a long time. I suppose I wanted to focus on Biblical content and not my own interests but it feels right to do this article now.First question you may want to know is what is western Massachusetts? It is a region an area it is not a legally incorporated place ,it is not a state or a county just an abstract region like southern California or New England or west Texas.
Many think it is the state west of the Connecticut river but this is not true and many think it is west of the Quabbin Reservoir ,also not the case although the Quabbin is very close to its definition. It is all of and none that is not the four western counties in the State of Massachusetts and those four counties are Hamden,Hampshire,Franklin and Berkshire counties.The Quabbin Reservoir would be close but Brimfield in Hamden county jets out 5 or 10 miles east of the Quabbin and Orange in Franklin county is slightly east of the Quabbin also.So counties are cultural and governmental importance so that is how western Mass is defined and western Mass starts about 65 miles west of Boston and stretches all the way to the New York border to the west.
If you click the link the towns going north to south ,Warwick,Orange,New Salem,Ware,Palmer,Brimfield and Holland divide the state culturally.
The Great Revival
The Great Awakening was a series of religious revivals in American Christian history. Historians and theologians identify three, or sometimes four, waves of increased religious enthusiasm between the early 18th century and the late 20th century. Each of these “Great Awakenings” was characterized by widespread revivals led by evangelical Protestant ministers, a sharp increase of interest in religion, a profound sense of conviction and redemption on the part of those affected, an increase in evangelical church membership, and the formation of new religious movements and denominations.
George Whitefield, Jonathan Edwards, and Gilbert Tennent were influential during the First Great Awakening. Some of the influential groups during the Great Awakening were the New Lights and the Old Lights.The First Great Awakening in the American colonies is closely related to the Evangelical Revival in the British Isles
Here is some stuff on Jonathan Edwards of Northamton,MA
As pastor of the church at Northampton, Massachusetts, Jonathan Edwards was instrumental in bringing the Great Awakening to his nation. The town was beset by loose living and factional bitterness. Instead of turning away from these problems, Edwards addressed them directly. He preached personal holiness and doctrinal soundness. This first irritated the parties involved, but God blessed his incisive preaching and revival occurred. In this excerpt from his Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God, Edwards describes how the Spirit of God changed Northampton.
Jonathan Edwards was born in East Windsor Connecticut on October 5th 1703 and lived until 1758 and was known as a minister of a Congregationalist Church in the city of Northamton ,the First Church of Christ located and still exists today on Main St in Northamton.
George Whitefield also gave important sermons in Northamton
George Whitefield and the Early Days
In the year 1740, in the spring before Mr. Whitefield came to this town, there was a visible alteration: there was more seriousness and religious conversation, especially among young people; those things that were of ill tendency among them were forborne; and it was a very frequent thing for persons to consult their minister upon the salvation of their souls; and in some particular persons there appeared a great attention about that time.
And thus it continued until Mr. Whitefield came to town, which was about the middle of October following: he preached here four sermons in the meeting-house (besides a private lecture at my house), one on Friday, another on Saturday, and two upon the Sabbath.
Whitefield was English but preached in Northamton
My sources were biblemesh.com and library.org and Wikipedia.
That was the first Great Revival which had a profound impact on the US and Europe and in many ways gave Americans the courage for the American Revolution.
Another important figure is
Dwight Lyman Moody (February 5, 1837 – December 22, 1899), also known as D. L. Moody, was an American evangelist and publisher connected with Keswickianism, who founded the Moody Church, Northfield School and Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts (now Northfield Mount Hermon School)
He was part of the second revival and had a Church in Northfield Massachusetts not to be confused with Northamton ,Northfield is in northern Franklin county on the New Hampshire border. Northfield a small farming community and for the most part is still quite small although now they do have a golf course and Drive In movie theatre (I’ve been to both their pretty cool)
The Northfield Mt Hermon school is still around but has been downsized and parts sold to a California organization.
Moody Preached sermons all over America and even inspired people in Sweden although he never went there.One story of Dwight L Moody is that he converted the preacher who converted the preacher to led a certain William Graham (Billy Graham) to the Lord.( Chuck Missler recalled that event)
Satan’s Kingdom
Yes a real place and that is it’s name it is an unincorporated village in the same town Dwight Moody was from,Northfield.
So do people worship Satan there? No ,that is not how the name came about.
I believe the story goes back to the late 1600’s in a Calvinist Church in Northfield,MA .
A unknown preacher was giving a fire and brimestone sermon with visions of hell in a Calvinist Congregational church and his sermon was so passionate and charasmatic that people in the small white New England style church looked out the window. And when they looked out the window the story goes that the farm field across the street was fully engulfed in flames.Ever since then that small neighborhood in Northfield has been known as Satan’s Kingdom.
Although today western Mass is known for a liberal college environment and fairly irreligious but it has a rich Christian history that had a great influence on the spirituality of America and the world.
Basketball was invented in western Mass in Springfield where the Basketball Hall of Fame is today.Volleyball was also invested not far in the city of Holyoke.
Baseball also was played in the area in the 1700’s although maybe not played in its present form.However a library at Williams College discovered a record a law from 1791 in Pittsfield ,MA that banned playing baseball near any school, or meetinghouse in Pittsfield,so baseball must have been played there before its formal invention in Coopetown NY in the early 1800’s.
And speaking of Pittsfield Herman Melville had a summer home there called “Arrowhead” where he wrote Moby Dick with Mt Greylock( the state highest peak) in the distance as his inspiration.
Other famous natives and long time residents include
Emily Dickinson,Robert Frost,Theodor (Dr Seuss) Geisel,Uma Thurman,Timothy Leary and former President Calvin Coolidge
The area has many colleges with famous alumni like Barbara Bush,Nancy Reagan ,Gloria Steinham,pop psychologist Dr Drew and former Drug Tzar of the US and Secretary of Education William Bennett.Matter of fact Weird Al Yankovic’s daughter is a student at Williams College in Williamstown MA.
Of course the story of the Quabbin Reservoir when Boston started running out of water in the 1920’s. So in the 30’s a plan was hatched to build a giant reservoir.In the 1930’s they evacuated 4 towns ,very small towns in population Greenwich,Enfield,Prescott and Dana.They bought every house for a minimum price and dug up every single grave in all the cemeteries and flooded the Swift River creating a lake 4 miles wide and 35 miles north to south giving water to over 4 million people.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quabbin_Reservoir
I hope you enjoyed learning about western Mass and I hope you come visit us on your next vacation we have tons and tons of fun stuff to do. From the Basketball HOF to white water rafting to the Tanglewood concert center and much more .
Thank you all and God Bless
Truth in Mikra 
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