Massachusetts was once a largely agricultural region, and the Connecticut River Valley still has some of the most productive farmland in New England. These rare photos from the past reveal our state’s proud farming history, and some of the families that helped feed entire communities.
- Hatfield was once blanketed by fertile farmland. Here, onion pickers are seen hard at work in 1936.
Yale Photogrammar/Paul Carter
- Produce was harvested by hand, which was slow and tiring work.
Yale Photogrammar/Paul Carter
- It wasn’t all drudgery, though. Cattle competitions were a big draw at the 1936 Eastern State Fair in Springfield.
Yale Photogrammar/Carl Mydan
- Horse-pulling was also a popular event.
Yale Photogrammar/Carl Mydan
- Not much has changed about roadside farmstands in Massachusetts. This one in Greenfield in 1939 looks just the same as any you’d see today.
Yale Photogrammar/Russell Lee
- The fall bounty of pumpkins, squash and fruit is piled high beside the road.
Yale Photogrammar/Russell Lee
- If you felt like something sweet, these jars of homemade jam at a farm stand in Northampton would do the trick.
Yale Photogrammar/Russell Lee
Yale Photogrammar/Russell Lee
- Here we see the small farm of John P. Collins in Taunton. He raised about six acres of vegetables and had 11 cows. To supplement his income he rents his truck out to a nearby Army camp.
Yale Photogrammar/Jack Delano
- Surplus food was stored in places such as this farmers’ warehouse in Fitchburg, 1936.
Yale Photogrammer/Arthur Rothstein
- Mother Nature didn’t always cooperate, however. This tobacco field near Northampton was been devastated by the Connecticut River in 1936.
Yale Photogrammar/Paul Carter
- Getting your daily dose of dairy used to be a much more involved affair. Here, farmers milk local cows by hand.
Yale Photogrammar/Paul Carter
- Here, a farmer pasteurizes his milk in large machines.
Yale Photogrammar/Paul Carter
- Milk was once bottled in much smaller batches by local farmers. This bottling machine in Fitchburg was state of the art in 1936.
Yale Photogrammar/Paul Carter
- Some farm equipment used in the 1930s looks positively ancient by today’s standards.
Yale Photogrammar/Russell Lee
- Pictures of places like this picturesque small farm near Brockton in 1940 can easily make you yearn for simpler days.
Yale Photogrammar/Jack Delano
If you liked this, be sure to check out these 20 rare photographs taken in Massachusetts during the Great Depression.
Yale Photogrammar/Paul Carter
Yale Photogrammar/Carl Mydan
Yale Photogrammar/Russell Lee
Yale Photogrammar/Jack Delano
Yale Photogrammer/Arthur Rothstein
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