Tucked away in the small town of Cummington, Massachusetts, sits the Bryant Homestead — the childhood home of William Cullen Bryant, a 19th-century poet and journalist who championed everything from abolition and free speech to public parks and nature poems. If you visit the Bryant Homestead in Massachusetts, here’s what you’ll find.

Poet, Reformer, Advocate

Born in 1794, Bryant racked up an impressive list of roles over the course of his lifetime: poet, journalist, conservationist, horticulturist, and editor of the New York Evening Post.

Bryant was an abolitionist and a lover of nature, a supporter of Abraham Lincoln’s presidential campaign and Frederick Law Olmsted’s Central Park dream. And while he became a New Yorker through and through, he continued to visit and upgrade his boyhood home — now a National Historic Landmark — until his death in 1878. This is the view he would have had from the enormous porch:

My very favorite fact about Bryant is that he used to pole vault over his bed every morning for exercise! Sadly, you can’t currently see the bed because the house is closed to guests (even the windows are glazed so that you can’t see what’s inside — I tried). But it’s still fun to drive up the maple-lined allée …

… look out over the pond …

… park by the old barn …

… and wander around the fields.

Paths Through Bryant’s Woods

Ultimately, though, the very best thing to do at the Bryant Homestead is go hiking. Some of the trails were originally blazed by Bryant himself.

The paths make for easy walking, and following them is probably the best way to see how Bryant found inspiration for his poetry.

Known as one of the “fireside poets,” Bryant wrote pieces that would have been read around the family fire in the early 1800s. He crafted dozens of nature poems, including “To a Waterfowl,” “A Forest Hymn,” and “Summer Wind.” The Trustees of Reservations, who now own the Bryant Homestead, have placed several placards with Bryant’s poems along the trails in the woods.

The eponymous Rivulet Trail, which commemorates this poem …

… runs along the rivulet itself …

… over a small bridge …

… and through sections of old growth forest that are 300 to 400 years old. The trail then connects with the Pine Loop, which runs through one of the tallest stands of pines in the Eastern US.

The Bryant Homestead also encompasses a 200-year-old sugarbush that was tapped in the years when Bryant was a child, and you can walk through those maples (and past an old sugar house) on the Sugarbush Trail.

I had a lovely time at the Bryant Homestead, though it helped that I was already in the area. While it’s a beautiful site, I don’t think I would go out of my way to visit unless they reopen the house. But if you find yourself in western Mass and have an hour or two to spare for a walk, I can recommend the trails – and a slice of cherry pie at the Old Creamery afterwards!

Further Reading

If you enjoy visiting places at the intersection of literature and landscape, you might like my post on Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Massachusetts — you’ll find writers like Emerson, Thoreau, Alcott, and Hawthorne buried among the trees.

For another side of words in the region, take a look at my post on the Libraries of Western Massachusetts — a celebration of some of the best small-town libraries you’ll ever see.