Cottage Street, Easthampton
by Bill Dusty
This past Wednesday, I sped up the highway to pay a visit to Easthampton, Massachusetts. I parked my car on Cottage Street, then grabbed my camera. Glancing around my surroundings, I saw that Easthampton has sort of a “Northampton feel” to it. Like its neighbor just up the road to the north, Easthampton is a small city (since 1996), with a mayor and City Council. The population is about 16,000.
Where are the parking meters?
Free parking, with a one-hour restriction (green circle), greets visitors and shoppers.
On Cottage Street, street-side restaurants and pubs are mixed in with other retail shops, and there is an overall sense of orderliness to the street. Another interesting thing I noticed upon my arrival was that there was not a single pay-parking area in sight. The public parking lot that I parked in was free, as was on-street parking all along Cottage Street. The only restriction appeared to be a one-hour parking limit with the on-street parking. This actually showed me something important that some folks might miss about a city or town: The local government cares more about attracting shoppers to its businesses than it does about collecting parking revenue (at least on Cottage Street). I should also note that, to the best of my recollection, I only saw one storefront with “for rent” signs on it. The rest of the street appeared to be open for business.
One Cottage Street.
This is the far end of the building show above.
Above is Nashawanuck Pond. Check out the large U.S. flag hanging out there. The flag is actually much larger than it appears in this photo.
I thought this package store was interesting. It looks to be housed in a former bank building.
The Brass Cat. Click on the photo for a larger image (new browser).
AwenTree offers “Magickal Gifts and Tools for Transformation.”
There’s also hypnotherapy, Reiki, tarot reading, and handfastings.
Also, as I was taking this photo, two women came outside to greet me.
They wanted to make sure I mentioned that they are “very hip and very cool!”
As I left Easthampton, I stopped to take a picture of the mountside to the east. Click the image for a larger view (new browser).
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10 Responses for “Cottage Street, Easthampton”
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when stop & shop moves in that feeling for the town will surely be gone.
Thanks for the photos, they are really lovely! I live in that neighborhood & Cottage St is such a great street & just gets better & better, as more small businesses move in.
Stop & Shop, if it happens, won’t make a bit of difference to the character of Cottage St, or the rest of downtown.
Thank you for a great perspective! I walk or ride down this street daily, but never stopped to appreciate how appealing the merchants have made it. Wonderful photos!
I love the picture of the range – nicely done
Regarding the package store photo..Was not built in a former bank building.. The late THOMAS F. LYNN along with his sister JANET LYNN built this property on site of a former filling station circa 1963..Now the LYNN family was a truely nice family with a long History in Easthampton..Janet retired after 50 years as a first grade teacher. Tom expanded his fathers business ventures..Both have since gone on to their rewards.
Growing up just a few blocks away from here, I remember summers where my mother would give me $5 to get a haircut. Haircuts (regular or crewcut only) were $4 at Novak’s, which was just to the right of Nini’s. After that it was one more door down to Cottage St. Pharmacy for a couple of 25 cent hand-mixed root beer mugs from the fountain. The last of the money was spent one door in the OTHER direction from Nini’s where Luigi had his little shop full of penny candy and old men sitting at the counter all day drinking coffee.
The rest of the day would be spent around the corner playing basketball or stickball at Maple St. School. Occasionally some of the police patrols would stop and play as well. They learned really fast that when you hit it over the fence, you went and got it yourself!
Almost forgot to mention: This was all in the 80′s and early 90′s. Without saying this, one might think this was from decades before that.
I love the pictures. I was in Easthampton last winter and took the exact picture as yours with the American Flag over the pond. I grew up in Easthampton way back in the 40s and 50s. I’ve been in NJ since the late 50s and my heart is still in Easthampton so your pictures were great for me to see. I went to the movies on Cottage St. for 50 cents. My Mom worked at Chick’s Cafe on Cottage Street. Uncles worked at the mill, police dept. Stanley Home Products. Thank you for the nostalgic walk down memory lane.
I love the pictures too. Cottage St looks very hip & cool!! I moved away in the early 70″s but still consider Easthampton my home. Thank you very much.
I was in Easthampton in July and boy what a change, your pictures were wonderful!