Chapel Brook

Chapel Brook of Franklin County, Massachusetts is the name of a tributary of the South River (of the Deerfield River watershed) and the name of a 173acre open space preserve located along the brook. The brook, est. 3.79 mi (6 km) long, is located in southeast Ashfield and southwest Conway. It drains into Poland Brook, thence into the South River, the Deerfield River, the Connecticut River, and Long Island Sound. The Chapel Brook reservation, managed by the non-profit conservation organization The Trustees of Reservations, is located in Ashfield and contains Chapel Falls, a series of three waterfalls on Chapel Brook, measuring 10 feet (3.0 m), 15 feet (4.6 m) and 20 feet (6.1 m) high; and Pony Mountain (also called Chapel Ledge) est. 1,400 feet (426 m), a 100ft open granite cliff face and popular recreational rock climbing site.HistoryAfter Ashfield was incorporated in 1765, colonial settlers moved into the region and cleared the forest for pasture. By 1831, the area around Pony Mountain contained the larger part of a herd of 8,000 sheep. At the same time, Chapel Falls became the site of at least two gristmills and a two-room schoolhouse. The school "doubled as a Methodist chapel on Sundays, when the folding doors separating the two rooms were swung open."