"Hello" from the third grade classes at Wolf Swamp Road School. We have been working on a unit about Longmeadow history, and would like to share some information with you.

Longmeadow History

Longmeadow was settled in 1644, on the banks of the Connecticut River, just north of the Connecticut border and just south of Springfield. The original spelling of the town's name was Long Meddowe. Some of the old houses in town were built in an area, called The Meadows today, on the banks of the river. In the 1700's, many of these houses were moved to higher ground because of flooding. Now, these houses surround our town green, about a mile from the Connecticut River. Many of the streets in our town were named after the original settlers. One street is named after King Philip, also known as Metacomet, son of the famous Wampanoag Indian chief Massasoit. Long Meddowe (or, in Indian, Masacksic ), was affected by the war between New England settlers and the Wampanoag Indians during the late 1600's called "King Philip's War". Members of a Long Meddowe family, the Keep family, were massacred while on their way to Springfield to have their infant son baptized.

Later (in 1740), during the French and Indian Wars, the town of Deerfield, about 30 miles up the Connecticut River, was raided by Indians, and a young boy named Stephen Williams and his family were carried off. He was redeemed from the Indians two years later, and eventually became Longmeadow's first minister. The church where he served still stands on the town green and on the corner of the road named after him, Williams Street. You can read about his life in the book Boy Captive of Old Deerfield, by Mary P. Wells Smith.

John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, lived in Longmeadow for a few years after his father remarried. The house is still here.

Longmeadow, today, is a town of about 16,000 people. We have three elementary schools, two middle schools. and one high school, as well as a college, Bay Path College. It is a small, pretty, residential town with tree-lined streets. Since we are on the Connecticut border, many of us shop in Connecticut, and some of us can even walk to Connecticut. A few of us can just step out of our back yards and be in another state! Springfield is the nearest "big city", although it is easy to get to Boston, and even easier to get to Hartford, CT

We like living in a small town. We have some nice parks, and two town pools that we use in the summer. Everywhere you go in town you see people walking, jogging, and riding bikes in the good weather. Our town green is the longest green in New England. Every May, we have a town celebration called Long Meddowe Days. It is part history and part fun. It starts with a family picnic on the green. On Saturday, we have a parade, and lots of entertainment and games for kids. There is a big arts and crafts show, too. Our school always marches in the parade. Wolf Swamp Road School has about 320 kids, grades K-4. A famous hot air balloon pilot, J. Michael Wallace, lives here in Longmeadow. He came to our school and talked to us about hot air balloons.

The third grade classes at Wolf Swamp School
(1998)

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