Leyden is named after the town of Leiden in Holland, which was a
sanctuary for Pilgrims. Descendants of the Pilgrims who sailed on the Mayflower
to Plymouth, most notably those of William Bradford and William Brewster,
were among the early builders of Leyden.
The town was originally part of the "Fall Town," which also
included Bernardston and eastern Colrain. On March 12, 1784, Commonwealth of
Massachusetts President John Hancock and so-called "Father of the
American Revolution" Samuel Adams signed a law which allowed Leyden
to be set off from Bernardston as a separate district. However, it wasn't
until 1809 that the town was deemed to have a population sufficient for
incorporation, and it was charted on February 22 of that year.
"Fall Town" consisted of grants given to the men, or their
descendants, who fought Indians with Captain William Turner near Turners Falls.
Subsequently, most of Leyden's earliest settlers were these people.
Among these settlers who came to the rugged wilderness as early as
1737 were Samuel Cunnabell, who was known for his innovative maple sugaring
techniques, Major John Burk, Peter Newcomb, Silas Newcomb, James Couch, John
Lee, John Perry and Samuel Hunt.
Among Leyden's famous natives is John L. Riddell, born in 1807, who
invented the binocular microscope and was a pioneer in aerial navigation,
botany, mineralogy and medicine. Also born in Leyden, in 1814, was artist and
sculptor Henry Kirke Brown, whose huge statues of George Washington and
Abraham Lincoln stand in Washington, D.C., New York City and West Point.
The town's Leyden Glen section began supplying water to Greenfield in
1870 and continues to serve as that town's water source. Early industry
included blacksmith shops, a cheese shop, gun shop, box shop, grist mills,
sawmills and wood products mills. |
