Tolland is a very small Hampden County hill town of about 470 in the far southwest corner of Massachusetts, on the Connecticut state line west of Granville and south of Blandford. The town was first settled in the 1750s as part of Granville and was incorporated as a separate town in 1810. It is one of the least-populated towns in the Pioneer Valley, with a town center that is essentially a green, a town hall, and a small library at the intersection of two rural roads.
Tolland State Forest and Otis Reservoir
The town’s open-space anchor is Tolland State Forest, a roughly 4,400-acre DCR property that spans Tolland, Otis, Blandford, and Sandisfield in the southern Berkshire foothills. The forest is centered on Otis Reservoir, a roughly 1,000-acre impoundment that is the largest body of water for recreational use in western Massachusetts. The southern end of the reservoir reaches into the northern part of Tolland; the rest is in Otis (Berkshire County). The forest has a campground on a peninsula in the reservoir, a swim beach and boat ramp, picnic areas, and a network of forest trails open to hiking, mountain biking, and cross-country skiing in season.
Watershed
Tolland is unusual among Pioneer Valley towns in that its waters do not drain east into the Connecticut River. The West Branch of the Farmington River forms part of the town’s western boundary, and the Hubbard River rises in Tolland and runs east through Granville State Forest before joining the West Branch in Connecticut. The Farmington flows south into Connecticut and on to the Connecticut River near Hartford, so Tolland’s rain ends up in the same river as everyone else’s, just by a longer route.
Other notes
- Tolland is bordered by Otis (Berkshire County) and Blandford on the north, Granville on the east, the Connecticut towns of Hartland and Colebrook on the south, and Sandisfield (Berkshire County) on the west.
- The town covers about 31.5 square miles of land (large in area for its population), almost all of it forest, with a few scattered farms and seasonal camps around the reservoir.
- The town center sits on a low rise about a mile south of the reservoir; the Tolland Public Library and town offices share the small village green pictured above.
Sources
- Town of Tolland
- Tolland, Massachusetts — Wikipedia (2020 U.S. Census population: 471)
- Tolland State Forest — Wikipedia
- Tolland State Forest — Mass.gov
- Farmington River — Wikipedia