Franklin County

The seemingly untouched dirt roads, pristine waterways, and thick woods of Franklin County, Massachusetts, hide some of the state’s stranger secrets. Secluded near the Massachusetts–Vermont border is a forest reserve called Satan’s Kingdom. We can’t be sure what happened here to earn the wilderness such a Puritan-sounding name, but luckily Lucifer doesn’t seem to be an actual concern for hikers today. The serene haven is full of paths, an old cabin, a view of the valley from atop a ridge, and changing colors in the fall.

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Farther down the Connecticut River, kayakers can discover the old treasure-hunter haunt of Kidd’s Island in Northfield. It’s a remote spot where Captain Kidd is said to have buried his treasure under the protection of the devil. 

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It’s not all hell-adjacent. Down the river, one can also catch sights of the stupendous French King Bridge from the hidden inlet of an 1800s site called Cabot Camp or the rustic French King Restaurant. The restaurant is named after the bridge, the bridge named after the so-called “French King Rock” in the waters below, and that river boulder is named after Louis XIV by French and Native American fighters. The region is littered with other remarkable rocks to gawk at: the cryptic Burnt Hill Stone Circle in Heath, dizzying whirlpools at Glacial Potholes in Shelburne Falls, the Mesozoic-inspired Rock and Fossil and Dinosaur Shop in Deerfield, and the expansive Northfield Mountain.