Hanging preform container in the Bynan Conservation Area in South Hadley. Please replace as found.
With the assistance of Self-Help funds, this 162-acre parcel was purchased by the town in 1978 from the heirs of Patrick Bynan. About 40 acres of this land were intended to accommodate the expansion of the town landfill. The land was once a glacial delta. The fine sands are easily excavated and are of substantial economic value. The sandy soils are a primary reason why the town landfill was originally located in this part of town.
In the 1920's, all the ponds in the area were known as the Brittons Ponds after the man that owned the land; one pond now filled by the landfill was known as Taylor Pond. In the 1930's, the largest remaining pond was called Bynan Pond after the family that purchased the property in the 1930's and had built a home nearby. The area consists of pitch pine and oak woodlands (similar to Cape Cod ecology), with scattered wetlands, and ponds that often dry up in the summer. The land can be accessed from the east end of Lyman Terrace off Old Lyman Road), the end of Bartlett Street, and New Ludlow Road.