In the early 1980's, author Philip Johnson discovered a railroad bridge on the Central Mass branch in Bondsville. This began his investigation as to why the bridge was there, and what ran underneath. This discovery led him to a railroad lost in the woods with little written history. A stone post stands as a silent sentinel telling all that it is 82 miles to Boston from that point on the Hampden. This is the Hampden Railroad's story.

New England is so compact that even casual visitors can sample its diverse history in just a short time. But travelers and residents alike can also pass right by historic buildings, landscapes, and iconic objects without noticing them. New England's Hidden Past presents the region’s history in an engaging new way: through 58 lists of historic places and things usually hidden in plain sight in all six New England states. Pay attention and you’ll find stone structures built by Indians, soaring churches financed by Franco-American millworkers, and public high schools started by colonists when New England was still a howling wilderness. You may have seen them, but you probably don’t know the story behind them. New England's Hidden Past takes readers to the grave sites of revolutionary heroines, Loyalist house museums, as well as, Revolutionary taverns and colonial inns. It takes them to Indian trails, the oldest houses, historic department stores, ghost towns, and Little Italys. Each unique, interesting location or object has a counterpart in the other five New England states. A perfect guide to keep in the car and refer to when traveling New England or planning a trip.

The Hampden Railroad was completed in 1913. It was built to connect the railroads at Springfield to Palmer and northward to the vacation lands in New Hampshire and Maine. But it was not approved for use by the Massachusetts Railroad Commission. This book supplements my first book with maps and photos not available when that book was published.