How Many Cooleyville Roads Are There?

 

 

 

 

I have traveled Route 202 North from Belchertown toward the Route 2, Orange-Athol area many times.  In fact one of my favorite ice cream places is in Orange.  Maybe that is why I have been on that road so many times!

Every time I am headed that way I am always amazed at how many signs there are for Cooleyville Road. You see a sign and road on the right side of 202, then shortly you see a sign and road off the left side of 202.  Then a few miles further, you will see the same thing, then again further up.

 I think there are 8 signs for Cooleyville between Belechertown and the turnoff for Orange.  When I am in that area on a scooter ride, I like to take the backroad Route 2A, through Wendell Depot and Wendell Center.  If you take a left turn right in the middle of Wendell Center, you will be on.......you guessed it, Cooleyville Road which will lead you back to Route 202, near New Salem.

Where, you ask, do all these roads lead?  Several of the first ones are very short loops and just cross 202, run parallel to it then cross back over. They are all gravel except the one in Wendell Center.  We explored one of these Cooleyville Roads and maybe we went onto an unnamed branch off it or maybe just an extension of the same road.  Either way, it went way back into the wilderness where, believe it or not, there are quite a few houses.  After following it for a couple of miles, the road was getting steeper and more rugged so we turned around when we got the chance and made our way out.  

I still want to discover where it goes.  Does it come back out on 202? Does it connect to another country road?  Does it dead end? Is there a pot of gold at the end?  A beanstalk?

So I think there are 8 Cooleyville Road signs on Route 202 and one more off Route 2A in Wendell.  Check them out the next time you are in the area and be glad you are not the mailman for Cooleyville Road!