Planning Your Route West
Western Massachusetts rewards the patient driver. The Connecticut River corridor — Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee — and the Berkshire hill towns sit roughly an hour and a half apart, and a well-sequenced day can take in industrial-era parish churches, immigrant stonework, and mountain-road shrines without excessive backtracking.
Start in Springfield, the region's Catholic anchor. St. Michael's Cathedral on State Street at Elliot Street is the mother church of the Diocese of Springfield and a natural first stop — its Gothic Revival stonework sets the tone for everything that follows. From there, Chicopee lies ten minutes north on I-91, and Holyoke barely five minutes beyond that. Both cities built their dense parish networks on the labor of French-Canadian, Irish, and Polish communities; the churches cluster close to the former mill districts, so walking short stretches between stops is genuinely feasible once you're parked.
From Holyoke, the standard westward move is Route 202 north to Route 9, which crosses the river valley and then climbs west into the hills. This middle route is slower than the Mass Pike (I-90) but passes through country that rewards the detour, and it keeps smaller hill-town churches within reach.
If time is the priority, join the Mass Pike at exit 5 (Chicopee) and drive west. Pittsfield is roughly fifty-five miles; Lee and Lenox are just south of it. The Diocese of Springfield extends across this entire corridor, so the architectural conversation — immigrant parishes, modest but carefully crafted interiors — continues unbroken from the valley floor into the Berkshires.
Berkshire Towns and the Return
Adams, in the northern Berkshires, is the clear outlier geographically but worth the commitment. St. Stanislaus Kostka Church there is a striking monument to the Polish community that built it, and the drive up Route 8 toward North Adams is scenic in any season. Budget an additional forty minutes each way from Pittsfield.
For the return east, the Mass Pike is simply the efficient choice. If you began early, a late-afternoon stop at the La Salette Shrine in Attleboro on the way home is feasible via I-90 east to I-95 south — a different diocese, but a fitting close to a day spent in the company of Massachusetts Catholic built heritage.
Bring a paper map or a downloaded offline route; cell coverage thins noticeably on the back roads between the valley and the Berkshire ridge.
From there, Chicopee lies ten minutes north on I-91, and Holyoke barely five minutes beyond that
