Dwight is a village in north Belchertown, Massachusetts, United States. It was a thriving railroad destination and farming community in the 19th century with lumber mills, two schools, two railroad stations, restaurants, ballrooms, an inn, a general store, post office, and world-renowned flower gardens. Today it is known for its natural beauty, scenic waterfalls, forests, ponds, brooks and hiking trails. It was named for the Dwight family.

Geography 
The center of Dwight is in the northwestern region of Belchertown, and located at 42°19'40.0"N 72°26'53.8"W (42.327778, -72.448278). Its boundaries have historically spanned approximately nine square miles and border Pelham on the north, Amherst on the west, the Lakes on the south and Route 202 on the east. 

The center of the village, defined as the intersection of Federal and Goodell Streets, lies 4.8 miles northwest from Belchertown Common (by State Route 9); 4.2 miles southwest from West Pelham; 3.5 miles east from the South Amherst Common; and 4.2 miles southeast from East Amherst Common. 

The village developed around the intersection of three named brooks: Montague Brook, Scarborough Brook, Hop Brook. It also encompasses Scarborough Pond, Knight’s Pond and Jabish Brook, many unnamed tributaries and hundreds of acres of conservation land including Holland Glen, Wentworth Property, Topping Farm, Warren Wright Road, Scarborough Brook, Upper Gulf, Mead's Corner, Reed Property and part of Jabish Brook.

The area is immediately north of Holland Pond, Lake Arcadia and Lake Metacomet, known previously as the Bridgman Ponds, or the Pond Hill area, the site of early colonial settlement (1732) near the Old Bay Road that ran from Boston to Albany as well as the birthplace of Elijah Coleman Bridgeman and Ethan Smith. The Lake Vale Cemetery was established here in the 1750s.

The Norwottuck Branch Rail Trail, part of the Mass Central Rail Trail, begins at Dwight village, near Warren Wright Road, north of Wilson Road. It's an 11-mile (18 km) combination bicycle/pedestrian paved rail trail running from Northampton, Massachusetts, through Hadley and Amherst, to Belchertown, Massachusetts. 

The Metacomet-Monadnock Trail, part of the 215-mile New England National Scenic Trail, crosses through the heart of Dwight on Federal Street and up Gulf Road. The Robert Frost Trail transverses Dwight, following Warren Wright Road across Hop Brook.

History 
Belchertown is said to be part of a crossroads of Native trails in the Connecticut River Valley in Western Massachusetts that indigenous people traveled including the Nipmuc and Norwottuck, or Nonotuck and Nolwotogg, among others. Artifacts found in the early 20th century just south of Dwight, near Lake Metacomet, suggest, "evidence of Native American occupations" that began some 7,000 years ago.

The first non-indigenous landowner at the village was Capt. Nathaniel Dwight (1712-1784), who was deeded one square mile in 1734. He was among the first to settle what would become Belchertown (1732) and owned most of the land that today comprises the Common. He led local men on the Crown Point Expedition and at the Battle of Lake George during the Seven Years' War. 

The first structure at what would become known as Dwight was erected about 1765. The first colonial settlers were said to be Justus Dwight (1739-1824), Sarah Lamb (1737-1832) and their three children—Elihu, Clarissa and Jonathan—in Fall 1769.  

Justus was the third born son of Captain Dwight and Hannah Lyman. He became their first surviving son in 1760 after which his father, in 1765, deeded him land at Dwight for "love and affection." Justus and Sarah’s son Nathaniel was said to be the first white child born at the place (1772). Justus’s brother Elijah (1735-1736) was said to be the first white male child born in all of Belchertown (1735). 

A cemetery was established about 1785 on land likely owned by Justus. The place soon became known as “Log Town” for its forests and sawmills. In 1784, the Town divided itself up into school districts including one known as "Loggtown." 

Born here, in 1819, was one of the 19th century's most-read writers, Josiah Gilbert Holland, who reportedly turned down publishing the more renowned poet, essayist and journalist Walt Whitman. He moved to Springfield and New York and all but dissowned the place.

Harrison Dunbar Dwight (1806-1878), great-grandson of Capt. Dwight, was born here, the fourth generation of the family to be associated with the place. He became the first railroad agent on the Amherst & Belchertown Railroad here in the early 1850s, donating land and erecting the train station and water tower on his land. The village afterward became known as “Dwight's Station” in his honor and of the noted family. Harrison was employed by the New London Northern Railroad, which acquired the line, and then the Central Vermont Railroad.

In 1887, the Central Massachusetts branch of the Boston & Maine R.R. opened at Dwight. The station was named "Pansy Park" to differentiate the two rail lines running parallel, within 75 feet of one another. Two years later, Lafayette W. Goodell, seedsman and proprietor of the popular Pansy Park flower gardens, obtained a petition of 250 signatures that he forwarded to the New London Northern Railroad to rename its railroad stop from Dwight to "Pansy Park." His brother Wesley M. Goodell became the station agent in 1885 until his death in 1933, for 48 years. 

The Federal-style home of the Goodell family, erected by Lafayette's father Asahel Hulet Goodell in 1833, remains standing on the east side of Federal Street, north of North Street. It has been the location of numerous businesses including the Pansy Park Inn and the New Townhouse Restaurant. 

Several homes in the area date to the late 1770s.

References 

Belchertown, Massachusetts

Villages in Hampshire County, Massachusetts