(AP) — Whether you're visiting the region's many colleges or just playing tourist, Western Massachusetts is an interesting destination. There are towns dating back three centuries, main streets that seem simultaneously old-fashioned and trendy, and lots of bucolic rural scenery, from small farms to fall foliage. Just around the corner, visit a local "geological wonder": naturally round potholes ground out of granite during the glacial age by stones gyrating in whirlpools of water. A sign at the site says the tower, built in 1912 to replace an older wooden one, honors Frederick Tuckerman Goddard, a "gifted solitary poet" who studied nature and was "admired by Emerson, Hawthorne and Tennyson." Today Historic Deerfield is dotted with markers commemorating the massacre, including a mass grave in the old cemetery for 48 men, women and children that bears the words "The Dead of 1704." In nearby South Deerfield at 25 Greenfield Road, Yankee Candle's massive flagship store houses a candle museum, Bavarian Christmas village, animatronic elves and a mini-Black Forest where snow falls every few minutes.